A plant-based diet has been through the wringer lately. From being much lauded during Veganuary to being scrutinised as a diet for the wealthy and/or a mask for post-New Year dieting in the fallout.
Since August of last year, I’ve eaten mostly a plant-based diet. I can probably count on both hands the times I’ve knowingly decided to defer from it: one being the amazing set meal at Christmess in London, another being the entire cheese pizza I ate after I ran the Great North Run.
I’ll be clear, however, that I still eat honey. (A much debated topic in the plant-based community.)
Strict vegans would perhaps see that as a failure but I don’t. When I laid out the tenets of why I was adopting a plant-based diet, I always said that it wasn’t about “perfection” in eating. There’s no puritanical zeal in what I’m doing.
I set out to decrease my impact on the planet and that’s what I have been doing.
One of the added benefits is that we’ve actually saved a lot of money during our weekly grocery shops. A lot of people during Veganuary seemed to be surprised and shocked that they ended up spending more money than usual, but I think that’s because during such a short period of time there’s a tendency to want to just replace what you’re used to eating with fake alternatives. So there’s a lot of vegan “cheese” and vegan Quorn products. Which are, in fact, really expensive.
We don’t buy any of these replacements foods – there’s no nut cheeses or soy mince floating around our kitchen (though we do treat ourselves to the Edamame bean burgers from Marks & Spencer on occasion because they are amazing!). By relying on whole foods (and bread – I eat a lot of bread, to be fair) our bills lessened themselves from the days when we were buying cheese, etc.
So here are my 10 Vegan Kitchen Essentials
1. Legumes, beans and pulses. Especially chickpeas. They’ve become one of the most diversified things in my cooking repertoire. They are delicious roasted, or used in chillis and currys, the chickpea water (aquafaba) can be used in baking as a substitute for eggs most of the time.
I’ve become somewhat of a chickpea obsessive, and I even have favourite high street brands.
Legumes are high in folate, potassium, iron and magnesium: basically they are awesome for you.
At any point in time, you can usually find all of the below in my cupboard:
Black beans
Chickpeans
Cannelini beans
Red Kidney Beans
Lentils (red, green and black – though red are my favourite).
Peas
2. Rice
Sam is an even bigger rice fan than me. He’d be happy just eating a pot of plain rice for dinner. I’m not quite as dedicated as he is, but we eat rice a lot. We try to balance our dinner meals so there’s a roasted vegetable, a leafy green and some sort of grain – usually whatever type of rice we have on hand! Personally, wild rice is my favourite.
Jasmine
Basmati
Wholegrain
Mixed pilaf
Wild rice
3. Root vegetables and squashes
Even before I switched to a plant-based diet, I ate a lot of root vegetables. Hello potatoes! But I think butternut squash might be one of the most versatile foods that I’ve started eating more of. It’s tasty in everything from chillis to curries to pasta.
Potatoes
Sweet potato
Butternut squash
Pumpkin
Turnips
Beetroot
4. Noodles and Pasta
Again, this was a staple long-before I adopted a plant-based diet. It just goes to show that you might not need to do as much “changing” of your diet as you think you might to reduce meat and dairy.
Noodles: rice, wholegrain, udon
Pasta: penne, spaghetti, fusili, shells, lasgane, tagliatelle (just make sure to check the labels to make sure they are egg-less)
5. Oats and Flours
Couscous is so cheap when you buy it in bulk, that it was one of those things I ate all the time as a university student. So again, it’s been a part of my diet for a long, long time. As has the oft maligned quinoa. But my favourite food experimentation that falls in this category would be pearl barley. I’ve fallen in love with it. I also start out most days with a bowl of oat porridge.
Couscous
Polenta
Flour (wholegrain, all purpose, rye, spelt and chickpea)
Quinoa
Pearl barley
Bulgar Wheat
Polenta
6. Nuts and seeds
Nuts and seeds are chockablock with vitamins and nutrients and adding them to your diet is an important way of balancing it when you’re not eating any meat or dairy. Almonds, for example, have as much calcium as milk.
My favourites are almonds, pine nuts and cashews. And I try to incorporate more seeds into my baking (especially flax seeds and chia seeds.) Side note: if you buy your seeds at Aldi, they are a tenth the price of somewhere like Waitrose or Whole Foods).
sesame seeds
sunflower seeds
chia seeds
almonds
flax seeds
poppy seeds
pine nuts
cashews
coconut
peanuts
pistachios
pumpkin seeds
Here’s a fun fact: shredded coconut is a nut, fruit and seed
7. Condiments, sauces and spreads
When you don’t have cheese and cream in your life to put onto pastas, etc condiments and sauces become really important. I find a simple chilli oil can pep up the blandest of dishes, where as Sam always has mustard or tabasco sauce on hand.
balsamic, red wine, cider vinegars
coconut oil
olive oil
chilli oil
rapeseed oil
Sriracha
lemon juice/ lime juce
nut butters
tahini
mustard
Tabasco
maple syrup
hummus
jam (with pictin not gelatin)
8. Tins
We have so many tins in our house at one time, that Sam likes to joke that we’d be thoroughly prepared for the apocalypse, which is exactly how I like to keep it.
We don’t have a freezer so we don’t get to rely on things like frozen spinach and corn to save money. So we have a lot of tinned food on hand.
We always have things like; sweetcorn, coconut milk, tomatoes, and peas
9. Herbs and Spices
Again, this is a no-brainer for most kitchens. (See, I told you that you don’t have to have anything special for a plant-based diet!) Here are the herbs and spices that I rely most heavily on:
cinnamon
fresh basil
fresh garlic and onions
tumeric
chile flakes
paprika
salt
pepper
10. Bread and treats
And no list would be complete without bread and treats. You could eat a completely vegan diet by just eating toast and Oreos, though for health reasons, I obviously don’t advise that.
We have lots of sourdough bread in our house at any point in time.
Junkfood that’s “incidentally” vegan in the UK:
Lotus Smooth Caramelised Biscuit Spread
Green and Brown Dark Chocolate, Hazelnut & Currant, Ginger, Maya Gold, Espresso, Spiced Chilli, Lemon, Mint
Cadbury Bourneville
Starbursts
Skittles
Lotus Original Caramelised Biscuits
Oreos (in the US)
Co-op Custard Doughnuts (but not the jam ones)
Bourbons (most brands, but check the label)
Jacob’s Cream Crackers
Ritz Crackers
Nākd bars – all flavours
Jus-Rol Bake-It-Fresh Pain au chocolate (Most Jus-Rol pastries are vegan – just be sure to check the label.)
Pot Noodle – Beef & Tomato, Bombay Bad Boy, Sweet & Sour, Brazilian BBQ Steak, Chilli Beef, Chinese Chow Mein, Piri Piri Chicken, Sticky Rib
Betty Crocker Cake Mix – Super Moist, Devil’s Food, Vanilla, Chocolate Swirl, Carrot Cake
(And a surprising number of crisps)
So there you have it! It’s less intimidating of a change when you break it down like this and see how much food you already eat every day that is plant-based. So even if you never want to take the plunge and try to do it full-time, there’s definitely still oportunties for you to reduce your daily/weekly consumption.
