[ali3e]

Hello everyone, my name is Alice!

After some months of saying I will, yesterday I spent the whole day watching documentaries and awful slaughterhouse videos and I have made the decision to go 100% vegetarian. (I feel awfully angry that I hadn't enlightened myself sooner).

I already have a few vege cookbooks and my mum seems to be supportive at the moment (she's the main cook in my house). But I was wondering if you guys had any tips or advice for a new vegetarian?

I'm still going to consume dairy and eggs at the moment for medical reasons but I hope to become vegan within the next year or two.

Any good lasagne recipes or decent meat alternatives? I'm in the UK so preferably things I can get in UK supermarkets please. Also any green smoothie recipes WITHOUT banana? Everything seems to contain banana but I'm deadly allergic to it.

Thanks!

 

[Shallot]

Welcome Alice!

Great to hear that your mum is supportive. I'm guessing that you are still at school and living at home if she's the main cook? If you offer yourself up to your mum as sous chef for veggie meals she may be even more supportive (certainly my mum is and remains a sucker for help in the kitchen).

I'd say there's no shame in a veggie sausage (easily found in all the main supermarkets - Tesco has a really great range of free from foods which come both in fresh and frozen). If in doubt beans on toast/baked potato with some grated cheese is a great vegetarian meal when inspiration fails. Tesco & Sainsbury also do online recipes - and have vegetarian section.

If you're looking for recipe ideas online you could have a look around the Abel & Cole website - depending on the monthly food budget they also do veggie recipe boxes (it's my monthly treat!).

 

[ali3e]

Welcome Alice!

Great to hear that your mum is supportive. I'm guessing that you are still at school and living at home if she's the main cook? If you offer yourself up to your mum as sous chef for veggie meals she may be even more supportive (certainly my mum is and remains a sucker for help in the kitchen).

I'd say there's no shame in a veggie sausage (easily found in all the main supermarkets - Tesco has a really great range of free from foods which come both in fresh and frozen). If in doubt beans on toast/baked potato with some grated cheese is a great vegetarian meal when inspiration fails. Tesco & Sainsbury also do online recipes - and have vegetarian section.

If you're looking for recipe ideas online you could have a look around the Abel & Cole website - depending on the monthly food budget they also do veggie recipe boxes (it's my monthly treat!).

No I'm working full time but unfortunately I live in Cornwall which is REALLY expensive so I'm saving to move out! Yeah I need to learn to cook more too!

Oh wow didn't think about that, Tesco is my most convenient supermarket too so I'll be sure to check it out!

Oh thank you yeah I'll check that out, sounds tasty. My family are going out tonight and I'm so excited to have my first full vegetarian meal! Thanks for the help!

 

[@rno]

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[Bruce V]

I'm still going to consume dairy and eggs at the moment for medical reasons but I hope to become vegan within the next year or two.

Hi Alice, welcome aboard. Out of curiosity, what medical reasons are there to consume dairy and eggs? If you don't mind me asking...

Cheeers

 

[ali3e]

Hi Alice, welcome aboard. Out of curiosity, what medical reasons are there to consume dairy and eggs? If you don't mind me asking...

Cheeers

Im very underweight (high metabolism) and my doctor basically advised it for the time being as I need to find good alternatives etc. Plus it's a huge step so one thing at a time, can't shock my body too much. C:

 

[Darleneant]

Alice,

that's awesome! Good for you. I love keeping my meals simple - it's cheaper and saves time. One of my favourite kind of meals is a good, solid garbanzo bean salad. Adding all kinds of green vegetables to it makes it tasty and protein rich. Some of my favourites are sprouts, kale and spinach.

Since I'm a bodybuilder and vegan a good smoothie recipe is a must - again, mine is pretty simple. Soft tofu, soy or almond milk, peanut butter, honey, cinnamon and you can add some spinach for more protein if you want. I have some more simple recipes on my blog if you are interested. www.veganfitgirl.com

I'm so glad you have made the decision to change your diet.

 

[silva]

welcome!

You don't need banana in smoothies. If you like avocados lots of people really like those in smoothies- I'm allergic to those! Nut butters, oats, ground flaxseeds- they'll add nutrition and calories, just add whatever fruits and greens you like.

I understand your wanting to keep eggs/dairy - it takes some time to really adjust to new foods. As you find your way around you'll find your foods have taken a huge difference. I eat more variety now mostly vegan than I ever had eating meat/dairy/egg

 

[Bruce V]

Im very underweight (high metabolism) and my doctor basically advised it for the time being as I need to find good alternatives etc. Plus it's a huge step so one thing at a time, can't shock my body too much. C:

I see. If you want to gain some weight, get your calories up. It's mostly about calories in vs calories out. A little tip for you - most doctors know very little about nutrition. Good luck though. I think you're on the right path.

Cheers

 

[Starchyvegan]

Hello everyone, my name is Alice!

After some months of saying I will, yesterday I spent the whole day watching documentaries and awful slaughterhouse videos and I have made the decision to go 100% vegetarian. (I feel awfully angry that I hadn't enlightened myself sooner).

I already have a few vege cookbooks and my mum seems to be supportive at the moment (she's the main cook in my house). But I was wondering if you guys had any tips or advice for a new vegetarian?

I'm still going to consume dairy and eggs at the moment for medical reasons but I hope to become vegan within the next year or two.

Any good lasagne recipes or decent meat alternatives? I'm in the UK so preferably things I can get in UK supermarkets please. Also any green smoothie recipes WITHOUT banana? Everything seems to contain banana but I'm deadly allergic to it.

Thanks!

Hello Alice!

I'm a newbie here too!

You can get alot of meat free options in supermarkets like tesco's, morrisons, asda and sainsburys. I used to eat alot of Quorn products when I was veggie (cant now because they use milk and egg). To make lasagne I just used to buy the quorn mince and use the lasagne kits you can buy in supermarkets. You can buy soya mince in most supermarkets too though if there is no Quorn. And Tofu is always good to have aswell

Congrats on making that transition to veggie!

 

[ali3e]

Thanks to all the super responses guys! I had my first vegetarian lasange the other night by switching out the mince for aubergine and it was so much nicer I couldn't believe it. We had a Sunday roast yesterday but I had a tesco nut roast instead of all the meat products and it was so delicious, I'm already noticing a difference!

I've been watching a few documentaries and found Cowspiracy to be my favourite, I really aim to be vegan in the next 18 months once I've moved out, but I've already stopped eating eggs and switched to coconut milk at home.. small steps!

Does anyone know of any good books written about veganism/vegetarianism or just some good pieces of reading?

Thanks!

 

[Starchyvegan]

The Starch Solution by Dr John Mcdougall
The China Study is also good - Although i've only read bits and not the whole thing!

If you have netflix they also have alot of interesting documentaries. I watched Vegucated which is a really good watch!

The lasgne sounds amazing with aubergine. Good on you for the small steps!

 

[ali3e]

The Starch Solution by Dr John Mcdougall
The China Study is also good - Although i've only read bits and not the whole thing!

If you have netflix they also have alot of interesting documentaries. I watched Vegucated which is a really good watch!

The lasgne sounds amazing with aubergine. Good on you for the small steps!

Vegucated was the first I watched!

 

[LedBoots]

Cowspiracy is good too!

 

[silva]

How Not to Die - by Dr. Micheal Greger

anything by John Robbins

The Idiots Guide to a Plant Based Diet--surprisingly a great book for info and recipes.