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!

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!