Going Vegan...Questions!

[80s_Lover]

Hi all, I'm new around here and glad to see there's a board just for teens to hang :)

I have a question for all of those who are vegan...I cut meat out of my diet almost 2 years ago and I've now decided to take the next step to veganism. I've failed two times in the past and so I've become discouraged. The first time I accidently ate something with casesin (sp?) in it and gave up waaaay too easily. The second time I just became so fed up when I couldn't eat anything anywhere I went and the lack of natural food stores in the area. This time I'm serious, completely. I just don't know where to start with shopping and what not. I can't afford the prices that are at the natural food store I have to drive an hour to get to. I'm one poor chickadee who's going to college so my food fund is literally $20 a week. I guess I'm not asking any one question in particular...just in general-your experiences and struggles, how you over came those struggles, what kinds of food you eat (preferably ones that are cheap and don't require a lot of cooking due to total lack of time!), what your grocery list looks for the week, and anything I need to be careful of or look out for (like code word ingredients which I know there are many :()

Thank you all in advance for taking your time!

[warheart77]

Hey! Welcome to the boards :) i know where you're coming from most definitely.

Have you checked out the accidentally vegan list? If not, I strongly urge you to do so. A nice long list of cheap mainly staple foods, drinks, and candies that you can find anywhere that no one would have guessed were vegan! :-D

http://www.peta2.com/stuff/s-accvegan.html

Hmm.. As far as general experiences go... I went cold turkey pretty much overnight. I haven't has much trouble at all, fortunately I live in NYC and there are plenty of vegetarian restaurants and health food stores everywhere. But I recently took a trip to San Francisco, Sacramento, and LA, where I *did* run across some trouble. I advise you, if you're going to take a trip anytime soon, DO YOUR RESEARCH!

Grocery lists... Lately I've been having a lot of mock-meats. Sadly, I don't eat too many fruits and vegetables, so I've been living off of breads, wheats, pastas, and soy/tofu products. I love TVP (textured vegetable protein). It's like ground-up beef basically, but... not. It's pretty cheap, and I take the little crumblies and put them in pasta and it's really really good :-D

Hmm.. Not sure what else to say, but if you have any questions feel free to ask or email (alison@black-glitter.org)!

[LotRElfGirl13]

Pretty much just go for it. You can take it slowly if you have to. :elf:

[Rabid Ent]

I really took my time with the Vegan thing... I was Ovolacto for about a year and a half before, and after I went on PETA, my mind was changed forever.

I gave up eggs about 2 months before I went Vegan.. just to ease myself, and my parents, into it.
Then, I tried avoiding dairy. But, if I accidently ate those oh-so-good Lay's chips with Lactose in it, I didn't freak out like I accidently ate meat.
Then, one day.. I just woke up and decided I was Vegan.
Sometimes, I still make mistakes and eat something with lactose or shellac in it... and, I am still yet to give up Casien... but, I don't think I will impose that on my mom until I move out.
As far as costs go... Pasta is usually vegan and cheap. If you buy whole wheat, you may actully get a fair bit of iron from it too. A $2 bag of pasta will feed me and my sister for about a week of suppers!

Good luck!!

[LotRElfGirl13]

I'm still Lacto-veggie b/c my mom won't let me be vegan. I wanna be raw vegan. I started out no meat, gelatin, eggs, honey and stuff like that. Now the only dairy I eat is cheese in pizza. soy milk is good. cows are friends, not food. Cuttin down on pizza now. Been veggie for about 1 1/2 months I guess. :elf:

[spehlbaund]

cool I hadn't seen that list... I've been having trouble myself with my mom who keeps yelling at me that trying to be vegetarian/vegan is too expensive... thanks for the link warheart! :)

[DreamWavez]

First off, I think it's best to not get mad at yourself if you accindently or purposely eat something with casein or something like that. I'm a vegetarian and mostly vegan, but you're doing more good by wanting to do what you do, so give yourself time. I actually spend about $20-30 a week on food. I don't buy the same things every week (some things last awhile) but this is a composite of the things I eat, I hope it helps you somewhat!

Apples
Bananas
Grapes
Carrots
Celery
Peanut Butter
Frozen Waffles
Bread
Almonds
Pasta/Sauce
Frozen Pizza (Amy's Soy Cheeze, granted, it has casein)
Granola Bars
Brown Basmati Rice
Cucumbers
Soy Ice Cream ( thankfully vegan!!)
Dark Chocolate (also vegan, Green and Blacks brand)
Boca Chic'n (or however it's spelled, this has casein also I think)

So you see, I'm trying to be as vegan as possible, but I'm in college as well, so whatever steps you are taking is great! If you want to be completely vegan, it's pretty easy to just look at ingredients and aviod words like casien, whey, lactose...etc. It's not really that hard to find food, but I'm lucky that I have a natural foods store in my town, so I have access to more vegan food. But good luck!!!

[lil_onyx_piggy]

I'm trying to become vegetarian, I just decided to today. I watched some clips on PETA and thats what made me want to do it... but... my friends is all plants are abused too! And how do we know they don't feel pain too!? I dunno what to do help me!!!

[spehlbaund]

I actually don't know about that for sure but I've heard something like plants don't have nervous systems and/ or brains or something so therefore they can't feel pain.
oh btw good for you on deciding to be vegetarian :)

[warheart77]

It's true. Plants can't suffer. Plus, plants are not equipped with the abilities to harm or escape (legs to run, poisonous stingers, teeth, claws, etc) that sentient being have. Any sane person can tell the different between plucking an apple off a tree and slitting the throat of a screaming animal. If she can't, then she needs help.

Also, when going vegan, please don't beat yourself up if you make a slip-up. It's not about a competition. It's about eliminating suffering, and part of that means eliminating the suffering of yourself. Don't freak out. It's not a "I've been vegan for a month but I accidentally ate x so now I have to start over". There's no race. If you go about it like that you're bound to screw up. Take it one day at a time, learn from your slips, and move on. After time it becomes a snap.

And sometimes you'll have to make amends. Some people refuse to take their medicine because it was possibly tested on animals. That's ridiculous. Again, being vegan is about eliminating all the suffering that you can, including that of yourself. There is no way to take back the lives of those that were hurt or killed, but there is also no way to lead a healthy fight against animal suffering without being up to par yourself.

[Amethyst]

Do you have a meal plan? I take a back pack into my cafeteria and load up on all of the free bananas, apples, pears, and oranges that nobody ever takes. I get a to go box and fill it with loads of raw veggies and then I do not have to buy veggies. I only buy the odd food item now and then like raw nuts or a cereal or something special. I eat the rice and beans they usually have or I make a salad and eat the beans and tofu on the salad bar.