Quality foods in Belfast City Centre (excluding ST George's market)

kidshorsesdogs

Dannyboyni, you will find as a vegetarian you will spend MORE time shopping! As a vegan I am never done shopping, I like to buy my fruit and vegetables fresh, I do keep some frozen on standby but the vast majority of my diet contains fresh vegetables. Of course all my lentils, beans, rices etc do keep for ages. You will not get the essential amino acids you need without greens in your diet (unless you are eating animal products, diary, eggs etc). I only wish I had a green grocer close by, so have to make do with the supermarkets.

You won't have any less worry or shopping, just different worry and shopping. Good luck with being vegetarian, a very healthy choice indeed.

Dannyboyni

kidshorsesdogs wrote: »

Dannyboyni, you will find as a vegetarian you will spend MORE time shopping! As a vegan I am never done shopping, I like to buy my fruit and vegetables fresh, I do keep some frozen on standby but the vast majority of my diet contains fresh vegetables. Of course all my lentils, beans, rices etc do keep for ages. You will not get the essential amino acids you need without greens in your diet (unless you are eating animal products, diary, eggs etc). I only wish I had a green grocer close by, so have to make do with the supermarkets.

You won't have any less worry or shopping, just different worry and shopping. Good luck with being vegetarian, a very healthy choice indeed.

I will be freezing most of my veggies. Asparagus for example can last one year in the freezer. I wouldnt be loosing any goodness, or very little if I blanch them before freezing. This way I can buy in bulk for a good while and stuff them in the frezer. I have vacuum sealed bags which save space and keep the food even fresher and prevent freezer burn.

I will just steam my veggies from frozen anyway, I can leave them to steam while I do other things.

kidshorsesdogs

Dannyboyni wrote: »

I will be freezing most of my veggies. Asparagus for example can last one year in the freezer. I wouldnt be loosing any goodness, or very little if I blanch them before freezing. This way I can buy in bulk for a good while and stuff them in the frezer. I have vacuum sealed bags which save space and keep the food even fresher and prevent freezer burn.

I will just steam my veggies from frozen anyway, I can leave them to steam while I do other things.

You have it all sorted, enjoy your veggie life from the freezer, and your once a year trip to the shops, I envy your organisation :cool:

Dannyboyni

Thanks for that. Yes I do like to keep organised.

Kidshorsesdogs, I take it its best for me to buy all of my dried goods online, i.e. quinola, TVP, buckwheat flour etc.

For example to buy quinola in Nut Meg in Belfast costs 0.63p per 100g where as online its 0.55p per 100g. And I take it the best place to be buying this stuff in bulk online is still https://www.goodnessdirect.co.uk. The postage will now be free because I will be ordering so much hehe.

I do enter this new diet change with many fears. I really cant find a good book which has a structured meal plan along with categorised recipes for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

Having looked at this food pyramid for vegetarians its very scary the amount of varied foods one must eat within a day to obtain all necessary protein and nutrients.

http://i.imgur.com/QASev.gif

kidshorsesdogs

Dannyboyni wrote: »

Thanks for that. Yes I do like to keep organised.

Kidshorsesdogs, I take it its best for me to buy all of my dried goods online, i.e. quinola, TVP, buckwheat flour etc.

For example to buy quinola in Nut Meg in Belfast costs 0.63p per 100g where as online its 0.55p per 100g. And I take it the best place to be buying this stuff in bulk online is still www.goodnessdirect.co.uk. The postage will now be free because I will be ordering so much hehe.

I do enter this new diet change with many fears. I really cant find a good book which has a structured meal plan along with categorised recipes for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

Having looked at this food pyramid for vegetarians its very scary the amount of varied foods one must eat within a day to obtain all necessary protein and nutrients.

http://i.imgur.com/QASev.gif

If you think the veggie pyramid is scary, you want to try the vegan one :eek: but in all seriousness, every single meal does not need to be balanced, as long as weekly/monthly it's balanced that is what matters. Amazon will have a huge variety of veg diet books, you can read samples of them online or have samples sent to your kindle, also the reviews will give you and idea of how good the book is.

Fresh frut/veg I buy in supermarkets/green grocers when I can, wish we had organic boxes in the area but don't. I do freeze some portions, in fact every meal I make will serve four so I eat one and freeze three (chinese food boxes). I always have a meal on hand.

Rice/lentils/lagumes/spices/minced garlic/ginger/soy sauce/vinegar/tamirand/nuts/tofu etc I buy from Asian supermarket (best price usually) Lee's in Donegal Pass. Tesco etc I use for offers, usually wholewheat rice/pasta etc, quinoa as I don't use much of it, frozen peppers/green beans/edamame/cauli/sweetcorn, Asda do frozen baby sweetcorn. Also buy veggie burgers in Asda, the others aren't that nice, Linda McCartney sausages are good, but I rarely eat fake meat but my son does.

TVP I buy from Holland & Barret or Nutmeg as I prefer the dark one and they do both, in Nutmeg I buy nutritional yeast/non dairy cheese sauce/black beans/flaxseed etc. I support them when I can as they serve the vegan/veggie community very well. Goodness direct are excellent for unusual items I can find locally as are Amazon surprisingly (tinned pumkin!). For speed I always keep tinned chick peas/kidney/canneloni/flageolet/haricot/butter beans (buy loads when on offer in Tesco) lots of tinned tomatoes, Tesco value are fine but I also buy the mega size ones in Makro along with 5 or 10 kilo bags of onions.

I hope that gives you a few ideas of where to buy food, I know you aren't going to be as limited as me as you will be eating dairy. Have fun

D.A.

Dannyboyni wrote: »

Thanks for that. Yes I do like to keep organised.

Kidshorsesdogs, I take it its best for me to buy all of my dried goods online, i.e. quinola, TVP, buckwheat flour etc.

For example to buy quinola in Nut Meg in Belfast costs 0.63p per 100g where as online its 0.55p per 100g. And I take it the best place to be buying this stuff in bulk online is still www.goodnessdirect.co.uk. The postage will now be free because I will be ordering so much hehe.

I do enter this new diet change with many fears. I really cant find a good book which has a structured meal plan along with categorised recipes for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

Having looked at this food pyramid for vegetarians its very scary the amount of varied foods one must eat within a day to obtain all necessary protein and nutrients.

http://i.imgur.com/QASev.gif

I'm guessing you have none of the following:

1) Children
2) A job
3) A life

GlynD

D.A. wrote: »

I'm guessing you have none of the following:

1) Children
2) A job
3) A life

Now now, behave.

purt

This thread is priceless.

Phoolgrrrl

Has anyone tried the bresola from sawyers? It's £4.99 for 100g so would like to know if it tastes like the stuff you get in Italy. Or any other recommendations?

Thanks

GlynD

purt wrote: »

This thread is priceless.

Some of us oul fellas have nothing better to do