It’s been a few months since turning vegan and we’re loving it:) Many of our friends have also commented that the food we whipped up looks yummy and we have been super experimental and have organized mini vegan pot luck parties at home. We thought it was time to share how we transitioned from eating meat all our lives to being vegan for life!
1. The Reason
The main reason for turning vegan is reflecting on the gift of life for the animal friends around us. That thought alone really kills all cravings and desires we have for any meat or seafood which are all over the place when we are out or even at the supermarket. The current meat industry causes much unnecessary suffering and pain to our animal companions. The first step towards creating a better world is not only to start caring for each other but for all life forms. This includes not inflicting unnecessary pain to those that can feel it. Being friends with these companions further reinforces our goal. We also watched Earthlings and it was so painful seeing and witnessing the pain they go through daily. In the movie, they also highlighted the abuse and sufferings of cats and dogs sold at pet shops and those used for science experiments:(
We are constantly reminded of love for them as we have a favourite furry companion: CUTIE known as Smallie
2. Well-stocked pantry/fridge
In the past, we used to have many meat related item or sauces with fish sauces but we have eliminated all of them. We cleaned up our kitchen and started stocking nuts, dates, cooking oil, vegan margarine and reading up more about vegan friendly food items. We also started to be more aware of the ingredients in all foods we buy in the super market. We have all our favourite nuts, favourite milk substitute, chocolates, chips and even seeds section for smoothies or toppings for our own ice cream. Now our kitchen smells of fresh vegetables, fruits and we no longer have stinky blood stains or stale fishy smells anymore! Not only do we save money by not buying meat, but non meat products can be kept longer as well. The bottom line is even if we choose to buy only organic vegan food, it’s still cheaper than meat.
3. Getting Educated: Vegan Food Pyramid
We started to be more aware of where to get proteins, calcium, vitamins from different plants, fruits, vegetables and even from herbs and seeds. It suddenly dawned on us that we have been eating crap all our lives due to advertisements and the belief that we need meat to survive.
4. Locating our nearest Vegan/Vegetarian Grocery shops
We are lucky to have a good NTUC Finest that sells dates, organic products and produce around our neighbourhood. We often frequent YES Natural Retail shop and we got introduced to iherb.com where they sell heaps of vegan products with affordable shipping.
5. Finding good “milk” substitute
We started hunting down for all kinds of milk substitute and were amazed there were so many to choose from. We love chocolate rice milk and think they are even better than the usual chocolate milk because the absence of dairy brings out the chocolatey taste even more. There are all kinds of nut milks like hazelnut, almond, cashew milk and we even tried making our own almond milk and recreated 2 unique dishes using leftover almond pulp! All the milk substitute we bought always tasted fresh, light and being lactose intolerant in the first place, it was a great change and finally I am drinking milk happily. We also try to get milk substitute with added calcium or vitamin b12.
6. Network
Starting the blog was our way to document our journey and to share what a vegan diet can be like to our family and friends. We also try to make time to attend meet ups by the Singapore Vegetarian Society to meet like-minded vegetarians/vegans. We have also connected with vegetarian food bloggers like Hungryangmo (luke and his girlfriend Shanel whom we now meet for our own mini pot luck parties and they are such a sweet couple!), Ashley from Veganash whom we bumped into a few times at fortune centre and we stay in touch with bloggers like Sheryl from eatgreencake on Instagram and learning so many new vegan/vegetarian recipes online daily.
7. Try new things
Cooking has been the number one past time for all of us in the family. From trying to whip up vegan lagsana to vegan french toast . We read a list of vegan food blogs and watched so many vegan youtube videos and the sky is the limit! There are so many recipes we want to try and to learn from the different vegetarian food cultures out there. It was really cool to try substitutes for egg using flaxseed meal and getting cheese flavours from nutritional yeast as well!
