Making Changes

I've become increasingly conscious about what food I consume lately after watching various documentary films such as 'Vegecated,' 'Cowspiracy,' and 'Hungry for Change' to name but a few. Over this weekend I have made some drastic changes in the types of food I've been buying and so I carried out a mass shop at Tesco. This is another big step in my transition from vegetarian to vegan. Until now I have been predominantly vegetarian but I'm hoping that I can continue to maintain a mainly vegan diet while I continue to research products and recipes. At the moment if a label doesn't state that a product is vegan then I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. Obviously this is something I will learn with time but at the moment it doesn't stop me feeling a little frustrated.

I'm hoping to incorporate raw food in with a regular vegan diet with a little bit of junk food as a treat. My shop mainly consisted of fresh fruits and vegetables, some organic, some not. I have heard that it's best to buy organic produce as they haven't been grown using harmful pesticides... but have you seen the prices? I would love to buy all organic but when you are working on a budget, it's just not possible. The photo below features just a small portion of what I actually bought so I thought I would include my shopping list. It's pretty impressive if I don't say so myself.

1 bag Curly Kale

2 Avocados

3 lemons (organic)

1 bag spinach (organic)

1 bag of mixed leaves

1 bag carrots

1 cucumber (organic)

3 pack of mixed peppers

1 red cabbage

celery

broccoli

1 pack of baby corn

1 pack of asparagus

1 bag frozen sweetcorn

1 bag of mixed seeds

1 bag cashew nuts

1 bag of walnuts

garlic

1 bag of chick peas

1 bag of couscous

1 bag of lentils

1 bag of dairy free pasta

1 bottle of extra virgin olive oil

1 watermelon

1 Galia melon

1 honey dew melon

1 pineapple

1 mango

2 large oranges

2 large pears

1 pack of dates

1 loaf of Hovis wholemeal bread

1 pack of wholemeal noodles

Blue Dragon chow mein sauce

Blue Dragon Kung Po sauce

Blue Dragon Cantonese sauce

I understand that there is going to be a bit of trial and error but what better way to start. I plan to create some great salads to take to work with me as I want to be able to eat one raw meal a day. I'm looking forward to trying out some of the vegan sauces for jazzed up vegetable and noodle dishes. Last night I tried Kale for the fist time by making a curly Kale and avocado salad with mixed seeds, it wasn't too bad but I found it a little tough raw, I still managed to polish off the plate though.

I have also replaced my non vegan breakfast cereal with more exciting vegan options such as Muesli by 'Dorset Cereals,' 'Quaker Oats, Oat So Simple' and 'Shredded Wheat Bitesize.' I really want to make this new diet work so I'm going to try my best to stick to it. The next thing on my list is to buy some recipe books and other informative vegan books so if anyone out there has any recommendations please let me know.