Need some Tips for Vegan/Veg Food in the UK

shyvas

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I'm coming to the UK next week and need some advise for shopping.

I'll be buying food at Sainsbury's, Waitrose, Asda's. I may also pop into Tesco's.

What kind of fake meats/sausages/burgers can I purchase ? I won't have much time to cook so will mainly purchase ready made protein.

I have already found Quorn which isn't vegan but it does taste delicious. I haven't tried the Cauldron range and have no idea what their stuff tastes like.

I do have a preference to shop at Sainsbury's and think that they may have some vegetarian/vegan burgers, ice cream ?

What kind of vegan (gums) sweets do the large supermakets have ?

Last time I was visiting, I bought some Oatly, Alpro cream and yogurt (thanks to your tips) and it all tasted fabulous and was much cheaper compared to similar stuff that I buy overhere.

Can I purchase vegan/cheese that melts anywhere ? I have already tried Redwoods Cheesly and another brand (?) which tastes awful and doesn't have the melting factor.

I'll also be stocking up with make up and moisturising cream(Liz Earle) which I mainly buy from M&S.

Your tips were really helpful during my trip in Spring and I found some great stuff.
 
Hi ya! :)

For fake meats, the best things available will be in health food stores. I recommend a trip to Holland and Barrett, where there will be much better quality faux meats. However super markets do okay too, I recommend Linda Mcartney products which are available in most supermarkets (including Sainsburys), especially their sausages and their faux meat pies are good.

I also like spicy bean burgers - most supermarkets do their own versions, I think Tesco's do the nicest ones but they're all tasty. Goodlife http://www.goodlife.co.uk/ also do tasty vegan products, and are available in Waitrose and maybe the other supermarkets too.

Sainsburys label their products vegan when they are vegan, which makes life easy. However I love their Sour Fizzy Fangs, which don't even say "vegetarian" on them, presumably due to an error because I have emailed them to check as they looked vegan and they have confirmed for me that they are. They also do tasty "shoe-lace" type gummy sweets which are labeled vegan. They're in the kids section! There are also starburst and jelly tots in most supermarkets (I think they're vegan? I never eat them but I think so).

Sainsburys also sell "celtic caramel choices" in their free from section which are delicious, one of my favourite vegan chocolates. They're expensive but good. I thoroughly recommend! I'd stay away from their own brand free-from chocolate though, it's pretty vile.

Cheezly super melting cheese melts, and I think is quite good. I usually hate vegan cheeses but I thought this one was fairly pleasant, you can get it in Holland and Barrett. I don't usually eat vegan cheese though so I can't give much more advice!

I'd also have a look in superdrug, their own brand products are labeled vegan, which is really nice! They have face masks and other girly things that are quite nice, and dead cheap too.

:) Enjoy your stay! I hope I helped a little!
 
:thanks: SR - your advice is fabulous and really will help with my food shopping.

I didn't realise that Cheezly made cheese that melts! I've never stumbled across the Celtic caramel range neither. I'll look out for LM's food and will go to H&B.
I'm really looking forward to it as it is so hard to come across vegan food overhere despite the numerous health food shops we have.

:hug:
 
Ditto to the Goodlife products. They are in most large stores, but now Sainsburys is making their own brand of the same items, so I've seen the Goodlife stuff less. Goodlife uses no plastic packaging and just this past year changed all of their recipes so that the entire line is vegan! It's a company I really feel good about supporting.

For sausages/fake meats, I find the Redwoods stuff (also called "Cheatin'" brand) far superior to anything else. I only see it in H&B, but we don't have a Morrisons nearby and I think I've heard they carry some of their items. Taifun sausages and tofu are superb as well, but you may be able to get those in France? I've not had anything from that company that I've not liked.

Sainsbury has loads of vegan gummy stuff. I'm not a big gum fan, but I like the "Strawberry pencils" (I think that's the right name. I got a bunch of items to send to a friend in Norway last year. There are several items that aren't labeled as vegan, but are easily discernable as such from reading the ingredients list. Holland and Barrett have lots of choices as well, though more expensive. They have vegan gummy bears, cola bottles, etc. Jellytots, available in every newsagent or store are vegan as well, along with Starburst. (oops...just saw that SR already posted about these der) Many places (newsagents, etc.) have a candy labeled "American Hard Gums" or "American Gummies" etc. and I've not seen any of them that weren't vegan. Mostly, I've gotten them because I find the name funny. :)

They now sell Tofutti mozzarella shreds at some hfs and Holland and Barrett, which melts nice, but the taste isn't my favorite. The soy-free cheezy melts somewhat and is very nice tasting, imo. If you are someplace where you can buy Vegusto cheese, that is the one I've found that tastes the most like dairy cheese. The soyfree one tastes a lot like processed cheese to me. The self-ascribed (French) cheese snob that works at the vegan shop in London likes the Vegusto too. They've have some trouble with the company though, and now they sell a different brand, VegGourmet which we found pretty gnarly (we even threw some away!)

