veggie planing on becoming vegan

[ketsurui199]

hi im ketts new here just turned veggie and i want to become vegan in about a months time,ive been veggie for about a week and so far so good, i turned veggie as meat started to make me feel sick when i saw it and for the animals and seeing what happens in dairy farms etc i want to become vegan, i just have a few questions what does soya milk taste like, and since living in uk wheres the best place to get my food from as ive looked round my local supermarket and cant find no vegan products :(

ketts xxx

[Fungus]

The vegan products are there, you just have to look a bit. Might want to see if theres a health foods store nearby, they often have good stuff.
Soy milk - you either like it or you dont, some people dont like the taste but I dont mind it.

[Ruby Rose]

The best way to approach it is not that "how much like dairy milk is this?" - 'cos it's not. Instead, think of it as a new food/flavour that does the same things in recipes as dairy milk does.

[ketsurui199]

cheers for feed back and yeh i will think of it like the ruby rose ^^ im building a list of what a need food wise for wednesday (shopping day) so will hopefully have some good products by then

[Risker]

There's masses of vegan foods in most supermarkets, if you're after brand name products quite alot of the larger brands will specify on their websites which of their products are suitable for vegans. Holland & Barett also do a fair amount of vegan food and as already said, a local health food shop is usually a good bet for vegan specific stuff.

[ketsurui199]

i was looking online at tesco as tesco is the main place my mum shops but the site just confused me as of yet i havnt fount any health food stores near me but a bit of looking around or online resaerch never hurts

[Ruby Rose]

Why don't you tell us what sort of things you normally buy, and we can chip in where we get them (or what we substitute)? I do most of my shop at Tescos.

[Risker]

A quick way to check if an item is vegan is to check it says suitable for vegetarians on the packet, then check the allergy information box under the ingredients to make sure it doesn't contain egg or milk. It's not perfect I'm sure but along with a cursory glance at the ingredients that's often how I decide a product is ok.

[ketsurui199]

well things i would usaly get from tesco is all me veg, milk (soy milk now) pasta , fruit, sweets (need help on that one), pure juices (cranberry juice etc) and then the rest is for family and they get eggs meat etc

[Stu]

well things i would usaly get from tesco is all me veg, milk (soy milk now) pasta , fruit, sweets (need help on that one), pure juices (cranberry juice etc) and then the rest is for family and they get eggs meat etc

A lot of sweets have gelatine in them (gelatine is animal-derived - usually from beef I think), so look out for that. Also lactose, which comes from milk.

Here's a health food shop in Mansfield: http://www.townpages.com/nottinghamshire/mansfield/health-food.htm

But failing that, try Holland & Barrett, like someone else said. By the way, don't let the term 'Health Food Shop' put you off! These places just happen to sell a lot of vegan-friendly stuff.

As for the milk thing: I would suggest that you try a few different ones, to see what you like the best. There's soya milk (sweetened and unsweetened), almond milk, rice milk, etc... Try a different one each time, and see which one you like the best. I think they tend to be an acquired taste, i.e. once you get used to them, you'll like them a lot more (I'm pretty sure that most people wouldn't like cows' milk if they had never had it before).

Anyway, welcome to the forum Ketsurui! Have a good one.

[ketsurui199]

thanks for the warm welcome and i will try the diferent types of milk as for sweets yeh i will watch out for them not my most fav but i do have a sweet thooth sometimes also what about coffee etc just checking as i have not heard anything on this

[Sluggie]

Hi Ketsurui. You can get vegan sweets from Julian Graves, though the range is a bit limited (sherbert lemons, rhubarb & custard, pineapple chunks, etc). There is a reasonable choice of vegan chocolate - both dark and "milk" - which you can get from some supermarkets and health food shops. Look out for Green & Black's dark chocolate, Organica and Plamil. Some branches of Holland & Barrett sell delicious vegan fudge (Fabulous Fudge Factory).

Mainstream vegan sweets include:
Jelly tots
polo mints
sherbert fountains
Bassetts pear drops.

Coffee is ok, unless it's the stuff that's been collected from weasel droppings :p

[ketsurui199]

0.o