We're back with another edition of our vegan diet diary; the perfect resource to provide a sneak peek into what real vegans eat on a day to day basis. In this entry, Elena Orde, Communications and Campaigns Officer at The Vegan Society, shares her weekly menu, featuring a very exciting sounding waffle burger.
Breakfast
I don’t like to have too long between meals or snacks, so usually I have a mini breakfast when I wake up and a bigger one at work. I’m basically a hobbit.
Just before leaving the house I’ll have a handful of raisins or a piece of fruit, and when I get into work I’ll have my smoothie. My smoothies are usually the same – 2 bananas, soy milk, milled flax seed, peanut butter and frozen berries. I’ve been having this almost every workday for two years and it still hasn’t got old.
Lunch
I’m a big fan of batch cooking so, at the risk of sounding smug, I usually have plenty of Tupperware boxes in the freezer which are ready to go for lunch. This week I had homemade sweet potato soup, which I’d made with spinach and butterbeans.
Sometimes I’ll venture out to our local vegan café for a panini and a hot chocolate with vegan cream and marshmallows. Because there’s no point doing things by halves.
Between meals I usually snack on apples and clementines at my desk, making a nice little compost heap of cores and peels over the course of the week.
Dinner
In my house usually I do the cleaning, my partner does the cooking, and we both ignore the washing up until things get out of hand. It’s a good system, and thankfully my partner is vegan and a very good cook, even if he does seem to create a messy whirlwind around himself while he does so.
At some point we’ll usually have a stir fry, black bean tacos, or some form of beany stew. We’re a fan of beans. The best nights are when we have something made from the amazing book Veganomicon – my favourites are the chickpea cutlets and the pasta and beanballs. Again with the beans.
If we’re feeling lazy, a Quorn burger in a bun with plenty of ketchup and a salad is always a good shout. This week, however, we ran out of bread and I was super hungry after getting in late – so I replaced the bun with two waffles. I’m very proud of this invention, but Heather may feel differently.
We tend to have some Moo Free chocolate or mint Oreos knocking around for after dinner treats.
Weekend
Due to the luxury of extra time on the weekend, I usually make porridge with fancy toppings. Date syrup, coconut and frozen raspberries is a fave combination.
If we go out to eat somewhere, Zizzi is a firm favourite. I tend to go for butternut squash, olives and caramelised onions – and I would definitely recommend it.
Dietitian Heather’s comments:
Daily flaxseed provides Elena with essential omega-3 fat. This can be a really economical source if you buy in bulk, mill a small batch at a time, and keep it refrigerated in an airtight container. Elena could give her morning smoothie a whole grain boost by including some oats. I’m always raving about batch cooking, and it’s great to see that she’s a fan too. Eating legumes like beans and chickpeas twice a day gets a thumbs up from me because research suggests that this is a health-promoting habit. Elena needs to keep an eye on her calcium intake. I know that she uses fortified soya milk, so she’s always off to a good start. I suggest that she includes a least one more portion of really calcium-rich food in her daily diet. She could squeeze in another glass of fortified plant milk, add some fortified soya yoghurt to a fruit fix, or stir-fry some calcium-set tofu. Oh and I’m going to have to give the waffle burger a go…
Important note: check out our resources about vitamins B12 and D, iodine and selenium for information about vegan diets and supplementation.
The views expressed by our bloggers are not necessarily the views of The Vegan Society.
