And it begins...

I sit here on vegan eve with a slight nervousness in my belly.  Nervous? Nervous that I can actually do this.  Nervous that I have bought the right ingredients and can cook them properly to produce tasty food.  Nervous that I'll have the time for planning and preparing and still care for my two small children (3 years and 19 months).  That said, I love a challenge and I love food so surely I can become vegan for a month?

I was first introduced to the concept of becoming vegan after a friend mentioned that she was trying to become more healthy by trying dishes from the website 'Deliciously Ella'.  She slipped this in to conversation as she tucked in to the most healthy and tasty looking salad ever.  I must say I was impressed and intrigued.  On viewing the website, my first thoughts were how tasty the food looked, followed by "hmmm, there's a lot of ingredients here that I don't have in my cupboards" and "how much food processing can one person do in an evening?".  However I made an effort to try some and was quickly hooked.  We've taken it to the next level by deciding to try a vegan, gluten free and refined sugar free diet for the month of July.  Surely the impact (aside from the planning and prep) on our health can only be good?  Watch this space and find out.

We decided that in order to be vegan you need to be organised and therefore we have planned a month's worth of breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks in advance.  We are also making large batches of things we can share (such as these cookies).  This will increase variety and cut down on time spent cooking.

My advice if you want to go vegan? Rope in a friend and plan together, sharing the highs and lows of new foods, raw ingredients and no bread!!!  Oh, and research your vegan wine!  

Foodbags go vegan- bring it on!