A Review of Tesco vegan mac and cheese - A wasted opportunity

When I saw Tesco had brought out vegan (gluten, wheat, dairy, egg free) mac and cheese, I was pretty excited. This to me is the ultimate vegan feast.

Sadly, the meal didn't live up to the hype mainly because of the overpowering taste of mustard. 

Yep, like so many foods manufacturers make for the vegetarian/vegan market, Tesco probably think they have to spice things up because they believe the myth that vegetarian and vegan food is tasteless. Hence an overdose of mustard that completely ruined the taste of this for me. It was so strong only eating some liquorice (Panda's original vegan) got rid of it.

This was a pity because without this mustard the mac and cheese would have been tasty. 

Using macaroni pasta was a good move as I find rice pasta can be a bit bland. 

The sauce was also a nice consistency but it could have done with some yeast flakes. The parsley was also a nice touch.

Overall I'd rate this 3 out of 5 stars 

Why I'm giving up milk

It's his milk. Isn't it about time we left him and her alone?

I'm passing farmland in the train and everywhere I see cows and their enlarged udders and I'm thinking, 'where are all their calves?'

There should be loads of them because that's why all these cows have enlarged udders, because like human mothers they produce milk to feed their babies.

Then reality hits me in a way it never has before - and I've been a vegetarian for 25 years - the reason these mothers don't have calves with them like nature intended is because their milk is going to be bottled, put in ice cream, cheese and yoghurt and all those other things that we humans consume.

So, where are these cows' babies?

Chances are the male calves are dead, well they can't produce milk. The dairy industry is brutal and any animal that doesn't make money is deemed not to have the right to live.

The female calves will end up as dairy cows and the whole sick process will begin again, babies seperated from their mothers, so we humans can drink wholesome* milk.

And that's why I've stopped drinking milkshakes, eating cheese and yoghurt because if I don't do that I'm feeding the demand, I'm breaking the mother and child bond.
I am the reason mother cows are bellowing for their babies.

It's because of me that babies are not nourished by their mother's milk and may end up living out their short, light starved lives in veal crates.

I say not in my name., and that's why I won't drink milk or anything containing milk.

*milk has been linked with breast cancer. In China where they are mostly lactose intolerant - lactose is in milk - the rates are way below what they are in Western countries where milk consumption is the norm. 

Plamil dairy free alternative to milk chocolate review

Guess who ate the rest of it?

One of the toughest things to get used to when you go dairy free (for animal welfare or health reasons) is not eating milk chocolate. Now I love dark chocolate, but sometimes I get cravings for milk chocolate.

Up until now I've fought them, but then I happened across this amazing alternative to milk chocolate and once I started eating it I couldn't stop.

This is by far the best vegan, dairy free alternative to milk chocolate I’ve tasted. It’s smooth and there’s no aftertaste.

As well as being milk free, this chocolate its –

Nut free

Made using sustainable energy

It does contains Soya, which I'm told some people can be left feeling bloated after they eat it.

This 45g bar cost me almost a pound from Holland and Barrett.

Be warned – this chocolate is higher in calories compared to normal milk chocolate but a small piece goes a long way.

KEEP AWAY FROM DOGS AS THIS CHOCOLATE AS A VERY HIGH COCOA CONTENT. But dogs should never be allowed to eat human chocolate anyway as it can kill them.

For details of the Plamil range visit their website.

Plamil are a UK company, but for a list of stockists go this page and schroll further down. It lists stockists in Australia, Germany, France and Holland. Sadly, at the time of printing they don't have a stockist in America, but online vegetarian/vegan stores may stock it.

Things to consider when giving up milk

Following on from the last post on why I'm giving up milk, I thought it might be a good idea to write about this because its always good to be prepared.

Note - the tips given will also be useful to those who are lactose intolerant. Symptoms include bloating and stomach discomfort after consuming dairy.

Sesame seeds are full of calcium

1.If you used milk containing foods to get your calcium, make sure you get calcium from other sources.
Good sources include green leafy veg like broccoli (high in iron too), cabbage, spinach (note that spinach although it is a good source of calcium it contains a chemical that may stop your body from absorbing calcium 0 to prevent this have something that's high in vitamin C, say like a glass of orange juice), almonds (they have more calcium than any other nut and contain fibre), figs (they have a high amount of calcium and are very nutritous), kale (contains more clacium per ounce than milk) and sesame seeds (don't be fooled by their size as these littlte seeds are a wonderful source of calcium, iron, magnesium and those all important B vitamins).

