Green Days Vegetarian thinking of going vegan

i_am_plankton

i_am_plankton

Full Member
I've been a strict vegetarian for almost 16 years and cut dairy milk out of my diet in November (but still eating products with milk in). I've recently been seriously considering going vegan as many of the products I already use and buy are vegan and have also found out that some of the Tesco meat-free products that I buy are vegan too like the mince. The one thing I will find hardest to leave behind is Quorn as I use their products in a lot of my dishes, although I have figured that I can switch quorn sausages for LM sausages, quorn mince for Tesco meat-free, Quorn/Tesco meat-free burgers for Tesco bean burgers etc.

My local Tesco do stock a reasonable amount of vegan products including vegan soft and hard cheeses but I guess I am after advice on being vegan whilst following SW and also about making savvy swaps for those things that could be missed like fried eggs and omelettes? I know about egg replacers and things like that, but I also eat a lot of fat free (and syn-free) yogurts in the form of Shape 0% and wondered if there was a very low-syn alternative as I currently eat between 2-4 yogurts a day.

Any help and advice is much appreciated as it's some of the SW-friendly swaps that I'm looking for the most advice on.
 
Hi, I've not long ago turned vegan and I do SW. Your yogurt you can get alpro soy yogurt the one I use is syn-ed but I don't eat a lot anyway.
I've found Holland & Barrett are really good for vegan products, mock duck, £2 a tin, syn free, they do meat free sausages 99p for 5, 1.5 syns per sausage, I use these in bakes and casseroles with them being so cheap. They even do vegan chocolate if you ever wanted to treat yourself.
I've done a bit of shopping online and you can get virtually anything you want. Most products like mayo are higher in syns but I just use less. I've got "no egg" which I got from H & B and I have baked cakes with this, approx £3 for the equivalent of 66 eggs, I'm trying a quiche tomorrow and I have "the vegg" which I bought online, I use this for dippy yolk to go with a cooked breakfast and I make scrambled vegg using it & tofu, yummy. "No egg" is syn free and "the Vegg" is 1 syn for 1 tsp made up.
As for being SW friendly, it's easy for main meals using soy mince, tofu beans and lentils all are free, I even make my own sandwich spread and pate which are free and cheaper than shop bought. Because I can't have hifi bars I make my own cake/ bars, portion up, syn and then freeze to use when I fancy. The shop bought versions tend not to be diet friendly.
The cheese I use is cheezley which is a HEB not HEA so to use up all my HEA's I buy koko chocolate coconut milk which is a HEA or I have a hot chocolate or a milk coffee. I google vegan recipes and then make small changes to make SW friendly most recipes don't need much changing. I've had no problems losing weight still since going from veggie to vegan all I would say is have a list of meals and snacks ready you're going to use before to change over so you're clued up and know exactly where you're up to.
Good luck :)
 
Thank you so much for replying, you've given me a ton of stuff to think about and I had no idea that things like mock dock were syn free. I have been looking at the Fry's range as I used to sometimes buy the polony and the schnitzels from a health food store but no idea how that compares in syns compared to say Quorn.
Being Vegan is something that had never really struck me until I gave up buying cows milk, which I can't stand the taste of now, and doing some google research made me realise that I already have about 85% of food that is Vegan in my house so I think that once I get a few occasions out of the way, I will make the change :-D
 
Hi, I am vegetarian and considering becoming vegan. What are the losses like as a vegan as I do better when I really stick to protein and cut out carbs.
 
i_am_plankton said:
Thank you so much for replying, you've given me a ton of stuff to think about and I had no idea that things like mock dock were syn free. I have been looking at the Fry's range as I used to sometimes buy the polony and the schnitzels from a health food store but no idea how that compares in syns compared to say Quorn.
Being Vegan is something that had never really struck me until I gave up buying cows milk, which I can't stand the taste of now, and doing some google research made me realise that I already have about 85% of food that is Vegan in my house so I think that once I get a few occasions out of the way, I will make the change :-D
Click to expand...
I had a cross over period where I used non-dairy milk and no eggs but I used up all the quorn and other products I had in the house as I don't like to just throw it. I did a lot of research online, finding out what the syn value of things were so I knew which products to buy. Most supermarkets have some vegan products :)
 
Beckyboo222 said:
Hi, I am vegetarian and considering becoming vegan. What are the losses like as a vegan as I do better when I really stick to protein and cut out carbs.
Click to expand...
Well last month I lost half a stone which works out about the same as when I was a veggie. I monitor my food intake for protein so I usually eat enough every day, I use a lot of quinoa, lentils, pulses and beans to get my protein. I don't skimp on my carbs as I work nights and if i don't eat them I crave sugar through the shift, I'd rather have carbs than chocolate etc.
 
