Veganuary: a guide to your first vegan month
Welcome to the first Grandermarnier blog post of 2020!! Woooo! Thanks for coming back or if you’re new, hey there! Just a quick intro to my blog in case you are new… My vegan journey started in 2015 after I watched Cowspiracy, and it took roughly two years to fully transition from vegetarian (since birth) to veganism. During this time my main problem was finding clothing, shoes and accessories that didn’t contain any animal products, and generally finding vegan and sustainable brands that catered to my style, and this is when I came up with the idea of writing a vegan fashion blog! I set up my blog, Grandermarnier, in 2017 after I had graduated from uni with my Fashion Design degree and basically wanted to keep talking about fashion with anyone who would listen, or read. I write weekly blog posts about finding vegan clothing, news from the industry and interviews with change-makers within vegan fashion or sustainability. It’s been the best thing I’ve ever done (as well as going vegan) and I really hope you enjoy reading my posts and following my journey on Instagram too ;) Anyway, that’s me and my blog, just wanted to say hi!
The month of Veganuary is upon us!! This is the campaign to encourage omnivores/veg-curious/vegetarians etc to try a 31-day challenge of eating a vegan diet, and exploring the lifestyle. My brother and his girlfriend tried Veganuary 2019 and have been vegan ever since – it’s a fantastic way to introduce yourself to veganism! If you haven’t taken the pledge yet, click here to find out more information and sign up!
The Veganuary challenge is centred around ditching all food and drink that contains any animal products for the whole month. While this is tough enough for most newbies, you may be thinking about trying every element of veganism, beyond just food and drink. A vegan lifestyle involves cutting out all animal products or derivatives from your food, drink, clothes, beauty, household cleaning supplies, and even your furniture, cars, medication, etc. A lot of these changes are easy swaps, but some are harder to change overnight and can take a while to get used to or phase out. For example, you can easily swap cows milk for almond milk, but the car you drive with leather seats isn’t something you can (or should) just throw away.
To give you a bit more insight into the types of changes you could make, either during Veganuary or over the next year or so, I’ve written out some guidance for the different elements of a vegan lifestyle…
Food
Easy swaps:
· Beef burgers for the Moving Mountains burger
· Grated cheese for Sainsbury’s Free From cheese
· Scrambled egg for scrambled tofu
· Butter for Flora (all vegan now!)
· Goodfellas Margherita pizza for Kirsty’s Free From Margherita pizza
Must-try:
Ditch your usual chocolate bar for Vego bars – they taste so much like Nutella it’s crazy!
Longer term:
Eating out at restaurants and fast food places can still be tricky, but there are way more options now then ever before so you picked a good time to try veganism! For meals out I recommend Bella Italia, Pizza Express, Wagamama, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Las Iguanas, and Turtle Bay. Fast food chains are even catching on too; McDonald’s, Subway, Greggs and even KFC have vegan options now.
Drink
Easy swaps:
· Cows milk for almond milk (or soya, oat, coconut, hemp, hazelnut, cashew, etc)
· Baileys for Baileys Almande
· Yazoo for Galaxy oat milkshake
· Stout for Guinness
· Clipper instant hot chocolate for Twinings Swiss chocolate drink
Must-try:
Hazelnut Praline Latte from Costa. Ask for it to be made with soya or coconut milk and to hold the cream and crispy toffee crumb, et voila, the perfect winter coffee!
Longer term:
Most wine is filtered using different fining agents including egg whites, casein derived from milk, gelatine and isinglass (obtained from the bladders of fish). This can be tricky when buying wine or on nights out. Look out for the Vegan symbol on labels, and try the Vinalba Malbec Bonarda 2016 for red, LIV Vinho Verde Rosé, Portugal 2015 for rose and Barossa Viognier 2017 for white.
Fashion
Easy swaps:
· Cow’s leather for Pinatex
· Sheep’s wool for hemp
· Silk for Tencel
· Fur for faux fur
· Down for PrimaLoft
Must-try:
Collection & Co for the best vegan shoes around! Their boots are the best you’ll find in vegan materials and all their products are made in a small, family-run factory in Greece.
Longer term:
Over time, try to opt for clothing that is not only vegan, but also made ethically, ensuring the garment workers are paid a fair wage and work in safe factories. Try the Good On You app to find out the rating for brands based on their policies for animal welfare, labour and environmental impact.
Beauty
Easy swaps:
· Burt’s Bees lip balm for Hurraw lip balms
· Palmers Cocoa Butter for Superdrug Oat and Coconut Body Lotion
· Perfume for Eden perfume
· Mac foundation for Glossier Skin Tint
· Maybelline mascara for Kat Von D’s Go Big or Go Home mascara
Must-try:
Follow Vegan Beauty Girl on Instagram and YouTube – she has the best insights into the vegan beauty market and always recommends products based on her honest opinions so you can trust her reviews.
Longer term:
Try to find products that are vegan cruelty-free (VCF) as sometimes a product can be classed as cruelty-free, and even have the Leaping Bunny accreditation, but still contain animal products or derivatives.