Ditto to Superdrug. They used to have Une makeup, which is mostly vegan, but our local shop seems to have stopped selling it. Boots and Debenhams both have Origins counters, which are good places to hunt for vegan goodies too.

I love Booja Booja ice cream, but the man prefers Swedish Glace, so take that as you will. :D

Are you going to be in London? Loads more options if you are there or in another big city.
 
^ I think Swedish Glace is the best value for money, but booja booja tastes nicer - but maybe for £5 a tub nicer!

:) Oh yes and Goody Good Stuff are the BEST vegan gummy sweets, I forgot about that, they sell them in H&B and also Waitrose. The Celtic range is Irish, they don't even have a website and Sainsbury's only sells the caramels which is a shame because I'd love to try the others, but they are really good.
 
Just a tip- not all LM food is vegan. Their plain sausages are (but they also sell non vegan sausages) as are their sausage rolls and their faux meat pies, most other things have egg, sadly. Sainsburys have an own brand mini sausage roll which is vegan.

I actually like Sainsburys own brand dairy free chocolate, especially the bars with rice crispie pieces!

You can now get almond milk quite cheaply, tesco currently have Blue Diamond at £1.

As mentioned, H&B have the biggest range (make sure you go to a branch with a fridge freezer section!) they sell faux meat slices, fish fingers, chicken burgers and nuggets, bean burritos, quiches, cheesecake, cheezly, pies, pasties, sweets, ice cream and chocolate and more and currently they have buy one get one half price on everything in store!
 
Ditto to the Goodlife products. They are in most large stores, but now Sainsburys is making their own brand of the same items, so I've seen the Goodlife stuff less. Goodlife uses no plastic packaging and just this past year changed all of their recipes so that the entire line is vegan! It's a company I really feel good about supporting.

For sausages/fake meats, I find the Redwoods stuff (also called "Cheatin'" brand) far superior to anything else. I only see it in H&B, but we don't have a Morrisons nearby and I think I've heard they carry some of their items. Taifun sausages and tofu are superb as well, but you may be able to get those in France? Yes, the frankfurters are the only ones that taste good. The merguez or plain ones taste awful.
I've not had anything from that company that I've not liked.

Sainsbury has loads of vegan gummy stuff. I'm not a big gum fan, but I like the "Strawberry pencils" (I think that's the right name. I got a bunch of items to send to a friend in Norway last year. There are several items that aren't labeled as vegan, but are easily discernable as such from reading the ingredients list. Holland and Barrett have lots of choices as well, though more expensive. They have vegan gummy bears, cola bottles, etc. Jellytots, available in every newsagent or store are vegan as well, along with Starburst. (oops...just saw that SR already posted about these der) Many places (newsagents, etc.) have a candy labeled "American Hard Gums" I'm a great fan of our wine gums and am trying to find some gum substitutes. I know tha the US gum sweets don't contain gelatine so will look out for those. Aussie soft liquorice is also great so I"'ll stock up with some.

or "American Gummies" etc. and I've not seen any of them that weren't vegan. Mostly, I've gotten them because I find the name funny. :)

They now sell Tofutti mozzarella shreds at some hfs and Holland and Barrett, which melts nice, but the taste isn't my favorite. The soy-free cheezy melts somewhat and is very nice tasting, imo. If you are someplace where you can buy Vegusto cheese, that is the one I've found that tastes the most like dairy cheese. The soyfree one tastes a lot like processed cheese to me. The self-ascribed (French) cheese snob that works at the vegan shop in London likes the Vegusto too. They've have some trouble with the company though, and now they sell a different brand, VegGourmet which we found pretty gnarly (we even threw some away!) I'll go to a H&B and try and find some cheese that melting cheese. We don't get these cheeses in our health food shops overhere, so I'"ll bring some back.I'll make a note of the Vegusto and tofutti.

