Vegan Food Diary: Weekend Edition

Friday

Starting off the weekend well, I awoke with a slightly sore head due to some heavy partying the night before. I definitely needed a quick refreshing fix of nutrients… and fast! I headed downstairs and grabbed my last remaining banana; chucked it in the blender with some unsweetened almond milk and some frozen summer fruits berries (£2 at Sainsbury’s) and hit GO! While this summery smoothie whipped itself up in the blender, I toasted 2 slices of seeded wholemeal bread and smothered them in Vitalite vegan butter. Delicious! All washed down with a cup of green tea.

Lunch time, still feeling slightly fragile… I whacked some spicy potato wedges in the oven. When I say “some”, I actually mean “a lot”. This would have gone nice with some avocado but I was feeling too lazy and so I just squirted Granovita Mayola vegan mayonnaise all over them instead. This “mayo” actually tastes more like salad cream to me, but I like that. Not a very nutritious lunch but very filling and extremely satisfying.

Dinner time arrives and I’m still feeling lazy after my cheeky afternoon hangover nap. Luckily, I’m well prepared with a well-stocked kitchen cupboard! A microwave packet of brown basmati rice (60p at Sainsbury’s) and a tin of Heinz Creations lentil curry, served with a dollop of mango chutney – job’s a good’un! I even had enough left to pop in a Tupperware box ready for lunch the next day.

Saturday

Time to make up for a poor effort the day before:  I was determined to be a little more creative and a little less lazy in the kitchen today. Breakfast time, I spread half an avocado onto seeded wholemeal toast then added some sliced Sainsbury’s vegan cheddar and put it under the grill. When that was sufficiently melted, I added pepper and sundried tomatoes. Washed down with a glass of orange juice – WITH bits, of course!

Lunch time, I reheated and finished the leftovers from my dinner the night before: lentil curry and wholemeal basmati rice. I know some people are wary of reheating rice but as long as it’s piping hot before serving, it should be ok. I added my favourite mango chutney again too.  I had a banana for a  simple dessert.

For dinner, I cooked whole wheat penne pasta in boiling water with a little salt. After a few minutes, I poured in some frozen mixed veg from Waitrose: red, green and yellow peppers, aubergine, courgette and onions. Boiling them in the same pot saves on washing up and I find the veg adds a little flavour to the pasta. In a microwave-friendly bowl, I put vegan Quorn chicken pieces with a little coconut oil and blasted in the microwave for 3-4 minutes (stop and stir occasionally). Once the pasta and veg was done, I drained it and added the Quorn pieces. Finally, a big dollop of vegan pesto – I used Sacla brand’s free-from pesto but you can also make your own by blending basil leaves, pine nuts and a bit of oil. Bon appetit! Again, I kept the leftovers refrigerated overnight. I also chased dinner up with a few Sainsbury’s ‘Deliciously FreeFrom’ cookies which also happen to be vegan!

Sunday

A day at the library was ahead, so I had a quick and simple breakfast of coffee (with almond milk) and a bowl of chocolate Weetabix minis (also with almond milk).

Lunchtime was last night’s leftovers of pesto pasta, served cold this time rather than hot right from the kitchen. I always find that I prefer pesto dishes cold but different strokes for different folks! Having it cold as leftovers can help to keep things mixed up and stop monotonous boredom from eating the same thing twice. Either way, eating leftovers as lunch is definitely a good way to save time and money. You can even bulk cook some dishes and freeze them in convenient portion sizes for later on in the week, or whatever. Shock horror – I had a banana to follow. Vegans just can’t get enough of that potassium and fibre. I also had Alpro soya vanilla flavoured “yoghurt”. I actually think those yoghurts in vanilla flavour actually taste a bit like custard, but definitely in a good way.

Dinner time at the end of a productive weekend, I had a rummage in the fridge to see what fresh food I had that needed using up. I still had half an avocado from my breakfast the day before, so I decided upon burgers with avocado spread all over them on sesame-seeded buns. The Morrison’s own brand meat free burgers come in packs of 6, are only around £1.50, and are suitable for vegans! I had two meat free burgers, with a little Sainsbury’s vegan cheddar melted on top, and a chopped up gherkin to finish on my avocado-covered burger bun. Life hack: adding gherkins to stuff kinda makes it taste like McDonald’s. It’s a nostalgia thing.

• Avacado
• food
• smoothie
• toast
• vegan
• weekend