Friday 16 March 2018

Frozen vegetable joy!

Hello! I don't know how well known this is, so I've decided to write a post about it so everyone definitely knows! If you're keen on veg and have a nice sized freezer, you could save money (and reduce potential food waste) by buying frozen veg instead! I appreciate this isn't for everyone (as this may mean more plastic for some people), and the savings may vary seasonally, but I hope it might at least help a fair few people to save some money but still eat a good, nutritious meal.

A few examples (using Tesco prices)where you can save money include:

Mini corn on the cobs: Frozen - £1.30 for 6 (roughly), Fresh - £1.50 for 4
Chopped/whole leeks: Frozen - £1.00 for 700g (1.43 per kg), Fresh - £2.00 per kg
Broccoli: Frozen florets - £1.10 (1.23 per kg), Fresh - £1.57 per kg
Mushrooms: Frozen slices - £1.00 (£2.00 per kg), Fresh whole mushrooms - £2.27 per kg of the cheapest available
Courgettes: Frozen chopped - £1.00 (£1.43 per kg), Fresh unchopped - £1.98 per kg of cheapest available
Plus of course, peas!

Not all veg works out cheaper though, often the veg that has been prepared such as diced onions or peeled shallots come out more expensive than their fresh alternative.

This is just a few options available and doesn't include the various mixed frozen bags of which one pack can all go into a casserole for £1.10 for a kg (carrot, swede, turnip, celery and onion).

All you need to do is keep an eye on the price per kg to work out which is the better value at the time. Whilst I'm not sure I'd advise that this frozen veg can be used for meals where the vegetable is the main part of the meal (like a roast), they can certainly go in meals such as casseroles (as above), soups, risottos, pasta sauces etc. This might be a great plan for those of you who use a slow cooker! It has even been studied that frozen veg is as equally nutritious (if not more) than fresh, so long as it's frozen soon after harvest.

Hope this helps!

Love Seitan block offer!

The super duper Love Seitan have an offer on their seitan blocks! Until the end of March, you can get 2 full blocks of seitan (can you choose the flavours) for £25! This saves you £4 but also means you get free shipping.

Just head here: Love Seitan

In my experience, these seitan blocks are a nice size which last a pretty long time! I'd advise freezing in portions or chopping up in your preferred way after first opening the pack (depending on your family size) as it can go with a variety of meals.

Hope this helps!

Friday 9 March 2018

Plamil Easter Hampers!

Hello! Popular vegan company Plamil (who make chocolate, mayo and more!) have made up some lovely looking Easter hampers filled with their delicious treats. Just head here to see all of their products: Plamil Easter

They have 3 hampers on offer at £25.00 each (saving roughly £5 per hamper) with different items in each. This price means they also qualify for...wait for it...FREE SHIPPING!

Hamper 1:

12 items including 2 chocolate bars, 2 Easter eggs (no box, just wrapped in foil), a box of mini half eggs (you could wrap these in foil yourself to extra egg hunting!), 6 Easter bunnies and a bigger bag of half eggs: Hamper 1

No Added Sugar Easter Hamper



Hamper 2:

12 items also, however a simpler one designed for an Easter hunt including 6 eggs and 6 bunny bars: Hamper 2

No Added Sugar Easter Hunt Hamper



Hamper 3:

This is an organic hamper, with 9 items including 1 Easter egg, a small box of mini half eggs, chocolate spread jar, 4 different chocolate bars, a bunny bar and a larger bag of half eggs: Hamper 3

Easter Organic Hamper



They also currently have a case of 22 no added sugar bunny bars for just £5! However bear in mind that if you only buy these, you will also be charged shipping: Bunny bars


Whilst there are cheaper brands out there, these hampers provide a nice range which could be split up, particularly hamper 2, if you have a large family or wish to buy eggs for many people.

Hope this helps!

Thursday 8 March 2018

Vegan Easter Ideas!

Hello! Easter is less than a month away now and I'm seeing a lot of questions involving being vegan at Easter. So I thought I'd make a post with all my little ideas and findings ready for the occasion. I'll discuss things such as Easter eggs, traditional nibbles and Sunday lunch (including the Aldi super 6 for Easter week!).

Easter eggs and chocolate treats

Edit: Plamil have 3 vegan Easter hampers online, all £25.00 (which roughly working it out seems to save about £5) and so all qualify for free postage! I've got a post all about this (here), but to check it out, head here: Plamil Easter hampers

All the leading supermarkets have vegan eggs and chocolate this year (so far as I know!) including Morrisons selling Moo Free eggs at 3 for £10 until Easter (see my previous post on this offer!). However this may still be a little expensive, so some other alternatives include:
  • Aldi do a dark chocolate 'Lindt' style bunny - 79p (photo from The Hectic Vegan as Aldi do not sell things like this online!) Make sure you pick up the dark chocolate version as I think there is a non-vegan milk chocolate version too.

