The Vegan Thread

Yeah, it absolutely is. Will be there this Saturday though, and it's booked out (same with Mildred's down the road a bit).

Popped into the new "vegan" cake shop in Peckham (The Cakery). It's all gateaux and is only egg free, vegan they have to order in and takes a week even though the sign outside has the word vegan on it. Quite bad signage, I'm allergic to dairy and could get very ill if I'd assumed the cakes were vegan and not double checked.

That’s fucked!

Any recommendations for vegan protein powders?

I've just gone through two packs of Form Performance Protein, usually having it mixed in with my morning porridge or in a smoothie with oats. I really liked the flavour, although at £26 for 13 servings I can't help feel that over £50/month for protein is steep (even though the packaging is compostable, plastic free etc).

Huel Complete Protein looks like another good option but keen to hear of alternatives.

Bulk might be worth a go - I've not used their protein powder but do use their hydration powder. Also compostable packaging, though I've not been using it for long enough to know how true that actually is. The hydro powder annoyingly isnt zero calorie, and i don't love the taste, but I've really struggled to find an option that isn't in plastic tubs or whatever.

Thanks, just ordered some of their vegan protein powder. Work out to be half the cost of Form so I'll see how I get on with it.

I could probably save even more just by using a different brand each month and using their new customer discount codes.

https://www.theproteinworks.com/ has for me, been the best tasting (vs Bulk and MyProtein/MyVegan)

Likewise to Spinnout I use the protein works. Just make sure you never buy it without a discount code - there’s pretty much always some kind of ‘sale’ or discount.

Also (shameless plug) use my referral code for your first order and we’ll both get 1000 points.

Does anyone have tips or knows a good app to help with eating vegan in combination with sports.
I'm training more than usual lately and I'm struggling to eat healthy and come up with ideas what to eat every time.

I'm not a fan of apps, but I was in kind of a similar situation two weeks ago and asked here (on the last page) about proper vegan food suitable for when you do more endurance type of sports and feel like you lack energy.
Found this summary on the Vegan Runners site helpful - https://microcosm.app/out/Pe9Di

..and I actually wanted to do a proper post in here about what good recipes I have found that deliver on the essential amino acid front (and give a lot of energy of course) - didn't get around to writing this up / wading through all the recipes that are available online, but the good news / to answer your question: googling yields really a lot of good stuff, you shouldn't have a problem finding a dozen new things to try!

An old favourite of mine is this quinoa & black bean dish from the Post Punk Kitchen:
https://www.theppk.com/2013/03/black-bean-quinoa-soup/

Can also recommend scrolling down r/veganrecipes - a lot of great stuff there!

If you like some more fancy dishes check out the vegan section of Jamie Oliver's site -
https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/category/special-diets/vegan/

Not quite the same use case but I work as a bike courier so I'm quite active. I'm also quite lazy so like stuff I can make in big batches. For breakfast I have overnight oats, I make enough for 3 or 4 days at a time and leave it in the fridge. I just do oats, plant milk and chia seeds. I used to add protein powder to that when I was exercising a lot. Add some fruit and nut butter to that and it'll give you plenty of energy and keep you full until lunch.
For lunch I normally make 3 or 4 days worth of quinoa and bulgur wheat, with varying spices to keep it interesting. Chuck some lentils/chickpeas, nuts, salad and some sort of dressing (I like tahini with lemon and toasted sesame seeds) and you're good to go.
Then for dinner I'll normally just try and eat as many different vegetables as possible, usually as a stir fry or curry with rice.
I'm not claiming to be super healthy or anything but that works to stop me falling asleep on the sofa at 8pm every day after cycling for 8+ hours!

In a similar vein, I’d been meaning to ask the hive mind on here about snack foods for during big rides.

Anyone got any tips for high calorie to space-taken-up foods? I think nuts are probably the obvious one but I don’t like them 🙃

My main thing for a while has been roast chickpeas from the zero-waste place, but it gets a bit boring, a bit acid reflux-y, and they’re also a choking hazard if I’m trying to snaffle while riding. Plus not available while I’m out, so I have to just carry tonnes of the things.

All the readily-available stuff like Graze or whatever seems to be aimed at satisfying desk workers who don’t actually need the energy and are just boredom eating.

Is there anywhere decent to get something quick in Croydon? I'll be near the Ikea there all weekend (unfortunately).

Boxpark? What the pitta was there last time I checked

Not a bad shout!

I make Audax Sandwiches™ for early-start long rides where nothing will be open for the first few hours or if I’m heading somewhere remote. Basically almond butter and jam sandwiches made the night before, packed really tightly and left in the fridge so they set.

Apart from that I live off Trek bars, Greggs and Vego chocolate bars when I’m cycling. I eat really bad on the bike because I eat well when not cycling.

Edit: Just realised you don’t like nuts so maybe almond butter wouldn’t work. You could make savoury ones perhaps; add some lemon juice to tahini so it thickens and then use that like a nut butter with some other savoury ingredients.

I gave up on carrying too much food while riding and just rely on what I find at corner shops/cafes etc. Works ok most of the time although I’ve had two packs of biscuits for lunch more times than I would have liked to.

almond butter I'm down to try as a high calorie ingredient as you describe, thanks - its whole nuts I don't like (and peanut butter, of which just the smell makes me gag. my OH trolls me with that a lot)

Anyone got a good and not a massive faff mac n cheese recipe they’d share? Will be the first time having family over and serving them vegan food, will be doing alongside some roast/ grilled veg salads and maybe some jackfruit sausages

Thank you

Also: someone mentioned the Violife ‘mozzarella’ being bot good - I’d agree we’ve found sheesh much nicer

I feel your pain. I can't eat peanuts as I'm allergic and they smell utterly disgusting to me.

Thanks for the shout on Bulk protein powders, btw. Really enjoying them.

Lazy Cat Kitchen recipes are normally pretty solid.

Thanks!

I kinda wing it but go with a plant milk bechamel, corn flour works well but plain is fine, knock up some cashew cheese kinda stuff, a bunch of nutritional yeast and some but not loads of whatever fake cheese I've got about, some doenjang helps add some bite and salt, cider vinegar and lemon gives it the other right kinds of flavours, mustard and garlic go well too, a touch of turmeric and maybe some paprika for colour, chuck some dried mixed herbs in and maybe some bacon bits or similar and some jalapenos if people like spice, give it a crunchy breadcrumb top, yum. I think I might make some later.

I keep meaning to pick up some tapioca starch to try and make it stringy, stretchy cheesy.

Whilst I'm on cheese talk, picked up some of the cathedral city plant stuff the other day, it's pretty good for a seemingly standard coconut based one, crumbly which works in it's favour unless you really want it to cut cleanly and tastes pretty damn cheesy.

The Bosh one is pretty good. For less faff I often don't bother with the mushroom aspect of it, it's still good without.