Some shit I eat as a vegan and my vegan story.

Buttery (Vitalite) sautéed button mushrooms with garlic salt, salad consisting of romaine lettuce, cucumber, wee vine tomatoes, half an avocado, tossed with a lil bit of Veganaise, garlic salt and mixed herbs, with seeded buttery as fuck toast.

As I'm a massive foodie, but also on a student budget, trying to eat moderately nutritious and entirely filling meals on a vegan diet, it can sometimes get a bit challenging. Not so much with finding and cooking adequate food, but more so with the inspiration to get creative in the kitchen, while having a few solid quick and easy staples to fall back on. I know that a lot of people have similar struggles in the kitchen, while others who are toying with the idea of going vegan are a bit short on ideas of what they could realistically eat day to day, since a lot of vegan food Instagram accounts and blogs are filled with beautiful, albeit overly ambitious, time consuming and expensive dishes. It can be quite a headache. 

Before we get into some examples of quick and delicious meals I lazily whipped up over the past couple of months, I thought I'd share my tale of going vegan. It was the summer of 2015, and I'd just cooked up a steak for dinner, and as I was waiting for my potatoes to finish roasting, I was scrolling through Facebook on my phone, watching random videos popping up. One caught my attention, it was called "this video will make you go vegan". I sneered, veganism wasn't really much heard of at the time, and while I'd previously been vegetarian for several years in my teenhood and felt guilty deep down for abandoning it, I'd always thought veganism was just a bit too much. I mean, drinking milk and eating eggs wasn't killing animals, so what's the problem? The video wasn't very long, it was some bald dude in glasses giving a presentation at a University, if I remember correctly, and by the time I'd finished watching said video and sat down to eat my steak, I could hardly keep it down. The very next day I went out and brought back all the vegan foods I could find in the local Tesco Express, and so my journey began. 

In retrospect, I was very naive and ill-informed, but I did do my best. At the time, as I said, veganism was nowhere near as widespread as it is now, and it took a little bit more research to find foods I could eat. I hadn't even thought about my cosmetics and household items, as I focused on transitioning my diet, and I'm glad for that since trying to overhaul every aspect of my life would have been beyond overwhelming. The first 6 months of my new diet and lifestyle were spectacular, I became an avid viewer of Freelee the Banana Girl (back when she was controversial and edgy, but before she'd evidently had a bit of a breakdown), I followed the Raw Till 4 regime, had a bunch of bananas for breakfast, and carb-loaded dinners, my skin was aglow and I had so much energy. And while it was great while it lasted, several months down the line I fell into a struggle with my mental health and suddenly meal prepping, buying all the bulk fruit at the right time and eating the same boring stuff just became a bit too much, I started trying to find comfort in food, and bunches of bananas and bowls full of rice and veg weren't quite doing that for me. Food became a source of anxiety, and I started losing weight because I just wasn't getting an adequate amount of calories per day. At this point I was in a new relationship with my current partner, who pushed me to revert to vegetarianism until I got my footing back, and shamefully I incorporated dairy and eggs back into my diet. 

Months had passed, and I was going through a particularly tough time in University, which lasted all the way until I'd graduated. During that time I adopted a terrible diet of not eating for ages, then binging on junk food, and having take-aways several times a week just because preparing food felt like too much, particularly in my third year. I also smoked, didn't drink enough water, drank too much Coke and had a shitty sleeping pattern. Unsurprisingly, I became even more depressed, gained weight and had zero energy. It really wasn't until I finished University and had a few months to decompress that I started questioning my habits and thinking of change, up until then it was just about surviving and getting through the stress. But going back to being vegan and eating healthy still felt overwhelming, and I decided to just start making more food myself. Don't get me wrong as well, I'd always enjoyed cooking before and have always been pretty good at it, it was just about getting the interest in being creative back. By the time I was genuinely enjoying cooking and experimenting with flavours it was 2018, and instead of going vegan cold turkey again, I just started replacing things that were easy to replace, cutting out cheese and working on making each meal of the day vegan. Before I knew it, I hadn't had any animal products in a week, a month and then I didn't even have to think about it. And I felt so much better again. Both morally and physically, since I was eating healthier food again, loads of fruit and veg, less greasy crap. I also quit smoking and made a wee vitamin and water intake tracker. I've been noticing the weight I'd gained starting to gradually melt off, and I feel like I'm regaining the vigour I once had. 

