New to this
Hi all. Im extremely interested in becoming vegan. Ive been thinking about this for awhile and have done research and have watched the horrible videos and am very against the treatment the animals receive and I have decided not to contribute to this any longer. The major problem I have is I live in a small town and their aren't alot of resources available locally for me as far as vegan food (besides vegetables and the abundance of soy/rice milk). Do any of you face this problem? Also, Im not sure if my boyfriend, whom I live with, will go vegan (or atleast vegetarian) with me. We have talked about it in the past and he has expressed interest in it. Those of you with significant others and children, what do you guys do as far as meal planning to accomodate them as well? Any tips and opinions will be greatly appreciated.
Welcome to the VW. I'm also new to being vegan and living in a small town. Something that helped me was checking out PETA's "I can't believe it's Vegan" page. It has lists of common grocery items that are also vegan.
As far as getting your boyfriend to go vegan, I wouldn't try it. Instead, when you are sharing food then he'll eat vegan, but if hew wants meat make sure that he uses his own containers/pots/pans.
Just my two cents. Good luck.
Hi. Welcome.
I don't think many long-term vegans use the pre-prepared veggie burger type items. There are a lot of great protein sources out there. Soy, quinoa, and spirulina are complete proteins to my knowlege and buckwheat is almost a complete protein. Someone can correct this if it's wrong. Then there's seitan (made from wheat gluten) and tofu.
If you ever drive to a place where there are health food stores, say monthly or a couple of times every few months, you can load up on protein ingredients. Wheat gluten comes like flour and tofu can be frozen.
Other than that, browse the recipes here. There are a lot of things to make with "normal" ingredients. If you are making something to share with your boyfriend, you can make most of it vegan and then he can add meat to his portion or you can make vegan sides and he can make his own burger or whatever omnis eat. There are a lot of people on here who live with omnis. I think the trick to it is to not get preachy, but just share good food.
Like I said in the first post, he has told me in the past he wanted to go vegan, i always thought it would be too hard to do and I think that's the main reason he hasn't went vegan yet. I went to PETA's "I can't believe it's Vegan" page and I see that alot of things I normally buy are vegan products. I guess it won't be that much of a change after all. :D
Start reading ingredients lists. Look out for the obvious to start with; honey, milk, lactose, egg, animal fat, tallow, whey etc. And as time goes on you'll learn what else is animal derived and add that to the list in your head of non-vegan ingredients to watch out for. Don't expect to know everything at the beginning, and don't beat yourself up when you find out that an ingredient you thought was safe isn't. I lived in a town of 2000 people, pretty much all dairy farmers when I was a teen. They had never heard the word 'vegan' before. I didn't even drink soymilk or eat tofu. My diet consisted of vegetables, fruit, grains and legumes. Normal things, just without the meat or dairy. And because my brother and I cooked most nights we learnt how to create great tasting meals without the added cholesterol, fat and guilt. I was the only vegan in my family and I am still the only vegan I know (not including the great people of VegWeb). My boyfriend is a kind open-minded person, but he won't give up meat. I personally don't understand it - but I don't push. Well I do push; he's only allowed to buy free-range and due to my influence he only eats meat when out. Living with an omni isn't the worst thing. If you do the cooking, just don't cook non-vegan things. Ask him to try and understand the pain all this guilt causes you, and to help you relieve the pain by supporting your decisions. He doesn't have to follow suit, but he can support you. And if he is interested in becoming vegan, maybe observing your transition to veganism and noticing the extra energy you get from a diet free of gross, heavy, gluggy meat will be enough to sway him.
Edit: I love how Pringles have vegetarian and vegan check boxes on them. Who would have thought smoky bacon flavoured chips were vegan!
I live in a small town and I do just fine. I will say that I have ordered things online many times because it is so much cheaper and easier than driving for something.
Healthy-eating.com is my favorite. They have EnerG egg replacer, Red Star nutritional yeast, some fake meats (I don't buy them), vegan candies, powdered soymilk, evert fresh produce bags, cookbooks, etc. If something isn't vegan, they will tell you. I am expecting an order with my hoard of dark chocolate blueberry candies!
