What's with Vegan Subs when we can go Old Style?

dogstarheaven

RevolvingDoor wrote: »

I buy the mild cheese as in mild, vegancheese?from Tesco, soya milk and Pure spread a lot and some of the own brand bean burgers and stuff are vegan and not too expensive. There are cereals, breads, pasta, rice that are all vegan, buy a bag of frozen veggies and some value brand beans and tomatoes with stock cubes and dried herbs you can make a range of cheap easy meals.

i do that already - thanks

Haha, same here. :DI like the H&B sales too.:)

isn't H&B still not approved by BUAV or they have dubious ethical issues? I went in the other day and they weren't really that friendly in there and it certainly didn't have a 'health-vibe' about it, only massive tubs of protein powders for the bodybuilders that had offers on. there was v. little in the food sections. most disappointing, but then again, I won't be shopping in them unless they have an amazing offer on like they did on 3f2 on vits sometime ago (do they still do them?)

dogstarheaven

katholicos wrote: »

Aha, just found it at juiceland and there is a good video about it at the bottom of the page.

Link

this one in the link doesn't seem to be like mine though as it does raw milk and soup! whereas this one is nearest in structure -
http://www.juiceland.co.uk/item--Soylove-Classic-Soymilk-Maker--SOYLOVEC.html

although, I can't see what's inside the machine. mine has the same filter and blade as the SoyaBella brand and a lot easier to use as the beans go in after the lid goes down and from start to finish, about 17 minutes for fresh hot milk!
Juiceland is a good site, I bought my dehydrator from there too. Sometimes they have good offers on...

Justamum

dogstarheaven wrote: »

I am planning to go vegan soon but am astounded how much vegan must-have ingredients cost these days ie., Yeast Flakes, Buillon Powder, Egg Replacer, Shcheese, Nuts, Agave Syrup, Flax Seeds, Spelt Flour...

Is this how vegans eat normally having their veggies and pulses flavoured with manufactured products or seeds/nuts that cost the earth? I want to do this MSE-style but a lot of recipes I've seen so far have got a zillion load of ingredients I don't have (I have 2 cupboards stocked with herbs, spices and jars so I'd say I've got most of everything I need to cook gourmet foods)

I wanted to make a vegan carrot cake and found I needed to buy a vegan soft cheese substitute (£3 a tub x 2!) If I wanted to make a vegan mayo, I needed to buy cashews at £4 for a small bag!

So, I'm wondering how MSE vegan lovers get around this w/out spending too much money? Is there a decent blog/book that doesn't go overboard on the ingredients or are vegans generally rich and usually spend more on their food than the average person (I spend £15-20pw for myself but much less in summer as I have allotment) ? I'm also curious about juicing as well with the idea of green smoothies. Do most vegans do this as part of their daily diet? It must work out so expensive buying in all that fruit and veg, wouldn't you say?

No need to buy agave syrup. The Tesco Free From cheese is 2 for £4 at the moment. We go through less than one block a week (there are five of us) we used to eat a 500g block of normal cheese a week which worked out to be far more expensive. Actually 'we' didn't eat that much, it was my husband who could do that on his own :rotfl:

Nothing wrong with normal flour - why do you need spelt?

You can buy vegan mayo which is about £1.40 a jar from Holland & Barrett. No need to buy cashews.

If you are buying the nutritional yeast because of B12, just eat marmite. You only need tiny amounts of B12.

Juicing isn't essential either.

dogstarheaven

Justamum wrote: »

No need to buy agave syrup. The Tesco Free From cheese is 2 for £4 at the moment. We go through less than one block a week (there are five of us) we used to eat a 500g block of normal cheese a week which worked out to be far more expensive. Actually 'we' didn't eat that much, it was my husband who could do that on his own :rotfl:

Nothing wrong with normal flour - why do you need spelt?

You can buy vegan mayo which is about £1.40 a jar from Holland & Barrett. No need to buy cashews.

If you are buying the nutritional yeast because of B12, just eat marmite. You only need tiny amounts of B12.

Juicing isn't essential either.

some of my vegan friends have told me about their use of the above and they all juice as well. As a 'proper' cook, i don't buy jars of mayo as it's a lot cheaper and nicer to make your own but going vegan would mean finding a fool-proof recipe that i can do w/o resorting to lots of nuts to make one (a lot of recipes i've seen have nuts and ones that don't have nuts and rely on oil seems to not work).

Justamum

dogstarheaven wrote: »

some of my vegan friends have told me about their use of the above and they all juice as well. As a 'proper' cook, i don't buy jars of mayo as it's a lot cheaper and nicer to make your own but going vegan would mean finding a fool-proof recipe that i can do w/o resorting to lots of nuts to make one (a lot of recipes i've seen have nuts and ones that don't have nuts and rely on oil seems to not work).

