Hello

[Debs]

Hi Everyone,

I've been a vegetarian for around 8 years. I am currently doing the Go Vegan for 30 Days Challenge and on day 19. Initially I found it tricky, mainly because I could not find a milk alternative that I could tolerate in my tea. I am never seen without a milky cup of tea in my hand I tried all the milk alternatives in my local supermarket and many of the fruit teas too and disliked them all. After a couple of days, I realised I could drink warm almond or coconut milk and enjoy that instead. I also love almond, soya, oatly and coconut milk etc cold, but for some reason, in tea it tastes awful to me. I am now 19 days without a cup of tea! I am sleeping incredibly well. I am sure that once the 30 day challenge is up, I will remain vegan. The only other issue I've found is eating out, in cafes, restaurants etc. I seem to end up with a glass of water and a jacket potato and beans alot. I've slowly begun to change my make up, household cleaning products etc and doing lots and lots of research. I am currently looking at candles, and if anyone could give me tips of buying vegan candles that do not cost the earth, I'd appreciate it. I cannot seem to find any info on whether my local supermarkets, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl stock vegan candles. Look forward to learning more and getting to know everyone

 

[winter.frost]

Have you tried this? It's one of my favourite milk alternatives and, I think, does really excellently in warm drinks. Don't knock it until you've tried it - it was one of the last dairy alternatives I got around to simply because I was a sceptic about the word 'hemp' (which I regretted almost immediately).

You should try a website like www.happycow.net when you go to eat out. We have many threads here on the forum about eating out and the more well-known chain restaurants too (if you're curious about those) - have a browse.

Synthetic beeswax is vegan, and were you to find a pack of 'synthetic candles' I imagine they would be vegan too. There are plenty of products out there that are what we call 'accidentally vegan' because they do not yet advertise as being so. A quick googling of 'vegan candles' threw up lots of results if you're prepared to buy online.

Good luck with your challenge and I hope you stay with us!

 

[fzjohnson]

Hemp milk is really nice. For tea I had to gradually train my palate into liking it with soy, and usually only one type of soy milk (Silk in the US, ghastly blue Tesco in the UK and Soy Milky in Australia). The only reason I diss the homebrand Tesco one is because it is full of sweetener (apologies, Mr or Mrs Tesco). I'm now off added sugar again and looking for an alternative. I may well return to Hemp milk. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Emmamae]

Hi Everyone,

I've been a vegetarian for around 8 years. I am currently doing the Go Vegan for 30 Days Challenge and on day 19. Initially I found it tricky, mainly because I could not find a milk alternative that I could tolerate in my tea. I am never seen without a milky cup of tea in my hand I tried all the milk alternatives in my local supermarket and many of the fruit teas too and disliked them all. After a couple of days, I realised I could drink warm almond or coconut milk and enjoy that instead. I also love almond, soya, oatly and coconut milk etc cold, but for some reason, in tea it tastes awful to me. I am now 19 days without a cup of tea! I am sleeping incredibly well. I am sure that once the 30 day challenge is up, I will remain vegan. The only other issue I've found is eating out, in cafes, restaurants etc. I seem to end up with a glass of water and a jacket potato and beans alot. I've slowly begun to change my make up, household cleaning products etc and doing lots and lots of research. I am currently looking at candles, and if anyone could give me tips of buying vegan candles that do not cost the earth, I'd appreciate it. I cannot seem to find any info on whether my local supermarkets, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl stock vegan candles. Look forward to learning more and getting to know everyone

Hi Debs
I'm a transitional vegan too, and have had/am having similar issues to you (milk in tea, and eating out) I drink my tea with Oatly and it's ok but I definitely find myself drinking less tea than I used to, but that's probably a good thing!! I would love to find a good cheese substitute for pizzas but I haven't managed to yet . As for eating out, there seems to be very little choice in the places near me but I don't eat out much so I can cope with that!!

Are you finding friends and family supportive?? I can honestly say I'm not unfortunately . That aside, it's all going very well and I'm eating so much healthier than I've ever done!!

 

[winter.frost]

I would love to find a good cheese substitute for pizzas but I haven't managed to yet .

Have you tried mozzarisella or the vegusto range? They are the best for pizzas in my opinion. As well as this.

 

[Emmamae]

Hi winter.frost

Thank you for those ideas- I'll definitely have a look into them, although I did find a website that sells mozzarisella recently. It wasn't too expensive on its own, the postage was £5.99 (it had to be next day delivery as it's chilled) and as I haven't tried it before, I don't really want to spend that much in case I didn't like it.
Without shopping on the internet, I'm not sure where I can get them from, but I do know there's a Vegan festival in Leeds coming up next month, so I am going to see if I can try some samples and buy some there instead. It's not actually bothering me too much, but pizzas really aren't the same any more

 

[winter.frost]

pizzas really aren't the same any more

Not a fan of the pizza marinara then? (Not all pizzas have cheese, the Italians call it the pizza marinara).