I think if you live in a small town, you tend to eat more simply from what is available. I think we eat better than we used to and we tend to have an emphasis on locally grown produce and beany things.
Aren't "BA-COS" (bacon bits) vegan? I think I remember seeing that on the PETA site. I think it's kind of funny.
There are a lot of things to make with "normal" ingredients. If you are making something to share with your boyfriend, you can make most of it vegan and then he can add meat to his portion or you can make vegan sides and he can make his own burger or whatever omnis eat. There are a lot of people on here who live with omnis. I think the trick to it is to not get preachy, but just share good food.
I totally agree. I'm vegan living with an omnis. I do just what Humboldt stated. It works out great. And to not "freak out" my hubby, I buy "normal" grocery items as well. I made a list of stuff we usually buy, and matched it up with stuff on the "I can't believe it's Vegan" website. The shocking thing is that what we already buy from the regular grocery store IS vegan (except his meat, of course). So it wasn't much of a change (for me, anyway).
my local grocery store is pretty vegan friendly, but i know that when i move to the country in a couple weeks, ill have www.foodfightgrocery.com to fall back on! does your boyfriend cook? or do you usually do the cooking? the only time i dated a meat eater, he had no idea how to cook, so he ate vegan when i was around.
enjoy!!
probably the easiest thing to do, at least it's what i did. is start out just going vegetarian, and cut other items out one by one and you can learn how to replace them that way. and maybe your body adjusts better that way too, not sure
I really hope you both give it a try. Being vegan is a great thing to do for your body, mind, and the environment. It really isn't hard to go from omni to vegan if you are committed, especially if you have a partner doing it too. I'll try to give some advice :) I've found that even some small towns have local "health food" centers, and these places tend to be a vegan haven. If not, that's definitely okay. Any grocery will support a healthy vegan diet, especially now that whole grain products and organics are popular. If you have a craving for this or that, indulge it with a vegan version! Vegweb is a great resource for tried and true vegan recipes. Invest in a vegetarian B12 supplement (they are not expensive if you check around online) and get started, I'm sure you will feel great. Try to ignore omnis criticisms of the vegan lifestyle if you run into any. Eat a varied diet that emphasizes a variety of whole grains, beans, nuts, fruit, and vegetables. Make sure to post if you have any specific questions or get discouraged, there are many people here who are knowledgable and would love to help out!
I'm kinda new to the whole vegan thing to. I was vegetarian before that so I think that may have made it easier...I found two awesome sites tonight! the first one has lots of recipes (as we do here) and the second one has very concise and helpful information for newbies like us including pantry basics and descriptions of the ingredients that longtime vegans forget we have never heard of.
http://www.theppk.com/
http://www.veganwolf.com/vegan_cooking_substitutions.htm
The best advise I want o give you on going veg is that whatever amount you can do, it helping. If you need to start off slowly by first eliminating chicken, then later red meats, then dairy, eggs, etc...it still counts! Another option for transitioning is to start of with one vegan day a week. Only vegan foods on those day. Then make it two, then three until you only have nonvegan days once or twice a month and then not at all. And when you "mess up" and eat something with an animal ingredient it remember, it does not Undo all the good that has been done by you going veg. It would be fabulous if you can get your boyfriend to go vegan with you- but even if he doesn't, you can always count on support from us vegwebers! This is a great site, so stick around!! :)
Edit: I love how Pringles have vegetarian and vegan check boxes on them. Who would have thought smoky bacon flavoured chips were vegan!
you got me all excited but i couldn't find any vegan flavors in the US (at least in the east here). :'( :'( :'( i need me some artificial meaty flavors, yo.
Baypuppy! Pringles they ain't, but have you tried Primal Strips? So much artificial meaty deliciousness. Extremely addictive.
Crazy. Here in NZ, BBQ Pringles and Bacon Pringles are vegan, along with some other flavours. I assumed they were made in America, and so you guys would have access to them too. Did yours not have a vegan or vegetarian checkbox on the packet?