Are you taking a Vegan Challenge for Veganuary? Or just looking to try a vegan lifestyle? Well it’s time to find out what your market has to help you out.
As someone who have been vegetarian for almost 20 years I never really had to worry about where to find my foods at the market. Now that I am vegan, things have gotten a bit tougher.
I thought that my recent(18 months ago) move to Connecticut from Georgia would prove to be an excellent opportunity to find all of the vegan choices I want and need for my refrigerator. But I was wrong.
So, my advice to someone who is taking the vegan challenge or lifestyle seriously- you need to go on a scouting mission to your market.
Although fruits, vegetables and beans should be a large percentage of your diet there are products that will help you stay vegan and get the kind of foods you are use to on a meat eaters diet. So I decided to help you with your scouting mission.
There is one problem, local markets: including Stop & Shop, Price Chopper and Walmart, find it necessary to scatter their vegan foods all over the store. Of course you can go to Wholefoods but if you are on a tight budget they can be a bit expensive. So, we are going to look at your average local market.
Here are some areas to consider:
CHEESE: They have vegan cheeses in 3 separate locations in my local store.
First there is Go Veggie(my favorite shredded cheese and parm too)- this is found in the produce area of the store. In most supermarkets I have been to(in many states) the produce area has a vegan section which will include Tofurky deli “meats” and other vegan products. But this is not the only place you will find vegan products and my question is WHY? Why not put the products together?
Next you can find Daiya cheese(my husbands favorite) in the real cheese area of the same store. You have to hunt through the real cheeses to find it.
And the final cheese, Follow Your Heart(if you are lucky
enough to find it as it is the best melting cheese) is found in the sour cream/cottage cheese area of my store. Also in this section, pick up some Tofutti sour cream. I use this with my tacos and burritos and it is very good.
OK, so we have the cheeses scouted, now it’s time for your “meats”.
MEAT:
Gardien- I LOVE Gardien products. You find them in the frozen foods section of your market. They will be with the Morning Star and Quorn products. Please understand that Morning Star and Quorn are vegetarian unless it specifically says VEGAN on the package but Gardien is ALWAYS vegan. I have several recipes on my
website using Gardien products including Chicken Parmesan(made with Gardien Turkey Cutlets).
The meatballs are excellent and you can make a meat sauce with the meatless crumbles/marinara sauce.
Tofurky also has some great products and they are usually found in the produce area with the Go Veggie products. My husband loves the sausage.
If you are lucky enough to find the Tofurky Turkey(comes in a big box for around $12 and it is seasonal) get a few and keep them in the freezer, they are excellent.Also Tofurky deli meats are really good for sandwiches.
And finally hamburgers- Gardien has a really good burger but we use Boca’s Turkey Burgers(vegan) because they are good tasting and low in calories. I am not a huge fan of Boca’s other “meat” products but the Turkey Burgers are really good and take 1:30 in the microwave.
Other scouting staples to get you started:
Taco shells and tortillas are both vegan. Use the Gardien meat crumbles and Go Veggie shredded cheese to make tacos or burritos. You can also use the Gardien Chicken strips to make good chicken burritos.
Pasta– you need to read labels here as many pastas contain eggs. Ronzoni is a good place to start. Also Stop & Shop’s Ancient Grains is vegan.
Breads– We use Arnold’s wheat buns with our Boca burgers and Ezekial Bread for our
sandwiches. But here is wonderful news- Most French Baquettes are VEGAN!! You need to read the label here but I have found that most of them do not contain eggs or milk. Also, bagels are often vegan but you need to check the label for egg or milk.
Butter– We use Earth Balance Organic Whipped Butter-it is found in the butter section of the store and I don’t think you can tell the difference.
Milk– We use Silk Almond Milk. Their Chocolate milk is great to heat up for hot chocolate.
Desserts– So Delicious makes excellent Ice Cream Sandwiches and other ice cream products. And if you can find it(Wholefoods, usually) Daiya makes an AMAZING cheesecake.
Mayo– Vegenaise is our favorite(found usually at Wholefoods but sometimes in the regular market) and Hellman’s makes a good Vegan Mayo and it is much cheaper.
Well, there is a start. Best of luck on your Veganuary challenge or new lifestyle. It is much easier then people think to be vegan. Please check out and follow my website for more products, recipes and ideas. And if you have some of your own, please click on the “Your Ideas” tab and add to the conversation.
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