Vegan Living & Ethical Buying

joefizz

Pile_o_stone said:

Any one else struggling to get hold of non-dairy milk? The hoarders seem to have snaffled the milk because it's long(er)-life, even though there are massive stocks of fresh cow milk sat there!! I guess though that by the end of the pandemic, these people may have gotten a taste for it and we get more plant-based diet people!  

Might be more to do with cows milk being local and other alternatives (including ingredients) having to be shipped in (or more likely flown in).

Of course thats always been the environmental argument for using local cows milk, its locally produced and doesnt need ingredients shipping in from half way round the world...

We will see a lot of shortages soon of stuff being supplied by countries hit hard and also a lot of things get shipped on commercial passenger aircraft flights which have reduced dramatically.

We really wont (well here in Ireland) be short of cows milk, eggs, meat, chicken, potatoes etc. Coffee, almond milk, soya etc will get increasingly difficult to obtain if this goes on for any length of time (and most likely to not go into the prioritised supply chain).

A few friends have remarked how much like the 1970s diet it could become!

[Deleted User]

'Coffee, almond milk, soya etc will get increasingly difficult to obtain if this goes on for any length of time (and most likely to not go into the prioritised supply chain).
A few friends have remarked how much like the 1970s diet it could become'
Joefizz

Thankfully there are a number of beans  that are grown commercially (including soya beans) and a great deal of oats  in the UK so plant milk will always be available. Other than coffee, tea, rice and tropical/Mediterranean fruit and veg, I'm not certain that my diet would change at all if shipping/transport was the problem in the future (obviously the supply/demand would be an issue initially)🤔 I'd replace the coffee/tea with home grown herbal teas, rice could be substituted with quinoa, buckwheat or millet (British grown) and obviously utilise uk grown fruit and veg. 
Having the ability to become self sufficient in veg (I'm not, but i could be as I am fortunate enough to have a large(ish) garden, a greenhouse and a job lot of veg seeds) and, thanks to lots of great info on here and elsewhere,  I can make all my own household/toiletry products (I'd have to extract my own essential oils from stuff that grows in my garden but I can do that).
My diet is pretty much seasonal and I make as much of my own stuff as possible so I'm really not going to be massively affected diet wise with this if it happened- although I'd really miss my citrus fruit 😔😂

joefizz

squirrelgirl said:

Having the ability to become self sufficient in veg (I'm not, but i could be as I am fortunate enough to have a large(ish) garden, a greenhouse and a job lot of veg seeds)

My diet is pretty much seasonal and I make as much of my own stuff as possible so I'm really not going to be massively affected diet wise with this if it happened- although I'd really miss my citrus fruit 😔😂

Just planted out a load of stuff in the greenhouse the last couple of days. Got early warning of the lockdown so got a load of materials delivered to turn most of my patio bbq area into a large cold frame - not going to be bbqing for loads of friends for the forseeable ;-)

Yeah Ive dehydrated a lot of citrus in the last couple of months but its not the same, although Ive a couple of apple trees, enough raspberry and strawberry bushes/plants to supply all my friends usually plus put in gooseberry and blueberry bushes last year so should get the first crops this year. A couple of elderberry trees/bushes in the garden as well, wont be so keen on letting the birds have them this year!

Dont get me started on coffee. I did once try roasted dandelion root as I was told it was similar to coffee, hmmm I think our definitions of similar may differ slightly ;-)

On a serious point though, it depends how bad this gets and how long its for, the oats you mention may be required for foodstuffs and animal feed rather than milk etc so worth looking in to that now as strategically plant milk may not be considered a necessity.

Pile_o_stone

joefizz said:

squirrelgirl said:

Having the ability to become self sufficient in veg (I'm not, but i could be as I am fortunate enough to have a large(ish) garden, a greenhouse and a job lot of veg seeds)

My diet is pretty much seasonal and I make as much of my own stuff as possible so I'm really not going to be massively affected diet wise with this if it happened- although I'd really miss my citrus fruit 😔😂

Just planted out a load of stuff in the greenhouse the last couple of days. Got early warning of the lockdown so got a load of materials delivered to turn most of my patio bbq area into a large cold frame - not going to be bbqing for loads of friends for the forseeable ;-)

Yeah Ive dehydrated a lot of citrus in the last couple of months but its not the same, although Ive a couple of apple trees, enough raspberry and strawberry bushes/plants to supply all my friends usually plus put in gooseberry and blueberry bushes last year so should get the first crops this year. A couple of elderberry trees/bushes in the garden as well, wont be so keen on letting the birds have them this year!

