With which vegan alternatives you can most easily replace animal products vegan? Which products can you simply replace yourself at home? For what are there already vegan alternatives or vegan ready-made products? What is vegan cheese actually made of? What can be used as a vegan substitute for meat? Can you bake without gelatine, butter and sour cream? What is put on bread for vegans instead of sausage and cheese? Are there vegan alternatives for this as well?
These and even more questions occupy many people who are interested in veganism or perhaps already eat vegan. One thing I can promise you right away: vegan nutrition is easier than ever nowadays. There is now for almost everything a vegan substitute product and these I present to you today!
Table of contents
- Replace meat vegan
- Replace sausage vegan
- Replace dairy products vegan
- Replace milk vegan
- Replace buttermilk vegan
- Replace butter vegan
- Replace cream vegan
- Replace sour cream vegan
- Replace cheese vegan
- Replace eggs vegan
- Replace gelatin vegan
- Replace honey vegan
- Replace sweets vegan
- Replace chocolate vegan
1. how to replace meat vegan?
Especially for meat, there are now a variety of vegan substitutes, so replacing meat vegan has never been easier. Vegan alternatives for meat usually consist of soy, tofu, seitan, lupine protein, beans, chickpeas or tempeh. Currently particularly trendy are products made from jackfruit, such as "Vegan Pulled Pork."
For many people, especially at the beginning of a change in diet, it is easier if they can continue to eat familiar dishes, but prepare them with other foods. That's why vegan schnitzels, meatballs made from beans, soy gyro strips, ground meat substitutes or seitan steaks are becoming increasingly popular. To vegan barbecue you can use soy sausages, tofu, seitan steaks, tofu and even more. There is also vegan sausage for the classic snack.
Unfortunately, these products are often packaged in plastic. Every now and then you can find tofu in a jar. In big cities, there are Asian stores that make tofu themselves and sell it unpackaged. There you can just go with your Stainless steel lunch box Or another can come by and have them give you the tofu.
For me personally, it is more important to eat vegan than completely plastic-free. That's why I eat plastic-packaged products like tempeh from time to time. But since I avoid vegan convenience products, it's still very easy for me to shop with very little plastic. Vegan and low plastic works really well for me by now.
2. how to replace sausage vegan?
Replacing sausage vegan is now also super easy. There are vegan cold cuts that correspond to lyoner, salami, chorizo, ham and more. There is also whole chorizo, for example. Most vegan sausages are made from seitan or tofu.
Most supermarkets offer vegan sausage, although the selection in large supermarkets or online stores is of course even larger. In some big cities you even have the possibility to go shopping in pure vegan supermarkets. Here you get countless vegan alternatives for sausage.
Since I now tend to consume hummus or vegetable spreads, I replace sausage, cheese, butter and margarine. Currently, I'm also trying to eat less gluten-containing products and thus eat much less bread than usual. Therefore, of course, I needed less cheese and sausage alternatives.
By making homemade hummus and vegetable spreads from a jar, I can also avoid the plastic issue, since vegan cold cuts (as well as animal ones) are always packaged in plastic.
3. vegan alternatives for dairy products
For many people, it seems impossible at first glance to replace dairy products vegan. But in fact, there are vegan alternatives for everything these days.
Milk still has the reputation of being very healthy, although studies increasingly show a link between the consumption of milk and civilization diseases such as diabetes type 2, acne, obesity, osteoporosis and cancer.
As a rule, adults are lactose intolerant because they do not need breast milk (cow's milk is also breast milk) from a nutritional point of view. From about the age of 5, people no longer produce lactase enzymes, which would be necessary to digest milk or lactose. Due to a mutation in the lactase gene, some people produce lactase even in adulthood.
With regard to the environment, it is also beneficial to consume more vegan products. For example, soy yogurt requires less water in production than normal yogurt. And the CO² emissions of dairy products are usually higher than those of plant-based alternatives. Read more about this in the article Nutrition, Environment & Climate and the contributions "Vegetarianism Statistics." and "Veganism Statistics".
Now I'll show you vegan alternatives that you can use to replace dairy vegan.
4. how to replace milk vegan?
