Still getting used to reading more into ingredients in foods to ensure there is no meat products or what have you in there. But, I still get thrown for a loop sometimes on if something is veggie or not.
For example, this item appears vegetarian, but since it doesn't say, is is really not? http://www.edenfoods.com/store/produ...ucts_id=103215
Anyone else have a bit of trouble sometimes with this sort of thing? It's probably because I'm a new vegetarian, so I'm still learning.
Obviously, you want to stay away from anything that says chicken, pork, beef, etc. There's an old iPod app floating around somewhere that lists all of the hidden non-veg*n food ingredients, you may want to try google to see if you can find a list.
If you have a Trader Joe's around you, their prices are amazing and they mark their items as vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, etc. If not, unfortunately, you're just going to have to learn to recognize key ingredients.
There have been some surprises for me along the way - like Stove Top stuffings - even the veggie flavored ones - usually have dehydrated chicken stock in them. And the Earth Balance sticks have whey in them, but the tub doesn't.
It will get easier for you, I remember spending ages in the grocery years ago reading the labels on everything!
Also, I don't know if you like to cook, but you could make 4-5 servings of that rice and bean mixture at home for a fraction of the cost, and know exactly what's going into it.
You just have to learn to read ingredients. Very few things are actually labeled veg. Here's two handy pages for some of the more unusual names you'll see listed on ingredients.
Sorry to stack posts but I wanted to add that it seems a bit like a pain in the *** at first to read ingredients. However I hope you'll discover that you've been eating stuff - and you don't even know what it is. This really started to freak me out the first month or two of being vegan, "How could I have been eating this and have no clue what I'm putting into my body?!". It's now 2nd nature to me and you'll find you learn pretty quickly what ingredients are okay and which aren't. Good Luck!
I think I was a bit lucky when I became vegan because I have been a label reader for many many years.
I sometimes buy them for my husband but I love that Amy's will put (vegan) at the beginning of the list of ingredients.
I was at the asian grocery store yesterday looking at kimchi like products, which tend to have anchovy paste or shrimp paste in them. I found one that looked good in terms of ingredients but at the bottom of the ingredients it said 'contained shellfish'. So even though the ingredients didn't list any fishy ingredient, it was somehow there.
In regards to Trader Joe's, I think it depends where you live because I wouldn't call Trader Joe's prices amazing. On their store brand stuff, they tend to be cheaper than brand name stuff but on their brand name stuff, they tend to be more expensive than places like Whole Foods. Also, whole foods store brand (365) is pretty good price-wise.
I'm a fan of Trader Joe's (it is cheaper then most places here) but they do have some products not labeled vegan that are indeed vegan. It's weird, I don't get what their reasoning is for not labeling them all?
Last edited by Fat Chick B Gone; 10-27-2009 at 09:06 PM.
TJ's here is significantly cheaper than WF - even the 365 brand. But we do buy the 365 stuff when we can't find what we want at TJ's. I actually spend less at TJ's, including the gas to get there and back (it's almost an hour away) than I spend at the Kroger near my house.
Thanks everyone! I'm already a label reader since that is one of the things that has helped me get healthier and lose weight. I'm definitely going to look into the links and info you all provided!
Hi Eden is a well known organic food company, that link is most certainly a vegetarian product. They are really good about listing every single ingredient. I looked and not a trace of an animal. Its good to look at the labels as some commercial mainstream companys, call it vege soup, but the label says chicken stock... so best to read the small print. good luck
i would assume that if something is made here, it wouldn't add other stuff, but i just found out that most veggie meat really isn't vegan, even though it doesn't list milk/eggs on the label - apparently the taiwanese have no rules about listing ingredients. you can go to quarrygirl.com and click on june '09 and read the top entry about their investigation into vegan restaurant food.
lochness - I've read that before elsewhere and it isn't that most veggie meat isn't vegan because it was something like 40% of the vegetarian meat products coming out of taiwan weren't vegan? That is a different issue than eating a can of rice and beans The article I read was also talking about how those products were going to stop being imported.
Vegetarian food?
