VEGANUARY 2016 | Week Four

No, me either…

DAY TWENTY-ONE – THURSDAY 21ST

Today for dinner I had my fail safe stuffed mushrooms with a side of crispy sweet potato fries..only they weren’t so crispy and had little flavour in them. I do feel a little unadventurous going back to stuffed mushrooms again, but as a whole, it’s a tad more complicated then just something random on toast and it has tons of flavour. Hey, if it ain’t broke, right?!

DAY TWENTY-TWO – FRIDAY 22ND

Another fail safe was stir fry, but since my dad and my brother had curry, it was almost necessary to have something filling and overly delicious.

DAY TWENTY-THREE – SATURDAY 23RD

Saturday I lazed about for the most part, getting up around noon for a simple lunch of mushrooms on toast. They were yummy, but I soon found out that eating JUST mushrooms on toast today was a bad idea..

DAY TWENTY-FOUR – SUNDAY 24TH  

..which led to a terrible hangover today. Like, bad enough that it (almost) put me off drink for life. I put off eating for as long as I could, but eventually gave in and had some avocado on toast for a late dinner/supper.

Now. HOLD THE DAMN PHONE.

I know everyone raves about avocado on toast but really? I thought it would be rank. I’m not a lover of avocado at the best of times, I mean it’s okay in a salad or something the weird slimy texture when peeled is enough alone to put me off.

But I was wrong. It turns out that something as simple as avocado on toast is so damn nice.

DAY TWENTY-FIVE – MONDAY 25TH
In fact, it’s so damn nice but I had it again for dinner today. Lunch was a cheese and onion sandwich with crisps, and again I found myself feeling super healthy again today. All I’ve been drinking at work is pretty much water non-stop, as I’ve ran out of green tea, so it could be that…

DAY TWENTY-SIX – TUESDAY 26THToday for lunch I had a super filling cheese, onion, cucumber, carrot and tomato roll which filled me up to no end. I simply chopped up anything healthy in my fridge and threw it in. Dinner was simply chips and curry sauce as I went out for a drink at my local and couldn’t help but gorge on something not-so-healthy but still vegan according to the pubs website.

DAY TWENTY-SEVEN – WEDNESDAY 27TH
Getting back late the night before, I found myself way too tired to make a proper lunch, so today I simply had olives and Oreos. So very basic, but still rather yummy! For dinner I braved another one of Linda McCartney’s frozen range of vegan & veggie food and was pleasantly surprised. Despite the fact that it burned my mouth to fuck, the cheese plait, along with roasted vegetables and crispy sweet potatoes again was delicious and something I’d definitely have again.

DAY TWENTY-EIGHT – THURSDAY 28TH
For lunch, I recreated Tuesday’s lunch and had a giant roll with many a healthy fillings. I actually had a date tonight, so another night arriving home late meant I just fixed myself a quick sandwich for dinner/supper, but having such a big lunch anyway I didn’t want much.

DAY TWENTY-NINE – FRIDAY 29TH
Today was admittedly a bit of a struggle for me as I had plans to head into London again. I planned ahead and found a lovely looking vegan restaurant, only upon arrival, found it was closed. We didn’t have much time to look elsewhere before we headed straight over to ASOS’s DigiDating event (super fun, by the way) but despite the fact I hadn’t eaten since dinnertime the previous day, I didn’t worry too much as I had plans to meet some friends later for another vegan friendly restaurant. Only on the way home, we got the wrong train and didn’t make dinner.

I think this made me realize how tough it is being vegan when you’re out and about and just want something on the go. I did get some oreos, but it made me realize it’s not like you can just grab much from a vending machine or grab something to takeaway from the many foodie bars in a train station.

DAY THIRTY – SATURDAY 30TH
Today was a tough day, I’ll admit, when many of my vegan friendly food plans fell through. Firstly, as I was heading to London again, I sourced a vegan friendly restaurant myself and my friend could go to for lunch before our event. Only, it was closed. So off we headed to ASOS’s DigiDating event (which was super fun by the way) and I didn’t worry about it too much – I had plans with other friends that evening to go for a meal at another vegan friendly restaurant so figured even though I hadn’t eaten since dinner the previous evening, it would just make me eager for our meal.

Only we got the wrong train meaning I missed the meal. Do’h. I eventually grabbed some Oreos from a vending machine, but it made me realize how hard it is for vegans to grab vegan food on the go. It’s not like any of the food stands in train stations sold anything vegan, and even when popping into a mini M&S I couldn’t find anything.

Trying vegan has reminded me how important it is to plan ahead and know what you can buy that is vegan, but it still made me realize there’s little to no option for spontaneous eating out and about or on the go…

DAY THIRTY-ONE – SUNDAY 31ST 
And so we make it to my last day! My last dinner is in actual fact another stir fry, something nice and filling, as I take time to reflect on the past month.

It’s been tough, but I did it. I didn’t give in, despite wanting to at many points, even when giving in would be the easier option like on Saturday. But I persevered and I’m so damn glad I did.

So, I’ll soon be posting a conclusion post about how I feel, my next steps and some of my favourite recipes. However, in the meantime, that’s me. That’s my meal diary over and out and this is me saying I BLOODY WELL DID IT.

I want to throw myself a party, but more importantly I want you to know despite being tough at times it’s also been REALLY FUN. I’d totally recommend it, even if it’s just for a month.

Veganuary is definitely one of the best ideas I’ve ever had (as in terms of participating, I didn’t make it up, ha!) and I’d challenge you all to give it a go next year.In the meantime, I think I owe myself a drink for completing it all!