So tl;dr, I've gone vegan and feel much better for it. Now, let me show you some of the foods I have been preparing and thoroughly enjoying. I will eventually start posting recipes and such for some of these, but do let me know if there's any ones in particular you'd like to hear about first!

Hash brown and mushroom wrap.

Hashbrowns, beans and sautéed button mushrooms.

Beans on toast with prawn cocktail crisps.

Baked baby potatoes with beans and Sheese grated mozzarella. I always add garlic, herbs and smoked paprika to my beans, and I much prefer the Tesco smoked free from cheese on beans. The salad was romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers and half an avocado, tossed in a bit of Veganaise, garlic salt and mixed herbs. I recommend tossing your salads in dressing before adding avocado.

Linda McCartney sausage breakfast burger.

Courgette savoury pancakes, topped with garlic yoghurt sauce using Alpro.

Salad; romaine lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, avocado, Quorn vegan spicy "chicken" burgers and crumbled Deli Market Roast Garlic and Mediterranean Herb Pita Crisps. Dressing;  Veganaise, olive oil, garlic salt, pepper and mixed herbs.  

Avocado on toast, salad veggies with balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper and nooch, hummus dollop and Vbites Mozzarella (did not like this cheese would not recommend).

Tesco free from red leister slices open face sandwich, ft. Pudliszki spicy ketchup.

BBQ baked tofu and salad wrap.

Sainsbury's caramelised onion shroomdogs, with caramelised onions, toast and pickle.

Sick day lunch; avo and tomato toast with balsamic vinegar and nooch, buncho raspbos, Alpro yog and a multi vit.

Baked potato (from frozen) with seasoned beans and mushrooms.

Aubergine "pizzas" using Violife Mozzarella.

Iceland's No Bull burger with Tesco free from red leister slice. My go to "beefy" burger for when I want junk.

Sautéed garlicky broccoli and portobello mushroom, salad, hummus and pita.

Homemade no yeast pizza crust. I ran out of flour, it looked dodgy, but tasted good. Pasta sauce for base, Violife Mozzarella and mushrooms. 

Tomatoey, garlicky and smokey thick lentil soup. Heaven.

Homemade sushi with sriracha "mayo", avocado and baked smokey tofu.

Same sushi as above, eaten like a wrap because I was too lazy to cut up this roll.

Instant noodles from the Asian supermarket, with loads of toasted sesame seeds.

Vivera steak with homemade mushroom gravy, a salad and chunky crinkly chips. The steak was okay, wouldn't buy again. Mushroom gravy 10/10. 

Cauliflower "wings", a bit too flourey, need to experiment with the batter some more.

Chili using a tin of chopped tomatoes, kidney beans, lentils and loads of spices. 

Same chili, this time with homemade tortilla chips (cut up a wrap and baked it) loaded with homemade guac.

Linda McCartney chorizo sausages and butterbean stew. My new favourite dish. 

Lasagne with mushroom "mince" and homemade "cheese" sauce.

Chili with mushroom "mince", topped with guac and had like a sloppy joe sandwich.

Pulled "pork" made with a king oyster mushroom. Olive, not mouldy, bread.

Miso soup ramen concoction with fried up tofu, mushrooms and aubergine.

Chocolate, fruit and nut buttons using Iceland's orange flavoured dark chocolate.

Apple wedges with Alpro plain yoghurt mixed with cinnamon and a bit of maple syrup.

Cherries and Ritter Sport Marzipan bar. One of my favourite desserts.

Chunky gooey chocolate chip cookies, using Aldi's dark chocolate chips.

Strawberry galette, the pie crust took a whole 5 minutes to whip up.

I hope you found some inspiration from my food ventures. What are your go-to meals?

Stay in school,

K.