I’ll start by saying that I’m not a vegan – as you can see from my meal plans I’m not even a vegetarian, and the chances of me becoming either are pretty much zero. That’s a whole different discussion, though, and one I won’t get into. However, saying that, I understand why people make that choice, and I do respect and admire their decision. I can’t imagine veganism to be easy as so many things we eat and drink contain animal products or by-products. I do think sometimes that we could reduce the amount of meat in our diet for all sorts of reasons – I often choose veggie sausages or a veggie option if I’m eating out, and I try to do the odd meat-free meal, but generally, in our house, we do eat meat and dairy products.

Lots of people are doing ‘Veganary’, which is basically going vegan for January. I have to admit to being pretty ignorant when it comes to knowing what a vegan eats – don’t they just eat plates of grass or something? But then quite recently a very close friend of mine and his wife became vegan. Whilst we obviously have very differing opinions on the subject of meat, we kind of have learned to agree to disagree. Well – I think we have anyway!

I was really curious to find out what my friends and their one year son eat during a typical day. Whilst I won’t be converted to veganism, I’m always open to learning new recipes and new meal ideas, and just because something is meat and dairy free doesn’t mean I won’t eat it! Chris and Vicky very kindly kept a bit of a food diary for me with some photos to share with you, and maybe give any readers who are doing Veganary some ideas, and if nothing else, to show that they don’t just eat grass and lettuce!

Food Diary of a Vegan

Breakfast

Porridge with soy or hemp milk, with flax seed or walnuts sprinkled in. Fruit and a cuppa.

Sometimes, we make pancakes with fruit and alpro vanilla ice-cream.

A Veggie Fried Breakfast – minus the mushrooms!

Lunch

Mashed chickpea and veggie salad cream sandwich with salad and pom-bears. A bit like a tuna sandwich substitute.

Mixed Veg Pasta

Veggie sausage and fried onion sandwich

Dinner

Cauliflower and coconut milk curry with rice and poppadoms

Chickpea and potato curry with rice

Spaghetti bolognese with meat free mince and vegan cheese

Desserts

Lemon cake with lemon and coconut frosting

Homemade chocolate cookies

Fruit and vegan squirty cream

So there you have it – vegans definitely don’t just eat plates full of green stuff. In fact, there’s nothing there that I wouldn’t eat (with the exception of vegan cheese, I can’t ever get on board with that!). In fact, I’ve added the cauliflower curry and the chickpea curry to future meal plans – they look and sound delicious!

Thank you to Vicky and Chris for giving me a little insight to what they eat on a normal day!