Vegan deals and discoveries

shandyclover

I thought it might be nice to start a thread for the vegans, things that are surprisingly vegan that we discover in regular shops and supermarkets, to save us all the time consuming, eye crossing trial of ingredient reading. I know we have a long vegan thread, but this I thought could just be short one-liners.

Yesterday I found vegan chocolate spread in Home Bargains for 69p!
Whole Earth Dark Chocolate spread. Last week they had soya milk for 29p a litre. Seems worth checking now and then.

Aldi currently have some Asian packet soups on offer for 29p, also vegan.

parkgirl

I'm really interested to hear this because although I haven't made a choice to be vegan, I'm allergic to milk and its a nightmare how much stuff has it in!

westcoastscot

Ooh interesting thread! We're dairy and egg free so very interested to read this! 29p for soya milk? that's fantastic - must look where our nearest Home Bargains is - suspect Glasgow.

vanoonoo

dairy free here too - currently trying out an olive tapenade from tesco which is dairy free. also walkers plain crisps seem to be ok for me too.

tryingtoruletheworld

I have recently found that bourbon biscuits (Waitrose and Sainsburys own brand at least) have vegan ingredients but aren't declared as such because of the risk of contamination. They aren't healthy, but as much as I love home-made stuff, bourbon biscuits are my one biscuity weakness!

I tend to stick to basic ingredients rather than anything ready made because reading labels takes forever, but sometimes you find the odd thing that you want!

Rebelle

shandyclover wrote: »

Yesterday I found vegan chocolate spread in Home Bargains for 69p!
Whole Earth Dark Chocolate spread. Last week they had soya milk for 29p a litre.

This is what I was going to post about when I saw the title of this thread, got some on my lunchbreak today, it is the BEST chocolate spread I've ever tried, even nicer than Nutella. They've had it in stock for a few weeks at my local Home Bargains so am hoping it's here to stay!

Great idea for a thread OP - I'm a veggie (no meat or fish but will eat eggs & dairy) with aspirations to be vegan so will be useful info for me!

On my veggie journey so far, have been surprised to discover Texas BBQ & Original Pringles are vegan (not very healthy, but nice for a treat!), the Sour Cream & Onion ones have milk powder though so not vegan.

Also, this is not a particularly cheap idea, but for health reasons I don't like to use veg oils (rapeseed, sunflower, olive oil etc) for cooking/baking. Saturated fats are much more stable when exposed to heat & better for you, but most of them (butter, lard, ghee etc) are animal-derived... except coconut oil, which obviously would be suitable for vegans too. :T

Unfortunately the cheapest I could find it is £9.99 for 500ml inc delivery on ebay, but it's supposed to be very versatile - you can fry/cook/bake with it & use it as a spread like butter, in sweet & savoury dishes, apparently it doesn't really taste of coconut so you can use it in almost anything & it's meant to be yummy - I'll report back once it's arrived & I've given it a try! It's supposed to be good to use on your skin & hair as well, so having so many uses for it takes the sting out of the price!

Rebelle

Oh - and this is another junk food idea, sorry! - Sainsbury's Basics pot noodles in - would you believe it? - chicken & mushroom flavour are actually marked as vegan on the label - no real chicken in there at all, just soy chunks & MSG seasoning (which is nasty stuff, but unfortunately present in a lot of processed foods) to give a 'meaty' flavour.

krlyr

Rebelle wrote: »

Unfortunately the cheapest I could find it is £9.99 for 500ml inc delivery on ebay, but it's supposed to be very versatile - you can fry/cook/bake with it & use it as a spread like butter, in sweet & savoury dishes, apparently it doesn't really taste of coconut so you can use it in almost anything & it's meant to be yummy - I'll report back once it's arrived & I've given it a try! It's supposed to be good to use on your skin & hair as well, so having so many uses for it takes the sting out of the price!

Have you tried any local Indian/Oriental food markets locally? There was a discussion on this on the pets forum and the KTC brand was mentioned as being fairly easily available
Or even found it in Asda if you have one locally, 500ml for £2.19
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/#/asda-compare-prices/oils_and_vinegar/ktc_coconut_oil_500ml.html

Edit: Or buying online, works out at £7.49 for the 500ml tub including postage here
http://herbsgardenshealth.co.uk/epages/BT2628.sf/en_GB/?

Not a bad deal for larger quantities if you get on well with it - http://www.amazon.co.uk/KTC-Pure-Coconut-Oil-Pack/dp/B006MVW5BS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346942084&sr=8-1

Linda32

tryingtoruletheworld wrote: »

I have recently found that bourbon biscuits (Waitrose and Sainsburys own brand at least) have vegan ingredients but aren't declared as such because of the risk of contamination. They aren't healthy, but as much as I love home-made stuff, bourbon biscuits are my one biscuity weakness!

Check out own brand Jaffa Cakes as well for the same reason.

I went milk free (not vegan) for a while due to IBS. Never used to buy biscuits at the time, but of course when you can't have something you want it.

shandyclover

I just wanted to mention I also found Whole Earth Dark Chocolate spread in T*sco today( I do do other things than shop - honest!), BUT it was in a different shaped jar, and when I checked it was not vegan, listing skimmed milk powder in the ingredients. This sent me into a bit of a panic knowing my vegan teens have been scoffing lots of the stuff, they were going to be very cross! However when I got home I checked, the brand/label is the same but the jar shape is different, and seems formula is too as mine has no milk powder. I hope we can find it again though - kids love it.

Dalepak Vegetable Quarter-pounders, pack of 4 in Heron Foods for £1. Good for freezer standby and vegan.

[Deleted User]

Had to give up dairy for a few weeks as being investigated for food intolerances. My main discoveries were that hazelnut milk is yummy in coffee and coconut milk (dairy substitute in a carton not the tinned kind) is also good in drinks and on cereals.