5.3.18

A Carnivore's Guide to Living with a Vegan


Remember how cool I was when my daughter came out as gay? Well, after all, what changes? Nothing much, different choices in Valentine's day card purchases, but that's about it.  But when Raffy came out as vegan..well that's a whole new ball game!

When I, a confirmed omnivore favouring bacon and steak above almost any other food except cheese, was told by my daughter that her moving toward vegetarianism, and her lifelong loathing of cheese had taken the dark turn into the land of the vegan, I was stunned.

Raffy is 18 but she still lives with us, I'm still her mum, and I still have to ensure she eats well and we buy foods she likes (did I mention teens are as fussy as toddlers?)

So I set her the task of finding foods that
  • are cheap
  • are easy to make
  • are easy to find in shops
  • she liked
This was no mean task as it turned out. But here we are a few weeks in and she remains alive. I am still relatively sane and we all seem to be eating a bit more healthily (I'm still eating bacon and cheese sandwiches, fear not)

Our larder now carries a few extra 'staples' along with bread and baked beans. We are no longer restocking up on tuna, tinned chilli and most biscuits, even some crisps have had to be refused larder entry. But on the plus side we now have lentils (red and green) tins of chick peas, tins of mixed beans, tins of butter beans and lots of rice. We also have vegan gnocchi, pasta and peanut butter.


I found several websites listing 'accidentally vegan' foods, one even specialising in vegan snacks, perfect for a teen that constantly raids the larder bewteen meals. So far a favourite savoury snack is Yushoi pea snacks, and on the sweet menu Aldi Paleo bars and several other fruit bars in their Wholefoods range

Maybe if you are a stickler you would eschew foods that say "may contain ..." but we haven't gone quite that far, if it's not in the ingredients, it's good to go.

So we are still enjoying Jus-Roll croissants, Party Ring biscuits and Biscoff Lotus biscuits and spread. Food is being cooked in vegetable oil or coconut oil and many a chili falafel wrap is being consumed. I'm hoping to add a few vegan family recipes to the blog soon, because many are really nice, I mean, not bacon nice, but nice...and I guess you could always add cheese or bacon. I often add grated cheese to my vegan pasta after serving. (did you know you can get vegan pesto? I was far too excited about that)

The main pain in the butt is that we have to buy separate milk (Raffy favours the Koko coconut milk, original) and an egg substitute for recipes. Luckily Raffy has never been a huge fan of yoghurts and custards although there are soya versions. And she already preferred vegan ice cream to the real deal (weirdo). Veganism is definitely a developing trend among the young. Is it a trendy fad or will farm animals become a thing of the past by the time Raffy has kids? Or is eating animals and the products of animals still the best use of some land types? (I'm thinking of waterlogged meadows and steep hills...) I guess only time will tell. 

Look out on the blog for 'vegan recipes for the carnivore' in the near future. I will get Raffy to bake some more vegan cakes so I can blog that - they are very tasty. And if you have any vegan comments (good and bad) or vegan recipes, pop them in the comments below. Thanks.

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