Vegan Life

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kandy1436
kandy1436 Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Any other vegans here? I was a vegetarian for a little while, and now I'm on my second week of being Vegan. I went out to dinner with friends last night, and experienced how annoying some people are when you tell them you are Vegan. Anyway, what are your go-to foods to eat when you dine out, or some easy things to make at home? I'd love some help!

Replies

  • z_bra
    z_bra Posts: 79 Member
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    You friend has a right to be annoyed.... You have just not been eating animal products for two weeks... Sound like you are just trying it out like a fad diet
  • oryxcrake
    oryxcrake Posts: 4 Member
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    easy there debbie downer, she has a right to eat whatever she wants
  • kandy1436
    kandy1436 Posts: 9 Member
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    I don't think there is any need to be rude here. The fact that I have made the change is good enough for me. Go troll on someone else's post please.
  • LessHeavyVeggie
    LessHeavyVeggie Posts: 208 Member
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    I'm vegetarian, but I eat vegan a lot of the time, by coincidence really.

    Some of my common vegan things are peanut butter, tofu, salads/sauteed veggies, potato wedges (- just par boil and bake at around 200-220C with a little oil and herbs/spices of your choice rubbed on) I make my own hummus and baked falafel (have a search on google and you'll find a lot of recipes - they are vegan anyway so you won't need to modify it).

    I made 'chana masala' today and it was really good - it's an indian chickpea and tomato dish. Indian recipes are often good for vegans as there are a lot of vegetarians there and they don't use a lot of dairy products (replace ghee with oil of course) and the spices stop it from being boring!

    The chana masala recipe if you're interested (I added some aubergine to mine) : http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chana-masala-spinach
  • lemonsurprise
    lemonsurprise Posts: 255 Member
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    I'm vegetarian going on vegan, but as said before, because I always cook from fresh I eat vegan a lot.
    I only cook relatively quick meals and freeze a lot of them for convenience. Casseroles are always good, I'll get a packet casserole mix, chop up and load of veg, add spices and fake/soya/tofu "meats". Or roasted nut salads, or a jacket potato with fried tomatoes, onion, garlic & spinach and couscous. Vegan chilli con carne, endless soups and broths. A roast with a Linda McCartney pie (basically every big supermarket now sells these). Plus all the meals I just said are under 400 calories for more than decent sized portions!
    It's definitely about buying the alternatives to milk, cheese, butter, meat, sauces, chocolate and anything else if you haven't already. Once you have the alternatives you can recreate anything.
    As for eating out, it's usually best to call the restaurant before going. They've usually got something on the menu or they're usually happy to make something up for the night.
  • Shellz31
    Shellz31 Posts: 214 Member
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    I don't eat meat and have a few vegan close friends who I dine out with regularly. When it comes to eating out, ethnic food is your friend. It's much easier to find a vegan entree at an indian, vietnamese, or thai restaurant. There are also vegan-only restaurants that can be hard to convince meat-eaters to go to, but that usually have amazing food. I don't see where you live; vegan eateries tend to be located in larger cities. The run of the mill restaurants like Applebees or Olive Garden are going to be the hardest to eat at. Salad becomes your only option.
  • rh091
    rh091 Posts: 100 Member
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    I'm a vegetarian. I eat almost vegan but obviously don't consider myself as one as I eat Greek yogurt and eggs as staples for protein. You're welcome to add me and check out my diary, it's public! Good luck in your transition, it's definitely a big one.
  • csvegan23
    csvegan23 Posts: 1
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    Hi everyone!

    I've been vegan for about 2 years now and I love it. I have a few moments where I "fall off the wagon" and dairy sneaks into my diet. Usually its the result of either a family member making me something they think is vegan but really isn't and I'm too polite to correct them or because I'm stuck somewhere with nothing to eat and I'm forced to make do with what's available. I 100% do not eat meat however.

    So, with all that being said...what snacks do people like to bring with them to avoid being stuck in situation that isn't vegan-friendly?
  • cmazurek85
    cmazurek85 Posts: 99 Member
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    I eat meat, but I appriciate all types of food. The best cookbooks I have are the raw vegan cookbooks. You can cook the food (lightly steaming it or boiling it) but the flavor combinations are, hands down, the best. I generally tend to add meat or eggs. my fav books are:

    raw food real world (kind of labor intensive, but worth it!)
    everyday raw detox (GREAT!!!!)
    Everday raw express
    everday raw
    plant food
    living raw food

    and vegan books:

    Veganomicon
    vegan on the cheap

    Good luck!
  • mathmatt
    mathmatt Posts: 58 Member
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    I've had the same thing happen. You'll learn to ignore them. My favorite places to go out to eat are thai and indian restaurants. If you're looking to make stuff at home check out Manjula's Kitchen, Vegan 8, and Finding Vegan. You can also look on pinterest. There's a good bit of vegan recipes on there.
  • PetitCh0u
    PetitCh0u Posts: 3
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    I have been a strict vegetarian turned vegan for 20 years, and I STILL encounter anti-vegan rudeness, even from people who've known me for years sometimes. It would seem that as time goes on you will simply become somewhat more understanding of people's motives for feeling compelled to trash others' eating habits. For me, I never enjoyed meat so just quit trying to eat it when I was very young, plus I was NEVER able to stomach the viscosity of milk, much less eggs, so the only appetizing animal product I ate until 4 years ago was cheese, (which I gave up for health reasons, hence - vegan).

    Anyway, as for dishes, I love making baked polenta served with fresh tomatoes, tempeh, elaborate miso soups, etc. The earlier comment about ethnic fare being a good bet is very correct. The "fake meats" are okay and I do use them for convenience cooking sometimes, but I am going to be continuing to minimize this due to the high sodium in many of them. Nut milks are indispensable as is hemp milk, which is fantastic for blended use if you've never tried it. Recently, I've resumed adding vegan, plant-based protein powder when making thicker soups or baking and it works great.
  • blastbeat78
    blastbeat78 Posts: 31 Member
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    Any other vegans here? I was a vegetarian for a little while, and now I'm on my second week of being Vegan. I went out to dinner with friends last night, and experienced how annoying some people are when you tell them you are Vegan. Anyway, what are your go-to foods to eat when you dine out, or some easy things to make at home? I'd love some help!

    I've been vegan for 19 years. Most of the people I go out to dinner with are vegan or veggie so I only really eat at restaurants that don't serve meat. On the odd occasion when I've eaten at a non veggie place I tell them that I am a vegetarian who is VERY allergic to dairy. Maybe it's untrustworthy of me but it saves the confused look when you say vegan and they'll be more careful when preparing food if they think it might make you ill!!

    As you are newly vegan people some people with react negatively but they soon forget about it and move on. Some people act like you've joined some weird religious cult!!

    My diet is high in protein so I consume a lot of seitan, tempeh and tofu. Obviously I eat a lot of veggies and throwing together meals is easy enough. Most week nights I have a salad which I've prepared in advance (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers) and serve it with hummus, avocado, quinoa/bulgur wheat, home made coleslaw, roasted veg and seitan. I make a big batch so it will last me a few days.

    There are so many amazing cookbooks out there (too many to mention) but I get most of my recipes from Pinterest.
    Good luck!!
  • grimendale
    grimendale Posts: 2,153 Member
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    Don't think it's been mentioned yet, but the Happy Herbivores group here has a lot of veg*ns and a lot of good info.

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