Hi skyember, great decision, congratulations! I’m coming up to 7.5 years vegan and my only regret is not having done it sooner 🙂 It’s easier than you think and there are huge quantities of mainstream foods, toiletries, cosmetics, household cleaners, clothes, perfumes etc that are suitable for vegans (SFV) so you often don’t even need to seek out specialist options to be cruelty free.

There are loads of vegan groups on Facebook who share food, recipes and product finds – just search ‘vegan’ and see what comes up. It’s nice to feel part of a community.

If you like baking, I can highly recommend two books: Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World, and Vegan Cookies Take Over Your Cookie Jar. Deliciousness beyond words 🙂 Also Veganomicon has hundreds of mains, starters, sides, desserts etc. It’s a chunky book and could serve dual purpose in beating off home intruders. There are also lots of recipes available free on blogs. Try searching ‘vegan’ on Pinterest for recipes in one place.

I use normal flours, oils, veg, grains, pulses, fruits etc when cooking from scratch. I do however keep in a supply of Linda McCartney vegan sausages and sausage rolls, Frys sausages and burgers, and supermarket chips (fries), onion rings, potato wedges and sauces for when I feel lazy and unhealthy 😀 You can use mock mince (soya based) for shepherds pie, casseroles etc, but you can also use red or green lentils as a super healthy and filling substitute, and these can also be used as the basis for homemade burgers.

In fact there are so many options, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Keep calm and take it one day at a time. Don’t beat yourself up if you get something wrong or make a mistake. No one’s perfect and you’ve got years to explore, learn and have fun with this 🙂

if you have any questions or want any support, feel free to message me. Good luck!