Vegan-ish

So for the last few weeks I've been eating vegan.  Let me get this straight, this change in diet is not fuelled by my passion to live a cruelty free lifestyle, wait that sounds bad - I'm not 'pro' cruelty!!  I'm not against people eating animal products in their diet.  My choice was fuelled by a desire for change.  We had fallen into the trap of eating the same thing all the time, convenience being at the top of our priority list.  Meat was covered in breadcrumbs,  food was cooked from the freezer, more often than not the main colour on our plate was beige. 

My friend had tried the vegan way of eating for a month, her decision was as a result of trying to cut saturated fat out of the diet of her household.  She claimed that she felt amazing as a result, full of energy and was enjoying the new tastes she was being forced to try.  So I went vegan.  Just me, not the rest of the house.  I do not know enough about nutrition to confidently change Joel's diet so dramatically and know he is getting all the essential vitamins and minerals a growing exploring toddler needs.  Phil met my vegan plan with the level of enthusiasm you would expect from any serial snacker/junk food lover.  I wasn't asking him to join in, just not to sabotage my attempts, and so we agreed to live separate kitchen lives. 

The first week I was finding my way, getting on his nerves taking ages reading all the labels in the supermarket and eating totally separately to him and Joel.  My cooking was a bit shit;

Slimy veg, plain pasta, made this for packed lunches in work, ate 2 mouthfuls and gave up.  Yuk 

 I began a quest to find the perfect dairy milk replacement for my cup of tea.  I failed and decided that I was 99% vegan apart from the splash of milk in tea.  Then the weather was amazing and there was a minor burger incident at a BBQ.  This first week also involved the re-discovery of peanut butter, my new best mate. 

Peanut butter and banana on toast with tea.  The perfect comfort food and great to grab on the way out the door to work when I hadn't any packed lunch planned or pre-made. 

The next couple of weeks I got more confident in cooking vegan dishes and was able to cook for the whole family , adding a side of meat to pacify my carnivore other half.  

Colourful veg ready to roast in the Actifry for roast vegetable and lentil soup.  A yummy belly warming soup that was a big hit with the boys.  Joel is always a fan of soup to be honest, at 18months old he is at that stage where he is impressed by his own spoon skills and enjoys any meal that puts these into use.

See?  Spoon addict.  This one was carrot, parsnip, apple and lentil soup.  Another belly warmer. 

Fresh strawberries and Alpro Vanilla Soya yogurt.  Tastes like custard.  Yum.

Baked potatoes, mushrooms, rocket and pretend bacon.  Phil had regular bacon, obvs. 

Vegetable and pretend mince chilli con carne.  A big hit with everyone in the house. 

Phil became less eye-roll-y about the whole thing.  I went out for lunch with my sis in law and didn't manage to eat vegan, I ate off the vegetarian menu instead.  Over these weeks I discovered that Pringles and potato waffles are vegan friendly!  I also tried out some homemade vegan treats.

This might look like a bowl full of mush but this is vegan ice cream.  So yummy,  and so easy to make, and its flippin' healthy!!  Freeze a banana.  Blend it.  Add a spoonful of peanut butter, 2 spoons of coconut milk, mix and then freeze for another 30 mins.  Eat.  Amazing.  

Cinnamon and raison muffins made with courgette to make them moist rather than butter/milk/eggs.  Really tasty and a bit hit with Joel.  

This week Phil was found googling vegan recipes.  He did a vegan shop, researching how he could cook for the family and provide a vegan meal for me.  What a hero, eh?  He also chatted with his friend who knows alot about nutrition type information who said that vegan diet lacks vit B-12.  After a bit of research I decided that I would include the odd egg and fish in my diet.  Therefore I am no longer vegan, but I hope to still reap the same benefits to my health.

Homemade vegan pizza, with a sprinkle o f vegan cheese.  Vegan cheese is not something I will be spending my money on again, but the pizza was lush!  So lush I forgot to take a photo.

Pasta with vegan pesto, spinach, home grown leeks given to us by a neighbour and asparagus made for work lunches this week.

So far I do feel a difference to my energy levels and I am enjoying the experience of trying new recipes.  Restricting your diet encourages you to cook more from scratch, but it has also turned me into one of those annoying people who photographs their food.  Sorrynotsorry. 

I do not know how long this wee fad will last for but I am hoping it will encourage long term healthier eating in my family.  I do promise you this, I will not be one of those people who kills the craic by dissecting the menu at restaurants and quizzing the waiters on preparation methods.  I will not turn my nose up at family functions if the food contains something I choose not the eat.  Promise I'll still be fun, ok!?

Detox from Asda..

Anyone else find that they spend a FORTUNE every time you go to Asda?
The weekly shop has become more and more expensive, obviously we have a little person to feed now but it is not just that, the price of groceries is definitely going up.  Despite my best intentions of planning meals and sticking to a list I always end up impulse buying and ending up with food going to waste.
There are so many times that I have nipped in the car to Asda to pick up milk and ended up spending the guts of a tenner on things I don't need.  I walk about like an Asda zombie hypnotised buy their BOGOF biscuit offers.

