My food Vegan Grocery Shopping | UK Vegan shops

I wanted to start a weekly post, to show what food I buy for myself, and my family. The reason behind this is because I find it really difficult to explain that it's NOT hard to be healthy, it's not that difficult to eat clean food, it's not that hard to make fast delicious meals, and it doesn't have to cost the earth if you are careful and wise how you shop! The average cost of a food shopping bill in Britain in 2012 was £76.83 a week, we all know prices have gone up, so it's probably closer to £85 for a family of 4 now. If you add into the equation a child and adult who have allergies to gluten , soy, dairy and eggs it's expensive. Obviously we are now vegan, but it's still expensive. You have to learn to shop around. I started shopping on Ocado last week and I have been pleasantly suprised by the quality , range and quanity of the food.  ( For example a box of 7 mangos, ranging from ready to eat, to 5 days to ripen cost me £5, everywhere else they're £2-3 each ) My shopping for the next 10 days cost me £83.98 . ( I could have spent far far far more, since they stock so much Vegan food, and have so many options!)

I know if you're not vegan, or used to eating clean, you'll be looking at this photo thinking, " How do you make meals from that, it's just fruit and veg?!" Well, trust me, you can create some really healthy meals with these little guys, some amazing snacks, aswell as desserts... and I am going to show you how!

I also bought gluten free pasta, bread, frozen fruit, and CO-YO yoghurt.

I thought that I'd share with you a few of the new products I've stumbled accross this week that I am excited to try! They're all healthy options too, I'm always being asked if I have found anything new while shopping, and the answer is this week is YES!
I bought some pre-made kale, apple and celery juices by a new brand called Vegesentials for the days where Pauly and I are super busy and don't have time to get to the juicer ( that sounds sad, but it is often true as some mornings can be alittle crazy! ) I tried one when I brought the shopping into the kitchen, Pauly and I both agreed they were divine!
I've been reading lots of raw recipe books lately, which call for Young Thai Coconuts, so I have some for this week, but I also LOVE drinking Coconut water and milk. The COCO face I love the 'packaging' on the coconut - very cute! I had one of these while out and about at a vegan food festival a while ago and fell in love with them! When I saw them online I decided to go ahead and order some, I'm not quite sure how to get into them though??!

While on the Coconut front, I bought some VitaCoCo drinks to take to work, I've been feeling really dehydrated and lethargic lately, so the more coconut-ty things I can get into me the better, I find they are a superfood for me!

 ( I couldn't wait for the coconut goodness to get into my system as I felt quite tired after a long day, it's completely re-booting, energising and hydrating, and did I mention delicious!? )

 
( I'm going to write more about Vegesentials this week, as I LOVE the company ethos, brand and product!)

A few cupboard items I decided to pick up this week are just regular things, they didn't have the Mrs Crimble stuffing I raved about, but they had the Hale and Hearty version, so I'll let you know how that is. I finally (!!!) managed to find some potato starch for my gluten free baking, and a selection of different organic pulses, I bought a ton of them as they were £1.09 a bag, I also bought some of my favorite Doves Farm Pasta.

So stay tuned for meal ideas, thrifty cooking plans and toddler meals - I find Opeie a challenge sometimes since he isn't ready to eat some of the more grown up foods we have, especially the raw.