Tace said:
Hi, I've not long ago turned vegan and I do SW. Your yogurt you can get alpro soy yogurt the one I use is syn-ed but I don't eat a lot anyway.
I've found Holland & Barrett are really good for vegan products, mock duck, £2 a tin, syn free, they do meat free sausages 99p for 5, 1.5 syns per sausage, I use these in bakes and casseroles with them being so cheap. They even do vegan chocolate if you ever wanted to treat yourself.
I've done a bit of shopping online and you can get virtually anything you want. Most products like mayo are higher in syns but I just use less. I've got "no egg" which I got from H & B and I have baked cakes with this, approx £3 for the equivalent of 66 eggs, I'm trying a quiche tomorrow and I have "the vegg" which I bought online, I use this for dippy yolk to go with a cooked breakfast and I make scrambled vegg using it & tofu, yummy. "No egg" is syn free and "the Vegg" is 1 syn for 1 tsp made up.
As for being SW friendly, it's easy for main meals using soy mince, tofu beans and lentils all are free, I even make my own sandwich spread and pate which are free and cheaper than shop bought. Because I can't have hifi bars I make my own cake/ bars, portion up, syn and then freeze to use when I fancy. The shop bought versions tend not to be diet friendly.
The cheese I use is cheezley which is a HEB not HEA so to use up all my HEA's I buy koko chocolate coconut milk which is a HEA or I have a hot chocolate or a milk coffee. I google vegan recipes and then make small changes to make SW friendly most recipes don't need much changing. I've had no problems losing weight still since going from veggie to vegan all I would say is have a list of meals and snacks ready you're going to use before to change over so you're clued up and know exactly where you're up to.
Good luck :)
Click to expand...

some great info here, thanks !! xx
 
Tace said:
Hi, I've not long ago turned vegan and I do SW. Your yogurt you can get alpro soy yogurt the one I use is syn-ed but I don't eat a lot anyway.
I've found Holland & Barrett are really good for vegan products, mock duck, £2 a tin, syn free, they do meat free sausages 99p for 5, 1.5 syns per sausage, I use these in bakes and casseroles with them being so cheap. They even do vegan chocolate if you ever wanted to treat yourself.
I've done a bit of shopping online and you can get virtually anything you want. Most products like mayo are higher in syns but I just use less. I've got "no egg" which I got from H & B and I have baked cakes with this, approx £3 for the equivalent of 66 eggs, I'm trying a quiche tomorrow and I have "the vegg" which I bought online, I use this for dippy yolk to go with a cooked breakfast and I make scrambled vegg using it & tofu, yummy. "No egg" is syn free and "the Vegg" is 1 syn for 1 tsp made up.
As for being SW friendly, it's easy for main meals using soy mince, tofu beans and lentils all are free, I even make my own sandwich spread and pate which are free and cheaper than shop bought. Because I can't have hifi bars I make my own cake/ bars, portion up, syn and then freeze to use when I fancy. The shop bought versions tend not to be diet friendly.
The cheese I use is cheezley which is a HEB not HEA so to use up all my HEA's I buy koko chocolate coconut milk which is a HEA or I have a hot chocolate or a milk coffee. I google vegan recipes and then make small changes to make SW friendly most recipes don't need much changing. I've had no problems losing weight still since going from veggie to vegan all I would say is have a list of meals and snacks ready you're going to use before to change over so you're clued up and know exactly where you're up to.
Good luck :)
Click to expand...

I'm so greatfull for this post! I'm thinking of starting SW from home, as it's the only one that worked in the past but I was omnivore at the time, now I'm vegan, I didn't know if it would work, or even be easy enough to even try! So thanks for the info!
 
Thehungryveganuk said:
I'm so greatfull for this post! I'm thinking of starting SW from home, as it's the only one that worked in the past but I was omnivore at the time, now I'm vegan, I didn't know if it would work, or even be easy enough to even try! So thanks for the info!
Click to expand...
Good luck with your weight loss, I've had no problems so far and have enjoyed it :)
 
i_am_plankton said:
I've been a strict vegetarian for almost 16 years and cut dairy milk out of my diet in November (but still eating products with milk in). I've recently been seriously considering going vegan as many of the products I already use and buy are vegan and have also found out that some of the Tesco meat-free products that I buy are vegan too like the mince. The one thing I will find hardest to leave behind is Quorn as I use their products in a lot of my dishes, although I have figured that I can switch quorn sausages for LM sausages, quorn mince for Tesco meat-free, Quorn/Tesco meat-free burgers for Tesco bean burgers etc.

My local Tesco do stock a reasonable amount of vegan products including vegan soft and hard cheeses but I guess I am after advice on being vegan whilst following SW and also about making savvy swaps for those things that could be missed like fried eggs and omelettes? I know about egg replacers and things like that, but I also eat a lot of fat free (and syn-free) yogurts in the form of Shape 0% and wondered if there was a very low-syn alternative as I currently eat between 2-4 yogurts a day.

Any help and advice is much appreciated as it's some of the SW-friendly swaps that I'm looking for the most advice on.
Click to expand...


Just another angle - but why do you want to become vegan? Just because most of what you're eating now is suitable fr vegans and you don't drink dairy milk doesn't mean that you should feel compelled to alter your diet further. You don't need to fit a particular label, or unnecessarily restrict what you're eating just because. Unless you feel morally or medically compelled to cut out animal products altogether then I really wouldn't worry about it. I have a friend who drinks alternative milks and tried to avoid animal products where she can, but doesn't label herself a vegan and that it means that she can do her best but not beat herself up about it or feel like she absolutely must not have something because she wants to stick 100% to veganism or whatever.
 
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