if I were you, I'd kick the meat first. I didn't find it easy (I don't know anyone that did) to go from vegetarian to vegan, so maybe you want to start smaller. Vegan premade foods can be ridiculously expensive, so having to make everything can be a pill. My fave veg quickies are: Lentil soup (canned) with added grain, bulgur, couscous, or quinoa Baked potato with salsa and veggies, and crumbled tofu Coconut rice, black beand and fried plantains. Best of luck! Tanisha
Hi Tanisha! I've actually been veg for 3 years now, it's my husband whose still the meat eater and I will work on getting him veg first. He's been slowly eating more veg meals and I was going to try to get him to be completely veg on New Years (that's how I started). Getting him to go vegan may take a while longer...
Yeah, I've noticed the premade stuff is so pricey with just the veg stuff, and even finding premade vegan stuff seems really hard to find.
I'll def try to find some of those recipes... do you know which site they were on?
My tip is to go through a week and write down EVERYTHING that you eat, paying special note to which things contained dairy products. From there figure out what would be a good substitute for each item you listed and go from there. :)
I've been slowly transitioning to vegan for the last two months. I had been eating 98% vegan for the last two years and thought it would be EASY -- that last two percent is HARD!
That sounds like a good plan. I'll try that starting next week. My friend is becoming veg to help lose weight and we planned on starting next week with a diet, so it'll help double for that as well.
I'm probably 50% vegan already. I am somewhat lactose intolerant so I don't use real milk in anything I make, and can only have other dairy in small portions. My main problem is going places or eating premade things and not knowing that is in them.
My main problem is going places or eating premade things and not knowing that is in them
There are a lot of resources on the internet for finding out what is vegan and what isn't. There are actually very few restaurants that are completely UNVEGAN FRIENDLY, two off the top of my head are Olive Garden and Applebees (blech!).
Information for chain restaurants is easy to find and for local places it's best to kind of stick with what you know. On the rare occasion where I do eat out it's usually at the local Mediterranean restaurant (which has the word VEGAN on their huge sign-board menu!) and Mexican restaurants that specifically say they don't use lard in their beans.
Also, Yelp.com has been helpful in finding local places that are vegan friendly. :)
Sorry, I forgot to add, for transtioning, plan plan plan! Everything from your breakfast bagel to dessert. Call ahead to restaurants and ask what they have.Also potlucks and going to friends houses, you may want to bring your own dish. Also I am not 100% vegan, just so I don't misrepresent myself. I eat vegan maybe 80% of the time, generally when I cook for myself. I will always eat honey, and my coffee always gets 1/2 and 1/2 so I fail a lot.
This was one of my biggest obstacles, I finally weaned myself off of coffee at the beginning of the month (can't use soy creamer, it goes bad REALLY fast). It sucked, it felt like I had a brewing migraine for a week straight. :(
check out vegancooking for a ton of recipes. they have an extensive tags system so you should be able to find anything you want. what do you usually eat now? for me, going vegan was easy because i was a vegetarian and come from a background where eggs, milk, and cheese are more often garnishes or toppings than ingredients. so i replaced them with vegan versions and there i was.
Thanks! I just added them. Now I mostly eat premade things like Morningstar and Boca patties because I'm always on the go, but going out is really hard because most restaurants substitutes for meat is something cheese based. Whenever I cook at home (which isn't all that often, but I am trying to do more often) I always try to make vegan.
if you're eating premade, there are always things like pre-chopped bagged salads, tofurky slices, pre-portioned veggie soups and stews, noodle bowls (annie chun has decent ones), vegan amy's meals, boca chik'n nuggets (the nonorganic ones in the red box)... subway's white bread is vegan and you can get all the veggies and dress it with vinaigrette, and a chipotle burrito is vegan if you get it with rice, black beans, any salsa, and guac... plain lay's chips, many pretzels, fruit, bagged nuts... there's a lot out there.
you don't need to eat meat subs; i rarely do. maybe once every few months. most are not that good for you anyway. when i go to a restaurant that has nothing vegan on the menu, i usually get a salad and a baked potato, with olive oil for the potato and vinaigrette for the salad.
