Thanks
xXx
Veganuary Update
Hi all, Simon here again! So it’s day three of Veganuary and
I thought I would check in with you all as to how it is going. So before I get
into the main overview, here are the main points:
1. As my food choices are now more limited, I have been
snacking less which can only be a good thing.
2. As it is Veganuary I tried the KFC Vegan burger (more on
that later).
3. Shopping takes more time, as there’s more planning
involved, which in turn means I am more invested in my food choices.
4. Also Greggs and Subway have been introducing vegan
options for Veganuary which I’ve tried (more on that below).
The first day went well and the meal out wasn’t bad; I ate from
the vegan menu and went for the vegan burger. Although the meat substitute was
a little dry, I was able to use tomato sauce (or ketchup) to make it more
moist.
Day two: so I got distracted with other stuff and had no
breakfast or morning tea, which meant that by two o’clock, I was absolutely
starving; at this point I tried a vegan pizza from Pizza Express. Tasted nice
but the cheese substitute was almost a sauce, which meant that the integrity (or
lack of) was unexpected. To sum up it was tasty but messy to eat.
For the evening meal @sal_on_toast and I tried the KFC Vegan
burger. At the time I was willing to give it 8/10 as opposed to SOT’s 6/10, but
after trying the Subway and Greggs alternatives, it’s dropped to a 5/10. The
main problem is that it was too dry! I dread to think what it would have been
like without the vegan mayonnaise.
pic clearly pilfered from KFC!
Day three: I woke up and had tea and hot Sainsbury’s
cornflakes with Oatly Barista (no sign of non vegan stuff in the cornflakes)
and some tea with Oatly again. Now while Oatly Barista works well in coffee and
cereal, it doesn’t do so well in the Tea department, as such some Soya Milk has
been drafted in for Tea usage. Moving on, Lunch was an interesting affair as
SOT wanted to try the new Gregg’s Vegan Steak Bake and the New Subway Vegan
Meatball sub. Now there is footage of this that will be uploaded to Sal’s
youtube channel later with me doing a fake voice (think of John Shuttleworth’s
Clive or Morecambe and Wise’s song “Boom Ooh Ya ta ta ta ta”) here, but I’ll
give you the brief overview now.
Greggs Vegan Steak Bake - Tastes exactly the same as the
normal Steak Bake. I actually asked SOT during the video if she was sure it was
vegan (spoiler it was). Very nice! Would buy again if I needed food on the go.
pic clearly pilfered from Gregg's!
Greggs Doughnut - A Doughnut with icing on, a bit dry and
uninspiring so one I would only get if I was outside a Greggs and had an urgent
need for sugar.
Subway Vegan Meatball Sub: Excellent, similar meatballs in
taste and texture to the Sainsbury’s vegan meatballs and are a bit dry but
there is so much marinara sauce it isn’t an issue.
pic clearly pilfered from Subway!
Roger Whiteside (CEO of Greggs) has recently given an
interview in which he mentioned he was vegan and convinced of the health
benefits of Veganism. If the Steak Bake is a sign of how seriously they take
Veganism, then it should be interesting to see what the future holds. Note to
anyone from Greggs who may see this: you need to get on the desserts / cakes /
doughnuts and Sandwiches. The Vegan Sausage Roll and Bake are excellent - the doughnut
was a disappointment. As for Sandwiches, surely a Quorn or Tofurky roll with
Salad wouldn’t be so tricky?
So if I were to rate them it would be:
- Last Place: KFC Vegan Burger. Five years ago this would
have been amazing, now it’s an “also ran”.
- Third Place: Gregg’s Doughnut. Sadly a disappointment,
after the vegan sausage roll and steak bake.
- Second Place: Subway Vegan Meatball Sub. Excellent sauce,
tasty meatballs - which are a bit dry but saved by the sauce and customisations
are available with the salad.
- First Place: Greggs Vegan Steak Bake. I honestly couldn’t
tell it was vegan. It tasted exactly as I remember them and with a perfect
texture. Perfect to grab on the go if you are hungry and in a rush.
How are you getting on Veganuary’ers? Let us know in the comments
or come chat on the socials (links at the top of the page).
Also, if you want a live taste test / review of these items,
check out my video, HERE.
Laters
Sal xXx
Vegan KFC hasn't made it to my area yet and we're a bit behind so I think here it would be amazing, rather than "also ran"--nothing's run yet except that in the past year it seems like half the places now have an Impossible burger! All these American companies seem to do their vegan stuff in the UK and leave us here without. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI loved the vegan sausage rolls I had in England and will definitely try Gregg's if I find myself there again.