Lurkers, come and say "hi"!

brill it's great to get some fresh input into the forum. Welcome

Moonbaby! Calm down!! Unless you are cooking for many many people? In which case, worry! If anyone has a good nut roast recipe, now might be a good time... ! Years ago I made a few not so great ones, and one brilliant one. Recipes are long gone, but I'd love to make a good one again To the "Christmas Dinner" thread with you!

Samurai! Welcome Looks like you need a crash course on easy veggie meals. You need to make sure you are getting enough fruit, veg, protein and carbs. I know Tar.Aldarion has put plenty of info in the stickies, so have a read. Have you tried the wide range of fake meats out there? They are very easy to prepare. The whole preparation thing may be where we are losing you... Balanced healthy diet, come on!

Monkey61 wrote: »

Hey folks,

Just thought I'd post as I will be going vegan from the 1st of January! Have been doing loads of reading about it and am generally excited though quite terrified too because I'm a dairy fiend. On the plus side though, I will finally for the first time in my life learn how to cook and be forced to cook meals every day.

I'm telling myself that I'm going to try it for a year and see if it is a viable way for me to remain. I love my food, but ethical issues are really weighing me down and I want to finally get off my ass and do something about it. I really hope it works out because I would love to do it forever, but am unsure at the moment whether the dairy cravings and general hassle in restaurants and other peoples houses will prove too much to handle.

Either way, I'm going to give it my best shot and hopefully become a fantastic cook and never look back.

Wish me luck!

Your dairy cravings won't kill you I used to love milk and now I'm very happy to drink oatmilk. Once you get used to it (or soya, almond or rice milk) then you won't have any problems. When I was becoming vegan I began with having oatmilk instead of dairy milk at home for about 3 months before making the complete transition. Gradual change made it far less scary. Stock up on plenty of sunflower spread (or soya) and get some Sweedish Glace (or other non-dairy ice-creams) in your freezer. It is good to make sure you have things like the ice-cream to save you when you crave that dairy filled treat!

Restaurants will be a hassle, but if you are good at communicating with people (and won't be too shy to ask) you will generally be able to sort something out at most restaurants. You need to be patient and explain exactly what you can and can't have. These restaurants want your custom, so they are usually happy to accommodate you (and take you money!). If you know a day (or more) in advance of a meal planned out in a certain restaurant, you would be doing everyone a favour by ringing up beforehand to enquire. Oh, and if you love your cuppa tea, head to a chemist and buy a 50 mL medicine bottle - cheap and will hold your non-dairy milk in your purse/bag until you go looking for that cuppa tea away from home! It's not often that you will be able to expect soya milk provided with your tea when out and about.

Whether you work or go to college - this (I find) is tough for vegans in terms of finding lunch. You wish you had your kitchen at your side for such occasions! If you have a microwave handy, I find that's great and means you can easily bring meals in and eat well. Sandwiches do get boring! All a work in progress...

This forum is great for any issues/questions you come across as everyone will help you out with advice. Have a read through the stickies as they are full of vegan and veggie advice.

Finally, I would recommend www.vegweb.com to get ideas for your cooking (all vegan recipes).

I hope you'll let us know how the transition goes

lorna100 wrote: »

Im pretty much a lurker here too, im a pescoveggie. I'm 17 and stopped eating meat at 14 (I know fish is meat but hear me out!) but the parents still make me eat fish.

I hope you tell people you are a pescitarian The terms is easily confused with vegetarian so it's best to help keep that confusion at bay. Otherwise the general public believe that veggies eat fish. You are indeed welcome to the forum

Seriously considering turning vegan at the same time, but am completly stuck for lunch ideas. Also going abroad, how easy/hard is it to find vegan foods? I can imagine being in a restaurant and not having a clue how to explain the concept of veganism in a different language. Just the practicalities that I need to figure out before making the plunge.

Veganism is difficult in terms of eating out. You have to be ready to ask questions at restaurants (see my post above), but if you are happy to communicate your issue, restaurants are usually accomadating. For traveling I highly recommend The Happy Cow website - you will find veggie and vegan friendly restaurants in all sorts of countries using this website.http://www.happycow.net/ I used this when visiting Paris and was able to find 100% veggie restaurants which I loved eating out in. I would recommend a vegan passport ( http://www.vegansociety.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=1&products_id=231 ) for situations where you don't know the language and you don't know theirs.

Oh, there was mention of gravy there. I realise that everyone has a different view of what gravy is Some people just use Bisto (I think it's veggie) but I always make mine using a stock cube or Vecon (get both in a health food store).

I put a good knob of dairy free spread in a small pot and melt. Add in a tsp or two of flour (until it is soaked up completely, to form a paste) and then slowly add boiling water, a bit at a time (stirring well to avoid lumps). I like to make a thick gravy, but you might add a cup or so, stirring well. Once you have your wanted consistency (if it becomes too thin, all you can do is cook it off - adding more flour will screw it up) then stop adding water. Add in a stock cube (check ingredients - as I mentioned, healthfood stores will have veggie ones) or a spoon full of Vecon (a sort of stock paste - my favourite for gravy). You could add a dash of soy sauce if it appeals. Hope the recipe makes sense!

yey! vegans

we should get another poll going for numbers on this forum. the poll should include: lacto-ovo veggies (eat dairy and egg), lacto veggies (eat dairy but not egg), ovo veggies (eat egg but not dairy), vegans, pescetarians, raw foodist, vegan-raw foodist. Can you think of any other categories?

welcome sunshine rose am glad you are loving the change.

Aoifums - the only way around living with a family and being vegan is that you have to be prepared to cook for yourself and shop for yourself. So long as you have the food that you want to eat, you are set and if your mother sees that you can't be swayed, she will just have to learnt to accept it!

And for any new lurkers - we get thread like "Reasons there are so few vegetarians" every now and then with big arguments in each direction, but don't let that irritate you! I am happy to be vegan and not fond of arguments Best to just keep out of it if it doesn't suit you.