Hello! New to this site, new to vegan, and need help grocery shopping!
Hi, my name is Nic. I'm so glad I finally found a place where I can hopefully start connecting with other vegans because I feel so isolated. I mean, I live close to Boston, you'd think people would stop treating me like I was crazy for taking on such a "radical" diet. I try to inform them that my diet change is merely a consequence of my beliefs but no one really gets it, or cares. It has SUCKED!
So here I am, reaching out hopefully to fellow vegans here. I need to start off by saying I've been researching achieving health through diet for 14 months or so, and all of these books do recommend becoming vegan, so it made sense to finally start picking up a couple books on veganism. So I have a working knowledge of why I want to be a vegan and reasons to back it up, and lots of ideas for my diet but it's been a difficult transition for me. Yes I have been eating vegan for the past few weeks now and everytime I have cheated I have actually gotten sick so it's really good for me I think to stick to it completely, which the past week I have been totally vegan, no cheating.
What I'm finding difficult is that all of these books have great vegan recipes but I don't want to go out and pick up 300 ingredients for a week's worth of food just so I can toy around with four or five seemingly extravagant recipes. Does anybody have a suggestion for some simple recipes that will use similar ingredients so I can have an easier time throwing together a shopping list? Or maybe, since I'm sure most of you have been in my position, can someone tell me some major vegan staples to keep around the house? These books don't really seem to tell me that kind of thing.
If anyone has any suggestions I would totally appreciate it!
Talk to you soon,
Nic
Did they change the cover? If you're up for one more book, try this one:
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51unN-daukL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
Here's the review thread for it -> http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=31599.0
Pre-prepare component food.
For example, cook a grain and freeze it in individually sized portions. You can then use it for straight eating; mash it with refried beans, oatmeal, and spices to make vegeburgers; put it in soup, etc.
If you have beans, you can put half a can on a lunch salad and mash the other half into the vegeburger. You can use garbanzo beans on your salad, fork mash the rest, mix with some vegan mayo, relish, chopped celery, etc. for a "tuna" salad mix that can go into pita or what-have-you the next day. If you use black beans, you can mash leftovers to make into black bean hummus to put into leftover celery.
I eat a lot of raw vegetables, quite a bit of fruit, some legumes, and a bit of grains (I naturally don't like grains much, so they're bottom on my list). The only "vegan" things I can think of that I buy are: nutritional yeast, almond milk, vital wheat gluten (to mix into my vegeburgers to help them hold together), Earth Balance margarine for baking, and Vegenaise vegan mayonnaise. I only go to a health food store when I run out of nutritional yeast.
I love the above cookbook and reviewed several recipes in that thread.
What stables you use will be developed over time, and taylored to your individuals tastes. I did find an old thread here about staples: http://vegweb.com/index.php?topic=32691.msg397420#msg397420
At first it might seem like you're spending a lot of money getting a gazillion ingredients, stocking up your spice rack and cubbards, but eventually it evens out and you have what you need on hand. So just give yourself time. I like looking at a recipe and realizing that I really don't have to buy a whole lot of ingredients because I have them on hand.
All the best and welcome!
Hi Nic, welcome! Casseroles and crock pot dishes like chili are simple to make with a variety of common ingredients and can be frozen in smaller portions for convenient meals later. Add a salad and some vegan cornbread and you have a great meal in no time. Oh, and for nutritional yeast, stick to Red Star brand (IMO).
Sorry to hear (but not surprised) that you aren't getting much support. You just have to do what's best for you and pick your battles; it isn't worth the bother of trying to convince people who won't listen. Feeling good is its own reward. See you around the forums.