Choceur Dark Easter Bunny


  • Choices small dairy free chocolate bunny - £1 in Sainsburys, 99p in Asda

Image for Choices Dairy Free Confectionery Chocolate Milk Bunny 40g from Sainsbury's

  • Sainsburys free from small white choc egg and buttons - £2.50 (I think there is a milk chocolate vegan one too in some stores!)
Image for Sainsbury's Deliciously Free From White Chocolate Egg & Buttons 65g from Sainsbury's

  • Tesco has white and milk chocolate eggs at £2.50-£3.00










  • Tesco also have a free from bunny lolly - £1.00

Chocologic Free From Lollies 30G

  • Asda also has a cute free from Easter bunny - £3
  • Holland and Barrett have a small Plamil Easter bunny - £1.35
So Free Bunny Bar

  • Holland and Barrett also have Plamil mini egg halves - £3.25. These would be a good option to wrap in foil individually for a little egg hunt for children!
Plamil Milk Chocolate Alternative Mini Half Eggs


Or (whilst this may cost more in the first year) you could buy egg molds from places such as Lakeland or online and make your own with £1 chocolate bars from places like Sainsburys! That way you can fill them with yummy extras if you wanted to :-)

There are many many more Easter eggs and treats than what I have listed above (check out the Vegan Womble Easter page for them all!) these are just the ones I have seen for lower than the cheapest Moo Free price I've seen. 


Easter nibbles
Asda have some Free From hot cross buns this year at 4 for £2 which are labelled vegan (nice and reassuring!) as well as being gluten free. 
They also have some bunny shaped crumpets for £1. This is expensive for 4 crumpets, but depending on your plans this may be a nice little extra so I'm adding them in.

Tesco have some confirmed vegan mini choc chip hot cross buns for £1. You get 8 in a pack and I'd say 2 buns makes one smallish regular sized bun (but they're also a good size individually for children!) plus they're chocolate, so that's a win!
Tesco 8 Mini Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns
Small notes: Last year M and S had some apple hot cross buns which were confirmed vegan. I haven't seen them yet this year but will keep a look out and update this post if I see them again! I think they were 2 packs of 4 for £2.50.

Co-op have ginger bread bunnies available, however I'm currently unsure of the price.

There may be more hot cross buns available but I don't want to put any up which may risk having peel with shellac on. I will update this if any more are confirmed to be 100% vegan.



Sunday roast

Similarly to my Christmas post, I've worked out a delicious, reasonably priced roast idea for Easter. This is for a family of 4, but prices may vary (for the better hopefully!) as a lot of supermarkets have weekly veg offers, this is just a rough guide for ideas.

Bag of parsnips for 59p
Bag of carrots for 47p
Bag of potatoes for £1.35
1kg of sprouts for 1.50 (or a cabbage for 69p, this could be cooked and fried with onion and veggie stock for a yummy side, even some oat cream if you can!)
A broccoli for 55p (or cauliflower for £1)
Bag of Onions for 75p
Soya milk for 59p
Gravy for 70p (Tesco own brand vegetable gravy)
Stuffing mix for 40p (Tesco sage and onion 170g)
Bread sauce packet mix 80p

A lot of this can all be roasted together whilst the rest can be steamed or boiled. Then just make up the bread sauce with some soya milk and cook the stuffing mix at the end (only takes around 10 mins usually). You can have a roast with 7 different items for £8.15 when adding up the expensive items. Not bad! Plus looking at it all I think it would go further than 4 people.

ALDI veg offer!

Aldi have put a lot of useful roast veg in their super 6 offer from Wednesday 28th March. The following are all 19p each!

Parsnips 600g
Swede (single)
Leeks 500g/ brown onions 1kg
Carrots 1kg
red or white cabbage (each)

Plus they are selling Maris Pyper potatoes 2.5kg for 29p

Additional Note!

If you're looking for any additional extras such as pies or roasts, don't forget to check your local Holland and Barrett for reduced items (I'm seeing a lot of Fry's new pies at the moment!) as a lot of these items can be frozen. 

Is there anything else you would like to see? If so, let me know!

Hope this helps!







Tuesday 6 March 2018

Noughty Haircare offer!

Hello! The lovely haircare brand Noughty are having a sale until March 31st! By using the code MARCH2018 you can save 1/3 on their website here: Noughty haircare

Noughty haircare are vegan and they are proud to say they are 97% natural, not using any silicones, parabens, sulphates or petrochemicals. They do not test on animals (this should be obvious from being vegan but since L'loreal are sneakily using the vegan word I'm just confirming this!) and any palm oil used is obtained from RSPO members.

Shipping is free on all orders over £10, or £2.95 if under £10. They have a whole heap of different products for varying hair types, so there should be something to suit most people!




















Hope this helps!