My Favourite Vegan Alternative Brands
- Mar 10, 2017
- 7 min read
I wanted to bring you a blog post today that might help anyone out there looking to bring more vegan products into their families lives. Today's post is all about the food, I will have a separate post about products coming soon!
I am a strong believer that we are not made to eat meat, or at least not NEAR as much as we consume today. Some knowledge I have to support my theory is that meat-eaters, such as lions, have intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly. Herbivores and humans have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length. Which means it takes a lot longer for our bodies to try and digest that meat.
I am not here to tell you what you should or shouldn't eat, everyone's bodies thrive on different things, however I do believe we should not be eating meat or dairy. My reasoning for dairy is simple, cow's milk is made for baby cows. Not to mention the naturally-present hormones in cow’s milk is stronger than human hormones and they are also given steroids and other hormones to plump them up and increase milk production.
I could go on and on about the negative impacts meat and dairy have on our system and the environment, but that is for another day. Today, I want to share with you some great alternatives if you are looking to get unhooked from your addiction to cheese or maybe cut animal products out of your diet. Whatever you are here looking for, it's a step in the right direction!
Okay so I am just going to start listing products that we all know and under that I will list the alternatives. I hope I can help anyone out there looking to transition to a vegan lifestyle. Here we go!
Milk So now we know why we shouldn't drink cow's milk, let's talk about some alternatives. The best brands I have come across would have to be Silk and Earth's Own. Both of these companies make coconut, cashew, soy and almond milk in original and vanilla, which you can get sweetened or unsweetened. Both companies also have chocolate milks in almond and soy, which is definitely going to hit that sweet tooth!
Coffee Creamer Again, we know why we shouldn't be consuming dairy, so let me tell you a little about coffee creamer. Silk makes awesome creamer, they have a soy based creamer, coconut and almond I believe and you can get them in different flavours like vanilla and hazelnut!
Mac & Cheese (KD) I have found two brands but I have only tried one of them because I don't think the other brand is in Canada. Just incase anyone wants to go take a look, the brand that I believe is not in Canada would be So Delicious. The other brand that I have had and is good is Daiya, the flavours are cheddar, alfredo and white cheddar with veggies. I highly recommend trying these out, and if you do, add extra noodles because the cheese is very strong.
Eggs If you are looking for an egg replacer you can always use chia/flax seeds ground up and mixed with water, but if you are looking to eat eggs I have a couple awesome alternatives. The first one would be a boxed egg, all you do is add water and you can make any kind of scrambled egg. A second alternative would be a Tofu Scramble (which I eat like 4 times a week).
Lunch Meat Yes, believe it or not you can actually purchase vegan lunch meat! The only one I have seen so far is Yves and they make it in bologna, ham, turkey, salami and pepperoni. However, in my hometown I have only ever seen the ham and turkey, but they are delicious!
Protein Powder
Now I know this isn't technically food but I know that pretty much all protein powders are made with whey which is a milk base (ew.) this can be heavy on the digestive system, so a lot of people switch over to plant-based protein powders. The only one I have had I would highly recommend, it is Vega Sport Performance Protein. They come in chocolate, vanilla and berry, I do not recommend the berry flavour. They have 30g of protein, 6g BCAA's, 6g of glutamine, turmeric (which reduces inflammation), tart cherry (good for weight loss and repairs muscles) and probiotics (which helps in aiding your gut flora). So as you can see, its really good for you!
Hot Dogs I was and probably never will be a fan of hot dogs, vegan or not. But the only brand I really know is Yves and they taste exactly like turkey/chicken dogs. I personally prefer the sausages by Yves I was talking about earlier, but if you want a hot dog alternative, this would be the way to go. No disgusting animal bits in these!
Mayonnaise This one I am pretty excited about. Follow Your Heart makes a bunch of different kinds of vegenaise. They make ones with grapeseed oil, a soy free, a reduced fat, a pesto and even a tarter sauce! My favourite vegan mayo I have tried and keep in my fridge is Hellmann's and they just got vegan certified! It tastes just like "the real thing".