I'm so glad I can still get Chipotle!! lol. I always get their veggie burrito bowl and it's my fav. :) I'll just get that everyday.. jk. :)
I do love the Amy's stuff too, they're just a little pricy at like $4 for one meal here. I like the Boca b/c you can get like 4 meals for $4. Although I do love to eat them with bread usually... any good vegan bread brands?
Being vegan seemed so hard until I came here today.. now it's sounding quite easy. :)
Haha, it's ok. I'll check out vegweb and the vegancooking community. :)
I did become veg cold turkey, but I have a feeling doing that for vegan would be much harder. I've been trying to take it out of as much as I can, but haven't been able to pass that final step yet.
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Vegan premade foods can be ridiculously expensive, so having to make everything can be a pill.
My fave veg quickies are:
Lentil soup (canned) with added grain, bulgur, couscous, or quinoa
Baked potato with salsa and veggies, and crumbled tofu
Coconut rice, black beand and fried plantains.
Best of luck!
Tanisha
Reply
I've actually been veg for 3 years now, it's my husband whose still the meat eater and I will work on getting him veg first. He's been slowly eating more veg meals and I was going to try to get him to be completely veg on New Years (that's how I started). Getting him to go vegan may take a while longer...
Yeah, I've noticed the premade stuff is so pricey with just the veg stuff, and even finding premade vegan stuff seems really hard to find.
I'll def try to find some of those recipes... do you know which site they were on?
Brit
Reply
I've been slowly transitioning to vegan for the last two months. I had been eating 98% vegan for the last two years and thought it would be EASY -- that last two percent is HARD!
Reply
I'm probably 50% vegan already. I am somewhat lactose intolerant so I don't use real milk in anything I make, and can only have other dairy in small portions. My main problem is going places or eating premade things and not knowing that is in them.
Thanks for your help!
Reply
There are a lot of resources on the internet for finding out what is vegan and what isn't. There are actually very few restaurants that are completely UNVEGAN FRIENDLY, two off the top of my head are Olive Garden and Applebees (blech!).
Information for chain restaurants is easy to find and for local places it's best to kind of stick with what you know. On the rare occasion where I do eat out it's usually at the local Mediterranean restaurant (which has the word VEGAN on their huge sign-board menu!) and Mexican restaurants that specifically say they don't use lard in their beans.
Also, Yelp.com has been helpful in finding local places that are vegan friendly. :)
Reply
Also I am not 100% vegan, just so I don't misrepresent myself. I eat vegan maybe 80% of the time, generally when I cook for myself.
I will always eat honey, and my coffee always gets 1/2 and 1/2 so I fail a lot.
Reply
This was one of my biggest obstacles, I finally weaned myself off of coffee at the beginning of the month (can't use soy creamer, it goes bad REALLY fast). It sucked, it felt like I had a brewing migraine for a week straight. :(
Reply
Reply
Reply
you don't need to eat meat subs; i rarely do. maybe once every few months. most are not that good for you anyway. when i go to a restaurant that has nothing vegan on the menu, i usually get a salad and a baked potato, with olive oil for the potato and vinaigrette for the salad.
Reply
I do love the Amy's stuff too, they're just a little pricy at like $4 for one meal here. I like the Boca b/c you can get like 4 meals for $4. Although I do love to eat them with bread usually... any good vegan bread brands?
Being vegan seemed so hard until I came here today.. now it's sounding quite easy. :)
Reply
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(The comment has been removed)
I did become veg cold turkey, but I have a feeling doing that for vegan would be much harder. I've been trying to take it out of as much as I can, but haven't been able to pass that final step yet.
Thanks for the help!
Brit
Reply
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