If you accidentally buy non-vegan food

[Eleanor Rigby]

This must be one of the oddest slip-ups so far... I have eczema on my hands and so I try to be careful what cleaning products I use. I bought some Ecover washing up liquid the other week, a great big bottle of it, and was idly reading the back when I happened to look down at the ingredients list. The washing up liquid that apparently cares about the environment and my skin contains...milk whey. Milk whey! In washing up liquid! WTF?!

[harpy]

I think there are 2 versions of the Ecover one, one with whey and one without. There was this http://www.ecover.com/gb/en/News/Details.htm?ID=147 so now I buy a washing-up liquid that they sell in Oxfam shops (Bio-D?) that is marked vegan. Not sure how it would be with your eczema though.

[Eleanor Rigby]

Thanks harpy, I'll have a look for that one.

[Festered]

I didn't realise there was a meat version of the vine leaves - thanks for the warning.

It was buy one get one free on salsa at my local asian store-I picked two what I thought was normal hot tomato salsa up but when I got home I had picked up one that had pepperoni in it!! Pepperoni in salsa wtf?!
At least it wasn't that they got paid for it as such I guess . I gave it to my omni mother.

[DiaShel]

^ That's just silliness. You'd think that some things should be "safe" but it's never the case.

[RumpusParable]

If it's a non-food item I do the same thing as with the things I owned before going vegan: use it til it falls apart & then replace it with a vegan option. If it's food, I give it to a friend or food-bank nearby... I can't eat it as 1) don't wanna and 2) even if I wanna I'm at the point that even small amounts of milk (most often sneak ingredient IME) makes me ill if I eat it accidentally.

[Andy_T]

My wife recently prepared some chinese dumplings for me that she had bought deep-frozen at an Asian shop. I diligently checked the german sticker stating the ingredients whether anything was non-vegan, and it read 'vegetarian dumplings, blah blah blah' - there was no mentioning any animal ingredients.

However, when I later peeled off the german ingredients sticker out of curiosity, below that was the English ingredients list that also stated 'chicken broth'. I was really irate about that one .. that the German importer put a german ingredients sticker on top of the english one with 'vegetarian dumpling' (which it did not say on the English list) and put it directly over the English ingredients list. Of course, labelling it 'Vegetarian' is not against the law (the term is not in any way protected, although there is a law suggestion from the Green Party to protect it, but omitting some of the ingredients most likely is...)

Best regards,
Andy

[Andy_T]

It was buy one get one free on salsa at my local asian store-I picked two what I thought was normal hot tomato salsa up but when I got home I had picked up one that had pepperoni in it!! Pepperoni in salsa wtf?!

Are you sure it was referring to the sausage? Peperoni is the italian name for pepper.

Best regards,
Andy

[Tigerlily]

I didn't realise there was a meat version of the vine leaves - thanks for the warning.

Yes! The meat version is more common than the non-meat version among actual Middle Easterners. The meatless version tends to be more popular with non-Middle Easterners. Don't know why. So keep this in mind when ordering vine leaves at a non-veg*n restaurant...

[Risker]

.

[harpy]

Yes! The meat version is more common than the non-meat version among actual Middle Easterners. The meatless version tends to be more popular with non-Middle Easterners. Don't know why. So keep this in mind when ordering vine leaves at a non-veg*n restaurant...

Agreed, Tigerily - I have run across the problem in restaurants too, but I didn't realise you could get the meat ones in tins under the same brand name as the vegan ones

[Festered]

Are you sure it was referring to the sausage? Peperoni is the italian name for pepper.

Best regards,
Andy

Unfortunately I am sure, I read the label. (Not soon enough!) Grr.

[fiamma]

If you buy something non-vegan, even by mistake, the Vegan Police will be notified immediately. You can expect to hear from them within three working days.

[lisa1]

I am new at being a vegan, so there is still so much I'm learning in regards to what to avoid.

[fiamma]

Generally manufacturers don't make food for vegans, so go expecting the worst and you won't be disappointed...! The best piece of advice I can give is to never take anything for granted. Milk and honey get sneaked into bread, food colouring from insects into the oddest of foods. All you can do is do your best, and know that slip-ups have happened to the best of us.

[Tofukitty]

Have a bit of a dilemma. Just got a care package from my mom in canada and it contains a big surprise: about 10 packages of Skittles. No idea why she packed them in, I've never eaten them, I've never even mentioned Skittles to her.

Of the friends that I have made here, only one couple aren't vegan or vegetarian and they wouldn't eat them, so can't give them away. I don't think Skittles are sold here in Germany but had a quick look on ebay.de and there are many listings selling them. I am thinking of selling all the packets as one lot with a buy it now that covers postage and packing and makes me no profit.

