Oct 10, 2024 2 min read personal

The vegan challenge

For the past three weeks, I’ve been a vegan. It’s something that brings in lots of new challenges, and the experience can be very gratifying and rewarding. There’s a lot of foods out there which are obviously not suitable for vegans, such as; meat, eggs, dairy and even honey. However, some things aren’t so obvious like; bread, pasta, sweets and biscuits. Most things have a “suitable for vegan” logo, some are “suitable for vegetarian” while others don’t have either.

Contents

No label on the product

The products that don’t contain a logo can be tricky at times. You’ll look at the ingredients and see nothing that contains animal products, yet you’re left wondering why there’s no logo. There will be a notice towards the bottom that will say “May contain…” and list milk, or something similar. I will usually just assume that it means it’s okay, yet other vegans may place it back on the shelf. I don’t consider myself a strict vegan either, I will still eat meat if it’s offered. Because if I say no then it gets chucked away, and that’s just not sustainable. That’s the reason I chose to be vegan in the first place.

Suitable for vegetarian, but is it suitable for vegans?

Another one is “suitable for vegetarians”. What usually makes it not suitable for vegans is because it contains dairy or honey. If that isn’t listed and no other animal products are listed, then I will safely assume it’s for vegans.

Meal planning

Making my own vegan meals is another challenge. How do I plan for the week? If I make my set meals, will there be enough? I usually look at 3 – 4 meals that feed 2 – 4 people and purchase all the ingredients for them. I will then go out and purchase everything on my list. Then in an evening, I will cook my dinner and make sure there’s enough for my lunch the next day. This cycle carries on until the weekend where I tend not to have lunch and back to shopping on Sunday.

If you enjoyed this post and would like to learn more about what I eat and my routines, then please let me know in the comments below.