Shopping Tips
Most grocery stores, Target, and Walmart carry a great variety of vegan products. You should not need to shop at a specialty grocery store to find what you need and you don't need to spend a lot of money either. Focus on buying fresh fruits and vegetables, rice and noodles, beans and tofu, and dressing them up with different sauces and flavors from your favorite recipes. For many recipes, you can easily substitute ingredients with any of the non-dairy milk, margarine, vegan mayo, and egg substitute options available. If your local stores don't carry a hard to find or specialty item, online shopping is a great resource for this!
Making the Switch
Animal-free margarine and butter substitutes, non-dairy yogurts, cream cheese substitutes, and non-dairy milks are also available at grocery stores, with more coming options to market every year!
The single analogue that has had the most trouble pleasing vegans is vegan cheese. Many brands (such as Daiya, Violife, and Field Roast) are easily available, but don’t expect them to taste exactly like your favorite cheese. Keep trying new options to find the ones that you like. You may even be lucky enough to have a vegan artisanal cheesemaker near you!
On your journey towards switching to animal-free foods, the most important thing is to keep trying different things – try not to let one brand of yogurt you did not like keep you from trying the others. Many animal-free products taste so different from each other.
There is no need to miss out on dessert either! There are several brands of non-dairy frozen desserts, plant-based cookies, vegan whipped topping, vegan chocolates and candy, and even a vegan cheesecake or two carried in mainstream supermarkets.
Dining Out
Eating out as a vegan is no longer a challenge! There are vegan options at many restaurants, including Italian, Mexican, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Middle Eastern, and Ethiopian. Check out the Happy Cow site for restaurants near you!
If you’re in a hurry or on the road, check out the vegan options at Chipotle, Taco Bell, Burger King, and Subway. Most pizza places also have vegan choices! Learn more
