SW the Vegan or Vegetarian way....

There has been some discussion on the main thread about those of us who are vegan or veggie and about how we don't have a home.

Not literally. I have a home. I'm talking spiritually in terms of minimins. Not that we are aware of anyway.

I have started this thread for the benefit of those who are either veggie or vegan or who, like me, swing both ways. Again in the non-literal sense

I have found that SW is great being veggie and my food bill has dropped significantly. I follow the green plan religiously and love love love having the extra HEXB but struggle with my hexA because of the dairy. Some days I will have one hex worth of cheese, maybe and I have recently discovered almond milk which has been useful on the rare occasions I have needed a milk substitute. I eat a lot of beans, chickpeas, lentils and I am in love with my slow cooker and the veggie curry and chilli it can produce. Less good in the summer months but it still gets an airing.

Ok...you go!

Thanks for starting this thread! I have been vegetarian for 30 years now, and I follow the green plan (obviously!) I do still eat dairy so I usually use one Hex A for skimmed milk, and the other for cheese (though I don't have the second Hex A every day). I'd say about 85% of my main meals are vegan. I am in love with the Linda McCartney Red Onion and Rosemary sausages, but otherwise the bulk of my meals are usually based around some kind of bean (with chickpeas being my favourite).

Hi, joining if that's ok? I've been veggie for 2.5 years, was vegan for 6 months. I do mainly green days but I do Red and SE and the occasional EE. I don't usually use both my HEA's as I'm not a big milk drinker and don't usually have cheese every day and I only use free range eggs x

Hi! Yes join! I'd love to get some real discussion going about food options and choices. I'm always after new ideas!

*Waves!* I've been vegan for just over a year now but was veggie for a long time prior to that. It took me a long time to decide to make the final step but wish I had done it ages ago. I always do green, although some days end up as EE depending on whether I have had my second B choice - I only use my second A a couple of times a week. I really heavily on my slow cooker especially when I'm at work but am always trying new recipes, both from the internet and from SW/non-SW cookbooks. I am fairly lucky in my local area for eating out as there are several places I can get a decent vegan meal and stay on plan too!

Hi folks, been veggi for 33 yrs. Now with follwing SW Green I am borderline vegan. I don't take milk in any drinks and don't eat cereal. My only dairy is quark in some of my pasta sauces and the odd spoon of FF From frais when I am feeling indulgeant.

Yrs agio I tried WW. This was a disaster. i remember week 1 I ate pretty much nothing but sprouts & cabbage and I hate sprouts! At the time it was nto set up for veggis (I assume this has changed) but SW works for me brilliantly.

Lx

I've changed to title to make it easier to find us

look what I just had delivered. I won letter of the week for vegetarian living last month. The prize was supposed to be a wok but they forgot to send it. I chased on Friday and got this instead!! Amazing.

I'm also hoping my vegan kind box arrives tomorrow One day I'll take the plunge but I'm scared its very expensive!

Another one here, tbh I've found the EE fairly easy - though tempted to stick in the odd green day to mix it up - but not really sure on exacty what to do on green

CCRM said:

Another one here, tbh I've found the EE fairly easy - though tempted to stick in the odd green day to mix it up - but not really sure on exacty what to do on green

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I find my losses are better on green but everyone is different So on green you basically get 2 HEA and 2 HEB choices a day. I find EE very similar apart from the extra HEs as the syn values on EE are taken from the lowest syn value on either red or green. For example if something was 3 syns on green and 8 on red then EE would be the 3 syns so anything you are eating already that has syns that is veggie will have been taken from the values for green days (I hope that this makes sense?).

lickthelid said:

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I've changed to title to make it easier to find us

look what I just had delivered. I won letter of the week for vegetarian living last month. The prize was supposed to be a wok but they forgot to send it. I chased on Friday and got this instead!! Amazing.

I'm also hoping my vegan kind box arrives tomorrow One day I'll take the plunge but I'm scared its very expensive!

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That's loads better than a wok!

Basically with green you can eat unlimited (within reason) pasta, potato, rice, pulses etcetc but you need to syn your meats and fish (or use them as a HEXB) not that you have to worry about that! it is recommended that you still have 1/3 superfree and as iamplankton mentioned you get two healthy extra choices from each list. You should have 2 B and at least one A choice a day.

Most veggies on here follow the green plan because the benefits of the extra hex are obvious. For example I might have:
breakfast : bowl of fruit
snacks: Alpen lights x 2 (one HEXB)
lunch: quinoa salad
snacks: fruit
dinner: Linda McCartney red onion sausages, SW chips made with olive oil (second HEXB), mushrooms and onions.

I rarely use my hex a as I am borderline but not quite vegan and only drink green tea so no need for milk but when I do I have some almond milk or very occasionally have a little grated cheese on my chips. Syns would be spent on a little naughty something for the evening or on some sauces with my lunch or dinner.

to be honest what you eat as a vegan/veggie will already be green just without the extra HEXs

Thanks for setting this up Sam!