It saddens me that my mom went to alot of trouble and money to buy them and send them to me and then I just throw them away. Anyone got any other ideas what to do with them?

ps. giving them away to trick or treaters is not possible as it's not done here. Halloween that is.

[emzy1985]

Tofukitty - Are you sure they are not vegan? I heard a rumor that UK Skittles were vegan, albeit full of crap.

[Tofukitty]

The UK ones may be vegan, but these canadian ones aren't: gelatin is one of the first few ingredients.

Hell knows why anyone eats these, the first ingredients are sugar and then corn syrup and then hydrogenated palm kernel oil. yeck. I think ebay it is.

[Risker]

^ They probably taste nice, that's why.

[Tofukitty]

I guess I have gotten picky after so many years of reading ingredient lists.

[Festered]

I like skittles, but yes not exactly healthy are they! Not too many calories though. Does anybody know if the sour version is vegan (uk) ?

[kanopa]

I have bought oreos in France last summer. I saw people talking about oreos on vegan blogs, so I thought they were vegan. Unfortunately I have noticed milk powder or something like that there when only a couple of cookies were left in the packet.

[kmacbeth]

You could donate them somewhere! Maybe there are some food banks around like in grocery stores or what not

[Tofukitty]

I've never seen a food bank here. I know that there are places where needy people can go to get their weekly food shop topped up but these are govt run.

The skittles are now on ebay, have a couple people watching. Hopefully someone will make at one bid and they are off my hands.

[kanopa]

We have food banks in Lithuania, almost in every supermarket, although I haven't seen any in the UK.
About Skittles, don't they belong to on of the large companies who test? I don't understand how people can eat gelatine either, maybe if they don't know it's gelatine, then, but ewww.

[earthling]

I did the exact same thing as someone earlier on the thread - bought prepackaged miso soup sachets only to discover that they had fish flakes in them... d'oh... I buy miso all the time, many different brands, and this is the only one that's been non-vegan. It's so irritating - miso doesn't need to have fish in it. You probably can't even taste it. Anyway I'm not sure what to do with it, I bought it from Tesco online the other week so I guess I could go into a store and try to exchange it, or I could bin it. I tend to think that the damage has been done (paying for an animal product, thus giving my money to companies who use animals) but I still can't bring myself to eat it, knowing what's in it.

Interesting what leedsveg said earlier about buying animal products for other people - I bought a pint of cow's milk when my parents were staying as they prefer to have this in tea/coffee rather than soya milk (they're omni). I didn't consume any myself of course, but I still felt bad because I bought it, therefore some of my money has gone towards the dairy industry (which is what I want to avoid, being vegan!). But what's the alternative - insist they drink soya milk, or make them pay for their cow's milk themselves? Seems a bit unhospitable... But then I wouldn't buy meat for them, so what's the difference?

[kanopa]

If your parents are staying at your place I guess they should respect you choices and your lifestyle and drink tea or coffee with soymilk. I would even ask not to bring anything that's not vegan to my home. I don't know, maybe it's just me who is so impolite :/

[Enchantress]

We don't let people bring animal products into our kitchen. My partner's mum was pretty annoyed that we wouldn't let her put cow's milk in our mugs, but it's a rule we're sticking to.

[leedsveg]

If your parents are staying at your place I guess they should respect you choices and your lifestyle and drink tea or coffee with soymilk. I would even ask not to bring anything that's not vegan to my home. I don't know, maybe it's just me who is so impolite :/

I have omni friends. When I invite them round, do I ask them to ensure that their shoes, underwear etc are 100% vegan, before I can allow them in the house?

A few years ago, we had a suspected gas leak in our kitchen. Should I have asked the emergency gas engineers to remove their leather boots before entering? Same for the chap who calls to read the gas/electric meters. Do I check on his clothing before I let him in?

Where does it end?

Lv

[VeganZee]

We don't allow any animal products in our house at all. My parents were pretty annoyed the first time we requested they don't bring dairy milk to put in their tea/coffee but now they are fine. My mum will drink soya milk at our house but my dad is irrationally quite scared of it (!) so will only drink green tea I would very much hope my parents prefer me to milk!

[kanopa]

I have omni friends. When I invite them round, do I ask them to ensure that their shoes, underwear etc are 100% vegan, before I can allow them in the house?

A few years ago, we had a suspected gas leak in our kitchen. Should I have asked the emergency gas engineers to remove their leather boots before entering? Same for the chap who calls to read the gas/electric meters. Do I check on his clothing before I let him in?

Where does it end?

Lv

Well, I was talking about food. It's quite difficult with shoes...I guess it has to end there.

[earthling]

Interesting replies... many of you are much stricter than I am about what guests are allowed to do. I feel like I did break my own moral rules by buying that milk, so I won't be doing that again. I think next time, I'll ask my boyfriend to buy it (he isn't 100% vegan yet) or will ask my parents to bring some with them (or have soya milk, their choice). My parents already eat 100% vegan meals when they're here, as I won't prepare anything containing animal products.

