'Accidently Vegan' Treats

I'm going to try and keep a list of all the sweet and savoury treats I find that are vegan (as far as I can tell). I might make a separate section for the specified vegan or 'free from' items; otherwise just 'accidental vegan' things for now. (Certainly not exhaustive, but I list of what I like.)


Sweet

• Bourbon Creams (Tesco, Morrisons)
• Brambley Apple Pies (Morrisons)
• Cadburys: Bourneville, Original Drinking Chocolate
• Chocolate Hazelnut Spread (Morrisons Savers)
• Dairyfine Mint Creme (Aldi)
• Dark Chocolate and Orange Thins (Morrisons)
• Dark Chocolate (Morrisons Savers)
• Dark Chocolate Mint Cremes (Morrisons)
• Digestives with Dark Chocolate (Aldi)
• Fizzy Fangs (Sainsburys, Morrisons)
• Fox's: Chunkie Cookie Dark Chocolate Chunk, Party Rings, Crinkle Crunch Coconut
• Fry's: Peppermint Cream, Chocolate Cream, Orange Cream
• Fruit Jellies (Morrisons)
• Green and Blacks: Dark 70%, Dark 80%, Maya Gold, Dark Cherry, Dark Ginger, Hot Chocolate Powder
• Haribo: Rainbow Strips
• Jacobs Fig Rolls
• Jammie Dodgers
• Jelly Beans (Asda)
• Jelly Tots
• Lindt: Dark Chocolate Bunny
• McVities Hobnobs, Hobnobs Chocolate Chip, Ginger Nuts
• Millions: Strawberry
• Mr Kipling: Apple and Blackcurrant Pies, Jam Tarts, Treacle Tart
• Oreos: Original, Chocolate, Golden
• Pink Panther Wafers
• Rainbow Drops
• Skittles
• Starburst
• Strawberry Flavour Lances (Tesco, Morrisons)
• Strawberry Laces (Morrisons)
• Super Sour Pastilles (M+S)
• Tesco Finest Swiss Dark Chocolate with Peppermint

Savoury

• Bacon Rashers (Tesco)
• Doritos: Chilli Heatwave, Lightly Salted
• Garlic Baguette Frozen (Morrisons)
• Garlic Pizza Bread Frozen (Morrisons)
• Goodfella's Garlic Bread
• Hula Hoops: Original, Smokey Bacon
• Kettle Crisps: Sea Salt, Lightly Salted, Sweet Chilli
• McCoys: Salt and Vinegar, Thai Sweet Chicken
• Nik Naks: Nice n' Spicy, Rib n' Saucy
• Onion Rings (Morrisons, Asda)
• Prawn Shells (Tesco)
• Pringles: Original, Paprika, Texas BBQ
• Ritz Crackers
• Tomato and Basil Garlic Bread (Asda)
• Wiglets
• Vegetable Samosa (Morrisons)
• Walkers: Ready Salted, Worcester, Prawn Cocktail
• Walkers Extra Crunchy: King Prawn Cocktail
• Walkers Sensations: Onion and Vinegar

Food Review: Alpro Soya Dessert

4 in a pack

So I bought these with low expectations. I'm not a massive fan of soya milk, I prefer almond milk and use that as my milk substitute just fine (and have done for about 7 months before I went vegan for lent).
But these are nice, I also bought the vanilla ones but I have to say the choc ones are my favourite. They definitely don't have the same texture or thickness as yogurt, I think if I had to place it, more custard like? Would definitely buy again. I found these for £1 a pack in Asda, not sure how much they are normally but a nice add to my lunch if not too expensive normally.

Looks like custard. Feels like custard. Is not custard.

It has also made me consider trying soya milk again, maybe mixed in with things it's less noticeable as a flavour. It's certainly a lot cheaper than almond milk (although I tend to bulk buy that when I find it £1 carton so rarely have run out) and may mix into tea a bit easier.

Substitute score: 5/10
Taste: 7/10
Summary: Not yogurt, but a nice dessert/snack none the less!

Food Review: Moo Free Original Chocolate

Another item of food I had forgotten I would need to find a replacement for. And I did in the form of 'Moo Free' which I found in Sainsburys in the 'free from' section on sale for £1.50ish. I'll admit, I was sceptical and worried it would taste like dog chocolate (don't ask how I know).

BUT

I like it.

Ok so it's no galaxy smooth milk chocolate bar, and anyone who tells you otherwise is lying, but it's nice. It tastes like advent calendar chocolate (the cheap ones, not fancy M+S or Waitress ones), which in a way is good because I don't want to scoff the whole bar in one sitting and feel sick for the next hour. Instead I can happily only eat a couple of squares and still get my chocolate fix.

