Vegan Week - Day One

Menu:

Breakfast:
Brown rice porridge with soy milk, LSA (ground linseed, almond, sunflower seeds), and raw organic sugar

Lunch:
Depending on the family member - salad, sandwiches, corn thins

Dinner:
Vegetarian nachos (kidney beans, refried beans, organic corn, seasoning) with salsa and guacamole.

Shopping this morning was interesting. My supermarket has moved everything around so it was fun trying to find all of the vegan ingredients - not. I bought everything on my list except for vegetarian bacon for pizza night. Unfortunately every single vegetarian "meat" product is laden with gluten so that ruled that option out for us. I think the fact that gluten appears in most vegan meat substitutes is enough of a reason for us not to eat a vegan diet long term. There's only so much cooking creativity I can muster without any dairy, gluten, or meat on the menu!

I was a bit annoyed to see that I spent $40 over my shopping budget for the week. I thought that without any meat in the trolley I'd be saving a bit. I think all of the soy and rice milk and the other organic things I bought today tipped it over the edge. We had our $50 organic fruit and vegetable box delivered at midday so that makes this week's vegan shop come to a grand total of $190.  We'll be eating well though and considering all of the specialty ingredients I reckon that's not too bad.

The Verdict? Breakfast and lunch were easy, the kids eat rice porridge every day anyway. Dinner? Yummy but SALTY. I bought a packet seasoning mix for this and normally I make my own. The kids ate it all up and didn't even ask where the mince was. Day one was easy peasy. Tomorrow night - tofu. That's going to be a bit more of a challenge!