3 weeks in and still going strong 💪

Right so most people make a big song and dance about veganism… as shown by the Greggs vegan sausage roll reactions. (On a side note it’s actually really yummy)

When I was first said to people I was going to do veganary I was met by sooo many questions like:

What can you eat? Plant based food. Don’t you think veganism is a step to far ? I used to but not anymore, the dairy industry is actually very cruel to animals. Where will you get your protein ? Some beans actually have more protein than eggs.

But the funny thing is I had the same reaction when I turned vegetarian over 10 years ago. Veganism after the first couple of days isn’t that hard – honestly. It always seems daunting changing your whole diet but when you give it a go it’s easy.

My main reason for going vegan for a month was for environmental reasons. But there are so many other positives too; it’s a much healthier lifestyle, it’s more ethical, and its equally as cheap way of living as vegetarian because it’s mostly just vegetables.

I really wanted this month to show me some yummy vegan meals that I would want to eat regularly as opposed to meals with animal products (aka. Food I can eat without putting cheese on top, or more foods without egg or milk in it).

Now just to clarify, I’m not trying to make anyone go vegan with this post and I myself am not becoming a full time vegan. But I want to make more vegan choices. By this I mean cutting back on dairy products (as much as I LOVE cheese and chocolate), having more plant based meals, having an awareness of the effects of what I’m eating on the environment. And maybe this might make you think about cutting back on the amount of meat or animals products you use – because even a small change from one individual will make an impact. I managed to persuade my mum to do a week with me and I managed to persuade my dad to eat vegan main meals and even they managed to cope despite being meat eaters.

So how did I start? I’d been thinking about doing veganary for a while and had for a few months been doing a vegan day a week. But there are so many promotional free websites with lots of support on how to go vegan during January that it just made sense to do it in the new year with so many other people. I’ve seen on Instagram and snapchat, people I know from school, also giving veganary a go.

So after convincing my mum to doing a vegan week with me and my Dad to eating vegan main meals I started by making a meal plan for my first week. To do this I googled vegan recipes and filtered them down to the ones I thought I would like. On day one I thought I’d start easy with spicy bean burgers and salad and sweet potato fries (although I was out and had vegan burritos at my friends house). Day two we had vegan sausages, mash potatoes and baked beans. Day 3 I made a lovely Thai sweet potato and bean stew- which (not to blow my own horn) was as actually very very yummy. Day 4 was vegan spaghetti bolognese. Day 5 pesto pasta with broccoli and tomatoes. Day 6 was a curry. And Day 7 was an easy cook day, a frozen vegan pizza from Sainsburys.

After week one mum was on board to do a second week and then a third with me! Even she found it easier than originally thought.

From then I tried a few other meals: My favourite recipe has to be the sweet potato curry and the mango curry! I found most of the meals on the website https://veganuary.com/ and https://www.vegansociety.com and http://vegankit.com/eat/ and by just a general google search of ‘vegan meals’. There are so many recipes out there and so many tasty meals that I will totally be cooking for myself at uni.

For lunch I would just have a salad or a jam sandwich with vegan butter or a hummus and veg wrap. And breakfast I have my usual shreddies but with oat milk instead. A simple swap.

What I thought would be the hardest day to be vegan was when I was helping out on a ten tor’s training walk. I was thinking where am I going to get all my high energy foods because usually I’d eat chocolate bars and sweets for a quick energy boost. But all it meant was looking at labels and have a trip down the free from aisle. I found: naked bars and Bourbon biscuits. The I just had fruit and vegan pittas. EASY.

Eating out has also been easy. Wetherspoons have their own vegetarian and vegan menu. ANNNNDD Boston tea party are promoting veganary! The parents took me out for lunch in Plymouth and so many people in there were ordering vegan things all over the place. I highly recommend ‘The Vegan Boss’ full English breakfast vegan alternative: YUMMMYY.

So that’s three weeks done and one more to go !