Vegan Living & Ethical Buying
Comments
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I've not been on here a while. Have found something potentially useful for anyone interested in nutrition however:
https://cronometer.com/
Basically you can enter the things you eat and see how well you're meeting nutritional needs. It's free to use - although has a paid option for extra features. Since I mostly cook things I eat, I've entered my own recipes. It's a bit of work to do that, but after it's done, it's done. I don't track every day, more do a sample here and there. It's helped me figure out the whole being vegan and eating properly better, I feel more confident I'm getting it right now. Actually, I think my health has been improving, and since I've been eating a better balanced diet that's probably the cause.
Anyway, just passed the first year of being vegan. It's going well, found lots of recipes I like and new foods I never used to eat.
That’s so useful thank you - I’m often more interested in the micro nutrients I consume (magnesium, omegas etc) rather than macro nutrients, protein/fat etc - I sort of subscribe to the ‘look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves’ way of thinking when it comes to Cooking. Focus on getting balanced vegan nutrition locked down, and your calorie/good fats/protein stuff sorts itself out.0 -
Hi squirrel girl, I have subscribed to the thread and will be reading back for tips. I am planning to start buying my toiletries from Lush does anyone have thoughts on this company?
I really need to stop the waste, of food, packaging, all for convenience.**Debt Free as of 15:55 on Friday 23rd March 2012**And I am staying that way
377 166million Sealed Pot Challenge 2018 :staradmin No. 90: Emergency fund £637
My debt free diary http://http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=36300990 -
166million wrote: »Hi squirrel girl, I have subscribed to the thread and will be reading back for tips. I am planning to start buying my toiletries from Lush does anyone have thoughts on this company?
I really need to stop the waste, of food, packaging, all for convenience.
I use a lot of Lush products - mostly their solid products; shampoo, conditioner, face scrub, soap etc. They last for ages and you buy them ‘naked’ so no plastic.
I really like Lush and I think their ethos is very commendable. However they are a vegetarian not vegan company - check the packaging. Also they do also use SLS and some parabens sometimes - it depends if these things bother you.
Plastic is everywhere and nearly impossible to avoid, even single use plastic, as a normal urban living person, it’s extremely difficult to go 100% plastic free; but any attempts toward that are to be encouraged! Good luck
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rachlikeswinter wrote: »That’s so useful thank you - I’m often more interested in the micro nutrients I consume (magnesium, omegas etc) rather than macro nutrients, protein/fat etc - I sort of subscribe to the ‘look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves’ way of thinking when it comes to Cooking. Focus on getting balanced vegan nutrition locked down, and your calorie/good fats/protein stuff sorts itself out.
I'm glad it's useful for you. It's one of those things I'm thankful I discovered, would recommend it to anyone actually, not just for vegans.
My experience of the areas I needed to work on are quite different to the ones you've mentioned. Also, interestingly, the things I though I needed to improve weren't really the things I did need to improve. I was already pretty good with vitamins and minerals, but needed to increase calories and to improve the amount of protein in general - and specifically the amounts of certain essential amino acids. I also, unusually I think, needed to eat more salt. People's diets vary widely, so people who are tracking their diets to see how they're doing will discover different things. I used to more readily follow advice like "eat less salt" or "this food is full of good nutrients" but in some cases people don't eat enough salt, and the food in question may just be largely a source of nutrients they're already eating plenty of when they actually need other ones. If you give the site a try, would be interesting to hear if you confirm the things you've been thinking, or discover something quite different, like I have.0 -
ben84...congratulations on your year as a vegan!!:D that app sounds good - really helpful for people who are early on in their vegan journey and concerned about their nutritional intake
regarding the electric bill....I can't submit a reading...it's a smart meter and even the meter readers can't read it!! I'll just have to go with the flow and hope for the best! 
166million....welcome aboard!:hello: I can't give you any advice about Lush products....I did buy them many moons ago but the solid bars were just no good for my hair....it's incredibly thick and unruly so I use faith in nature products ethically they are sound but I know what you mean about packaging etc....I buy mine in bulk to reduce the packaging as much as possible but it's one of those things that is a constant battle 
I am pretty fortunate that we have a good market stall which we get a lot of our veg etc from (organic, locally produced) so no packaging there and I buy most of my other groceries in bulk wherever possible....I did buy some stuff a while back from an 'ethical' supplier and I was horrified by the amount of plastics....everything was bagged up in plastic...other than the laundry products which I assumed was to protect the rest of the stuff if they leaked - it was all totally unnecessary...suffice to say I haven't used them again and have told them why!
