Vegan Kitchen Staples

Doing Veganuary? Don’t know where to start? Well there’s lots of food essentials you should have in your kitchen. You don’t need to rush out and buy all this straight away though. This is just a guide to help you know what to buy.

You should also check out my Recipe section

DAIRY REPLACEMENTS

Vegetable Spread: Flora Freedom (recommended!), Pure Sunflower/Soya, Suma, Vitalite, Biona etc.
Dairy Free Cheese: Vegusto/Tofutti/Sheese/Violife etc.
Plant Milks: Soy/Rice/Almond/Oat/Hemp/Coconut etc.
Yoghurts: Nush/COYO/Alpro/Soy etc.
Dairy Free Ice Creams: Booja Booja/Swedish Glace/Ben & Jerry’s Dairy Free/Cornetto Vegan/Magnum Vegan/Northern Bloc (Vegan ones)/ etc.

PROTEIN

Tofu: Extra firm for cooking or silken for sauces and desserts.
Seitan: Meat replacement made from wheat gluten – great ‘meaty’ texture.
Peas: Garden peas (frozen or canned).
Beans: (Dried and/or canned) – kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans.
Chickpeas: These are good as a healthy savoury snack, or sprinkled on to your dinner to add a little crunch.
Seeds: Sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, chia, flax etc. Seeds are packed full of good stuff!
Nuts: Almonds, cashews, walnuts, brazils, pine nuts.
Nut butters: Peanut butter, almond butter, cashew butter, hazelnut butter etc.
Lentils: Puy, red, brown and green – in dry form or packed ready to throw straight into sauces/curries. A wonderful ‘meat’ substitute in Bolognaise, Shepherd’s Pie, Lasagne etc.
Miso: Traditional Japanese seasoning – eat as a soup or use as a flavouring
Tideford Organics: Everything they make is now vegan, from delicious soups to sauces, pesto and vegan gravy.
Tamari/Soy Sauces: Tamari is a thicker, less salty, fermented soy sauce with less wheat than soy sauce
Tempeh: Similar to tofu in that it is made from fermented soy beans, but less popular in Western countries. Firmer than tofu with a stronger flavour. Great to marinate.
Fry’s: All vegan frozen product range, including burgers, sausages, chicken-style strips and nuggets. Recommended!
Linda McCartney: A number of vegan products, including many sausages, sausage rolls and country pies.
Granose: A great range of vegan products. Packed in dry form you simply mix with water and make up yourself.
VBites: Range of vegan deli products.
Pulsin: Most of their protein bars and protein powders are vegan

GRAINS/DRY

Brown or wild rice: More nutritious than white rice.
Quinoa: Great source of protein. Wash well before cooking.
Oats and millet: Excellent choices for a hearty breakfast.
Whole-wheat couscous
Whole or multi-grain pastas
Whole grain / sprouted bread and tortillas
Polenta
Chickpea Flour: Used frequently in Indian cooking, this flour is really versatile. You can make pancakes, bhajis and even ‘omelettes’ with it. It is also gluten-free.

COOKING

Agar agar: Vegan substitute for gelatine.
Nutritional yeast “Nooch”: A lovely cheesy flavour, great for Vit B12.
Vegetable stock: (Cubes/powder) Go for the low sodium option.
Vegetable bouillon
Pink Himalayan Salt
Tomato paste/puree
Oils: Extra Virgin Olive Oil is the best for cooking, but there’s a range of vegetable oils at your disposal – including rapeseed and sunflower
Herbs and Spices: All useful to flavour protein and make dishes more exciting. My favs include: Turmeric to colour food and make “egg”, paprika, garlic powder, Cajun Pepper, onion powder, Mixed Herbs & Cumin.

BAKING

Egg Replacer
Flax seeds (Good source of Omega 3 – can sprinkle on breakfast cereal or smoothie). Can also replace eggs
Chia seeds: Great replacement for eggs – one chia ‘egg’ equals 1 tablespoon of seed to 2 tablespoons of water.
Coconut oil: Good for replacing butter.
Agave nectar: Great honey replacement.
Maple syrup: Great honey replacement.
Blackstrap molasses: Fantastic source of iron.
Pastry

CONDIMENTS AND SAUCES

Egg-Free Mayonnaise: Granovita/Plamil/Hellmans (vegan one)/ Sacla (free from) etc.
Mustard: Most mustard is vegan – Dijon, Hot English, American etc.
Tomato Sauce/Ketchup
HP Sauce
Hot Sauce: Tabasco etc.
Sriracha
Tamarind
Sweet Chilli
Soy Sauce

SNACKS

Dried fruit
Flax crackers
Hummus
Ten Acre Crisps
Pulsin bars
Ten Acre Popcorn
Dark chocolate
Nuts and seeds
Nakd Bars

FRUIT AND VEGETABLES

Kale: A vegan superfood! (along with other cruciferous vegetables) An excellent source of calcium and other vitamins and minerals.
Bell peppers: Great raw dipped in hummus or in a stir fry. (Buy organic when possible.)
Sweet potato: A fantastic source of vitamin A.
Mushrooms: Get your B vitamins here!
Berries: Strawberries, blueberries and raspberries (Again, buy these organic when possible.)
Avocados: One of the good fats!

Let me know what you think in the comments or tweet me @veganbabelife

Thanks for reading!