I would ideally like no animal products to be brought into my home. However, I also take leeds veg's point. If my parents come into my home wearing woollen jumpers and leather shoes or coats that they bought themselves, how is this different morally from them bringing milk that they bought themselves? I wouldn't be expected to drink it, and I'd wash the cups afterwards, so I don't see how it impacts my veganism if I didn't buy it. There's also the point that a lot of what is already in my home, such as some of my furniture, probably contains animal products.

I don't allow raw meat in my kitchen, partly for hygiene reasons and partly because I find it repulsive. I have allowed people to bring cooked meat into the house to eat, though. We had some of my boyfriend's family round quite recently and we all had a Thai takeaway - they ordered meat dishes and paid for them. Me and my partner had vegan tofu dishes. I felt beforehand that this was fair enough as I didn't pay for their meals and I didn't want to dictate to them what they could eat, however it did make me uncomfortable to see the meat actually in front of me on the table. Now I'm not sure what to do should the situation arise again. We have cooked vegan meals for my boyfriend's family in the past but they've made it clear that they prefer takeaway as this way they get to eat what they like (i.e. meat).

It's a difficult one - I feel that as long as I am not paying for or consuming animal products then I am vegan. I'm not sure where to draw the line at what other people do in my house because I don't want there to be any unnecessary arguments and tension with family members. I feel that as long as they don't expect me to break my moral rules then there should be some leeway - I'm just not sure how much.

[Risker]

People can bring animal products in to our house, just not into our kitchen or in our cups etc. As far as I'm concerned, putting milk in my cups would be akin to pissing in it. Yeah I can clean it out afterwards but I'd rather it just didn't happen in the first place. Besides, is it really that much of a hardship to not have calves milk for once?

[earthling]

As far as I'm concerned, putting milk in my cups would be akin to pissing in it.

I don't really feel that way about my crockery. Not least because most of it is old and/or second hand and has definitely had animal products in it in the past, so I can't really see the point of being precious about it. Unless everything in your kitchen is brand new then there will be trace amounts of animal products on most things.

I don't think it would be a hardship for my guests to drink non dairy milk (or go without), but they would probably feel unwelcome if I demanded this of them. Obviously I would prefer if they didn't want to drink cow's milk, but they do.

[kanopa]

I dunno, clothing and shoes are personal things, guests do not want you to wear their things and it's everyone's choice. I think it's different with food. If guests, your friends know that you are vegan and that you don't want any animal foods in your home they shouldn't expect to be able to drink milk. It's the same as a vegan would go to visit his friends and would require all the food to be vegan..

[earthling]

It's the same as a vegan would go to visit his friends and would require all the food to be vegan..

See I don't think it is exactly the same as that. Of course when I go to visit my parents (or anyone else for that matter) I require all the food, drink etc to be vegan. Because I have rules about the food I eat, buy and prepare. But if other people don't have those same rules, then I don't see why I should stop them doing what they want to do (as long as they don't expect me to break any of my rules)*. Of course I could say that a new rule is that I don't allow any animal products in the house, and ask people to respect that. But I struggle to justify that stance, tbh. I could be wrong.

I don't really see the difference, morally, between clothing/shoes and food. If it's everyone's choice what they wear, is it not everyone's choice what they eat? Where would you draw the line with clothes (if at all) - how about if someone wore a fur coat in your house?

*I should add - I do wish that all my friends and family would see sense and go vegan, because I obviously do think what they're doing is morally wrong, but practically speaking that's not likely to happen (especially with older people).

[Festered]

I dunno, clothing and shoes are personal things, guests do not want you to wear their things and it's everyone's choice. I think it's different with food. If guests, your friends know that you are vegan and that you don't want any animal foods in your home they shouldn't expect to be able to drink milk. It's the same as a vegan would go to visit his friends and would require all the food to be vegan..

I don't think it's the same as that, as omnis will have vegan food in their home (bread, nuts, grains etc. Omnis do eat vegan food whereas vegans don't eat omni food.

[leedsveg]

I like Joanne Stepaniak's definition of the philosophy of veganism in her book Being Vegan:

"Do the least harm and the most good".

This definition asks a vegan to look at varying situations (and resulting actions), case by case, rather than learn a million rules set in stone.

leedsveg

[Kimberlily1983]

Hello, people! After a long bout of not posting any messages (I've been busy with school, etc. - though I did not realize I'd allowed this much time to go by! ), I'm back. I have about a million or so threads to reply to on here, so it may take me awhile to reply to messages!

