So, you’ve made the decision to go veg~n and taken the plunge. Staying vegetarian/vegan is the challenge now. By remembering your reason for going veg, you’ll keep your motivation high.
Still, some things make staying vegetarian/vegan easier…
If you’re the only vegetarian in your family and it’s too difficult to cook totally separate meals, adapt a meat dish. A casserole, for instance, can be made with beans and vegetables in one pan. Then the meat can be cooked separately and given just to the meat eaters.
Don’t be put off by unfamiliar foods. Tofu, for instance, is so useful. This product made from soya beans is a complete protein, incredibly versatile and easy to use. It absorbs the flavour of other ingredients, so is great with strong flavours.
Check out those in our shop.
Adapt familiar meals such as Lasagne and Shepherd’s pie by using beans, lentils, tinned vegetarian mince or tofu. Add seasoning for extra flavour.
Whereas some cheeses are made with an ingredient from the stomachs of slaughtered calves, vegetarian cheese uses vegetable-derived rennet. Almost every supermarket now stocks at least one kind of vegetarian cheese. Or choose one of the growing number of vegan cheeses available, such as New Zealand made and NZ Vegetarian Society accredited Angel Food cheese.
Commercial free-range isn’t cruelty-free but it’s an improvement on caging hens in tiny spaces.
A lot of foods contain hidden gelatine or animal fat, eg lollies, biscuits, yoghurt, sour cream.
Dried beans and lentils are cheaper and easy to cook, but the easiest option is tinned.
They’ll have vegetarian products you haven’t seen before, and the assistants will be able to answer your questions about products suitable for your new lifestyle.
It tells you at a glance that the product is 100% suitable for vegetarians.