Dont get me started on coffee. I did once try roasted dandelion root as I was told it was similar to coffee, hmmm I think our definitions of similar may differ slightly ;-)

On a serious point though, it depends how bad this gets and how long its for, the oats you mention may be required for foodstuffs and animal feed rather than milk etc so worth looking in to that now as strategically plant milk may not be considered a necessity.

I was in the process of turning our garden into an edible garden, doing it a bit at a time, but now I think it's imperative to grow as much as possible. I'm digging for victory! or at least to make sure my family have some fresh food if the food supply chain collapses. Bit of a steep learning curve to learn how to grow and then store a load of food, but then what else have we got but time to learn while we are in lockdown?

[Deleted User]

I'm currently fuming!! 😡 having ordered provisions from Suma 2 weeks ago and having a number of telephone conversations and email exchanges (including one late last week in which they state they are hoping to get my order out by the end of the weekend) I email today and receive a reply stating that they have no intention of delivering and have decided to make my account dormant!! 
I'm sooooo angry - I will never use them again - I've cancelled orders from elsewhere because of their assurances - really impressed with this alledgedly 'ethical' company - pretty sure that asda treats their customers better!! 😔
Upshot is - I'm so incredibly disillusioned that I think that spending vast amounts of money to support ethical businesses is pointless and I won't be bothering anymore. I'm obviously going to remain vegan but I certainly won't avoid supermarkets anymore and I won't waste anymore of my hard earned cash. 
Hope everyone is staying safe! 

Greenglockenspiel

At least you had been able to place your order with them! We moved into our house in November from a flat and finally have space to buy things in bulk. Once we were in I made enquiries with Suma and they told me they weren’t taking any new customers 🤔

[Deleted User]

Greenglockenspiel said:

At least you had been able to place your order with them! We moved into our house in November from a flat and finally have space to buy things in bulk. Once we were in I made enquiries with Suma and they told me they weren’t taking any new customers 🤔

Not a lot of use as they've decided to cancel it anyway!! 😂 
That's really annoying green but I'm pretty sure you would have been in the same situation if they had taken you on 😔

 It's the fact that they have strung me along for two weeks now and had I not contacted them today, I would still be expecting it 🙈 if they had told me 2 weeks ago (or at any time during the numerous calls & emails) that they wouldn't be delivering the order I could have made alternative arrangements- the whole reason they gave me the account almost 15 years ago is because I live in the middle of nowhere! With the new restrictions, I can't travel to top up supplies (obviously I can to supermarkets but they don't stock a huge amount of what I usually buy) so they have really dropped me in the proverbial!! 
It's the most unethical treatment I have ever received by a company (other than Everest!) but you expect a certain level of common decency from somewhere like Suma- it's the reason I buy from them 😔 
Anyway - enough doom and gloom - despite the annoyance I don't really have too much to complain about and I know that there are huge swathes of the country who are in a dire situation at the moment....
The good news....my mushroom boxes arrived today!! 🙌 I've started the process and will have shitake and pink oyster mushrooms in the near future 😁 I'm very excited!!!  

2madcollies

squirrelgirl:  Oh no, that's awful, so sorry you've been treated like that  Have you heard of Good Club?  The're like a mini version of Suma, in that you can buy the same stuff, at wholesale prices, but with no minimum order, & free p&p on one delivery per month. Unfortunately they're not taking on any new customers right now, but may be useful for the future when the craziness has calmed down a bit   www.goodclub.co.uk

savvy

2madcollies said:

squirrelgirl:  Oh no, that's awful, so sorry you've been treated like that  Have you heard of Good Club?  The're like a mini version of Suma, in that you can buy the same stuff, at wholesale prices, but with no minimum order, & free p&p on one delivery per month. Unfortunately they're not taking on any new customers right now, but may be useful for the future when the craziness has calmed down a bit   www.goodclub.co.uk

Ah that's a pain no new customers, could've been very useful to get the food intolerance and vegan foodstuffs, getting very tricky in supermarkets.

squirrelgirl: can't believe that from Suma, really naughty to lead you to believe it was coming   I've also been thinking how we are all going to be going backwards with food, especially veganism......didn't live like it in the 70's lol, but have heard the horror stories haha

2madcollies

I'm due a Good Club order early next week, & I'm happy to try & order anything for you guys & then send it to you if it's not too heavy , or you can pick it up from me in Exeter.  No promises though - they don't tell me if stuff is out of stock; it just doesn't arrive, but they're very good at refunding!  Just a thought. if anyone is really desparate   Send me a private message if you're interested!