Hello! Ahh sorry it’s overdue, finding it hard to juggle everything at the moment. This edition comes from Claire, who recently had her first year anniversary of being vegan, wahoo! Hope you enjoy her What Vegans Eat. Over to her…
Name: Claire Butler
Age: 37
Occupation: Specialist Mental Health Pharmacy Technician working in an acute, working aged adult mental health unit.
Vegan Since: 1st September 2015
Hello! My name is Claire – I’m a mum to 5 year old Jude and married to Dave. We live near Brighton.
So this was a bit of a funny week as we had been at a festival at the weekend then went straight to a caravan at Camber sands the day after we got back so my diet was slightly different to normal. I’m allergic to lots of fruits like apples, pears, cherries and peaches so I don’t eat a lot of fruit – mostly just bananas, strawberries, mango and melon but I eat lots of veg and I tend to eat strange combinations of things to use stuff up – I hate waste!
I’ve been vegan for a year now – I decided last September to just give it a go overnight as I’d been thinking about if for a while – I’ve never been good with eating meat even as a child. I gave myself a month at first to see how I got on, but in that time watched Cowspiracy and tried (but failed due to too many tears) to watch Earthlings after which I couldn’t go back so just carried on after the month ended. I’ve never looked back and haven’t found the transition hard at all. I’m pretty greedy and am a bit of a food monster – I’ve discovered loads of vegan treats and recipes. My 5 year old son is allergic to eggs and has a dairy intolerance so I’d already been baking vegan cakes for him.
I’m considering trying a mostly raw diet at the moment as I’ve gotten into some bad habits of snacking on naughty stuff a bit too much and am a crisp junkie but I’m just waiting for the school holidays to end before I take that plunge!
Day 1: Monday 29th August
We’ve been camping at a festival since Friday so my phone battery has died and therefore I have no pics to show which is a shame as my lunch was SO delicous!
Breakfast: Water with a squeeze of lemon, mango chopped up and a banana both dipped into a jar of almond butter and a cup of black tea.
Lunch: Dhaal and rice from a vegan food stall and an ayurvedic masala chai.
Dinner: Home from the festival so had a roast dinner with marinated tofu, roast potatoes, sweetcorn, brocolli and peas stir fried in hemp oil with garlic and sriracha sauce (I put this on everything – I love it!) plus a bottle of Brewdog Punk IPA.
Snacks: 2 homemade chocolates and a coffee at the festival before leaving and a packet of salt and vinegar chipsticks.
Day 2: Tuesday 30th August
Breakfast: Warm water with lemon and cayenne, tea with soya milk, slice of sourdough with a violife slice and olive oil grilled with a plate of chopped up cherry toms, radish and a banana with almond butter (I eat lots of strange combinations!)
Lunch: Olive roll with hummus, radish and Cauldron Indian Kofta with Sriracha sauce and cucumber sticks with a cup of coffee & soya milk.
Dinner: Spaghetti with Sacla free-from tomato pesto, antipasti, radish, left over tofu from the roast yesterday, spinach and nooch with a bottle of Brewdog Punk IPA.
Snacks: Ritz crackers in the car on the way to Camber sands, 2 medjool dates, 2 strawberries dipped in melted Montesuma’s orange and geranium chocolate.
Day 3: Wednesday 31st August
Breakfast: Leftover strawberry dipped in chocolate, 2 cups of tea with soya, bowl of Curiously Cinnamon. (I don’t normally go for a sweet breakfast but we’re on hols!!)
Lunch: Wholemeal roll with hummus, spinach, Cauldron koftas with a satsuma and some cherry toms on the beach (full of sand…mmm crunchy!)
Dinner: Chips (Only thing on the menu at the campsite that I could have) then later on back at the caravan- leftover tofu dipped in hummus then nooch.
Snacks: 1 medjool date, pack of Pombear crisps and another chocolate dipped strawberryl
Day 4: Thursday 1st September (My one year anniversay!)
Breakfast: Avocado and tomato salad with lemon juice, nooch and Sriracha (I love a salad for brekkie!) Pineapple juice, tea with soya and a water with lemon.
Lunch: Mexican rice (peppers, adzuki beans, sweetcorn and chilli) with tomato, cucumber, antipasto and hummus.
Dinner: Noodles with broccoli and mushrooms in a miso broth.
Snacks: Pombear crisps, a banana and a jam ring biscuit whilst watching Bake-off!
Day 5: Friday 2nd September
Breakfast: Water with lemon and cayenne, black tea, banana pancakes make with banana, coconut oil, ground flax, chocolate Oatly (had run out of plain milk…turned out great!) and flour with almond butter and a bit of maple syrup.
Lunch: Packet of ready salted Walker’s crisps on the way back from shopping at Sainsburys then made a ginger sesame salad from Laura Miller’s Raw.Vegan.Not gross book when we got home.
Dinner: Linda Mcartney pie, baked beans and brown sauce with a glass of red wine.
Snacks: 1 medjool date and 4 chips pinched from Jude’s dinner!
Day 6: Saturday 3rd September
Breakfast: 4 (yes 4!!) cups of tea and a handful of Rich tea fingers whilst doing a jigsaw marathon with Jude.
Lunch: Toasted muffin with mashed avocado, cherry tomato, radish, capers, basil, corriander, garlic salt and squeeze of lemon with a glass of water with lemon and cayenne.
Dinner: Went to Pizza express for tea – had the polenta chips without the cheese and had olive oil and balsamic to dip rather than the honey mustard then the Pianta pizza.
Snacks: Half a bottle of red wine and packet of ready salted Walkers whilst watching a film.
Day 7: Sunday 4th September
Breakfast: Curiously cinnamon with Oatly milk, warm water with lemon and cayenne, coffee with oatly.
Lunch: Went to a baby shower with my lovely school friends – we all made a dish each to bring. Luckily everyone is really great at catering for our gang – there’s a veggie, a vegan and a gluten free so the food was amazing, including a vegan cake. I made a gluten free pasta salad with sundried tomatoes and another sesame ginger salad. Glass of prosecco to toast the mama-to-be!
Dinner: Violife slice, spinach, Tesco Free-from salad cream, saurkraut and mustard sandwich, bottle of Brewdog Punk IPA (I don’t normally drink alcohol so regularly…we’re in holiday mode…back to normality after tomorrow – boo!)
Snack: Picked at the leftovers with my friend after everyone else had gone home….mostly ready salted crisps and salad.
Mangia Bene 