Single vegan - food - buddies wanted

gettingready

I live by myself, work full time.

Looking for vegan buddies to share shopping lists/lunch to work ideas in a money saving fashion.

When I am in my base office - I have my cup/tea/coffee/sugar/plant milk and normally some form of lunch from home.

When I move between our 2 offices (there and back same day) - all goes out o the window as carrying laptop and bits and then have to carry my drinks/food is not very convenient. Sciatica makes it worse.

I order most of my shopping online (Tesco) as really time is precious so do not have the time running between various shops to get one thing here and one thing there.

I have LIDL (awful) reasonable distance but not Aldi (I wish). Close by is Tesco. No fruit/veg shops close by. Again - time.

I work in Central London with only Waitrose and M&S on the way so that is definitely not an option.

What do other single working vegans buy per week/month and cook per week/month?

cod3

Hi, if you are short on cooking time, google "Happy Pear 5 minute" and you will find lots of quick, cheap, vegan recipes on Youtube videos. No weird ingredients either so you could get them all in your Tesco order.

Make the full recipe and take leftovers to work for lunch. I use a food flask so don't need to shop or heat food in my lunch hour. If carrying tea/coffee/milk/sugar etc are a problem due to your sciatica pain, perhaps you could swap them for a handful of herbal or fruit teabags. No milk or sugar required and there are some delicious ones available.

GreenQueen

I'm not a vegan, but try to stay plant based for lunches.

Try looking at Buddha bowls on google or pinterest - they put together infinite (almost!) combinations of a carbohydrate (e.g.rice, potato), protein (e.g. pulses, tofu, nuts), veg (salad leaves, carrots, etc) and seeds, and a dressing to bring everything together (my favourite is tahini, honey and lemon juice beaten together). in a clip'n'clip or systema water-tight salad bowl, it's not too heavy/bulky.

Another favourite is hummous (home made or shop-bought), in sandwich/ with pitta/carrots, pepper, mange tout for dipping.

Could you leave a jar of peanut butter/pack of ryvita in your desk and add some fresh fruit?

[Deleted User]

An ambrosial lunch is a perfectly ripe avocado, a small jar of home made French dressing and a teaspoon! for a wonderful dessert wash the teaspoon and take the top off a couple of perfectly ripe kiwi fruits and eat them like a boiled eggy follow this up with a handful of dried fruit and some nuts and you'll have dined like the aristocracy!

GreenQueen

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

An ambrosial lunch is a perfectly ripe avocado, a small jar of home made French dressing and a teaspoon! for a wonderful dessert wash the teaspoon and take the top off a couple of perfectly ripe kiwi fruits and eat them like a boiled eggy follow this up with a handful of dried fruit and some nuts and you'll have dined like the aristocracy!

Only problem I see with that is how to tell that your avocado is perfectly ripe. I've had a number of occasions where it felt as if it was going to be perfect, but then had a huge disappointment :sad:

gettingready

Thanks everyone.

My normal workplace has a large fridge, microwave, hot/cold water (special tap) and I have a nice size locker for my rivita/tea/coffee etc although those things we just leave on top of lockers and share among us.

Clear desk policy so at the end of the day all needs to go into locker/fridge etc

Oh the joys of cutting into an avocado and seeing it is perfectly ripe.... hardly ever happens buuu

gettingready

Just to report the fact that I managed to buy TWO PERFECTLY RIPE AVOCADOS today AND WHOLE BLACK KALE - in a newly opened Aldi.

I am over the moon.....

Tesco only ever sells the shredded kale with all the hard bits in...

OMG - I am in love with Aldi and so happy to have one in a reasonable travelling distance now

Lizling

Another single central London vegan here. Well, almost. 99% vegan.

I mostly try to cook a couple of things on Sunday that'll do for lunches and perhaps dinners too until midweek, when I'll cook something new. I supplement the things I've cooked in advance with some broccoli or peas or something done in the microwave as I go. About once a week I'll buy something for lunch instead of bringing my own.