Ditto to Superdrug. They used to have Une makeup, which is mostly vegan, but our local shop seems to have stopped selling it. Boots and Debenhams both have Origins counters, which are good places to hunt for vegan goodies too. I stock up with vegan make up in the US as it is far cheaper. I usually buy a few bits and pieces from M&S and moisturiser from the Liz Earle range. I think that the Simple range from Boots is vegan ?

I love Booja Booja ice cream, but the man prefers Swedish Glace, so take that as you will. :D I didn't manage to find any soya ice cream in Sainsbug's during my last visit and was dissapointed. I'll have to try and see whether Waitrose stocks some.

Are you going to be in London? I'm planning to go to the Knightsbridge branch of Whole Foods and will pop into Harrods. I'm sure that their prices will not suit my pocket LOL ! I'm also going to have lunch in one of Harrod's restaurants but am amazed by the lack of vegetarian food which is available.

Loads more options if you are there or in another big city.
I am also planning to spend a day in Reading as it has some great shops in a lovely pedestrian area. I like their M&S and John Lewis store. Primark also sells some great stuff. There is also a huge TK Max which have great bargains.

Thank you so much for taking the time to give me some very helpful tips.:kiss:
 
Just a tip- not all LM food is vegan. Their plain sausages are (but they also sell non vegan sausages) as are their sausage rolls and their faux meat pies, most other things have egg, sadly. Sainsburys have an own brand mini sausage roll which is vegan.

I actually like Sainsburys own brand dairy free chocolate, especially the bars with rice crispie pieces!

You can now get almond milk quite cheaply, tesco currently have Blue Diamond at £1.

As mentioned, H&B have the biggest range (make sure you go to a branch with a fridge freezer section!) they sell faux meat slices, fish fingers, chicken burgers and nuggets, bean burritos, quiches, cheesecake, cheezly, pies, pasties, sweets, ice cream and chocolate and more and currently they have buy one get one half price on everything in store!

I need to bring back a trunk full of goodies; I'm amazed by the choice of vegan food that you can buy in the UK and US compared to France. I'm still drooling over the Gardein chicken tenders..........:drool:
 
Most things have already been mentioned! :)

I love the LM sausages so much - very yummy. & everything I've tried from the cauldron range was very tasty too. They do ready to eat tofu & falafel which are good to grab if you want to eat something on the go.

Also I'm obsessed with Nakd bars. Why does no one else seem to love them as much as me?! Favourites are cocoa orange & pecan pie. Mmmmmmm. They're available in all of those supermarkets & H&B.

Not sure if anyone mentioned Tesco's dairy free cheese blocks? There's the medium & mild kind, plus various cream cheeses & some soya yogurts etc.

Betty Hoola do an amazing facial oil which can be found in bigger sainsburys stores that have a beauty section. :)
 
Oh I second giving the superdrug face masks a try. I've tried quite a few of them & they're the best/most effective face masks I've ever used!

Barry M cosmetics do quite a few vegan items as well. I think the majority of their nail varnishes are safe; it's pretty easy to google the vegan Barry M list if I remember correctly. :)
 
Also I'm obsessed with Nakd bars. Why does no one else seem to love them as much as me?! Favourites are cocoa orange & pecan pie. Mmmmmmm. They're available in all of those supermarkets & H&B.


I LOVE THEM! SO MUCH!

The cherry ones and apple pie are my favourite. :drool:

shyvas: Not all of the Simple range is vegan. It's also very expensive, especially from Boots. Just off the top of my head Simple handwash is about £2.50 whereas you could get superdrug own brand stuff for about 80p.
Most of Superdrugs own brand stuff is vegan but some isn't (like most of the sun cream is vegetarian but not vegan and some of the hair dye isn't either :( ) but everything that is will be labelled somewhere as "suitable for vegetarians and vegans".
 
I LOVE THEM! SO MUCH!

The cherry ones and apple pie are my favourite. :drool:

shyvas: Not all of the Simple range is vegan. It's also very expensive, especially from Boots. Just off the top of my head Simple handwash is about £2.50 whereas you could get superdrug own brand stuff for about 80p.
Most of Superdrugs own brand stuff is vegan but some isn't (like most of the sun cream is vegetarian but not vegan and some of the hair dye isn't either :( ) but everything that is will be labelled somewhere as "suitable for vegetarians and vegans".