2.If you like margarine or butter on things like toast, pancakes, scones and cornbread, there are dairy free spreads available.
Try your local health food store or supermarket. There are different varieties.
Tip - try different spreads like preserves, jam, peanut butter, melted or sqashed down banana, marmalade etc... There are so many things you can spread on your bread.

3.If you can't stand the taste of black tea or coffee, check out milk replacers, often called cremer or creamer or coffee\tea whitener.
My favourite is SoyGo, a Soy cremer that comes in individual sachets so you can carry it around with you for work or visiting friends and relatives. To read more about it, see my previous post about Milk Replacers.

Tip - you need to give it a good stir, let it settle then stir again, but in my opinion it's the best milk replacer for tea and coffee on the market. I've tried quite a few.

4.Remember, dairy free chocolate is readily available.
It's plain chocolate or dark chocolate. Check the label.

5.The most common way we used milk in our house when I was growing up, was in our cereal.
The good news is that you can replace cow's milk with other kinds of milk. Rice milk, Soy/soya milk, almond milk and even coconut milk can be used.

6. Dairy free ice cream can taste amazing.
There are more and more ranges coming out all the time. My personal fave is Swedish Glace. It tastes amazing. See my review here.
Tip - try out the chocolate version of any non-dairy/dairy-free ice cream first as its usually the best.

Sadly, Swedish Glace now off my shopping list as well known animal torturers Unilever buy the company.

 

Product Review Swedish Glace Ice Cream

That’s Swedish Glace off my shopping list as well known animal torturers Unilever buy the company.

 

 

 

Finding an ice cream type dessert that's dairy free for anyone who suffers from lactose intolerance or who is a vegan, can be tricky.

Note - although this is very like ice cream and tastes like ice cream, it is labelled as a 'rich dessert.' Only a product containing milk can be called ice cream.

I was delighted therefore to come across this amazing product in my local Holland and Barrett store.

At first glance, when you look at the packaging Swedish Glace just looks like normal ice cream. Scouring the label, I found that it was completely dairy free and contained no egg.

It's also cholestrol and gluten free, so perfect for those watching their cholestrol and who are gluten intolerant. And there's no genetically modified ingredients either, so this is a wholesome treat.

If you fancy trying a different flavour, it also comes in smooth vanilla, juicy raspberry and wild blueberry.

On first taste, this does taste like ice cream. Very chocolately ice cream. But the more you eat the more it tastes like a very rich mousse. Not that this is a nad thing. This is a very chocolatey product and its no surprise to see that crushed cocoa beans are added to the product.

One of the other good things about this product is that there is no aftertaste. After eating it you feel wonderfully refreshed.  

I would recommend Swedish Glace to anyone who is vegan or gluten intolerant or lactose intolerant. It tastes fantastic and is a welcome addition to any larder.

6 Reasons I’m going dairy free

After finding out about the cruelty that goes into milk production, I have gone dairy free. This means no more milk, no more margarine and spreads containing milk, and definitely no milk chocolate.

There are other reasons I am shunning milk –

1. Despite what we keep being told, milk is not good for you. In fact, consuming it gives you a higher risk of osteoarthritis and breast cancer. In Asian where most people don’t eat dairy, the rates of both conditions are much, much lower than in the West where dairy is a part of people’s everyday diets.
2. Have you ever woken up with phlegm? That horrible thick sludgy stuff in your throat that’s often green? Then dairy may be to blame
3. Despite consuming more milk that most other countries in the world, the USA and the UK have high rates of osteoarthritis. Much higher than Asian where dairy is not part of their diet. How can that be when we keep on being told we need milk for strong bones? Maybe there’s something in milk that isn’t good for bones.
4. We have sky high rates of breast cancer in the USA and the UK too than countries that don’t drink milk.
5. Humans are only meant to drink their own mother’s milk, not another species. Drinking milk is weird.
6. The dairy industry is a cruel one. Did you know in the UK alone, 100,000 calves (yes, that's babies are killed every year) for no other reason than they are male and don't produce milk? VIVA (Vegetarians International Voice for Animals) have a campaign right now exposing the cruelty that goes into making Cadbury's chocolate. They have a Facebook page. Read more about them their milk myths campaign here