Supermarket Bombscare

Vegan fruit at Tesco

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One obstacle for vegans doing their best to steer clear of animal derived ingredients in their food is the practice by supermarkets and fruit wholesalers to coat fresh fruit in wax for preservation. Wax made from insects.

But along comes giant UK supermarket chain Tesco with the surprise of the year. They have started to tell customers that they have commenced a program to coat their fruit with a vegan-suitable wax.

Check out this Twitter exchange.


That is some good news.

We do everything we can to avoid contributing to the demand of animal products but you have sometimes just gotta buy some fruit. This move by Tesco means one less thing we have to worry about. We can focus on their monopolising business practices instead!

Extra note: Josh has asked but we are yet to get an answer if we will be able to tell which fruit is coated in the vegan wax or if it is a guessing game.

Pudology now easier to find

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You all know and love the gorgeous vegan dessert pots known as Pudology. I wrote about their jumbo sized packs back here.

Well, good news just got better.

You can now find Pudology in 227 Sainsbury’s stores around the UK! The brand announced this huge news via their Instagram last week.


You can find out if a Sainsbury’s near you is stocking Pudology by searching this list on their website. You also find independent stockists of the brand who you should definitely support as well.

Yay for the widespread availability of vegan desserts!

Another online vegan shop for the UK

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Dear UK vegans. You are getting too much choice.

I’ve recently posted about Greenbay of London launching their online shop, as well as Veganubi.

Now Plymouth-based vegan grocery store Ethica has joined the party and you can order plant-based groceries from them for delivery anywhere in the UK.

Just visited this super awesome 100% #vegan grocery shop in Plymouth. Yay for Ethica!

A post shared by Fat Gay Vegan (@fatgayvegan) on


What I love about the Ethica online shop is the sustainable policy underpinning everything.

Check out the following statement on the Ethica website:

We’re really conscious of making our packing process as eco friendly as possible.

All of our boxes that we send out are re-used. They’ll either be ones we’ve been sent by our suppliers or, when we run out, we buy in used boxes and give them a second life (so no new material or energy has gone into producing them!).

We’ll also never send out any packaging material that isn’t completely biodegradable. All materials are either 100% recycled paper/cardboard or wheat based degradable nuggets (for cushioning). Even our packing tape is made from just paper and starch, so no non-biodegradable acrylics or PVC!

As we’ve just started our online ordering, we’re pretty limited with our post options but as soon as we can we’ll be switching to a carbon neutral courier!

Click here to get shopping now (orders over £50 won’t cost a penny in shipping) and follow Ethica on Facebook and Instagram.

And of course visit the physical shop when you are in Plymouth.

Discount code for online vegan shop

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There are two things I love to do with this blog more than anything.

I enjoy sharing breaking vegan news and I adore helping you get a cheeky discount.

London vegan food emporium Greenbay Supermarket has decided that a bricks and mortar shop front in West London isn’t enough for them. The plant-based supermarket has now launched an online store, making it easier to get your favourite vegan groceries delivered to your home or office.

The online store contains more than 1,000 vegan products, offers free shipping for orders over £55 and delivers to any location in the UK (the world to follow soon).

And here is the even better news.

To celebrate the launch of their online shopping experience, Greenbay has given me a special discount code for my readers to get a whopping 15% off orders placed before May 30, 2017.

Get over to the online shop now by clicking here and use code: FGV to get your 15% discount.

You’ll find pantry items, snacks, sweets, household products, bathroom supplies and so much more. They even have tinned jackfruit!

Happy shopping!

New vegan burger at Tesco

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This might not be news to you, but I’ve never seen this vegan burger at Tesco before.

As far as frozen burgers go, I’ve got to say this one is rather unique for the mainstream UK market.

Roasted peanuts, peanut butter and brown rice make up the main part of this burger, while their are chunks of avocado, red pepper and edamame beans also featured.

Makes quite a departure from textured soy protein!

The product also features the ‘vegan’ graphic on the front of the box for which Tesco is becoming noticed in plant-based circles.

Have you tried this new burger? Or is it not new and I’m just a bit behind the times? How does it taste?

If you are interested in nutrition values and ingredient breakdown, see the product listing on the Tesco website by clicking here.

World’s largest vegan grocery store

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HUGE news coming out of Australia today.

I previously posted about The Cruelty Free Shop, an Australian grocery store chain with outlets in Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne as well as online shopping. You can see that post here.

The big development today is that the Melbourne store has relocated to a site which the owner claims makes it the largest vegan grocery store on the planet.