Yes! A fellow Nakd lover. :) I haven't tried those flavours yet. Jut really obsessed with cocoa orange...
 
Yes! A fellow Nakd lover. :) I haven't tried those flavours yet. Jut really obsessed with cocoa orange...

Berry Delight is my favourite and Berry Cheeky is also good. (I meant berry not cherry in my last post :oops: )
 
Ah yes, thought so. Well seeing as they're your favourite I may just have to try one tomorrow ;)
 
Hi ya! :)

For fake meats, the best things available will be in health food stores. I recommend a trip to Holland and Barrett, where there will be much better quality faux meats. However super markets do okay too, I recommend Linda Mcartney products which are available in most supermarkets (including Sainsburys), especially their sausages and their faux meat pies are good.

I also like spicy bean burgers - most supermarkets do their own versions, I think Tesco's do the nicest ones but they're all tasty. Goodlife http://www.goodlife.co.uk/ also do tasty vegan products, and are available in Waitrose and maybe the other supermarkets too.

Sainsburys label their products vegan when they are vegan, which makes life easy. However I love their Sour Fizzy Fangs, which don't even say "vegetarian" on them, presumably due to an error because I have emailed them to check as they looked vegan and they have confirmed for me that they are. They also do tasty "shoe-lace" type gummy sweets which are labeled vegan. They're in the kids section! There are also starburst and jelly tots in most supermarkets (I think they're vegan? I never eat them but I think so).

Sainsburys also sell "celtic caramel choices" in their free from section which are delicious, one of my favourite vegan chocolates. They're expensive but good. I thoroughly recommend! I'd stay away from their own brand free-from chocolate though, it's pretty vile.

Cheezly super melting cheese melts, and I think is quite good. I usually hate vegan cheeses but I thought this one was fairly pleasant, you can get it in Holland and Barrett. I don't usually eat vegan cheese though so I can't give much more advice!

I'd also have a look in superdrug, their own brand products are labeled vegan, which is really nice! They have face masks and other girly things that are quite nice, and dead cheap too.

:) Enjoy your stay! I hope I helped a little!

I tied all of these and they were really delicious. I enjoyed LM's pies and the gummy sweets at Sainsbury's.

I knew that I shouldn't have looked at this thread !I'm now craving those Sainsbug's fangs.:eek:
 
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Most things have already been mentioned! :)

I love the LM sausages so much - very yummy. & everything I've tried from the cauldron range was very tasty too. They do ready to eat tofu & falafel which are good to grab if you want to eat something on the go.

Also I'm obsessed with Nakd bars. Why does no one else seem to love them as much as me?! Favourites are cocoa orange & pecan pie. Mmmmmmm. They're available in all of those supermarkets & H&B.

Not sure if anyone mentioned Tesco's dairy free cheese blocks? There's the medium & mild kind, plus various cream cheeses & some soya yogurts etc.

Betty Hoola do an amazing facial oil which can be found in bigger sainsburys stores that have a beauty section. :)

:) What an amazing choice of goods.
 
It's time to bump up this thread as I'm flying over to the UK in April. I'm going to buy lots of the same
food items as they were all fabulous. However I didn't find any vegan cheese in Tesco's at either of the 2 branches that I visited.
I loved the LM range of sausages and pies so will be bringing tons back. I also loved the Swedish glace and all the Alpro yogurts, custard and cream.
Are there any new vegan foods in the shops ?

This thread is making me hungry.:rolleyes:
 
They don't carry the vegan cheese, yoghurts etc in all Tesco's but I like the mild hard cheese and the garlic soft cheese spread the best if you do manage to find them.:)

I don't go to H&B very much so I don't know if they have a lot of new stuff. I like the Food Heaven lemon cheesecake and I bought that in Tesco.

ETA they do Cat and the Cream cakes in Waitrose now.
 
Maybe the newest thing in supermarkets would be that they are rolling out the vegan Oreos. Be sure to check the packets.
Keep an eye on the uk product thread as its pretty popular. Also have the two restaurant threads...one for solely veg*n restaurants and one with the vegan options ate omni restaurants xxx
 
I don't like Oreos (too sweet) so will just pick up the usual goodies from Sainsbury's. I like their vegan chewy sweets and those caramel chocolates in the Free from aisle.
There aren't any vegan restaurants in the area where I'm staying so I just go to M&S for lunch which suits me fine.