Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Are you calling me a Mega Vegetarian??! It's called Vegetarian Scanner. If you have an iPhone 4 you can just take a pic of the label & it scans it for you but otherwise you just need to check each E number individually.

Cool, finding a good use for my new phone!!

I was in a sweet shop looking at labels and I think Rainbow Drops are vegan. I used to have those for midnight feasts with my cousin!
Quite excited about this.

I don't think they are due to the red colouring? Correct me if I am wrong because if I am wrong I will be very happy.

Sadly whilst the red colouring (E124) is fine E132 is Indigo Carmine which isn't vegan.

EDIT: Hmmm although the app on my phone says E132 isn't veggie from googling it looks as though it's plant based. I'm confused & I really want them to be vegan!

How have I not noticed those? On Saturday they shall be mine.

Bother.
You know how companies sometimes label things as being vegetarian; are they likely to claim it is veg if it contains insect parts like carmine/cochineal? I know they would if the product contained lanolin or milk derivatives, and they don't seem to for gelatine (I've even seen jelly sweets that specified NOT suitable for vegetarians) but don't know if insects count as animals for the food producers.

I noticed today in Asda that hundreds and thousands and other similar cake sprinkles are labelled as 'suitable for vegetarians' yet contain shellac so I'd say they kinda ignore insects as being part of the animal kingdom...

Sainsbury's strawberry pencils are labelled as suitable for vegans. They are just cheapo sugary children's sweets but I was so excited to find them as they are the sort of thing that nearly always has gelatine in.

I went to Waitrose! I got a nectarine! And a salad! And vanilla soy yogurt! Super excited!

Also, I skimmed all of the pages, but I don't know if it's been mentioned: I haven't tried them yet, but Waitrose's brand of granola and fruit bars (Waitrose Love Life; "The Grain Bar," "The Seed Bar," etc) are veg/vegan! They say "suitable for vegetarians" but I couldn't find anything to make them not vegan? Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. This is exciting because I've been looking for granola bars since I've been here and the ones I've seen contain honey or milk! I'll let you know how "The Grain Bar" tastes.

If you go to the Waitrose website and pick the "shop now" tab, you can sort things so they'll only show you 'suitable for vegans' products. I've found them quite reliable.
http://www.waitrose.com/shop/ProductVie ... esli+berry

I can't "shop now" until I have an address. Boo. But I will use that, thank you! I liked that shop a lot!
The granola bar, however, was very sugary. Barley malt extract must do that to a small little bar of grains. Oh well. The salad, however, is delicious.

Thats excellent! I love granola bars and most brands add honey.

I got the Weetabix Crispy Minis Chocolate Chip and while they're tasty, I liked the Fruit and Nut ones better. Maybe they're better in milk? I just needed a slightly sweet snack.

I also got some Oatly to try because I am not a huge fan of Soya milk and Almond milk is outrageously expensive here unless I'm missing a secret stash somewhere. Am I??
I have to go walk to the co-op and check stuff out there now.

almond milk is crazy expensive everywhere here. It sucks!

Damn, I was sure you were going to tell me about a hidden awesome shop that I could find relatively cheap almond milk at.

I did find some liquid clothing wash stuff at the co-op, thanks for the tip! It's not specifically for hand washing delicates (the guy at the store said they stopped making/carrying that) but the directions on the back had an option for hand washing, so I bought it anyway. I am not familiar enough with the crazy ingredient lists to know what's vegan and what's not to determine if Waitrose's delicate clothing wash is vegan. At least I know this has no animal products in because it says so right on the bottle!

I used to eat the Weetabix chocolate chip Crispy Minis, but they must have changed the formulation because I started having an allergic reaction to them quite suddenly (after having eaten them for years). But I have no idea from the ingredients list what I could be allergic to. I've been eating Frosties since the PPKamping trip (I know), but I think I might try the Oatybix flakes (whatever they're called now) when I run out. They're tasty, but I just can't eat that much sugar.

The cheapest I've found almond milk here is over £3 for a liter. It's pretty bad. Real Foods has a bunch of crazy new milks, like sesame and millet. I haven't tried them yet because they're also pretty expensive.

Meggs, have you checked Roots and Fruits for laundry stuff? Or are you looking for something cheap? R&F has much the same stuff as Real Foods, and I know Real Foods has liquid laundry detergent, but it's a bit pricey.

The Weetabix Nuts and Fruit Crispy Minis are pretty good and I don't think they're as sugary (or didn't taste as sugary.) I don't like sugar either and I don't normally even eat cereal because I eat a whole box in like, two days, but I just had a taste for something sweet and snacky and that's all I could really come up with.

Yes, that's about what I saw almond milk for. That's crepe. I'll try oatly; never had oat milk before, so we'll see how it goes. There is just something about the soy milk I find strange tasting; maybe it's the brand?

I did not try Roots & Fruits for laundry stuff. I'm just really looking for something to hand wash delicates with, and the cheaper the better, obviously, but I just don't know what is vegan, and on the vegansociety website, the "delicate" laundry options; I don't know where to get the ones that pop up. So I just went to the co-op since things are clearly marked; didn't know Roots & Fruits had laundry stuff. This is all learn as you go for me! Thanks for the tip!

I thought American almond milk was nasty tasting. Too thin and watery. All the UK almond milks I've had tasted more like cream… but brands differ enormously, so who can say?

Hemp milk is where it's at. Sesame milk is really good, as well.

The co-op have a lot of vegan sweets in their three for a pound range! The strawberry laces are so good it hurts, but the jelly beans taste medicinal.

I'm an American almond milk gal, what can I say? I don't use it for anything but tea, oatmeal/porridge, and the rare box of cereal that I buy, though, so I use it very sparingly. I drink it by the cup very rarely. And I love the taste because it's not all soybeany.

I've heard some horror stories about hemp milk, and so I'm nervous to try it, plus it's one of the more expensive milks in the States, so I stick to cheap, good old almond milk. ....but come to think of it, hemp granola bars are my favourite, so.... but anyway, I'm sure hemp milk is expensive here, too! I'm on a budget, Gulliver! Don't get me into expensive yummy milks!

What are strawberry laces? Those sound suspiciously like Twizzlers.

I believe they're very similar. I've never had them because I don't like Twizzlers, but they look similar, iirc.

Yeah, Roots and Fruits has laundry and other cleaning products (dish soap, surface cleaners, etc). They also have toiletries, in case you want to splurge on something not from Superdrug. There's another health food type shop along the same road that has some of the same things, and they sell a few Cheezly and Toffuti products (last time I was there). Also, not sure if you know this, but Lupe Pintos is also on that stretch of road (I think it's Great Western Road). They have a bunch of Latin cooking ingredients, some American pre-packaged stuff, and Asian cooking ingredients, in case you get the opportunity to do some real cooking or feel the need to buy root beer or shitty American PB.

I don't drink soda, but I'll keep it in mind if someone visits me and has the taste for Root Beer. I did notice that there are only like, 3 PB's in every store here but 1,000 jams/jellies/marmalades. I miss TJ's raw almond butter, but I'll survive. I'll check out Lupe Pintos next time I'm up there; was just up there today, maybe I'll go back tomorrow. Thanks.
I can't wait to do real cooking next week! ... or at least more than I'm doing now!

strawberry laces are like spaghetti shaped twizzlers, yes.
where on earth does one find sesame milk?

Real Foods in Edinburgh

You should be able to get raw almond butter in Roots and Fruits. I can get it in Real Foods. We have a few different varieties, and of course the one I like most (smooth white) is the most expensive (nearly £5 for about 1/2 cup worth).