The Vegan Supermarket Shopping Challenge!

Week 1 Aldi

Have you ever wondered in chain stores that operate in different countries offer the same goods and if they do offer the same goods, are they the same prices?  

Last week, two Instagram vegan bloggers, @louisamoss (me!) in Dublin and @yesdaveitsvegan in Essex started the #vegansupermarketchallenge.  Both had the same shopping list, on the same day, one shopping in a Dublin Aldi store and one in Aldi in Essex, England.

Which store do you think was cheaper? 

Well, most of the products were cheaper in Aldi UK – we were surprised by this because Aldi is an EU shop and well, you know, Britain, well, we won't mention the B word.

If you compare the lists you will see that the spinach and strawberries seemed cheaper in Ireland, but they were smaller pack sizes so were in fact, more expensive.

The only item that was cheaper in Ireland was Tortilla Chips!

 

Here is the price comparison.

                                                                        UK - pounds                                                 IRL-euro

Vegan Ice -cream                                         1.49                                                                2.49

Oat Drink                                                       .79                                                                  1.29

Baby Spinach                                                .99                                                                  .69*

Baby Plum Tomatoes                                  .85                                                                  1.29

Yogurt Errity                                                 1.79                                                                n/a

Vegan Puddings                                           1.79                                                                2.49

Strawberries                                                 2.69                                                                2.99*

Caramel Biscuits                                           .69                                                                  .99

Tortilla Chips                                                 .45                                                                  .34

Bread White Toastie                                       .45                                                                  n/a

Vegan Brioche                                              .99                                                                  n/a

 

*UK spinach was 200g, Ireland was 90g, UK strawberries were 400g, Ireland was 340g.

I hear that @louisamoss is still devastated about the lack of vegan brioches!

So, let’s convert the prices of the items that were the same from UK into euro using today’s exchange rate.

 

UK - euro                                                       IRL-euro

Vegan Ice -cream                                         1.71                                                                2.49

Oat Drink                                                       .91                                                                  1.29

Baby Plum Tomatoes                                  .98                                                                  1.29

Vegan Puddings                                           2.06                                                                2.49

Caramel Biscuits                                           .79                                                                  .99

Tortilla Chips                                                .52                                                                  .34

 

Total                                                               6.97                                                                8.89

 

So that’s a difference of nearly two euro on 6 low-cost items! 

Ireland was more expensive!

 

We will be continuing our research because it was so much fun!  And let’s face it, in these lockdown times, safe, essential fun is hard to find!  Follow us on Instagram @louisamoss and @yesdaveitsvegan for more comparisons!

 

 

 

 Carrot and coriander soup

Serves 6, 13 minutes in the Instant Pot, QPR

30 minutes including prep time

Serves 6 medium portions or 4 large portions

8 carrots, peeled and chopped

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 small potatoes, peeled and chopped

250g split red lentils, washed and drained

water

ground coriander

salt

coriander leaf 

A dessert spoon of olive oil if you wish

Add chopped onion, garlic, carrot, potato, salt and ground coriander to the IP and stir, add a little olive oil if you like.

Add split red lentils and 1.5 times as much water.  

Set IP to 13 mins high pressure.  QPR

Blitz with a hand blender.  Add seasoning, extra water and dried or fresh coriander leaf.

Enjoy <3

 Lentils with Orzo - Instant Pot detail at the end

Traditional Cypriot recipe given to my mum by a friend in Cyprus

Serves 4

250gr brown lentils, washed, soaked for 2 hours and drained

2 large onions, chopped

Olive oil - the recipe calls for 6 tablespoons

4 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled

1 litre of water

150gr orzo

salt and pepper

dried herbs of your choice

lemon juice to serve

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan.

Cook onions until golden

Add tomatoes and cook for five minutes

Add lentils and the water and bring to the oil

Cover and simmer for 50-60 minutes or until lentils are tender

Add the orzo and seasoning.  Simmer for 20 minutes, adding more hot water if necessary to prevent sticking.  

Pour freshly squeezed lemon juice on to serve

Nice with shredded steamed or boiled cabbage

Instant Pot changes!