Well enough is enough!  Asda, me and you are done - I'm going cold turkey!

Recently I have been reading these blogs and they have inspired me to be more mindful of my budget and my waste when it comes to food shopping;

Mortgage Free in Three
Skint Dad

After a bit of online research I found a company that interested me, Castle Farm Fresh Produce.

Based in the foothills of the Mourne Mountians this company provides a wide range of local products and even delivers to your door.  Reading through their website I loved the business goals that they listed;

• Provide local quality produce at a competitive price
• Provide local employment
• Cut down on food miles
• Promote the Mourne area
• Support existing local producers
• Farm in a sustainable, enviromentally friendly way
• Encourage customers to buy local produce

I was also attracted to the 'Box Deals' option in their website, providing value and quality.  Cheack out the range of 'Box Deals' here.    

So here is what we ordered;

Large family essentials box 

2 x 2.5kg maris piper potatoes

2 x 2 litre milk

1kg carrots

500g parsnips

1 x head of broccoli

1 choice of cabbage or 500g sprouts, 

1 choice of cauliflower or turnip 

500g white onion

18 free range eggs

500g loose tomatoes

1 x pack of 3 mixed peppers 

10 x small lunchbox mixed apples

1 x Punnet Clementine’s, 4lb bananas

White sliced loaf or pack of 4 soft baps

250g mushrooms

500g Dromona butter

Soup Pack (250g of buchanan soup mix, large bunch whole soup veg, 8 plain chicken drumsticks) 

2 x packs of 4 skinless chicken fillets

2 x 400g packs of plain beef, beef and chilli, plain pork or pork and leek sausages

2 x 400g steak mince

2 x 400g pack of Chicken goujons

2 X 300g pack of Unsmoked or smoked back bacon 

Price: £60.00

What I like about this box is that it includes the essentials such as milk, bread and butter aswell, removing the temptation to go to Asda!

£60.00 may seem expensive for just me, husband and the little person but I was confident that with careful planning and using the freezer we would be able to make to food last us at least 2 weeks.    £30.00 a week- not bad in my opinion!

This takes some planning, although the chicken goujons that are included were great for a night off cooking from scratch!

Here are some of the goodies that we cooked up!

 These chicken drumsticks were included as part of the soup pack.  However we had a sticky barbecue marinade in the cupboard which we used to cook them with.  These drumsticks did packed lunches for my husband and I for 2 days.

Here is the massive pot of soup that our soup mix made.  We used two chicken breasts instead of the 8 drumsticks for the chicken element.  This pot served as a hearty dinner for the whole family as well as leftovers for lunch the next day.  There are also 5 baby sized portions in the freezer.   

This is a chicken and broccoli pie, helped along with a wee tin of condensed soup in the store cupboard.

As you can see, in the deal 18x eggs are included.  We were so busy in focusing on making sure none of he meat went to waste that the eggs were forgotten and before we knew it the use by date was approaching.  We gave in and went to Asda to get 3x pastry bases at 90p each and whipped up these lovely cheese and broccoli quiches.  This was such a hit with Joel and so easy to make.  Phil was so proud of this creation he sent one to his mum!

We also made cottage pies, pots of belly warming curry carrot, parsnip and apple soup, vegetable stew and sausage casserole.  I also tried this recipe from the Mortgage Free in Three blog which has become one of my favourites.  It has to be said I have not mastered onion soup- my version tasted less sweet than I would have liked - but I will try again!  All these dishes take that wee bit more effort to make, especially after a day at work but are worth the effort as they all provide leftovers for packed lunch the next day as well as the possibility of freezer portions.  

Not all the meals required such effort, we also had sausage sandwiches, bacon turnip and potatoes, chicken goujons and roast vegetables and as shown above, bacon egg and sneaky oven chips.  The bacon and eggs provided in the box are beautiful!!  So tasty.

 The other advantage of this way of shopping meant that all the food was Joel friendly.  Cooking from scratch means that you can monitor the salt content and know that there are no hidden nasties.  There is a real satisfaction in everyone sitting down to dinner at the table, all eating the same meal, cooked from scratch.  Any leftover could be used with a few store cupboard bits to make a new meal.  See above, just a few left over roasted vegetables added to pasta and pesto and some tomato made a delicious lunch for Joel and I.

However I have to confess, I was not able to go Asda cold turkey, we had to go for formula, and the pastry bases for the quiches.  We also had to go to Lidl for milk - always the cheapest.  I've said it before and I'll say it again, Lidl are by far the best for nappies too!  There was also a trip to Home Bargains for pesto and breakfast cereal.  There was a minor chippie slip up and perhaps a Dominoes splurge as well.  Not quite a frugal queen yet, but heading in the right direction!