My food Vegan Grocery Shopping | UK Vegan shops

I wanted to start a weekly post, to show what food I buy for myself, and my family. The reason behind this is because I find it really difficult to explain that it's NOT hard to be healthy, it's not that difficult to eat clean food, it's not that hard to make fast delicious meals, and it doesn't have to cost the earth if you are careful and wise how you shop! The average cost of a food shopping bill in Britain in 2012 was £76.83 a week, we all know prices have gone up, so it's probably closer to £85 for a family of 4 now. If you add into the equation a child and adult who have allergies to gluten , soy, dairy and eggs it's expensive. Obviously we are now vegan, but it's still expensive. You have to learn to shop around. I started shopping on Ocado last week and I have been pleasantly suprised by the quality , range and quanity of the food.  ( For example a box of 7 mangos, ranging from ready to eat, to 5 days to ripen cost me £5, everywhere else they're £2-3 each ) My shopping for the next 10 days cost me £83.98 . ( I could have spent far far far more, since they stock so much Vegan food, and have so many options!)

I know if you're not vegan, or used to eating clean, you'll be looking at this photo thinking, " How do you make meals from that, it's just fruit and veg?!" Well, trust me, you can create some really healthy meals with these little guys, some amazing snacks, aswell as desserts... and I am going to show you how!

I also bought gluten free pasta, bread, frozen fruit, and CO-YO yoghurt.

I thought that I'd share with you a few of the new products I've stumbled accross this week that I am excited to try! They're all healthy options too, I'm always being asked if I have found anything new while shopping, and the answer is this week is YES!
I bought some pre-made kale, apple and celery juices by a new brand called Vegesentials for the days where Pauly and I are super busy and don't have time to get to the juicer ( that sounds sad, but it is often true as some mornings can be alittle crazy! ) I tried one when I brought the shopping into the kitchen, Pauly and I both agreed they were divine!
I've been reading lots of raw recipe books lately, which call for Young Thai Coconuts, so I have some for this week, but I also LOVE drinking Coconut water and milk. The COCO face I love the 'packaging' on the coconut - very cute! I had one of these while out and about at a vegan food festival a while ago and fell in love with them! When I saw them online I decided to go ahead and order some, I'm not quite sure how to get into them though??!

While on the Coconut front, I bought some VitaCoCo drinks to take to work, I've been feeling really dehydrated and lethargic lately, so the more coconut-ty things I can get into me the better, I find they are a superfood for me!

 ( I couldn't wait for the coconut goodness to get into my system as I felt quite tired after a long day, it's completely re-booting, energising and hydrating, and did I mention delicious!? )

 
( I'm going to write more about Vegesentials this week, as I LOVE the company ethos, brand and product!)

A few cupboard items I decided to pick up this week are just regular things, they didn't have the Mrs Crimble stuffing I raved about, but they had the Hale and Hearty version, so I'll let you know how that is. I finally (!!!) managed to find some potato starch for my gluten free baking, and a selection of different organic pulses, I bought a ton of them as they were £1.09 a bag, I also bought some of my favorite Doves Farm Pasta.

So stay tuned for meal ideas, thrifty cooking plans and toddler meals - I find Opeie a challenge sometimes since he isn't ready to eat some of the more grown up foods we have, especially the raw.

THE Best Vegan Gluten Free Stuffing | Mrs Crimble's Sage & Onion Stuffing Review

Yep. A post dedicated to stuffing. I LOVE stuffing. Fact: When I came out of hospital after having Opeie and battling Hyperemisis Gravidarium for 42 weeks my fiancee Pauly made me a small roast dinner everyday for breakfast, as I had the appitite of a horse and had been so ill for months I just craved roast dinners. I vividly remember he made me a heart shaped stuffing 'cake' all on it's own. ( Sadly since then, I've developed allergies to gluten and soy.)

This is how much this girl LOVES stuffing.

Well, yesterday was Christmas Day. Did you have fun? I'd love to know what you've been eating and how you celebrated ?! 

