Its been 2 months now that I have been exploring alternative options in my quest to become completely cruelty free. With dedicating one day a week to eating without dairy and eggs I've learnt how to use tofu, with one hell of an amazing quiche, discovered that delicous pancakes are still possible and even fooled my cheese loving boyfriend, with a brilliant imitation blue cheese and brocolli soup.
I've had a lot of great success, but I've also had a fair few disasters, with a very messy stir fry, one rather dodgy breakfast and even spent one whole day drinking white milky coffee without realising... oops! But now I've come this far I've decided to take it all the way and make it permanent. Not just one day a week, but cruelty free forever. I've been going for over a week now. Hoorah!
Its been an eye opening experience and I've found plenty of options are still available. I thought yoghurts would be off the menu, but walk into any supermarket and you can find a whole variety of tasty dairy free options on the shelves. I thought I'd really miss my quorn, the staple freezer food of my vegetarian ways, but Linda McCartnery has nicely filled that gap, with sausages and pies all proudly displaying a vegan label, and just a short walk down to holland and barrett unveils a whole new territory, with redwood offering fresh 'fish' cakes and fingers and even 'duck' style pieces, and a company called Frys with great alternatives to frozen staples.
Eating out has also been suprisingly easy. On the way home from a long journey we popped into burger king for a quick snack, a tasty veggie burger with no cheese and mayo. Just as yummy with a dollop of heinz ketchup. Plenty of pizza companies actually use vegan dough, so hold the cheese and you have a tasty pizza! I was thrilled to discover my workplace, Longleat, make their pizzas with vegan dough. I know where I'll be having lunch!
Even eating at a friends turned out suprising results. They were serving a steak, chips, onions rings and garlic bread for the meat eaters, so I was just going to make do with a few chippies and onions rings. We then discovered the garlic bread had been made with vegan margarine so that made a home on my plate too. Hidden in the cupboard my host then found a Loyd Grossman balti sauce that had no animal products in, so with a few chopped veggies they rustled me up a quick tasty curry... I ended up with a tastier, bigger meal than the meat eaters!
There have been a few challenges, drinking coffee at work was one of them. I have always drank my coffee milky, and whilst I enjoy it with almond milk, lugging around a carton of it has just proven impossible. I've ordered a soya powder, in hope that it may end this frustration. Another problem has been cheese. I loved cheese and most of the vegan alternatives I've tried have been beyond foul, especially the cheddar style! My only saviour so far is blue sheese by bute island... heaven! However there are still plenty to try, vegusto has great reviews, and Ive just ordered veganics cheese which is new to the UK but with absolutely raving reviews. Fingers crossed!
So cheers to the future, and living in a cruelty free world!
I've had a lot of great success, but I've also had a fair few disasters, with a very messy stir fry, one rather dodgy breakfast and even spent one whole day drinking white milky coffee without realising... oops! But now I've come this far I've decided to take it all the way and make it permanent. Not just one day a week, but cruelty free forever. I've been going for over a week now. Hoorah!
Its been an eye opening experience and I've found plenty of options are still available. I thought yoghurts would be off the menu, but walk into any supermarket and you can find a whole variety of tasty dairy free options on the shelves. I thought I'd really miss my quorn, the staple freezer food of my vegetarian ways, but Linda McCartnery has nicely filled that gap, with sausages and pies all proudly displaying a vegan label, and just a short walk down to holland and barrett unveils a whole new territory, with redwood offering fresh 'fish' cakes and fingers and even 'duck' style pieces, and a company called Frys with great alternatives to frozen staples.
Eating out has also been suprisingly easy. On the way home from a long journey we popped into burger king for a quick snack, a tasty veggie burger with no cheese and mayo. Just as yummy with a dollop of heinz ketchup. Plenty of pizza companies actually use vegan dough, so hold the cheese and you have a tasty pizza! I was thrilled to discover my workplace, Longleat, make their pizzas with vegan dough. I know where I'll be having lunch!
Even eating at a friends turned out suprising results. They were serving a steak, chips, onions rings and garlic bread for the meat eaters, so I was just going to make do with a few chippies and onions rings. We then discovered the garlic bread had been made with vegan margarine so that made a home on my plate too. Hidden in the cupboard my host then found a Loyd Grossman balti sauce that had no animal products in, so with a few chopped veggies they rustled me up a quick tasty curry... I ended up with a tastier, bigger meal than the meat eaters!
There have been a few challenges, drinking coffee at work was one of them. I have always drank my coffee milky, and whilst I enjoy it with almond milk, lugging around a carton of it has just proven impossible. I've ordered a soya powder, in hope that it may end this frustration. Another problem has been cheese. I loved cheese and most of the vegan alternatives I've tried have been beyond foul, especially the cheddar style! My only saviour so far is blue sheese by bute island... heaven! However there are still plenty to try, vegusto has great reviews, and Ive just ordered veganics cheese which is new to the UK but with absolutely raving reviews. Fingers crossed!
So cheers to the future, and living in a cruelty free world!