I'm sure most vegans don't buy all that over-priced stuff, or juice every day either. Most of us just don't have that sort of money. The Plamil vegan mayo is really nice.

Justamum

dogstarheaven wrote: »

I've found that Ecover washing up liquid isn't v. good (suds doesn't last long in order for greasy dishes/pans to be cleaned properly), do people agree?

I use Bio-D which is very good. I buy a 5 litre container and it lasts me for months, so it doesn't work out to be very expensive. Ecover isn't Vegan Society approved as they test on water fleas or something.

dogstarheaven wrote: »

*I don't believe in throwing any of this out until it's used and then slowly, these products will diminish and I will be able to eat vegan food 100% (atm, still 50%) Do you think it's justifiable in using this up, or shall I donate it to whoever might want my ingred (meat/fish/butter, yes but doubtful if anyone would want half-full jars/bottles) I do feel guilty for eating this but equally would feel guilty for chucking it all out esp. when money's so tight (living on own is v. difficult for me).

If you do feel guilty eating it then I'd find someone to eat it up for you. When I decided to become vegetarian nothing on earth would persuade me to eat meat after that - I just wouldn't have been able to keep it down.

RevolvingDoor

Yes, obviously the vegan free-from mild cheese at Tesco. It's not a necessity but I like it. The book I mentioned Appetite for Reduction has very simple recipes based on things you would have in your store cupboard and fridge, beans, grain and a green with various spices and herbs.

I don't know what the ethics are behind H&B but I buy from Tesco and Asda and I'm sure they have shadier ethics. I usually buy vegan food where I can and I don't boycott, well apart from toiletries as I wouldn't buy from Body Shop but I would buy from Lush.

Re B12, I supplement as I don't think taking a tablet a few days a week or daily is much compared to the complications if you acquire a B12 deficiency. Omnis can get nutritional deficiencies too of course but I think taking B12 is a good idea for vegans.

alec_eiffel

I use Bio D washing up liquid too and really like it, lasts for ages and does the job. IIRC Ecover washing up liquid isn't meant to have loads of bubbles. I saw a programme about it years ago that talked about loads of bubbles being more about people wanting loads of bubbles rather than them being useful for washing up purposes. Same with shampoo.

dogstarheaven

as I said before, Ecover doesn't seem to have much staying power in order to cut through the grease of dirty pans. Would any say that BioD is any better?

Re. the exploits of H&B is stuff I've heard down the grapevine where some ppl have boycotted big multi-nationals and would only support ethical businesses. I'm not saying that's where I'm going as I don't have the money to enforce that 'policy' (I did say I bought vits. from H&B before).

Where is the Free From Vegan range in Tesco? I'm not noticed it in the cheese section before. Any other supermarkets?

shandyclover

dogstarheaven wrote: »

I am planning to go vegan soon but am astounded how much vegan must-have ingredients cost these days ie., Yeast Flakes, Buillon Powder, Egg Replacer, Shcheese, Nuts, Agave Syrup, Flax Seeds, Spelt Flour...

Is this how vegans eat normally having their veggies and pulses flavoured with manufactured products or seeds/nuts that cost the earth? I want to do this MSE-style but a lot of recipes I've seen so far have got a zillion load of ingredients I don't have (I have 2 cupboards stocked with herbs, spices and jars so I'd say I've got most of everything I need to cook gourmet foods)

I wanted to make a vegan carrot cake and found I needed to buy a vegan soft cheese substitute (£3 a tub x 2!) If I wanted to make a vegan mayo, I needed to buy cashews at £4 for a small bag!

So, I'm wondering how MSE vegan lovers get around this w/out spending too much money? Is there a decent blog/book that doesn't go overboard on the ingredients or are vegans generally rich and usually spend more on their food than the average person (I spend £15-20pw for myself but much less in summer as I have allotment) ? I'm also curious about juicing as well with the idea of green smoothies. Do most vegans do this as part of their daily diet? It must work out so expensive buying in all that fruit and veg, wouldn't you say?

We are a household of 6, 3 are vegan, 3 not, running on a very tight budget with 4 fulltime students and a business in infancy stages. When 3 daughters who had been vegetarian for a couple years decided they wanted to 'go vegan' I thought originally our food bills would skyrocket. To be honest they did at first as I tried to replace with vegan specialty food. In the end I realized most things really weren't worth the cost, none of the vegans liked them THAT much. We buy soya milk, rice/hazelnut/coconut milk when it is on offer for smoothies, soya mince for spaghetti bolognaise, and tofu from the local chinese shop for stir fry, and sometimes the Tesco vegan cheese for emergency packed lunches, but otherwise no other speciality vegan products. Some vegan cook books have huge long lists of exotic and expensive ingredients, to be honest I now actually find it easier to use an everyday or vegetarian cookbook and veganise the recipes or find vegan recipes online. I've learn to make vegan mozzarella for pizza, and soya yogurt and pudding all online.