As a Sage & Onion stuffing  connoisseur  I was excited to try Mrs Crimble's Sage & Onion stuffing, as I didn't actually know you could get gluten free stuffing, silly of me not to have looked really. We tried this a few weeks ago, and we fell in LOVE! It is amazing.... it tastes just like the 'normal' stuffing, a really handy thing to know if you indulged in a gluten feast over Christmas - I admit, I was so tempted to have a baguette with salad and houmous at a party I was at last night, or some pretzels or maybe alittle selection of crackers?

I decided not to as I knew I would be in pain.... so, I decided to just eat the things I could have and decide next time I'm at a party to take a few savory things of my own to eat and share with others, as I normally only take desserts.


Did you indulge in things that don't agree with you over the festive period? How did you celebrate? What was your favorite dish?I hope you had a fantastic time!

Vegan In Orlando : Downtown Disney | Rainforest Cafe | Vegan options

Well, as I mentioned in a previous post, being vegan avoiding Soy and Gluten in Orlando is tough!

I did extensive research before we went via a few vegan food blogs, but obviously I couldn't see if any of the meals/ snacks were excluded from gluten & soy. Well, I can tell you now! We found 2 places that we were able to eat at in ALL the parks. Everything had soy in it, followed closely by gluten. Most places were unable to even do pasta gluten free.... you'd think a huge place would have ample vegan / food allergy options.


I had to share this with you though:  The one place we did find that Opeie & I could eat at trouble free was Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney, they had a whole lot of options! They were able to produce an allergy menu, which had alot of vegan options, but sadly they all contained soy or gluten apart from the "Vegetable Pasta" dish.

For such a simple dish, the meal was amazingly flavoured, creamy and everything I could have wanted and more. It was also HUGE! I wish I'd have asked which brand of pasta it was because I'd have loved to have brought some home.

Opeie and Seth also had the same, but they had alittle bit of tomato basil sauce on theirs, and they both loved it so much they asked for doggie bags to take the rest of theirs home, since the children's portions were also huge! My meal was $16.95 which is alot for a bowl of pasta - even if it was huge! That said, I would definitely go back and have it, it was delicious and my mouth is watering just looking at it.

The children's meals were $5.95, as I said the portions were massive. Opeie and Seth could have split one easily and still have had some left over. Seth said it was delicious and asked if we could visit again, and Opeie said it was 'Yummy' which is lovely to hear since the little man seems to struggle so much when we eat out as he's always stuck with gluten free pasta, and I think he gets bored of it. Later on he asked for the doggie bag left overs for dinner, which I heated for him, and served with fresh veggie fingers, fruit, hummus and nuts.

About the rainforest cafe.

It's set inside a HUGE Volcano, filled with rainforest animals, vines and leaves all over the ceiling, and crazy attention to detail all over the restaurant including a beautiful waterfall.

Every 20-30 minutes, for around 90 seconds , a huge thunderstorm which is beautiful hits the tropical volcano. It's an unusual that they've set a rainforest inside a volcano, but it works! It's so much fun and the boys loved it! I'd definitely recommend it.

BabyCakes nyc Downtown Disney Review | Cupcakes | Donuts | Cookies | Gluten free | Vegan

 

This lovely lady made my day! She is so lovely!

Well, THIS happened! 

Oh My GOODNESS! I love Downtown Disney for having Babycakes nyc!

I have no words to explain how good the Babycakes nyc cakes and cookies are... they are heaven.

The lady that talked to me was super cute and lovely, we talked about all kinds of vegan food, life, favorite things- for a long while.  It was lovely to chat to someone else who has the same views on food as me out here!

I'd totally recommend it, it's located next to the Lego shop, handy if you have boys that want to have their cake and just go and eat, where as I like to have a little longer to chat!

I've bought 12 cupcakes since I've been here, I visited a few days ago ( but we won't go into that ) and I bought 6 cupcakes and some cookies, and then went back and bought 5 cookies, 6 cupcakes, and a Babycakes nyc book so I can try and recreate at home! The cupcakes are $3.75 each or 6 for $20, the cookies are around $1.95 and the books are $20-25

I really wish that we had a Babycakes NYC in England, but I'm glad in some ways that we don't since: 

1) I'd be so over weight

2) It makes it super special when you can have a massive treat like this on holiday that you can't get at home. 

