For those who have never heard of Veganuary, it’s a worldwide movement that started here in Yorkshire to encourage people to spend the month of January being a vegan.
This means you don’t eat any animal products, and you also think about the products you consume elsewhere, like cosmetics and cleaning products, and make sure they also don’t contain any animal products either, like beeswax for example.
It’s a pretty full-on diet change for someone who loves all different kinds of food, and for someone who writes about food for a living for our clients!
2024 is actually the third year I’ve done Veganuary, and luckily I was ready for it! I had a fridge stocked up with goodies, all my work snacks bought, and a list of places to eat that had good vegan options.
If you’ve ever thought about doing Veganuary, here are some tips to help…
- A vegan meal delivery kit service like Grubby takes the hassle out of evening meals, it means you don’t need to spend ages in the supermarket reading every label!
- Vegan cheese is very hit and miss, and a lot of it isn’t nice at all when you’re used to the real thing. Two products I like that you can get in the supermarket are Violife’s Mozzarella Slices and Soft Cheeze, which are both great with burgers or in a warm ciabatta.
- Make sure you have lots of snacks to get you through the work day. I love hummus and veggies, crisps, nuts and seeds and those plant-based fridge raiders (they are just like the meat ones!) And also dark chocolate for when I get a sugar craving.
- There are some great vegan places to eat in Hull, so make the most of what’s on your doorstep and try a breakfast burrito at Barley’s, or a falafel wrap from Falafela, or a cinnamon bun from Cinnamon at Trinity Market.
- Lighthouse Fisheries in Flamborough not only is award winning, it also does plant-based saveloys and vegan mini-fish for a takeout win!
I will admit, I didn’t do that great at being vegan this time round – as prepared as I was I still slipped up!
Me and my partner wrote off Christmas as we both came down with a nasty bout of Covid (we didn’t have any food in for Christmas dinner…), so we took a day off Veganuary to have turkey and all the trimmings when we were better. And I kinda gave up checking on some labels towards the end of the month, and haven’t been as strict as I have in previous years, eating the odd item containing honey.
However, with each Veganuary I complete it does get easier, and I do end up eating less and less meat and dairy produce throughout the year.
Even if being a ‘perfect’ vegan isn’t for you, it’s still great to think about the ethics of what you’re eating, and how what you eat affects your carbon footprint and people elsewhere in the world.
I would definitely recommend trying Veganuary, as it’s good to mix things up, eating vegan has definite health benefits as well as environmental ones, and it might be easier than you think!