Tesco meet free mince

So, the idea here was to buy some Quorn mince to make myself a big batch of vegan chilli and spaghetti Bol – I just had plans to make these as I would normally and instead of using turkey mince as I would have in the past I’d use the meat free mince instead. The first hurdle I had to jump was finding the right mince, I was really shocked to learn that Quorn mince is not vegan! It contains egg white (it’s a good job I’m checking all the ingredients still), so I spent some time in the freezer aisle finding an alternative which is where the Tesco meet free mince stepped in.

I am pleased to say this is vegan, was very easy to cook up (just like normal mince meat but takes less time) and tasted great as both a chilli and a bolognese. For most people I’d recommend this as an alternative to normal mince meat however, for me it raised some really bad stomach issues. I know this is likely just something that flares up my IBS but I am quite gutted not to be able to have this as a staple part of my diet.

I’m 99% sure this was the culprit and I will definitely be avoiding in the future which is a real shame but the diet so far has been having a positive influence on the tummy issues I’ve experienced in the past so I will continue to search for the right foods for my body. Lentil / chickpea bolognese is the next test and I’m sure it’s going to be just as tasty!

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The search begins…..

OK, searching for Rachy friendly treats is perhaps the least of my worries right now.  As it turns out this is going to be quite a learning curve and I am going to have to begin to cook the majority of my foods from scratch.  I am not saying this is going to be a bad thing, in fact it is a good time to turn my diet around and start that ‘cleaning eating’ malarkey I have been talking about for quite some time.

I think the reality hit when I had a negative reaction to some MacDonalds Fries, having gone in there for ease I was hoping for a plain chicken salad but unfortunately they had run out of all salads.  I thought opting for some fries was safe, it turns out I could not be more wrong.

Lesson learnt from this is that I am going to need to plan my meals and snacks in a much better fashion to what I am currently doing, I have had a visit to Holland and Barret with some purchases made but this is not going to be cheap.  Instead I think my best option is to search for some homemade recipes – google is my friend.

Today was my first attempt at a dairy free Lasagne.  I grabbed a recipe from google and went with it, having never made a white lasagne sauce from scratch before this was actually quite brave for me!  OK, I admit it needs some work – the presentation isn’t the best and the white sauce looks non existent now that it has been cooked.  The pasta wasn’t as soft as I would like it but these are all things I will work on for my next cook up.  I have got to say though, it tasted pretty good!!  I am pleased to have another portion in the freezer for another time.

I am not going to lie, this is going to be quite a funny, frustrating search with a lot of learning to come with the cooking from scratch – never been a strong point of mine but hey – we’ve all got to start somewhere!