I’m thinking of going vegan for a month in Feb. I would have done jan but I have too much meat in the freezer that needs eating.

I’m not doing it for some animal rights reasons, I just fancy a challenge. Although I do try to eat free range and am a bit disgusted with some of the processes in the meat industry, but like most I just try to ignore it

Is anyone vegan on here? Is it going to cost a fortune? Is it easy to do?

I’ve heard that the hardest thing is not being able to eat delicious meat.

Vegans can be a tad tough if you over cook them...

I advise marinating them overnight in the fridge in a good red wine and Soy sauce marinade with capers.

Then slow cooking in a medium oven of about 185 degrees for 3 hours...

Best served with Roasted Vegetables

Enjoy

I'd just cut out obvious non-Vegan if its just for a challenge. Sarah Pascoe (one of its previous champions) now doesn't call herself Vegan because of the constant hassle she gets supposedly for something like buying rice from reclaimed paddy fields and not from "true" vegan growing fields.

Like all the food fads of the last thirty years its far too holier than thou. Who has the time to read every label it is choice of "food" to eat not a kin religion.

Whatever you do avoid anywhere frying Bacon it will kill you....

Rileybobs wrote:I’ve heard that the hardest thing is not being able to eat delicious meat.

The hardest thing is to not tell anybody.

Every day.

I eat a mostly vegan diet though have the occasional eggs and cheese. It's not expensive unless you buy all the fake meat products (which are pretty rubbish anyway). It's more just the time it takes to cook fresh that is the challenging part.

If you want some recipe ideas, Google Minimalist Baker, she has some great recipes that are both vegan and bloody tasty.

Inchy wrote:I’m thinking of going vegan for a month in Feb. I would have done jan but I have too much meat in the freezer that needs eating.

I’m not doing it for some animal rights reasons, I just fancy a challenge. Although I do try to eat free range and am a bit disgusted with some of the processes in the meat industry, but like most I just try to ignore it

Is anyone vegan on here? Is it going to cost a fortune? Is it easy to do?

I went vegetarian and actually loved the food. Your right the meat industry is disgusting and ill be going vegetarian after christmas to

It’s really easy to do and it’s not expensive in the slightest.

Go vegan but don’t do the “I’m gonna save the planet bit”

Certain people in some countries can’t afford what was once their main staples because prices have gone through the roof. A lot of it comes in on aeroplanes using tons of jet fuel.
So if you wanna go vegan for the health benefits I get it but not the I’m gonna save the world bit!

How are vegans going to maintain soil fertility?
Cannot use manure since this has come from "exploited" animals, not enough compost to go round and not enough land to feed the world's population. Low yield, dog and stick agriculture belongs in the 19th Century as do vegans.

My partner is vegan and it's not that hard. More & more in the shops these days. Get used to looking at lables and see what's listed in BOLD, you'll be surprised what's vegan and what's not. A lot of powdered milk or eggs in the strangest things.
A lot of products won't say they are vegan because they are made in factories which handle meat or diary, but that's mainly for allergies so if there's nothing listed in the ingredients go for it.

My girlfriend's favourite snack is BBQ Pringles. Beef & Tomato pot noodle also vegan :p

As mentioned the processed stuff is expensive so avoid unless for a treat, we like the M&S vegie burgers.

If you want a fun challenge try making your own seitan. It's got a good meaty texture, can be fried, grilled etc and seasoned depending non what your doing with it. better than tofu IMO, a place near us does vegan donner kebabs with it

https://www.connoisseurusveg.com/how-to-make-seitan/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I am what you might call an almost-vegan. That means I don't eat meat but I do sometimes have butter, milk or cheese. I am not at all evangelical about it, but I do feel uncomfortable about participating in the cruelty that the production of meat and dairy entails.

It's certainly not expensive but it can be difficult especially if you share your life with people who aren't similarly inclined. I can cook a very tasty vegetable curry with dahl, which is delicious with rice, but you can also get a few vegan ready meals that are quite nice. I take soya milk in tea and coffee which tastes a bit strange at first, but you soon get used to it to the point that cow milk doesn't taste so good. Butter is easily replaced with margarine, which again doesn't taste so good at first but you soon get used to it. There are also vegan pizzas but I have found them to be a bit nasty.

Good luck with this. I think it is well worth having a go at.

Inchy wrote:I’m thinking of going vegan for a month in Feb. I would have done jan but I have too much meat in the freezer that needs eating.