 

[Emmamae]

I think I need to look at some recipes, I had a quick look yesterday and instantly found some that looked way better than what I've been having. I won't give up just yet then

 

[Debs]

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for all the helpful replies The 30 Day Vegan challenge ended last week, and I am still vegan. I have found I no longer crave a cup of tea, which is great. I did try Good Hemp, winter.frost, and although I enjoyed it cold, like the other milk alternatives, I didn't enjoy it in my tea.

Emmamae, I have found most of my family and friends seem quite bemused by me being vegan. I am usually met with a look of shock and then "Why?". It seems very strange to them. The eating out is still difficult, so little choice. I was also looking for a cheese that would melt on a homemade pizza too, so I will try the suggestions mentioned.

The main difficulty I have had is digestive problems. It has reached such a chronic level, I have had to visit my GP and I'm currently having tests, as I've had regular cramping, wind, diahorrea over the last 5 - 6 weeks or so, and I don't know if it is related to a vegan diet or not, but it started at around the same time. I am also anaemic, but cannot tolerate the iron tablets, so while I await the results of my next blood test, any advice on what foods I can eat that contain iron would be great.

 

[winter.frost]

I am also anaemic, but cannot tolerate the iron tablets, so while I await the results of my next blood test, any advice on what foods I can eat that contain iron would be great.

Have you tried liquid iron? If you get the apple flavoured (Spatone) and drink it with apple juice you cannot taste it at all.

 

[Emmamae]

Hi Debs

Sorry to hear things aren't going too well, I hope things improve soon.

Just a quick update on the pizza front, I must tell you about a recipe I found from 'the minimalist baker' website. It's cheeseless but I can honestly say it's the nicest pizza EVER! I highly recommend it (although I used pitta breads as my base instead of making my own, and also bought the sauce).

Good luck with the iron test results xx

 

[Red Saturnino]

I am a newbie here but I enjoyed reading all your post. Indeed, this page is very interesting. Thank you guys for your very inspiring information.

 

[Dawn]

Hi everyone! This is my first post so please be gentle with me I'm doing pretty well with the vegan diet but like many of you, am struggling to find a milk which tastes decent in tea. I love my Earl Grey tea which I have drunk with skimmed milk for years and I can't stand black tea unfortunately. I really don't want to give up my tea so having tried soya (vile in tea), and almond milk (not very nice - and it actually curdles in coffee!), I'll give the hemp milk a try as others here have suggested.

Just a question regarding the hemp milk - how creamy is it? Having drunk skimmed milk for years, I really don't like anything more creamy than that.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice!

Dawn

 

[winter.frost]

Hello Dawn, welcome!

I'm not sure it was mentioned earlier, but before I dive into various different kinds of vegan milks I think it's worth me saying that taste buds change. That is, if you allow them to. It doesn't take too many months to start forgetting what dairy actually tastes like, and so vegan milks that you might not be so fond of now could very well become your favourites later on. This certainly happened to me. In fact, after I had gone vegetarian I tried a few vegan milks and - I'm sorry to say - ruled out going vegan because I thought 'I could never do that'... and now this mentality had completely changed (along with my taste buds!).

I also failed to mention earlier that not all vegan milks are equal. I.e. now, after having been vegan for 26 months, I know that there are several almond milks that will curdle tea and all the brands that don't. So don't give up hope on a particular milk just because one of the brands you brought didn't work out. If you bought several brands of the same kind of milk and taste-tested them at the same time you would be astonished to experience the diversity of taste there. You don't get that with dairy so much, but you really do with vegan milks. Also, the same 'curdling' principal applies to vegan milks as it does to dairy - the older the milk, the more likely it is to curdle.

So, here is a reasonably comprehensive list of available vegan milks:

• soy

• almond
• cashew
  
• chestnut
• hazelnut
• macadamia
• walnut

• coconut

• amaranth
  
• barley
• buckwheat
• grain (made from blends of different grains)
• millet
• oat
• quinoa
  
• rice (also brown rice, black rice - usually in powder form)
  
  
• hemp
• flax
• sesame
  
• sunflower

This is a list of known milks you can buy, however you can also make your own milk out of pretty much any nut, grain, or seed you choose.

Hemp milk is, alas (for you), fairly creamy. There is an almond milk company called Blue Diamond and their almond milk has the same texture and 'thinner' quality that skimmed milk does, you could try them. I'd give soy another go, maybe try a different brand. I was never a fan of soy then a friend offered me a home brand of UHT soy in my tea. At first I was horrified, I had associated UHT with really bad hotels, but it was actually quite surprised the taste was very pleasant.

There are even some 'coffee milks' out there. http://www.kikkomanusa.com/homecooks/products/products_hc_details.php?pf=11006&fam=110

Point is, I'm sure something out there will suit. It is just a matter of finding it.

 

[Dawn]

Thank you so much, that's really helpful! I'm going to print off your list and take it with me when I next go shopping . I think you are right too, there will be a fair amount of trial and error involved until I find something that I like, but I shall persevere. Thanks again!

Dawn