Vegan in New Zealand

[Threshold]

Hello all, im a new vegan in New Zealand =)..made the change a few weeks ago and have never felt better =D

but the problem im running into is lack of vegan products( cheese, etc)

my local super market has one brand of cheese (cant remember name off the top of my head) and one brand of vegan "meats"

so i was wondering if any fellow kiwi vegans (ideally Hamilton) can point me in the direction of shops/supermarkets they have had luck with?

Much apprecited =)

Cheers Danny

[DiaShel]

Hi Danny,

Greetings! I'm in Nelson and haven't spent much time up North. I know a place in Auckland that I really liked. I can't remember the name though. It was in Grey Lynn I believe. In terms of the big ones, I always found New World's to be the best option, as they have Fry's stuff. Anyway, welcome to the forum.

Diane

[leedsveg]

Hi Danny and welcome to Vegan Forum. Hope that you can quickly find the vegan food that you're after.

Leedsveg

[VeganZee]

Hi Danny and welcome to the forum

[Blueberries]

Hi Danny, welcome to the forum!

my local super market has one brand of cheese (cant remember name off the top of my head) and one brand of vegan "meats"

That's great that your local supermarket has vegan cheese/meat, even if it is only one brand. I've never been able to get that type of stuff in a supermarket, normally I'd have to go to a health food shop or organic supermarket.

[Bearshark]

Hi Danny!

I'm from New Zealand too!! I'm from Wellington and Hawkes Bay so I probably can't be much help, but if you try New World, quite often they have "Frys" which has fake burgers and schnitzel and sausages and nuggets etc. Also, Bean Supreme I've found is available in a lot of supermarkets, and they have different flavour sausages (I think only the sundried tomato/olive ones and the paprika ones are vegan but check that out), as well as little lentil koftas and a few other things they keep bringing out.
What I did when I first went vegan is do a search of local organic shops, they often have a few vegan things and you can get beans etc really cheap.
Other than that, maybe research making your own fake meats? Lentils are really good in "meat"balls, and seitan can be pretty useful.
If you don't mind waiting a day or two, SAFE sells fake cheeses and meats online at http://www.choosecrueltyfree.org.nz/, which is another option perhaps.

Hope this helps a little!! Congrats on going vegan! *high five*

[VeganPoppy]

Hi Danny, I live in Christchurch but one of my favourite blogs is by a vegan girl in Hamilton! Here is the link to her blog, hopefully she might be able to help you out http://hazeltree.tumblr.com/

[andrewNZ]

Hey Danny, I'm in Rotorua so have it even worse than you do haha! I used to live in Hamilton though so have a few ideas....

If you haven't yet been to Vegan Buffet on Ward St, go there right now. it's awesome. They sell some packet stuff too.

New Save asian supermarkets have cheap tofu, and of course all the other asian stuff like noodles, soy sauce, sesame oil.

Countdown here in Rotorua have quite a bit of vege stuff, I've found Fry's pretty expensive so we usually just keep a close eye on the tofu/sausages/falafel in the chiller, they mark it down often (I guess because it doesn't sell quick enough) but you have to go often to catch the deals. Today I picked up five 500 gram pots of falafel for about 14 bucks, which is a steal.

Bin Inn at the Ham East shops is awesome for bulk rice, beans, spices, all that stuff. they used to stock packets of this awesome stoneground wholegrain flour which I used in baking a lot.

Heaps of vegans in Hamilton, I'm sure you'll find stuff in no time.

[SunnyDay]

Bearshark,
I've just moved to the Hawkes Bay area from the US and I'm still trying to figure out where to buy things like seitan and tofu and good veggie burgers. Please put me in the right direction.
Thanks,
Sunny

[beachvegan]

Hi, Sometimes you have to look at the bottom of shelves in the "international" sections of supermarkets. But here are some online sources (nz based) that will ship you chilled foods like vegan cheese and so many other lovely things. - http://www.angelfood.co.nz/ http://thecrueltyfreeshop.co.nz/