I’m not doing it for some animal rights reasons, I just fancy a challenge. Although I do try to eat free range and am a bit disgusted with some of the processes in the meat industry, but like most I just try to ignore it

Is anyone vegan on here? Is it going to cost a fortune? Is it easy to do?

I'm all for people exploring new areas of life after all how on earth do we know what we really like or don't like if we don't give things a whirl especially food and diet as it's so fundamental to our enjoyment and wellbeing in life.

Good luck and let us know how you are getting on.

Erasmus wrote:I am what you might call an almost-vegan. That means I don't eat meat but I do sometimes have butter, milk or cheese.

Isn't that "vegetarian"?

It depends on whether you deal in absolutes or not, but, yes, you're probably right.

Try the 22 Day Vegan Challenge...More and more people are ditching animal products. Im pretty sure in a generation meat eaters will be a minority in this country.

Live long and prosper (or is that something else )

Good luck. But check vegan websites - they keep saying that veganism is a healthy lifestyle, but at the same time saying that you need to take good care that you are eating all the right things, and to take dietary supplements.

I've got vegetarians in the family, but most of them aren't vegan. Strangely enough, they keep cats.

Going vegan is a lifestyle choice, not something to do for a month when the meat has gone from the freezer.

Erasmus wrote:I am what you might call an almost-vegan. That means I don't eat meat but I do sometimes have butter, milk or cheese. I am not at all evangelical about it, but I do feel uncomfortable about participating in the cruelty that the production of meat and dairy entails.

It's certainly not expensive but it can be difficult especially if you share your life with people who aren't similarly inclined. I can cook a very tasty vegetable curry with dahl, which is delicious with rice, but you can also get a few vegan ready meals that are quite nice. I take soya milk in tea and coffee which tastes a bit strange at first, but you soon get used to it to the point that cow milk doesn't taste so good. Butter is easily replaced with margarine, which again doesn't taste so good at first but you soon get used to it. There are also vegan pizzas but I have found them to be a bit nasty.

Good luck with this. I think it is well worth having a go at.

You mean you're Vegetarian then !

Sorry should have read the whole thread !

Have you tried it yourself CT and if so has it made you feel any different health wise?

Due to my wife who was/is a vegetarian and I was going that way when we met I tried and like it but we are not 100% we will eat real tasty fresh local Organic meat if available now and again.

Think it's all about balance like most things in life.

I was grilling a steak earlier and the smell started to make my mouth water. I wonder if vegans get the same reaction when mowing the lawn?

FactualFrank wrote:I was grilling a steak earlier and the smell started to make my mouth water. I wonder if vegans get the same reaction when mowing the lawn?

TurfyMoore wrote:Try the 22 Day Vegan Challenge...More and more people are ditching animal products. Im pretty sure in a generation meat eaters will be a minority in this country.

I'd be surprised

But good luck to anyone who wants to try a new way of life. Just enjoy what you do and don't preach to those who enjoy eating meat.

And please don't feed your pets vegan food.

Dont know about vegan, but I sometimes have the veggie breakfast in Wetherspoons.
Its OK, but the Quorn sausage is dreadful.
I keep getting it in the hope that said sausage will taste a bit better, but it never does.

I doubt I will be doing it as a long term thing, I just fancy the challenge. Both the challenge of restricting my diet and the challenge of using new incredients to make nice food.

Did it at the start of this year. Its actually easier and tastier than many people think. Things like currys or pies dont even need meat.

Be careful though. We did 3 months and ended up pregnant

ElectroClaret wrote:Dont know about vegan, but I sometimes have the veggie breakfast in Wetherspoons.
Its OK, but the Quorn sausage is dreadful.
I keep getting it in the hope that said sausage will taste a bit better, but it never does.

Do you wake up to Sonny and Cher and "I got you babe" every morning?

cricketfieldclarets wrote:Did it at the start of this year. Its actually easier and tastier than many people think. Things like currys or pies dont even need meat.

Be careful though. We did 3 months and ended up pregnant

What are the ingredients of vegan pastry?

Bosscat wrote:Do you wake up to Sonny and Cher and "I got you babe" every morning?

No, pal.

Just a randy wife.

ElectroClaret wrote:No, pal.

Just a randy wife.

Jammy b@st@rd

Is going Vegan a bit like going Dutch?

TurfyMoore wrote:Try the 22 Day Vegan Challenge...More and more people are ditching animal products. Im pretty sure in a generation meat eaters will be a minority in this country.

No chance

ClaretTony wrote:Going vegan is a lifestyle choice, not something to do for a month when the meat has gone from the freezer.

Why can`t somebody do something for a month if they want to?

TheFamilyCat wrote:What are the ingredients of vegan pastry?