I am a faux-vegan for one week only, starting today!! I've been very bold throughout July with holidays and weekends away etc so wanted to try a new challenge to focus my energy on and make me more conscious of what I put in my mouth. I've always been intrigued by the vegan diet so starting today!!

Would really love some inspiration/recipes from you guys for vegan meals (breakfasts/lunches/dinners?) as want to keep it as interesting as poss this week. My boyfriend will be eating vegan when we eat together too so that's probably going to be the main challenge. He's very healthy and supportive but def does like his meat!!

Today my food is looking like this...

B - porridge (hexb) made with water
L - kale tabbouleh
D - baked bean or lentil lasagne with salad
Snacks - melon, mixed berries, apple, banana, oranges, koko dairy free milk in coffees, diet coke (I think this is vegan from what I can see on the net?!)

A book I use quite a lot is "Appetite For Reduction" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. The recipes are all vegan and although she does sometimes use a little oil (one or two teaspoons) you could either syn it or use Frylight. The tofu recipes particularly are really good.

jogirl said:

A book I use quite a lot is "Appetite For Reduction" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz. The recipes are all vegan and although she does sometimes use a little oil (one or two teaspoons) you could either syn it or use Frylight. The tofu recipes particularly are really good.

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Does she have a site? I started today for a week so if I ordered it now, it wouldn't be here until the end of the week xx

I have her book too. I don't think there is much of her stuff on the inter web from what I remember. I'm not totally vegan so I'm not the best to comment but what you have there looks pretty good to me! I have found that you get far more dairy free milk for your syn, I use the unsweetened almond milk and you can have a whole litre so you may be able to make your porridge creamier?

I love a chickpea curry with tinned tomatoes, chick peas (obvs) carrots, red onion, vegan friendly stock and loads of spices, particularly cumin. I know it's not the weather but its so simple and I just chuck it in my slow cooker (would work on the hob too). I have what's left cold the next day with quinoa as a kind of curry salad thing. Make sure to really really rinse all pulses though until the bubbles go (both dried and canned) otherwise you will inflate from the inside out!!

lickthelid said:

I have her book too. I don't think there is much of her stuff on the inter web from what I remember. I'm not totally vegan so I'm not the best to comment but what you have there looks pretty good to me! I have found that you get far more dairy free milk for your syn, I use the unsweetened almond milk and you can have a whole litre so you may be able to make your porridge creamier?

I love a chickpea curry with tinned tomatoes, chick peas (obvs) carrots, red onion, vegan friendly stock and loads of spices, particularly cumin. I know it's not the weather but its so simple and I just chuck it in my slow cooker (would work on the hob too). I have what's left cold the next day with quinoa as a kind of curry salad thing. Make sure to really really rinse all pulses though until the bubbles go (both dried and canned) otherwise you will inflate from the inside out!!

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I'm a weird one and actually like my porridge made with water!! I've always had it this way!! My little tesco was a bit rubbish for the free from stuff so going to a bigger one tonight to pick up some chocolate oatly/koko milk to make sure I get enough calcium as I tend not to like a lot of milk normally and would have depended a lot on cheese/yoghurt for this beforehand.

I was thinking of making either a mushy pea or a chickpea and spinach curry this weekend so might be handy to pop it in the slow cooker - does it not make the chickpeas go really mushy or is that the desired effect?!

Which veggie stocks are vegan friendly? I hadn't even thought about that and would have been using my knorr stuff without thinking!! xx

I am in the transition first to full veggie and then hopefully to vegan. I have given up all meat and now its just the occasion piece of fish but I want to give that up too. what I don't want to do is replace meat with quorn or similar as I find too much of it makes me ill so want to go down the root of veg/bean based meals.

Perhaps we could have a thread for such meals?

I made a fantastic spinach and cheese lasagne last night and would happily eat it all day every day!

I found it in an old WW cookbook and I used 1 HEXA for cheddar and one HEXB for light philly garlic and herb.

the meal makes 2 portions and each portion would be either 2 HEXA or if on green you could use your HEXB for the cheese

you take 300g frozen spinach and defrost, then when defrosted and drained you stir in 150g garlic and herb philly and freshly ground pepper. you then line the bottom of a lasagne dish with lasagne sheets, I used a 26cm dish, add half the spinach mix to the dish and then add more sheets on top and then the final layer of spinach mix and a final layer of pasta, on top of the pasta use a 400g tin of tomatoes and then top with 60g mature cheddar (I used full fat). I then baked in oven for 30 mins

it tasted so lovely and cheesy that I am excited for lunch shortly for the leftovers!

Sounds nice! It could even be done with vegan non dairy cheese couldn't it I suppose. I don't know how melt-able it is, does anyone know?

I can tell you tomorrow morning! Going to try melting some tesco free from hard cheese on top of my baked bean lasagne tonight

Kallo vegetable stock cubes are vegan no idea about knorr though?