I used a dessertspoon of olive oil with the onion and garlic, whizzed 250g of cherry tomatoes in the mini chopper and added them with some salt and a little extra cold water.  I sauteed for a few mins on high.  Added the brown lentils and 1.5 times volume water and cooked at high pressure 15 mins.  Then added a little bit more water with the orzo and sauteed for a few mins then left it on keep warm with the lid on for 20 mins.  Perfect!

 Celeriac Soup

Souper for a dreary day!

1 celeriac, chopped

1 head of celery, chopped

2 granny smith apples, peeled and chopped

1 tin of butter beans, drained and rinsed

fresh parsley

salt and pepper

hazelnuts, a handful chopped and roasted

Prep time 10 mins

Instant Pot cook time 10 mins, allow 10 mins to come up to pressure

Serves 6, 156 calories per serving

This is a fab soup, rich in Vitamin K and B6.  No oil added but some
fat derived from the yummy hazelnut topping.  This is a lovely, easy to digest, warm and comforting soup.  The butter beans give it a creaminess.

Add all of your veggies to the Instant Pot. Add enough water to come around 2/3 of the way to your veggies.  Add some Himalayan rock salt.

Set Instant Pot to 10 mins at high pressure.  Then do a QPR.

While the soup is cooking, toast your chopped hazelnuts in a dry frying pan. Set them aside to use as a crunchy topping on your soup. 

When your soup is cooked, whizz it with a hand blender in the Instant Pot. Add your chopped fresh parsley, adjust seasoning to taste.  Garnish with toasted hazelnuts

Enjoy!

Nutritional stuff

156 calories per serving

Each serving is rich in Vitamins B, K, A and C.  Good for folate, potassium, manganese and magnesium.

For U❤️

It is not my job to bind you
Or to mind you, to feel you or to heal you
It is not my job to please you, to tease you, to need you or to feed you
It is not my job to find you, to remind you
of what you can be
But
I am here
And
I love you.
It is my job to be me.

2/5/16

Happiness tips

How to find your way back to happiness when you have been hurt.



Most of us have been hurt emotionally and it can be very difficult to move on and recover from that hurt. Pain can change us, it can leave marks and scars. Pain in life is inevitable - we will all feel hurt sometime - but how we live with that pain is a choice, we can suffer with it or we can move on with it. We can allow the pain become our identity or, let it go, and allow the pain make us stronger. Can we be happy after pain? Here are the steps I used to find my way back from hurt.

1. Figure out exactly what is hurting you, define your pain.
2. Express that pain, write it down, get it out. Focus on the lessons learnt.
3. Yesterday is history. Don't torture yourself by reliving the past. Stay in the present.
4. Let it go. Stop retelling the story. You don't need reassurance that you were the victim or that you did nothing wrong that will only keep you rooted in the past. Let it go and in letting go, move on.
5. Forgive yourself. Forgive yourself for the choices you made in bringing you to be hurt.
6. Stop being the victim or playing the blame game. You can't change the past, but you can change your now and create your future.
7. The pain is not you. Don't let the pain become who you are, don't let your hurt define you. Let it go, make room for happiness.
8. Who were you before the hurt, before the pain? Who do you want to be? Find that person.
9. The little things that bring you joy in the moment: what are they? A sweet, a hug, a kiss, sitting in the sunshine, feeling the rain. Find your moments of joy. Find the small things that make you happy - you'll find they aren't the small things after all.
10. Share that joy with others. Let the small things add up, they won't wipe away the story of your pain, but your pain won't define you.

We all deserve to be happy, we all deserve to allow ourselves to be happy.
Be happy.

41

Things I don't like about being 41:
1 grey hairs
2 crow's feet
3 not being 21

Things I love about being 41:
1 being a mum of a teenager and a 7 yo
2 having a proper grown up relationships and friendships with my parents and my grandma
3 having friendships that span decades. Having people in my life who have shared so much history - those bonds will never be broken
4 having the experience of 41 years, experience in work, in college, as a parent, as a friend, as a daughter, grandaughter, niece, boss, employee, volunteer. Nothing really replaces experience.
5 I am still young at 41!
6 having knowledge that everything will pass, good and bad, and to make the most of every experience.

The positives definitely outweigh the negatives (but I would still love to book a holiday to the 90s!)