What is that animal even supposed to be?

Was possibly made even nicer when I kept it in the fridge.

Substitute Score: 8/10. Is definitely chocolate.
Taste: 7/10.
Summary: A lot better than I thought. But I was expecting dog food so take that as you will. I defiantly want to try other kinds to find the real winner.

A Slight Stumble

So I had been doing quite well... until I went to visit my friend at the weekend. I hadn't seen her for quite a while and it had completely slipped my mind to tell her of my lent plan. So I rock up and it turns out she'd specifically bought extra food for us. Me being the nice person I am, thought it was overly rude of me to suddenly be like 'oh yeh by the way I don't eat that stuff anymore so tough luck I'm not eating it sorry I didn't say earlier'.

As it turns out, when I read the labels, fajitas are fairly vegan (minus the chicken, obviously, which I only took the smallest amounts of). Might have to try a chicken free version at a later point!

V-day

Worked out I actually had no food in my fridge or cupboards, so first up a trip to the supermarket was in order. This time I ventured to a big Tesco's to see what they had. Again spent a long time looking at labels, Tescos do label a lot of their own brand food as vegan (if it is), but not everything, so it was a lot of guessing on my part. I daresay I've probably bought something that isn't vegan, but I did my best!
(haven't included fruits and veg in my pictures as I'm pretty sure I got that right!)
I was quite excited to find jelly sweets as I have a massive sweet tooth and was worried I wouldn't find any.

Tesco pasta sauce, no V label but its just tomatoes right?

Mmmm sausages! And Jammie Dodgers.

Jelly sweets for my diabetes

I also found quite a few yogurts and cheese-like products in the 'free from' section which I will definitely have to try out at some point. I got all excited when I found some muffins, then realised they were only free from gluten, not egg or milk. Sad times.

Breakfast: Porridge (made with water) and strawberry jam
Lunch: Crackers, 9bar, banana
Dinner: Vegan nut burger thing I randomly found in the bottom of my freezer ...and sweets (hey it was late by the time I got back from the shops!)

Verdict: A good first day!

The Last Supper

So Shrove Tuesday marks the end of my non vegan ways for the next 40 days. Instead of traditional pancakes (so I could avoid having to go out to specifically buy eggs and milk which as of tomorrow I won't be able to use), I went for chicken and egg noodles with melted cheese on top. It was a good meal. But lets see what tomorrow brings!

So long and thanks for all the ...chicken

Testing the waters

Lent starts on the 10th so I thought I had better actually start looking at what I'm going to eat for the next 40 days! So I went on a shopping trip to my local Morrisons to see what was about.

To say this is going to be a challenge for me is an understatement. Everything I picked up thinking 'of course this will be vegan', was not. Everything seems to somehow cram milk or eggs into it. Even the 'free from' section was pitiful in terms of vegan choice, I really feel for those with egg or milk allergies. I did find a few selected things, which I have concluded will be what I live off. I look forward to trying the vegan cheese (as I'm a massive cheese lover). I did shed a tear as I passed the haloumi and goats cheese sections. You will be missed.

I think my next trip will have to be to the bigger Tesco's that is nearby, which I hope will have a bigger selection of stuff. Or maybe it just gets easier as you know what you can and can't eat. I hope so it took me about 45 mins to buy only a couple of things after looking at, what felt like, every label in the shop.

Meanwhile I'm eating all the animal products to get it out my system I'm actually looking forward the break!
I joke.
The reality is I don't want to waste food, so thought it best to use up what I can before I start.

But anyway, here's my first 'testing the waters' haul:

Violife cheese

Sacla Pesto

Almond Breeze milk

9 Bar- Peanut

Mama rice noodles

Jacobs' Crispbreads

Go go veganism

I like meat. I like cheese. I like eggs. I like milk. I love fish.
And I'm going vegan.

Madness?

Quite possibly.

The idea for this has been brewing for a while. I know quite a few vegetarians, and know of a few vegans. It's always been one of those 'oh I could never do that' things that I kind of have wanted to try. Even if just to say I can. Then recently, one of my close friends mentioned she was going to go vegan for lent, and thus the seeds were sown.

For me personally this is all about trying it. Giving it a go. I want my lent attempt to mean something,  is better for the environment and it's it's healthy idea for a much needed post christmas diet.

I daresay there will be mistakes, accidental eatings and despair...but it's all about learning over the 40 days of lent. As with most things, I like keeping a diary and maybe it will make me stick to it if I know I've got to spill all.

That's the theory anyway...