Life | Adventures in meat/dairy free

Hello lovelies,

I thought I'd write about how I'm finding not eating meat and drastically reducing dairy. I'm not going to talk about it that often on the blog, but I thought I'd share the things I've tried and liked for anyone else out there who wants a less animal-intensive life. In the future I might share the occasional recipe, but this blog will still be primarily about fashion, which I'm sure might please some of you. ;)

It's going really well, far better than I thought it would. I don't miss meat at all, that's the first surprise. The second surprise is I don't miss cheese either. I have eaten cheese a couple of times when eating out if there were no other choices, but I've surprised myself with how little I've missed it. I don't even really miss pizza! I think at the beginning I thought I'd miss everything - but I just miss the idea of it. I've also decided to not buy fish any more. I can get fake fish if I have the urge.

I had a delivery from Ocado of some bits and bobs a few weeks ago. I've worked my way through some of it, but haven't tried it all. I get my main shop from Tesco with all my fruit & veg, pulses, vegan cheese and stuff like that in it. This is just a top up as Ocado has way more vegan choices than any other supermarket.

The Rebel Kitchen banana mylk was lovely once I realised you have to shake well before use - I think it's got raw cacao in it and it can be a bit lumpy unshaken. The Smooze coconut lollies are divine, seriously one of the nicest things I've ever tasted. I have an infected mouth from having so many mouth ulcers (stress-related) and they're helping to numb the pain. The Swedish glace is lovely - I actually prefer it to ice cream. It's fluffier and tastes great, especially with a spoonful of Lotus spread mixed into it - orgasmic! I haven't tried the 'cheese' sauce yet but will do cauliflower cheese with it soon. The dark chocolate digestives are great, and the soy choc milk was quite nice too. I don't really like chocolate flavoured things but since I'm off milk choc it's a substitute. Since I've been on this eating plan my sweet tooth has almost disappeared. It's so weird!

The Fry's meat free stuff is really great, all of it. I've had the 'meat' strips in a couple of stir fries and the nuggets and burgers are great with sweet potato chips and beans. Lotus spread is a gift from the Gods. Seriously, that stuff is so addictive and I've since discovered they do a crunchy version too. Ohmygod. I haven't tried the vanilla yoghurts or the veggie burger mix yet. The Nom banana bars are amazing. So tasty and filling! I haven't tried the vegan cream yet but it's calling out to be poured over some strawberries!


I also bought some hemp powder I've yet to try, some nutritional yeast flakes which I don't think I got in the photo (they taste kinda cheesy) and I haven't tried the vegan mayo and salad cream yet either as I'm using up the normal stuff with eggs in it first.

I'm still debating with myself over eggs. I knew when I started this I didn't want to buy any more ready made products with eggs in them (like mayo or quiche) as they'd likely use cheaper caged eggs from other countries with who knows what kind of animal welfare policy. I've been buying local free range eggs, and I know that hens lay regardless (thanks Snoskred.) It's knowing they kill the male chicks that's erring me onto giving eggs up. I don't advise looking that up. Once you know how you can't un-know. This last month has been eye opening - it's like I made the decision to live a slightly kinder life, and now I've opened my eyes, I keep accidentally coming across more information which hardens my resolve.

I'm still debating full blown veganism, but I know if I say 'I'm a vegan!' then make occasional bad choices I'll beat myself up. Maybe it's best not to call it anything, and just carry on being mindful of living a kinder life, sans labels. I've been pleasantly surprised about how little the change of eating habits is affecting me - other than some of my knickers falling down - that's a pain in the arse. ;)

Thanks for reading.
Leah xoxo

Step dad update: He started chemo at 6.30pm yesterday. He's in a lovely side room with a private bathroom and it sounds like they're taking fairly good care of him. He's had a Hickman line put in which is making him feel a bit poorly as his body recognises it as a foreign body and is raising a temperature, but it should pass. Here's a photo of him and my mum in better times. He's notoriously camera shy so he must've been in a really good mood this day. :)



No comments