Shopping Tips for Vegans

If I got a dollar every time I got asked “what do you eat if you’re vegan?”, I’m 100% sure I would be a millionaire by now. But the basis of this question got me thinking. Of course it’s obvious to me what foods a vegan would eat, because well, I eat them, but not everyone eats the same way I do. So I thought I would do a little shopping trip and take a photo of my trolley to show you all how easy it is to eat vegan, especially if you’re on a budget.

Now this food lasts me roughly around 2 weeks, give or take, as I use a lot of the tinned foods (view the masses at the top of the trolley) for giant batches of frozen meals including Mixed Vegetable and Quinoa Soup, Mexican Beans and Chickpea Coconut Curry .

For the purpose of this post I will divide my trolley into the 5 core food groups:

Grain and Cereal Based foods

• rice paper rolls – one of my favourite things to make, super fresh easy and fun!
• wholegrain, seeded bread – I honestly just choose the darkest, grainy-filled one I can find at the woolworths bakery section at night when the staff are reducing the products, works out to be around 60c a loaf!)
• instant brown rice – easy to whip up in 2 minutes if you’re a seriously time-poor person like myself
• wholegrain pasta – such a great source of healthy whole grains and fibre!

Vegetables

My fridge staples generally include a mixture of salad ingredients and other products that I use to make large batches of food with. To find the cheapest vegetables/fruit, head to your local fruit shop/market to find the best buys!

• lettuce
• tomato
• capsicum
• cucumber
• red onion
• cucumber
• spinach – for the iron of course
• sweet potato – my favourite African Sweet Potato curry recipe coming soon
• butternut – my classic pumpkin soup recipe coming soon
• other common veggies I often purchase include broccoli, asian vegetables, carrots and eggplant – a lot of the veggies I already had at home and were not featured.

Fruit

• fresh fruit – perfect for snacks on the go or to add in with breakfast
• frozen berries/mango – none featured here during the winter, however smoothies are my definite go-to breakfast during the summer!

Dairy Alternatives

• soy milk – an important source of calcium – make sure to buy brands which are fortified with calcium and vitamin B12 as plant-based milks are naturally low in calcium and do not naturally contain B12 (as with all vegan food).
• Vegan Cheese – not pictured, but a definite ‘sometimes’ food I enjoy, however important to highlight that it is not calcium or nutrient rich – but is delicious.
• Coconut yogurt – a delicious treat that has the same texture as yogurt but 100% cruelty free – however, make sure to use this sparingly as it contains a high amount of saturated fats, and is very calorie dense. It also can not be used in place of other dairy alternatives due to it’s poor calcium content.

Meat Alternatives

• tofu – my number one go to protein food, super delicious and such a versatile food
• edamame – also known as soy beans and a rich source of protein
• lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans and other legumes – a rich source of protein, fibre and other important nutrients

I hope this has inspired you to try some different foods when you go out shopping next!