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…
Adapt familiar dishes
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.
Treat yourself to a vegetarian cookbook for inspiration and advice
Check out those in our shop.
Start gradually
Adapt familiar meals such as Lasagne and Shepherd’s pie by using beans, lentils, tinned vegetarian mince or tofu. Add seasoning for extra flavour.
Buy vegetarian cheese if you eat dairy
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.
Buy free-range eggs if you eat eggs.
Commercial free-range isn’t cruelty-free but it’s an improvement on caging hens in tiny spaces.
Read the labels.
A lot of foods contain hidden gelatine or animal fat, eg lollies, biscuits, yoghurt, sour cream.
Legumes
Dried beans and lentils are cheaper and easy to cook, but the easiest option is tinned.
Explore wholefood and ethnic stores.
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.
Look for the Vegetarian Society Approved logo on products.
It tells you at a glance that the product is 100% suitable for vegetarians.