Ground Beef There are two brands I know about, one of them is Gardein and the other one is Yves. I believe I have heard of another called Beyond Beef but I don't think that one is in canada. Anyway, Yves makes a regular, and a mexican flavour, which we use for tacos!
Bacon and Sausage Yves makes bacon and sausage and they are the only ones I've seen in my hometown. Mike and I get the breakfast sausage occasionally, it's our favourite, and we recently stumbled upon the bacon but we haven't tried it yet.
Ice Cream Lately I have been craving some ice cream, not just banana nice cream, something that tastes like dairy ice cream. I found the brand So Delicious and they make a cookie dough, dark chocolate truffle and a salted caramel cluster which are all amazing! They are coconut and cashew based. And just the other day I came across non-dairy Ben and Jerry's and those flavours are pb & cookies, fudge brownie and coffee caramel fudge. The only one i've had so far is the coffee caramel fudge but OMG, you must go try this alternative!
Pizza Pockets I think I am a little too excited for this one. So far the only one that I have come across and tried is the Gardein porkless pockets and they are to die for! I went onto their website because I was curious what else they had and I found they make actual pepperoni pizza pockets and a breakfast scramble pocket! I would love to try those out.
Cheese So I am sure this is the one everyone has been waiting to read because cheese is HIGHLY addictive. One of the only brands I can get around my area would be Daiya and I definitely don't mind them. They have shredded cheese and it comes in mozzarella and cheddar. They also make cheddar style slices and bricks that come in smoked gouda, jalapeno havarti, mild cheddar and monterey jack. Follow Your Heart and Chao are two other ones I have seen but haven't tried, and I believe they carry the same flavours. If you have a cheese craving you just can't kick, it might be worth it for your health to try these alternatives.
Hamburgers This one is actually very hard because there are SO many brands and different kinds of burgers that I wouldn't possibly be able to type them all out. Before I name any frozen burgers I would just like to point out that Black Bean Burgers are just as tasty and have probably more protein and less calories per patty than a frozen burger. But, if a frozen burger is what you want then I will deliver. My highly recommended burger would be Sol, entirely plant-based, certified organic, and so delicious. Yves and Gardein makes burgers as well, I just don't find theirs to be as good.
Sour Cream/Cream Cheese I thought I might as well put these in the same category because they're very similar. I have tried two different kinds of cream cheese and I have to say the best one would be Tofutti, it comes in original and herbs and chives. Daiya also makes cream cheese in original and herb and garlic but I just don't think it is as good as the other brand. I would recommend Tofutti sour cream also, considering its the only one I have seen and tried, it's definitely the best!
Margarine/Butter You can get Earth Balance in original or soy free. The original is the only one I have tried and it acts just like butter, but the brand we use pretty much everyday is Becel and they carry a vegan margarine!
Frozen Pizza There is seriously only one brand I know of that makes frozen pizza, at least here in my hometown. Daiya has a few flavours which include fire roasted vegetable, mushroom and roasted garlic, margherita, and pepperoni. I have only ever tried the fire roasted vegetable and it was actually pretty good. I find that Daiya cheese is very strong and they use like a little too much on the pizzas, in my opinion they should use less cheese and lower the prices and they might be worth a buy!
Salad Dressing Daiya and Follow Your Heart are the only one's I have seen and heard of. They both carry creamy salad dressings like ranch and caesar, but Follow Your Heart actually has thousand island and honey mustard.
Chocolate Bars I thought I would save this one for last because I only know of one vegan brand and that is Go Max Go! They make the best chocolate bars! They have one called Mahalo, and it is filled with coconut and covered in chocolate. Cleos is just like a peanut butter cup and Buccaneer is filled with a nuget. All of these chocolate bars are completely vegan and once you've had one you won't want to have any other kind of chocolate bar again!
I hope I could help anyone looking to transition into a vegan lifestyle, or just try to cut out as much meat and dairy as they can! If you have any questions at all feel free to go to my Contact Page and send me a quick message.
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