This week wasn't a very exciting or creative week, I'm afraid. It was a veg and bean soup with lemon and dill in it and a squash, potato and leek hash from the Anna Jones cookbook with a bit of firm tofu chucked in. Midweek I added a tray of roast tomatoes and butterbeans with thyme and a simple pasta bake (double quantities of sauce so half went in the freezer.)

Doom_and_Gloom

I'm not single however OH and l rarely eat the same as he isn't vegan and I am. OH does a lot of my meals as I'm disabled but if I can I prefer to do things when I can.
I get deliveries from Abel and Cole for certain vegan items (and toilet roll with no plastic packaging), you don't need to be in when they deliver so great for working people. All you need is a safe place for them to put the items.

• Shepherdless pie mix - you can make up loads and you can do some to make into shepherdless pie, you can add chilli powder etc (I always put parsnip in my mix but it's nice in curry) and have with rice/potato/quinoa or you can use in
• Stir fry is quick
• Curry
• Buddha bowl
• Vegan pizza and chips/wedges
• Soup (I make mine mostly from peeling, so yesterday I peeled parsnips, carrots etc as made shepherdless pie mix and I've kept all good peeling for soup. Tub in the freezer and when full will defrost and make soup.
• Stew
• Pasta/potato/quinoa salad
• Fajitas
• Vegan lasagne

Shepherdless pie mix, vegan lasagne, curry, chilli, stew, soup etc are all meals you can batch cook and freeze. You just take a portion out in the morning or the night before and put in the fridge to defrost. Microwave or put in the oven when you come to dinner.
Cook up extra potatoes (normal and/or sweet), quinoa, tofu, tempeh etc. If you have the bases of meals done you can just put a Buddha bowl together, great for lunch or dinner.
You can batch cook and freeze rice but you have to cool it down and get it in the freezer in portions quickly and cook it through thoroughly (I defrost before cooking but I think you can cook from frozen again make sure it is cooked thoroughly). Also it isn't recommended to have rice in the freezer for more than a month; I do enough for 4 weeks only because of that.

I have a multi cooker which does help. You can get ones with pressure cooker settings that will make things quicker and cheaper.

Doom_and_Gloom

Usual kind of shopping list for lunch and dinner (breakfast is usually porridge or fruit/smoothie).

• Carrots
• Onions (white and red)
• Courgettes
• Butternut squash
• Parsnips
• Garlic
• Peppers (usually fresh but frozen are fine too)
• Potatoes (normal and sweet)
• Fresh tomatoes
• Tinned tomatoes
• Baked beans
• Chickpeas (tinned and dry)
• Kidney beans (tinned and dry)
• Black beans
• Mung beans (sprout these for bean sprouts in stir frys or simular)
• Lentils (I buy in bulk)
• Rice (I buy in bulk)
• Quinoa (I buy in bulk)
• Pasta (I get gluten free but wheat based is cheaper if you can eat it)
• Tofu (plain or smoked)
• Tempeh
• Frozen sweetcorn
• Frozen peas
• Frozen spinach
• Wraps (I buy gluten free when reduced but normal are cheap. Even cheaper if you have time is from scratch)

Batch buy herbs and spices, it's easier and cheaper.
Always have soya/tamari sauce, hot sauce, vegan Worcestershire sauce, sweet chilli sauce, ketchup, nutritional yeast, veg stock etc in to make meals.
Sometimes I'll buy vegan cheese to make a pizza or to go on shepherdless pie but not always.

With the above loads of different meals can be made.
Batch cook and freeze for ease, to save money and to reduce waste.

batg

read this thread with interest!
I am on the OMS diet which is essentially vegan with fish. I have to be on this for life for medical reason
can't have bread or oils
Been on this since mid December but
I am SICK of eating roast veg, boiled veg, stir fried in water veg, veg soup....
anyone give me some inspiration?