Thinking Of Going Vegan?

If you're thinking of going vegan, here are a few of our tips on how to make it as easy as possible.

1. If you're on Facebook, join some vegan groups - both food related and general chat. One of our favourite UK vegan food groups is Vegan (Supermarket Finds) UK - https://www.facebook.com/groups/VSF.UK/ It's actually a Public Group, so if you don't want to join, or want to check it out first, you can scroll through it and take a look. People post new vegan products that they discover. You can discover new vegan products that you didn't know existed. Another is 100% Vegan Products UK. This is a closed group, so you can't see the posts until you've been accepted into the group. There are groups for lots of different countries. When I visited Singapore for example, I searched on Facebook and found a group called Vegans In Singapore, so joined that group so I could find out where to eat good vegan food while in Singapore.

2. If you're on Instagram, check the #whatveganseat tag for inspiration. Or even #ukvegans or #veganuk (if you're in the UK). Or #veganfood or #veganfoodshare for starters. People post products they've bought and meals they've made, some with recipes. There are literally millions of vegan food photos and no doubt some will have you salivating and craving them!

3. Speaking of recipes, there are loads of recipe websites and vegan recipe books. You can also go to Youtube.com and type in something you'd like to cook and find many youtube videos showing how to make it. If you type in 'vegan recipes' loads will appear. One of the best things we discovered since going vegan was how to make a cake without using egg! All you need is a can of coke (or sprite, or any similar fizzy drink)! Try it!

4. Check out and buy from online stores. There are various online vegan stores such as www.alternativestores.com and www.veganstore.co.uk in the UK, or www.veganessentials.com in USA. There are also other online stores that have big vegan sections but aren't specifically 100% vegan stores - Ocado.com has a lot of vegan products, as does GoodnessDirect.co.uk. If you've never bought from Ocado before, they usually have offers for new customers that include free delivery and a percentage off if you purchase over a certain amount. And all you need to do is type 'vegan' in Ocado's search bar. If you go through quidco.com, you can also save an additional percentage. Goodness Direct offer free delivery if you buy over £35 - although they charge a little for frozen or chilled packaging. The Vegan Kind is another site that sells both sweet and savoury and also sells monthly subscription boxes as well as individual products.

5. If you shop in supermarkets, it's also good to check out their own websites in advance of journeys. Many have their own 'Vegan List' situated somewhere on their site. Also, if you search for 'vegan' on some supermarket websites it will bring up all the vegan products that they have. You can check the ingredients on their website in advance of a visit to the store and work out what you want before you leave the house! Here's a link to what comes up when you put 'vegan' in Morrisons' search bar https://groceries.morrisons.com/webshop/getSearchProducts.do?clearTabs=yes&isFreshSearch=true&chosenSuggestionPosition=&entry=vegan

People think that a vegan diet is restricted but just look at what comes up in Morrison's vegan list. Linda McCartney's Vegetarian Sausages, Vegetarian Pulled Chicken and Rosemary & Onion Plaits (these are my fave!). Then Fry's Meat Free Chicken Nuggets, Quorn's Vegan Meat Pieces, Fry's Meat Free Pepper Steak Style Pies. There are lots of 'accidentally vegan' products too - CoOp's jam and custard doughnuts are a vegan fave. Some products will say 'may contain milk' in their allergen advice. If no animal ingredients are actually listed in the ingredients themselves, this is ok. It is just a heads up for those suffering from allergies as the product was made in a handling factory that also used milk in other, non-vegan items.

6. If you've got a sweet tooth, there are even vegan sweet shops online for you. Lakeside Ethical Treats is run by Kevin White, who organises the West Midlands Vegan Festival. You can order vegan chocolate, snacks and sweets from his online store at http://www.ethical-treats.co.uk. There's also Vegan Town, which specialises in 100% vegan treats.

7. Stock up! Think about your favourite foods and what you are likely to crave. If you're a chocoholic, buy a whole bunch of different vegan chocolates. If you like cheese, try a bunch of vegan cheese. If you like sausages, try a range of different veggie sausages. Remember that if you don't like the first, they don't all taste the same. Sometimes it takes trial and error to find the perfect type for you. It took me years to find a nice vegan cheese. Now there are lots of different varieties and some taste better in certain scenarios than others. For example, my favourite cheese for cheese on toast is now Sainsburys Free From Cheese, which was only introduced last year, while my favourite melting pizza cheese is Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Cheese Shreds. Violife is nice for cold sandwiches or in grilled cheese sandwiches.

8. If you plan on eating out, check happycow.net. You can also find the happycow app in your app store. You type in the town you're visiting (or live in), and it will bring up the vegan, vegetarian and vegan-friendly restaurants, cafes and stores. Alternatively, check restaurants' own websites to see if they have menus online to check that they have food for vegans. Zizzi, for example, have their own vegan menu, which you can check out online.

9. If you're looking for vegan toiletries and other vegan products outside of food, visit https://www.crueltyfreeinternational.org/ where you can order or download a list of brands that are cruelty free. One of our favourite high street stores is Superdrug. Their own brand products all say 'Suitable for vegetarians and vegans' on the back. Again, if you type 'vegan' into Superdrug's search bar, it will bring up all of their vegan-friendly products. Other vegan cosmetic brands include Kat Von D, which you can now find in Debenhams in the UK, Beauty Without Cruelty, Arbonne (find cheap samples on eBay). Barry M has many vegan items, as do E.L.F. Cocktail Cosmetics sells vegan cosmetics (and others) online.

10. If you'd like to support some animal rights organisations at the same time, organisations such as Animal Aid and VIVA! have their own online stores that sell a variety of items from toiletries to chocolate to books (and even wine and beer), so if you buy from them, you help them fund their campaign work too.

11. Keep an eye out for vegan festivals that may be in the area. They usually have loads of stalls selling all sorts of food, clothing, products and other things, as well as hosting educational talks. There are more and more vegan festivals being organised all the time. Search on Facebook or online to see if there are any coming up near you. They are usually cheap to enter into (West Midlands Vegan Festival is only £1 entry) and you'll be amazed at the variety of products on offer.

12. Buy some multivitamins! Or Engevita Nutritional Yeast with added B12. B12 is the one vitamin that vegans tend to need a little help with. The Vegan Society sell Vit1 multivitamins, while Engevita Nutritional Yeast has many vitamins including B12 and is good for adding into soups and onto other food. Holland & Barrett have just started selling Engevita Nutritional Yeast, so it's now easier to find locally. I also personally like Bioglan's Superfoods Green Boost powder, which includes spirulina and chlorella, wheatgrass, barleygrass, kale and spinach. The packet boasts that it has 11 times more protein than broccoli, 17 times more iron than spinach alone and 3 times more calcium than milk. It's good for sprinkling a bit into a smoothie, juice or soup. Excuse the ripped packet in the photo below - it's my last, already-opened packet from my food cupboard! Vegans don't generally require extra vitamins if they eat a balanced diet though - protein, iron, calcium etc all come from plants and some of the strongest men and fastest athletes are vegans.

13. Check out websites such as www.veganuary.com and www.vegansociety.com, who deal with all things vegan and helping folks go vegan.

Do you have any tips you think we've missed? Tweet us at @saveascream.