I need help with a few things.

[Arlo Nicholson]

I'm new to the forum, I am 16, from Essex, and mostly a cheerful person, very open minded and peaceful.

I really want to become vegan, ( Not for the health benefit. ) But being Vegan in some areas in the UK are
hard, I am from a small city, and it's hard to be vegan, not much to choose from let's say. I have no clue what to do, I already drink soy milk and I don't eat fish or meat, but I mean like, how do I find out if food is vegan?

Please someone help! My area is really **** for being vegan.

Thanks!

 

[fzjohnson]

Hi Arlo, Welcome! You're brave for tackling this new lifestyle in a tough environment. Well done. Clearly it really matters to you.

Others have posted the links to an online site called "myvegansupermarket" that I've visited & found products I hadn't realised were vegan before so there are quite a few mainstream choices. Most of them seem to be listed there so that makes any decisions easier.

In terms of day-to-day meals, if you like eastern dishes and have access to the kitchen then I'd totally recommend making your own spice mixes to have on hand for a quick stir fry with veg, maybe add some coconut cream (and cook rice in another pot to have as your base) or if not, just water and then dried rice noodles on top. Pop on the lid for a few minutes and the noodles and veg are done. Quick, simple, super tasty and as varied as the vegetables you have in your local supermarket. Also making from scratch means you know it's vegan.

I have three spice mixes in my fridge, Malaysian, Madras and Vindaloo. I also have a jar of tom yum paste. Be careful not to confuse this with laksa or pad thai sauce (both of these have fish in them). The spices and tom yum can be purchased from a good supermarket or delivered free from RealFoodsUK or buywholefoodsonlineuk if you order over a certain amount. There's another site listed on this forum called "Healthy Supplies" but I've not used it.

This week I've just returned to regular eating having given up added sugar for Lent, which meant I wasn't eating my usual Linda McCartney frozen food products (vegan country pies, sausage rolls and sausages). Believe it or not, they have added sugar. Anyhow my first bite of these has been so disappointing - they seem so bland! So be warned, if you focus on the fabulous Pacific rim, middle eastern and indochine recipes it may be hard to eat regular processed food again... oh, and you could lose a fair bit of weight without meaning to.

Good luck with finding other vegans in your locale to assist with supporting your decision. If you can't, fear not. This forum is here for you too.

 

[winter.frost]

Welcome! You have some good advice above.

There's also this site: www.happycow.net

Holland & Barrett is also a really good place to shop - most of these now have fridge-freezers at the back that are well stocked with vegan food. Also, let's not forget that eating a wholefoods-based vegan diet is very easy

Labels are getting better at identifying vegan foods, and allergens are generally typed in bold so you can just scan for non-vegan items if needs be. But there are lots of other threads here to help if you do a quick search and browse - I'd pull up the links for you but I'm multitasking too many things right now

Have a goosey gander around here, hopefully the site will help! Best of luck.

 

[Arlo Nicholson]

Thank you both for the reply.