Easy Grab-n-Go Vegan Food

I made this collage of some of my favourite foods, to illustrate that being a vegan on a daily basis is actually quite simple.

I love pimento peppers. I get these in Lidl, in a jar of vinegar. They are gorgeous to add to salads as they are sweet and the vinegar acts as an adequate enough dressing without adding anything to it. For adding to salads, Aldi also do a lovely can of mixed beans and you can find a lot of cheap mixed nuts and seeds there, as well as vegan chutneys in their "Specially Selected" range.

For snacking, cashew nuts are excellent sources of protein and taste lovely. I'm not a huge fan of nuts, unless they are coated in something... so when I discovered the stall in the Ilac Centre that sells dark chocolate coated almonds, peanuts and brazil nuts, I was over the moon! Other snacks I love are dark chocolate rice crispy squares, they are so easy to make at home and are very satisfying! I'm a real chocoholic, so whenever I discover something chocolatey and vegan I get rather excited ;)

Another favourite quick snack to grab is an M&S samosa. Most Indian snacks like samosas, pakoras and bhajis are vegan and the M&S ones are delicious. Dip them in Patak's mango chutney - heaven!!

I've included bagels as they are my favourite thing to eat in the morning. Sometimes they can be quite calorific, but the ones from Superquinn or Weightwatchers are only just over 100 calories so you don't have to feel guilty and can pile on the peanut butter without worrying too much! Bagels keep me full until lunchtime and are my my ultimate comfort food! Talking of comfort food, I also love baked beans or spaghetti on potato waffles - a very easy and quick breakfast.

If I'm going for a quick bite to eat while out shopping with friends in town I'll almost always go for something like a vegetable burrito/fajita (check there's no cheese with it) from the Epicurean Food Hall, or for vegetable sushi from Kokoro opposite the entrance. I make my own sushi sometimes as well and it's easier than it looks. The only thing that takes any time is waiting for the rice to cook. I also love squash, sweet potato or polenta chips, they make an interesting alternative to the normal potato chip and are just as easy to make. If you're a lazy person, you can even get frozen sweet potato chips in most supermarkets nowadays. I've put minestrone soup in the picture as well, because you can almost always be sure that it's going to be vegan if you're in a rush and need to grab a pot/can on your lunchbreak. And it's a great winter warmer!