Becoming Vegan in 2020.

I would like to start off my blog post with a short disclaimer! I fully understand that not everybody can become “fully” vegan, because of reasons such as struggles with money, allergies or disabilities etc. Even having one day a week meat free helps the planet, and every little bit that you do to be eco friendly and cruelty free helps! Thank you for reading, and please enjoy!

---

Why did I become Vegan?

I had already been vegetarian since late 2018, and during 2020 I was swaying towards a vegan diet. Personally, I do it for the animals and also to try and help the planet! I also use vegan makeup now, and I am trying to make sure that any new clothing products I buy are vegan too. I also love to buy as many eco products as I can, and I am trying to make the switch to eco products step by step. There are so many wonderful eco product businesses to buy from, and I will be sure to make a separate blog post just for that!

The vegan skincare and makeup range from Makeup Revolution is wonderful, as well as affordable! I love their skincare range, and since I started my skincare routine during lockdown my skin is doing much better. They also do student discounts too, which has really helped me out.

What’s the hardest part about being Vegan?

I think that the hardest part about going vegan for me is the ingredient checking and not always being totally sure that a product is vegan. So often things such as milk powder are added to products, for barely any reason. But, aside from that, I don’t really miss much. I hadn’t eaten meat for two years anyway, so it wasn’t too hard of a switch diet wise. I never really ate much cheese, and I was already using soya milk in my tea and on my cereal. I now have oat milk instead, to try and help the environment more!

My favourite oat milk that I have tried so far is the Co Op Gro oat milk! It’s only 79p, and if you’re a student or a Co Op colleague you get a 20% discount! I would really recommend their entire Gro range. The burgers are amazing, and their cookies are lovely too!

What are some of my favourite Vegan finds?

Pictured above from left to right, with no particular order of rating:

The first two images are from a day out in Felixstowe! I happened across a 100% vegan junk food place called Hank’s Dirty Vegan! Me and my sister shared a portion of loaded fries (with bacon and vegan parmesan), with free sauces! I chose ketchup and some garlic mayo. I also had an apple and mango juice, and a Biscoff brownie bomb. This was literally amazing! The prices weren’t too bad either for what you get! I would 100% recommend if you’re in Felixstowe or Ipswich.

The next two images show the nutty chocolate cake that I found in Lidl. I think it was around £2.99, and you get a fair sized cake for it! I had a big slice at first, and shared the last slice with my Mum the next day. It’s really tasty, but not too rich. The chocolate flavour is on point, and there’s no overwhelming nuttiness.

The next photo shows some churros that I also found in Lidl, and I melted a little of my vegan hazelnut & chocolate spread, I think I got this from Sainsbury's. The churros were easy to fry and tasted pretty good!

Finally, the mango vegan mochi ice cream balls from Aldi. I love these so much, but I’ve only been able to find them in my local shop twice! I’m gutted, because they’re so good. You only get six for around £3, but they’re so refreshing. I really want to get my hands on some again soon! They also do a tropical flavour.

The first photo above shows a pizza that I purchased from Young Vegans. They’re a London based company that bake everything themselves, and they sell a range of vegan goodies from pies to cookies! The pizza was really nice and you could tell it was homemade. Their pies are also amazing, the second photo showing my roast dinner with their steak and ale pie. They also sell a dessert pie that’s chocolate and peanut butter flavoured, and I really loved that. I would recommend this company to any vegan or non vegan alike! So good.

The third photo is of a little ice cream pot that I purchased after a day at the beach. To my knowledge the company doesn’t stock everywhere, but make sure you look out for them if you’re ever around Suffolk or Kent. This mango ice cream was super tasty and refreshing, and came in a perfect portion size. It was a nice surprise, as I didn’t expect them to stock anything dairy free!

The final photo shown is of a wonderful chocolate pastry pudding from Lidl! I think it was only a part of their Greek week sadly, but it was amazing! It tasted like a giant, warm Nutella croissant!

What are some of my favourite Vegan recipes?

Keeping it simple for now with only a few recipes, my first one is a simple but amazing chocolate mousse. I think I found this one on Instagram! All you do is blend one block of silken tofu, two melted dark chocolate bars of vegan chocolate and one tablespoon of cocoa powder. Put it in the fridge to set, and it tastes so good!

The second recipe I also found on Instagram, via various vegan cheesecake recipes. This cheesecake is Biscoff flavour, and it’s so good! I don’t really use measurements for it as I just adapted it to my own “wing it” style, but all you need is icing sugar, a little bit of vegan single cream, a little vegan melted butter, one or two tubs of vegan cream cheese, some melted Biscoff spread and crushed Biscoff biscuits. (You can also pick up a cheaper version of Biscoff spread from Aldi, called “biscuit spread” and it’s vegan!) Mix the melted butter with the biscuit crumbs, and press them into the cheesecake container / jar. I like to reuse my Gu pots! Mix the cream, cream cheese, melted spread and icing sugar until it’s nice and smooth. Spoon the cheesecake mixture on top of the biscuit base and put in the fridge to set. You can put the leftover biscuits on top or sprinkle some more crumbs on top too! Decorate however you please. These taste amazing, and have been a hit with family members who aren’t vegan themselves!

---

Thank you all so much for reading my first blog post! It’s been a long time coming. I hope that you enjoyed the read, and that I have helped you to pick out some good vegan finds or make your own. Let me know if you have any questions!

- Sam x