14 Jan Five Practical Tips to help you with Veganuary
Are you a first timer trying out Veganuary? Looking for helpful tips to get you through the month?
We at Goodness Goodies think Veganuary is a great campaign. We are all about small changes made daily ourselves and believe this is what Veganuary is about – a way to encourage more people, like you, to take a small step and make a small change towards eating less meat and more veg!
It can be very easy to get side tracked from taking action until you look at the news and hear about climate change or look at photo’s showing the appalling damage plastic waste inflicts on marine environments. Its important therefore, that we all try and take small steps to do our bit. This could be simply eating less meat. Saving water which otherwise you would pour down the sink. I have a jug by the sink that I fill with undrunk water from glasses, water bottles or the veg water and then use this to water the plants. Only running a washing machine and dishwasher when they are full. Think about a veg and fruit box to avoid the single use plastic that so much of the supermarket fresh produce is wrapped in. We use boxxfresh.com simply because we can choose what veg and fruit we would like. Its these small steps that can help the planet we live on.
To help you make it to the end of the month as a Veganuary champion here are our five tips. I was told once habits take 21 days to form and so maybe some of the small changes you make may go beyond Veganuary.
Plan your Meals in Advance
You don’t have to go hungry just because you’ve given up meat & dairy for the month. Our top tip is to look up recipes for delicious plant-based meals that still give you lots of protein, then set aside some time to do a fridge fill. If you have amazing food on tap, you’ll be much closer to succeeding in your goals.
Possible Menu
How does smoky homemade baked beans on toast sound for breakfast?
greatbritishchefs.com
A huge scoop of hummus whizzed up at home with tortilla wrap & salad for lunch?
bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/houmous-recipes
And a massive veggie chilli for dinner, maybe topped off with some aubergine dip.
bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-chilli
bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/baba-ganoush
Snacks
Between meals you could check out some of our vegan snacks like Vegan Caramel Stroopwafels or Native Sea Salt & Pepper Popped Lotus Seeds, that’s sweet and savoury covered.
Bake Away your Cravings
During the first lockdown of 2020 banana bread became a bit of an internet trend. Well, we’ve moved on from there, but guess what, banana bread is still delicious & can be made to a vegan recipe.
If you’ve got some overripe bananas hanging around the kitchen, which has to be most of us right? Then why not have a go at whipping up a batch. You can enjoy it toasted with berries for breakfast or even topped with a non-dairy yoghurt for dessert.
There are so many lovely vegan bakes you could try other than banana bread. It all depends on how adventurous you want to be. No-Bake Oatmeal bites are super simple & Vegan Date brownies are so good you’d never guess they had no dairy.
Experiment with Different Milks
The good news is that these days most baristas can offer you a range of non-dairy milk. Whether you enjoy soya milk, oat milk, rice milk, hemp milk, the list is really almost endless.
If you are heading out to grab a takeaway don’t forget to take your own reusable cup for maximum environmental impact. Many coffee shops will even offer you a small discount on every cup you buy using your own cup.
Find your Tribe!
The best part of Veganuary is finding other like-minded people to hang out and chat with.
We all know January is tough, and taking on an additional challenge like changing your diet can feel like a lot. Whatever social media platforms you use, why not check out the #veganuary and see who is around for a chat? You could also visit The Vegan Society via their website for lots of lifestyle information and details of community happenings.
Haircare & Skin
It all depends on how strictly you want to observe veganism for the month you are trying it out. Maybe cutting out meat and dairy is enough right now, but for anyone who does want to go a bit further, you’ll want to look at the products you are using on your hair and skin too, there are loads that hide ingredients in long lists, that are not necessarily animal friendly.
If you are looking for recommendations why not check out the Alter/Native shampoo & conditioner bars on our website, we have rose, coconut or lavender scented product to treat yourself with this month.
The lip balm that we have is my favourite and I have been through a lot of lip balms being someone that has a horrible habit of licking their lips resembling our pet bearded dragon, Toothless. This lip balm is cruelty and petroleum free.
We hope you’ve found our Veganuary tips helpful. Feel free to drop us a line if you have any questions or just want to say hi.
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