The Cruelty Free Shop website says of the launch:

We’re pleased to announce that we are opening the biggest vegan shop in the world in Melbourne on Wednesday 12 April 2017.

Our new store will have more than 3500 different vegan products with all sorts of foods including 50+ vegan cheeses, as well as fashion, cosmetics, coffee, cake, hot pies, fruit & veg, and more.

From humble beginnings, the Cruelty Free Shop started as an online store based out of Jessica Bailey’s spare room in Sydney. We now have five stores across Australia and the widest range of vegan products in the country.

Our Melbourne store has also grown over the years and it’s now bursting at the steams at its current location so we are moving it around the corner to 124 Johnston Street, Fitzroy (just a five minute walk or two minute drive from the current location).

Be sure to visit our new store to check out the 1000+ amazing new items we’ll have in stock, grab a coffee, view the Edgar’s Mission photo gallery and stock up on all the very best vegan products from local, Australian and international businesses. Every Saturday we also have free food tastings of delicious new products and old favourites.

Thank you to all our wonderful customers who have made this possible and supported us over the past 15 years.

Wow.

More than 3,500 products certainly puts this up their as the largest vegan store of which I know.

You should follow Cruelty Free Shop on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter no matter where you live in the world and take the time to wish them continued success.

If you are in Australia and would like to know the exact location of the new giant shop, click here to get the info via Google Maps.

Vegan mac n cheese

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In their quest to seemingly become the mainstream supermarket with the most vegan-friendly products in the UK, Sainsbury’s has started selling this ready-made meal.

Check it out.

Yes. Ready-made macaroni and cheese done vegan!

I’ll definitely be giving this a try when I get back to the UK. If you have tasted it, what did you think?

Extra note: these photos were taken by my buddy, Roger. Please take a moment to discover Roger’s website from which he takes orders for awesome pins and badges.

New vegan burgers and sausages

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You should all be familiar with the Cauldron brand seen in most mainstream UK supermarkets.

They are probably most familiar to vegans thanks to their tofu and because a lot of their other products are only vegetarian.

However, the brand appears to be exploring more plant-based items with the launch of vegan burgers and sausages now available in Morrisons and Waitrose.

The sausages are billed as featuring mediterranean grilled vegetables, haricot beans and tomato pesto while the burgers are made from cauliflower, aduki beans, spinach and chipotle.

With the runaway success of Quorn vegan items, I expect we will see a few more Cauldron lines that are 100% plant-based rolling out soon (the two brands are owned by the same company).

Have you tried the new Cauldron burgers and sausages? What did you think?

Sainsbury’s is stepping up on veganism

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Hey, have you all noticed the shift happening over at Sainsbury’s in regards to promoting vegan food?

Within the space of a week, the UK grocery giant has posted three vegan cooking videos to their Facebook page.

Check them out here:

Wow. Three pretty spectacular vegan recipes shared by one of the biggest retailers on the planet. They have even gotten two leading vegan food personailities to help with the videos (Heart of Cake and CookDaily).

This is a clear indication of how powerful veganism has become in the UK. These companies do not undertake anything without market research and a lot of consideration.

That they are making vegan options a big part of their current advertising campaign says volumes. Times are changing and if they don’t get on board, they are going to miss out and they know it.

In related news, Sainsbury’s have apparently teamed up with a group of scientists to redesign their store layouts to encourage customers to buy less meat.

The following is lifted from a story in The Guardian:

Oxford University scientists will work with Sainsbury’s executives in a programme that will see supermarkets redesigned. Proposals include: placing vegetarian alternatives on the same shelves as meat products; giving vouchers and loyalty points to shoppers who choose vegetarian products; and providing recipes and leaflets that outline how shoppers can eat less meat.

What do you all think of this push on plant-based consumerism by Sainsbury’s?

Vegan fish fingers

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Love them or hate them, you can’t escape the fact that Quorn is steadily marching forward with expanding its vegan range and this newest addition is causing a lot of stir.

Say hello to Vegan Fishless Fingers.

Fish fingers are close to being a national food in the UK, so I’m certain there will be hundreds of thousands of people happy to see this product readily available all over the country.

I’ve heard of them currently being available via Tesco and Waitrose.

As an aside, I’d be interested to know if this vegan expansion also means a reduction in Quorn‘s vegetarian options. I think the only way I can really celebrate this ‘better late than never’ vegan onslaught from the food giant is knowing that it translates into the non-vegan stuff being phased out.

Are you excited about this new product?