Can you live vegan, live happily, without breaking the bank?
It Wasn’t Easy Starting Out Living Vegan
I went vegan back in October 2019 and I haven’t looked back – but that’s not to say it was my first attempt to live vegan. In fact, it took me three tries at jumping on the ol’ vegan bandwagon before I committed to it forever. It wasn’t that I didn’t care for the animals, after all, I’d been vegetarian since 2005. It was a certain food that kept holding me back.
But It Looks Like Plastic!
That’s what my non-vegan husband would cry, after seeing my rubbery vegan cheese offering, sporting a lovely radioactive yellow colour. It didn’t look very appealing.
Thankfully, since then, the market has flooded with, not just cheese but many vegan products, new ones are being added all the time. Product suppliers are recognising the need in an ever-growing vegan population.
With just a visit to your local leading supermarket you can find a range of cheeses to fit all tastes, mild, mature, smokey etc. (I’ve been told that Marks and Spencer even do a vegan brie – yay! Will let you know when I’ve tried it).
There is much choice for chocolate now, with even the lower end cheaper supermarkets bringing out their own range.
I can’t believe how the range in vegan meat products (burgers, sausages, mince, chicken pieces etc) has grown. Some of them shockingly taste like the real thing, in my opinion. Veganism is a developing concept, and it has to be, if you listen to the scientists that tell us we need to eat less meat, better still, give it up altogether for the sake of the planet.
What! You Mean To Live Vegan Isn’t Just About What You Eat?
Well, it had been about a month in to my veganism pledge, I was at my granddaughter’s 2nd birthday party. I was munching on a vegan pizza that my daughter had especially cooked for me when the subject of veganism cane up in conversation with one of the parents. The usual questions…
‘How long have you been vegan? Do you find it difficult to find good things to eat?’
But then, he asked something I’d never even thought about.
‘Apart from the food, do you use vegan products as well? Do you live the vegan life completely?’
I hadn’t thought about it before. Turns out many products I was using weren’t vegan. Worse still they were from brands that are not cruelty free either. I was horrified. I did my research and soon changed my ways.
It’s gotten easier as the years have rolled by, many companies are seeing the need for vegan and cruelty free products. From beauty supplies to household cleaning products, you can obtain it all in a vegan and cruelty free form. Well established companies offer these alternatives, but also there are many new companies, many of which are online, born out of this consumer need. What used to be a chore, Google-searching products, and usually paying through-the-nose for them, has now got easier and cheaper through demand. Many high-end and cut-price stores now stock cruelty free and vegan products, branded and also their own cheaper brands, which can be just as good. Also, the discount stores can be an Aladdin’s cave, with many products available at discount prices.
I can never understand why, if it can be made cruelty free and vegan, would you do it any other way?
Take Chocolate For Instance
YES PLEASE!
There are many good vegan chocolate bars available that you cannot tell that they are vegan, and they taste delicious. I’ve tried doing a taste test on my family (who incidentally aren’t all vegan) and they can’t tell the difference. Of course, you’re going to get some that taste good and some that taste not so good, but you get that in non-vegan products too. Very often, my vegan chocolate gets eaten by my meat-eating husband before he’ll eat his own non-vegan offering, so it can’t be that bad.
So, Can Anyone Be Vegan?
In answer to the question – YES! Veganism can be for everyone, not just middle-class avocado eating advocates, nor hippy-dippy soap dodgers. It’s available to everyone, whatever your bank balance. I believe you can live vegan, live happily, and with a little shopping around, not break the bank. So why wouldn’t you? Go on – take the leap and give it a try.