Not much to report really... still going through my stocks of food....I have planted some more leaves to keep me going for a couple of weeks and will be venturing into the garden to sort a bit of a veg patch ready for next year as soon as the weather improves a bit
Wherever possible, I am making thing from scratch but work has been particularly crazy recently so getting time to make tofu etc is proving a bit difficult....however, I have a few days off over the chrimbo period so will get some made and frozen for the next few months.
Anyhoo....better get on with some stuff soon....having a bit of a lazy day today...I'm off work as my bathroom is being re-done but can't get into the kitchen as it's full of bathroom fittings so I'm making the most of the enforced down time!:D 0 -
Hi all - I'm a fairly new veggie wanting to do Veganuary, but I'm a bit stumped as I'm intolerant to a lot of things a typical vegan might eat. Can't do wheat, pulses, legumes, corn, soy or sea vegetables. Can only eat a small amount of brassicas, nuts and hardskinned veg. Just not really sure how to begin, so any words of wisdom really appreciated."Save £12k in 2019" #120 - £100,699.57/£100,0000
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squirrelgirl wrote: »ben84...congratulations on your year as a vegan!!:D
Thankyou! I think it's been more than a year now, but I've not been keeping exact count. What I can say is it becomes easier with time, and now feels totally normal and easy to do.
I have also discovered another useful thing recently - pressure cookers. I like beans and they're more important in my diet now, but cooking them was a pain. Canned ones are easy, but expensive and lots of cans to throw out, so that's partly where the money is going, in the bin. So, dried are better for that, but slow to cook. The pressure cooker is so much faster, and because it's timed the results are very consistent. It's great for beans, just bring it up to pressure, cook for three minutes, turn off the gas and let it slowly depressurise itself. The beans are perfect, and I don't have to stand around cooking and stirring them for over an hour.0 -
Tiglath...have a look on pinterest...all sorts of vegan recipes on there so some are bound to suit
Ben84....I always do my beans in the pressure cooker then freeze them in portion sizes for ease of use....very easy to defrost quickly for speedy meals :Dan
Solstice is almost upon us and I'm looking forward to the fresh start...frugal living for the next 15 months while maintaining my ethical stance...it's going to be a major challenge but I'm feeling very positive about it!
I've bought almost everything for solstice now....just a few bits remaining which should be less than £30 and that's the whole thing paid for....I'm determined to start this challenge with nothing outstanding!
I'm taking an inventory of everything I have in on Sunday then I'll make menus and shopping lists along with my budget. I'm doing a suma order at the end of February....I'll get all my tins, laundry stuff and toiletries along with some dried goods for the year....the garden will be utilised as much as possible as will the greenhouse. I'm going to keep a spending diary so that every single penny is accounted for....no more spur of the moment spending on the grandbaby either....I'm having a separate budget for him to keep me from going mental!!
Anyhow, I need some sleep so I'm off...0 -
Inventory will be done today.....decided to have a day off yesterday following the 2nd round of solstice celebrations!!
I'm pretty sure we have enough leftovers to last until tomorrow at least - we had some yesterday for dinner. I also have a few spare veg knocking around in the fridge so I think I will make some soup on Wednesday and freeze it for lunches next week. I'll be menu planning later today - once I have been to see dd & dgs this morning, it's back home to do the food stuff and sort my budgets for the year.
I'm really going to be tough on myself reducing waste this year - I'm intending to throw no food away at all. If I can't use it in time, it will be a case of either freezing it, making it into a jam/chutney or dehydrating it for use later. I'm going to prevent shopping unless I am truly out of all other options and I will utilise as much local produce as possible. Although I do this already - I have started to get more 'exotic' items from the veg stall which I am going to try to steer away from as much as possible this year - I'd like to think that we can eat using food which is grown here and is currently in season - I will miss my avocadoes though!! I've been told that there is a ethical website which sells home-grown pulses but I need to check that out. There are going to be a number of things which I cannot buy a home-grown alternative for but I'm going to give it my best effort once all my current stocks have been utilised.
Anyhoo.....I'm off to get ready and see my babies....have a lovely Christmas everyone!!:xmastree: 0 -
The inventories are done and the first weeks menu is planned....no additional purchases required
I have spoken to dh today about what I want to achieve and he is totally on board which makes life a lot easier...I'll have to remind him constantly but at least he is happy with the direction we have 'found' an additional £132 per month which brings the deficit down nicely and makes achieving 15k in 7 months more doable....we have spoken at length regarding grocery shopping and about sticking to the budgets....we both think that we can get by on £20 per week for the next 2 months at least so we're going for it!!
The next two months are using up stock then a major bulk buy from suma....toiletries, laundry and cleaning products, tins, jars and dried goods. I'm doing it as an annual shop....enough of everything to see me through the year with fresh food top ups in between. That's a great way to maintain an annual food budget and ethical consumption my opinion!! 0
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