Vegan Store Cupboard Challenge

Baileys_Babe

Sounds fantastic @leftatthetrafficlights

leftatthetrafficlights

Just realised that this thread has been going for over 10 years now!! How things have changed for vegans since it started- eating out was almost impossible and I think that beanfeast and sosmix were the only 'fast foods' readily available at that point!! 😂

Weather here today is rubbish - a definite day for comfort food so I'm doing cabbage, rice and red beans for dinner - I always serve it with loads of black pepper and cranberry sauce - tasty and cheap. Just need to send dh into the garden to get the cabbage- the rest of the stuff is in my cupboards 😁  

Doom_and_Gloom

10 years ago LM frozen sausages were vegan and found easily in supermarkets. The Deep country pies they did were also vegan and available most places, they used to come in packs of 4 not the 2 they do now!

Eating out was a nightmare unless it was a veggie/vegan place yes. I remember having a lot of salad and moaning at the price of it. Some places would serve a baked potato with no butter and beans that were suitable. If you got more choice than that it was a happy day, lol. I got very used to going places with my own food so I had something decent to eat.

Seeing the differences of vegan food, drink, toiletries etc availability over the last 16 years (how long I've been vegan) is crazy.
Back then, for example, if you wanted anything other than Alpro soya milk (the only vegan milk easily available in supermarkets by memory) you had to go to a health store. It was basic. Now there are soo many products that it can be difficult to know what to buy, lol.

Having home made vegan quiche, salad, beans and maybe some veg for dinner later. Most the items to make the quiche were store cupboard/freezer items.

leftatthetrafficlights

@Doom_and_Gloom - you're right, I was mixing it up with when I first became vegan which was a lot more than 10 years ago!! 😂 

Whatever happened to beanfeasts? 🤔 I look back fondly on them now but they were probably not great! 😂 

Went out to buy food yesterday for next weekend as we're having an early solstice celebration then - the weekday solstice festivities will be limited for my son in law as he's working so I like to do a full on weekend for him 😉 

Bought some vegan camembert which apparently you can bake so have decided to do that for starters instead of what I had originally planned - I'll report back on how successful it was! 😉 

Putting the solstice deccies up today then having valencian rice for dinner in front of the open fire 😍

leftatthetrafficlights

I'm looking ahead now to next year (celebrating solstice means that my 'new year' starts on 22nd December 😉) and have decided that I am going to spend the first month eating purely from the freezers/fridge and storecupboard apart from £10 per week on fresh fruit/veg. 

I still have leeks, parsnips, savoy cabbage and brussel sprouts in the garden along with sage, thyme and rosemary; there's veg in the freezer; I have loads of dried pulses and grains; job lots of chutneys, jams and sauces; lots of flour and plenty of household cleaners and toiletries. 

I'm talking to dh tonight as he tends to forget what we're planning on doing and buys stuff anyway 🙈😂 he will be reminded tonight that he needs to stay away from the shops unless we've agreed it!! It's basically going to be a 'no spend' month 😉 

Tonight we're having the remains of the ethiopian lentils I made last night along with rice and chutneys. 

leftatthetrafficlights

Happy Solstice!!! 🎄❄🍾 

Spending the day celebrating then tomorrow is the start of my new year 😊 

As I am embarking on a year of self-care and healthy living, breakfast tomorrow is melon and blueberries; lunch will be a large bowl of leaves, pomegranate, winter salad (parsnips, carrots, swede, red cabbage) and green lentils; dinner will be steamed broccoli, brussel sprouts, green beans and savoy cabbage all drizzled with a sage 'butter', served with sweet potato and hommous. 

I need to go through the storecupboard and freezers tomorrow so that I can get an inventory sorted- I want to spend the bare minimum so need to know exactly what I have! 😊

leftatthetrafficlights

Well, beaten by the onset of a nasty cold (well, the return of the one I've had for weeks actually 🙈 it likes to lull me into a false sense of security then batter me again!! 😔) my food plans and completing an inventory went awry!! 

Today I have made a 'bake' of toor dhaal and chickpea 'rice with onions and smoked paprika - I'll serve it with salad leaves and mango chutney 😊 

I've decided that I'm going to put a 2022 challenge up once I've got my inventory list - as it's been 10 years since I put this one up (had to change my name as I no longer had access to the email address I had) I think it's time for a new start! I'll put a link to this thread in the first post 😉 

The new thread will focus on actually using up my inventory list - that was the intention of this one originally but I lost my way pretty quickly!! 😂

CCW007

Looking forward to a new thread.  New Year will see me trying to practise more self-care in lots of ways - cutting out the booze, exercising more and healthier eating with lots more vegan meals. 

I'm pretty close to debt neutral so a low cost January and eating out of the fridge / freezer will be helpful too!

leftatthetrafficlights

@CCW007 - doing a similar thing myself! 😊 will be lovely to have company! 😉  

New challenge: 
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6321992/2022-vegan-storecupboard-challenge#latest

Friday1989

@leftatthetrafficlights and @Doom_and_Gloom you both reminded me my 15 year veganniversary is next week and how much has changed in that time! Visiting my family in a small town was a particular challenge. It was possible to get LM sausages, soya milk and non-dairy margarine but not from the same supermarket  

I have to say, I really struggle with decision anxiety now restaurant options are more expansive than chips/baked potato and beans/occasional pizza with no cheese if you got lucky. Nandos and wagamama were the only two chains I could rely on for vegan food. When a chicken restaurant is your best option... 

I'll pop over to the new thread and steal some of your meal ideas