8. Eat as much of something as we adjust
Initially in the earlier months, we were still not used to not having some meat on our plate so we kept eating chinese vegetarian food as mock meat was a huge part of the cuisine. We tried cooking mock ham, mock hotdog, mock fish, mock mutton everything and after a while mock meat can taste pretty gross. So we went on a new phrase to use natural ingredients such as fruits and vegetables to whip up yummy dishes which were even more amazing. We felt so healthy and good after each meal. Following that, we started experimenting with desserts and tried making our own smoothies from fruits and vegetables, to creating our own home made ice cream and they are SUPERB! Now we don’t even miss meat at all. There is so much more out there and the absence of meat made us more creative with our food choices.
9. Supporting Vegan cafes/restaurants/desserts places in Singapore and abroad
The hunt for vegan food in Singapore has been such a great adventure. It made us explore Singapore even more and connect with more food bloggers with new vegan food finds. Our favourite dessert place is BROWNICE, their waffles are the bomb! They are better than any waffles we have tasted. Best part no eggs or milk were used creating those delicious ice cream and waffles:)
10.Conscious Team Effort
It helps that we are both working towards the same goal together as we both believe in the same cause. When we are out with friends or in town, we make extra effort to google in advance or email the restaurants we are visiting to check if they have a vegetarian menu. It also helps that my mum in law is so flexible and encouraging and makes extra effort to cook vegetarian food for us at home. We also learnt a lot from my grandma who has been a vegetarian for more than 20 years.
The question people ask us most often is how hard it must have been for us. Strangely, we do not find it difficult and we find this new diet really rewarding and very fun! We enjoy the process and many have commented we look younger and more refreshed! WOW:)
Mr & Mrs Vegan 
hello i was wondering where do you get your vegan cosmetics,toiletries and house hold items like detergent,floor cleaner from? is it easy to find? please share, thanks:)
Hi!
thank you for your blog. It’s interesting!
Could you tell me where you can buy vegetables and fruits at an affordable price?
I’m vegan since a bit more than two years, but a newcomer in Singapore, and still don’t know all the trick, for sure. At Sheng Siong markets, we can find ripe fruits and vegetables for a really good prices. At wet markets, I’m not that sure. It didn’t seem that interesting. Anyway, any good advice is welcome.
And we’ll be settle down, why not starting pot luck too!
Cheers!
Hi Alter,
We usually head to NTUC Finest where they have a wide range of organic to non-organic products at really good prices!
Sheng Siong has some seriously affordable stuff and they have very good fresh tempeh.
We usually do not shop at wet markets as they are either overpriced or lack variety and comfort for shopping.
The only times we shop there is during last minute shopping buys if we run out of something in the kitchen urgently.
Hope that answers your question!
Cheers,
Roland & Priscilla
Hi guys, thank you for your comment.
Indeed, wet markets seemed pretty expensive. Generally, we head to that kind of places because we can find good deals, but that was not the case.
We find a good spot at Commonwealth’s Sheng Siong, were fruits can be bought pretty cheap (for Singapore) too. But we didn’t see any tempeh. Do you think there are in every Sheng Siong?
As for NTUC, I don’t that yet. We’ll give a try soon!
Thanks for the help!
By the way, if it’s not to indiscreet, and to have a better idea regarding food budget, when you write “even if we choose to buy only organic vegan food, it’s still cheaper than meat.”, what is “cheap”? I have no difficulty to imagine meat expensiveness (although I didn’t check), but organic stuff is generally pretty expensive. But maybe the keyword is NTUC!
Hi Alter,
Sorry for the late reply!
In the past when we were not vegans, we always end up spending at least 200 plus per shopping trip if we added in seafood or meats.
Now, with the same amount of groceries including organic items, our bill usually come up to about 100-150!
Hence, we definitely think its much more cost effective to be vegan/vegetarian than to consume meat in general.
Even when we eat out with friends, our vegetarian meals are also cheaper in comparison.
Eg, An aglio olio would cost about $16-18 at an italian restaurant vs a seafood aglio olio which would cost about $22-$25 (not even counting meats)
Hope that answers your questions?
And nowadays we notice Sheng Shiong, another cheap supermarket is selling organic produce too:)
Cheers,
Roland & Priscilla