(     I know I will regret saying that once I'm home- infact I regret saying it already ! The lady who I chat to is so awesome I will miss talking to her - and obviously the cake!   )

Dairy Soya Free Anthony Worrall Thompson Chocolate Spread

This is an indulgent food review , but vegan , soya , gluten free all the same .

I was very skeptical when I ordered the Anthony worrall Thompson chocolate spread online. , because I thought how can something made from 100% plant based ingredients taste like the nutella I personally love ?

My goodness ! Hold on to your hats chocolate fans ! This tastes even better !!!!! It's so hazel nutty , chocolatey, and creamy that I can't believe it's dairy free !

One tip is when it arrives , leave it in a semi warm place, ours was rock solid as I think the delivery van was chilled & it took quite a while to get gooey .

For the first few days id partially cook my sons toast / tea cake and pop a solid lump of this on & place it back under the grill to melt it ... Yes , it really was that solid !

It's reasonably priced, and available at Eco green store , where I bought mine , we're almost 2/3s through our jar which we've had 4 weeks , and I will defiantly be buying it again ! It's RRP is £3:49 , but you can find it at Eco green store at the moment for £2:08

It's a real treat if you can't have dairy soya or gluten ! Have you tried it ? What did you think ?

GOODLIFE VEGAN Glamorgan Sausages with leek, onion and cauliflower Review

Goodlife Glamorgan Leek & Cauliflower Sausages, with ratatouille and Vegusto cheese.

Goodlife Glamorgan Leek & Cauliflower Sausage Review : Oh my goodness. It has been SO long since I tried something so so good. ( I've not been paid to say that! Or sent these either. ) Being vegan and mostly soya free , I was reluctant to try these, as they DO contain alittle tiny soya, but luckily they didn't make Opeie ill, as it's such a tiny amount.

They taste almost cheesy, and like they should be really high in calories, when infact they are not. They aren't completely smooth and mushy in texture, they have a nice amount of small chunked veg inside the sausages, and plenty of crispness on the outside.

The sausages from Goodlife are really quick and simple to cook, 30 minutes in the oven and your done. I don't buy that much frozen food, infact I don't buy any, because there is non I actually like, but oh, my, goodness these are something else, and at £2.29 a bargain!

They also make great finger foods for toddlers, and are a great way to incorporate something different into your babies diet. I think they taste just as nice cooled, as they do hot. I am going to try them chopped up in a salad when I'm out and about in a lunchbox. I also think they'd be great in a tortilla wrap if your able to have gluten, or on a ciabatta with spinach, salsa and alittle vegan cheese. Delish!

I bought mine from Tesco and Wholefoods for £2.29 ( for a pack of 6 ), but I believe you can get them from some Asda stores and Sainsbury's. You can also buy them online here. 

Price / Value : 5/5*
Flavor 4.5/5*
Suitable for little mouths 4/5 ( I would suggest them as a finger food for babies 12m + )

MOO FREE Chocolate Review ( Dairy Soya Gluten free Chocolate) for Vegan Lactose Intollerant

Moo Free chocolate is one of the best things I've found since I stopped having  dairy/soyain my diet.
It is so remarkably like 'real' chocolate that you literally wouldn't know the difference without reading the packaging. 

The things I love about it most is that it is Organic, and also that they make it without any soya. Believe me , it is so hard to find soya free things!

It is really creamy, melts in the mouth, is perfectly sweet and can be melted down easily over a bowl if you want to use it to dip strawberries/ biscuits/ or pretzels in it.

My baby boy loves it as a treat, and so do I. I've been buying mine for over a year from Goodness Direct and Eco Green Store , I tend to buy it in bulk, 10+ bars at a time as Moo Free goes out of stock so quickly online, but that lasts us months! (The bars are around £2.50 for 100g. )

(They are trying to get more machines however to cope with the demand, but need your help, you can pledge money. )

I am yet to try the rest of the range, but would really love to try the pralines, the Honey comb chocolate, and get an easter egg for Opeie to enjoy!