The burning question anyone following a vegan diet is frequently faced with sounds something like, ‘you’re vegan…so what can you eat?’ The truth is of course, that options are abundant. Read on for more in Vegan Daily: What I Eat in a Day!
Vegan Breakfast
Arguably the best meal of the day. At no other meal time is it acceptable to play about so much with sweet and savoury – you wouldn’t have chocolate for dinner, after all.
Okay, so eggs are out of the question, but that doesn’t mean breakfast has to be boring. Depending on how much time I have, I like to mix my breakfast up each day to increase the variety. If I’m short on time, I can rustle up some porridge with oat milk, peanut butter and banana in less than 5 minutes. Otherwise, banana pancakes topped with a berry compote and peanut butter is an unbeatable classic.
If I’ve got even more time, it has to be the full vegan English breakfast sha-bang. Think tofu scramble, baked beans, mushrooms, avocado, sautéed spinach…yummy!
Lunch
Lunchtime is where variety comes into play!
This will depend on my schedule for the day. If I’m working in the office then I’ll often bring a lunch that I’ve prepared, since it’s much healthier than buying a meal deal (less processed, reduced salt and you know exactly what’s gone into it). This can range from a quinoa, mango and raisin salad (my favourite salad) to lentil Bolognese or meatballs (look out for Linda McCartney’s vegetarian meatballs in the chilled supermarket aisle and you won’t be disappointed).
If I’m staying at home, it’s super easy to blitz up some chickpeas with some sweet potato, spices, olive oil and tahini to make a hummus. Another unbeatable classic when served with toasted pitta bread and vegetable sticks.
Dinner
I like to allow myself a lot of time in the evening to cook a decent meal. I enjoy cooking, so it makes sense to me to spend time making high quality and delicious tasting meals. I get a lot of my meal inspiration from Instagram or cookbooks.
I recently discovered curry-flavoured tempeh in the chilled ‘Free-From’ aisle. Sautéed with onion, pepper and a little extra curry powder, these make a delicious meal when placed in a wrap with a mango and curry sauce and some salad leaves.
Otherwise, but also requiring a little more time, lasagne is a family favourite. Substitute the mince for lentils and make your own vegan bechamel by blitzing cashew nuts together with soya milk, flour, non-dairy butter and nutritional yeast.