I would imagine them to be flour, vegetable fat, salt and water....

TurfyMoore wrote:Try the 22 Day Vegan Challenge...More and more people are ditching animal products. Im pretty sure in a generation meat eaters will be a minority in this country.

I'm pretty sure they won't be

Vegan diet can be hard to manage you need to eat a diet with lots of walnuts,brazil nuts and almonds along with pulses.Then you can only get 8 of the 21 amino acids that meat eaters get in their diet.
As a Food teacher I do get quite a few pupils who are vegan ,usually till someone points out most sweets contain animal products.Although Haribos have produced a vegan friendly pack.

Merry Christmas Vegans and all.

If all the fad followers want to live a bona fide sheeps life then who should stand in their way ! Stopping using plastic entirely would be better for the planet than giving up eating free range meat, that has been killed humanely, bought and placed in your reusable glass container and all at your local butchers.

Food for thought .

I've tried to transition about 8 or 9 times now to what I'll call a "plant forward" diet. Where I always fail is the tiredness and hunger during the transition because of the change to your system. I went 30 days once but literally at the end could have eaten a cat raw.

Apparently this is down to proteins and that you must replace meat proteins with non meat proteins (grains and beans). I was just doing salads and veggies

Hope this experience helps

I'm not vegan but was vegetarian for over a decade.
It is going to be hard until you work out what you can and can't eat (and there are lots of animal sourced ingredients in surprising places). I would recommend buying a good vegetarian curry cookbook. The best tasting vegan food is from the east, they have had much longer practice at it. Madhur Jaffrey does a good one but have a shop around. Bacon and sausages are going to be very difficult to replicate. Vegan bacon will disappoint you but some of the sausages are ok. Linda McCartney products are quite good and easy although some err on the vegetarian rather than vegan side.

A mate of mine is vegan and he told me that Iceland have brought out a range of vegan products that are meant to be very good and reasonably priced compared to the Linda Mcartney stuff...

I think I might just go vegetarian and see if I can cut out milk and eggs.


It’s funny how there seems to be a few vegans/vegetarians on here but not once have they boasted, gloated or preached.

I think the stereotype loud proud vegan is just that. A few hairy shouting scruffs seem to give vegans a bad name but the majority don’t go on about it. But like all things people seem to cling on to these things and use it to take the Michael

I worked with a lad for a year until I found out he was vegan, and that’s only because I asked why he only drank black tea and coffee. He was a big, rough Leeds lad. Not the archetype vegan.

Inchy wrote:I think I might just go vegetarian and see if I can cut out milk and eggs.


It’s funny how there seems to be a few vegans/vegetarians on here but not once have they boasted, gloated or preached.

I think the stereotype loud proud vegan is just that. A few hairy shouting scruffs seem to give vegans a bad name but the majority don’t go on about it. But like all things people seem to cling on to these things and use it to take the Michael

I worked with a lad for a year until I found out he was vegan, and that’s only because I asked why he only drank black tea and coffee. He was a big, rough Leeds lad. Not the archetype vegan.

Oh dear

cricketfieldclarets wrote:Did it at the start of this year. Its actually easier and tastier than many people think. Things like currys or pies dont even need meat.

Be careful though. We did 3 months and ended up pregnant

Pies don’t need meat ????? That’s a banning order right there. In the area. Red card. Off.

My mother in law is a vegan, she once said to me

“I’m not a vegan I’m a human being that leads a vegan lifestyle”

Needless to say we don’t get on :’)

I went veggie for a month last January, it was actually quite easy apart from one meal where I didn’t realise some brown sauce had fish oil in it. My partner is veggie and I eat mostly veggie meals now anyway, I found eating meat is just a habit and once you break it you soon forget about it.

South West Claret. wrote:Have you tried it yourself CT and if so has it made you feel any different health wise?

Due to my wife who was/is a vegetarian and I was going that way when we met I tried and like it but we are not 100% we will eat real tasty fresh local Organic meat if available now and again.

Think it's all about balance like most things in life.

You mean 'was' then. You are not a 'Vegetarian' if you eat meat at all. Vegans don't eat any animal products at all either. If it's out of principle then they shouldn't be wearing leather shoes or have leather seats in their cars.

Blackrod wrote:You mean 'was' then. You are not a 'Vegetarian' if you eat meat at all. Vegans don't eat any animal products at all either. If it's out of principle then they shouldn't be wearing leather shoes or have leather seats in their cars.

"Balanced" is the word BD.

And being pre-vegan you couldn't keep it to yourself could you.