I've been vegan more than half a year now, and it's been amazing and enlightening so far. The health benefits have been rewarding (I tell people that even if I woke up tomorrow not caring about animal rights anymore, I'd still be vegan for life because I just feel so much more alive). My commitment to animal rights and ending exploitation has deepened. I never really realized how superficial my interest in animal rights used to be. As a vegetarian, I used to be unphased eating with meat-eaters, listening to them describe how delicious their food was, etc.

Some people have been talking about rules, regarding what kind of food you allow in your homes, etc. I've been finding it necessary to set new rules myself, in light of my changing feelings and growing sense of injustice, etc. In the past I would probably not have had any problem buying animal products for someone, if they were paying me to order something for them at a restaurant, for example. I would have ordered food for them, etc. I'm finding myself unable to do such things now. I want no part in their wrongdoing...

[leedsveg]

^^
Welcome back Kimberlily.

lv

[Kimberlily1983]

Thanks, leedsveg! It's good to be back.

[emzy1985]

I was really tired and so I brought an energy drink. This is not something I normally do because I don't like paying my caffiene deficit back later on and plus HUGE calorie content. On this pretext I brought a can of Relentless, but thankfully before I drank it a fellow vegan informed me of the fish geletine and Coca Cola ownership. I've stashed it in my car and will give it to an omni friend the next time the opportunity arises.

[Kimberlily1983]

Just thought I would share that my partner went out to buy us some food while I studied tonight, and he bought a new kind of Lindt chocolate bar. I said, "You made sure it was vegan, right?" and I thought he replied, "I double-checked" or something like that, but he actually said, "Double-check it." I passed him some squares, then started eating mine, and then happened to notice "butter fat" in the ingredients.

He drove back to the store, returned the product without problems (despite our eating three squares of it), got a vegan one in exchange. I don't know how much of a difference it makes - if the info on why the product was returned will be seen by anyone, etc. - if nothing else it's an encounter with a vegan for the cashier, haha. Anyway, there you go: we return the product if this is possible.

[Back-Space]

Just thought I would share that my partner went out to buy us some food while I studied tonight, and he bought a new kind of Lindt chocolate bar. I said, "You made sure it was vegan, right?" and I thought he replied, "I double-checked" or something like that, but he actually said, "Double-check it." I passed him some squares, then started eating mine, and then happened to notice "butter fat" in the ingredients.

He drove back to the store, returned the product without problems (despite our eating three squares of it), got a vegan one in exchange. I don't know how much of a difference it makes - if the info on why the product was returned will be seen by anyone, etc. - if nothing else it's an encounter with a vegan for the cashier, haha. Anyway, there you go: we return the product if this is possible.

You can return a half eaten chocolate bar? I hate how all the big name brands still put milk ingredients in their dark chocolate I found an awesome almond chocolate bar back in Ontario, but no such luck out here.

[Kimberlily1983]

You can return a half eaten chocolate bar? I hate how all the big name brands still put milk ingredients in their dark chocolate I found an awesome almond chocolate bar back in Ontario, but no such luck out here.

Well, I don't know if it would work every time, but the cashier my partner dealt with said it was no problem. We weren't sure if they would take it back, but figured it was worth a shot.

[Gwydion]

^for ref: if the same as the UK - I believe it is only the pure dark (whathaveyou%) Lindt bars that are vegan? Anything 'flavoured' is not afaiaa.

[Back-Space]

^for ref: if the same as the UK - I believe it is only the pure dark (whathaveyou%) Lindt bars that are vegan? Anything 'flavoured' is not afaiaa.

That sucks, I've been looking for a good mint chocolate bar for months. Mint flavoured candy... Nothing Karmavore in Vancouver sells a few flavoured chocolate bars but 20 hours of driving in a day is a little much for a chocolate bar

[Risker]

^for ref: if the same as the UK - I believe it is only the pure dark (whathaveyou%) Lindt bars that are vegan? Anything 'flavoured' is not afaiaa.

There's loads of flavoured chocolates... Motezuma does some and I know there are others but I don't eat chocolate very much so can't tell you which off the top of my head.

[Gwydion]

^ Aye, for sure. Was just talking Lindt specifically

[Kimberlily1983]

^for ref: if the same as the UK - I believe it is only the pure dark (whathaveyou%) Lindt bars that are vegan? Anything 'flavoured' is not afaiaa.

It's just the dark ones, yes: the ones that are over 70% cocoa. There are different kinds, some milder than others. I like the Madagascar better than the Ecuador type, if memory serves me correctly.

That sucks, I've been looking for a good mint chocolate bar for months.

Oh, we had what in my opinion is definitely the best vegan chocolate I've had so far. The brand is Equita, it's fair trade and organic, and while it is also dark chocolate, it is not at all bitter. We had the Mint type (which like you, I'd also not had for months now). Bought it at Club Organic, in Montreal. Soooo good.