Milk is now particularly easy to replace. There are numerous plant-based milk drinks made from soy, almonds, rice, oats, coconut, cashews or macadamia nuts. These drinks are lactose-free and contain less cholesterol and unsaturated fatty acids than cow's or sheep's milk.
Another vegan alternative is to simply make the vegetable milk yourself. By the way, making vegan milk yourself is no problem at all. You can find more about this here in the article Make your own macadamia milk.
5. how to replace butter vegan?
With margarine you can easily replace butter vegan. However, some margarines contain hydrogenated fats and the animal products whey and fish oil. You should avoid hydrogenated fats because they promote high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes and heart disease.
The ingredient palm oil is also highly controversial, as large areas of rainforest are cleared for the production of palm oil.
I myself get along meanwhile without margarine and butter, since I increasingly use vegan spreads like Hummus or vegetable spreads. These spreads are often available in jars or are easy to make yourself.
When baking, frying and cooking, you can simply use a vegetable oil as a vegan alternative and thus replace or at least reduce the proportion of butter or margarine. Alternatively, you can often use an avocado, since avocados have a high fat content.
Another great substitute for butter and margarine can be nut puree. Here, of course, you need to consider whether you want to make a savory or sweet dish and choose a suitable nut puree accordingly.
6. how to replace buttermilk vegan?
Making your own vegan buttermilk is totally easy: Mix 200 ml of vegan milk, e.g. Almond milk, with 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar. A commercial vegan alternative for buttermilk I do not know.
7. how to replace cream vegan?
Replacing cream vegan is also quite simple. In almost all supermarkets, you can now find cream substitutes based on oats or soy. However, if you want to avoid packaging waste, the following vegan alternative is a good choice.
You can easily make your own cashew cream. The high fat content of nuts acts as a flavor carrier, just like cream. However, the fats in nuts are much healthier than the fats in cream. Nut butter also provides the same creamy consistency as cream.
If you don't have time to make your own cashew cream, you can simply use ready-made almond paste, cashew paste, peanut paste or any other nut paste.
8. how to replace sour cream vegan?
Sour cream, also known as sour cream, is often used for desserts or for sauces. Characteristic for sour cream is the slightly sour taste.
Vegan sour cream substitutes are already available in some health food stores and well-stocked supermarkets.
If you don't have this sour cream substitute on hand and want to make it easy, you can just use vegan cottage cheese and some lemon juice. Depending on the consistency, you may then have to thicken the whole thing a bit.
How you can make vegan cashew sour cream yourself, you can find in the post Make cashew cream yourself.
9. how to replace cheese vegan?
Vegan cheese can now be found in almost all supermarkets, but if you want a wider selection, you should look online. Vegetable cheese is mostly based on nuts or coconut oil.
In well-stocked supermarkets you can already find a wide selection of vegan cheeses, which include.
- Vegan cream cheese,
- Vegan Mozzarella,
- Sliced cheese,
- Parmesan,
- Camembert and
- Processed cheese
may contain.
In special vegan supermarkets you can often find vegan fondue cheese, vegan feta and other cheese specialties, as well as a larger cheese selection, of course.
Yeast flakes are also very suitable as a cheese substitute due to their cheesy taste and smell. Yeast flakes should not be heated, as they are quite sensitive and contain a lot of vitamins and healthy enzymes. It's best to simply sprinkle the yeast flakes over a finished dish or salad.
For gratinating, I often also use a mixture of almond paste, water, salt and pepper. Simply mix the almond paste with warm water until it has the desired consistency and then season with salt and pepper.
10. how to replace eggs vegan?
Eggs are easy to replace, especially in baking. You can also achieve the binding that the egg does with half a ripe banana or 1 tablespoon of flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons of water.
A classic scrambled egg can be made from tofu, for example. Here, the seasoning is particularly important. With a little turmeric you get the yellow color of the scrambled rice very well. The spice Kala Namaka sulfur salt, gives the tofu the classic egg flavor. Add some pepper, chives and onion and you have a delicious scrambled egg.
For all friends of fried eggs, I also have good news. With the classic egg replacement product MyEy, you can easily conjure up a fried egg. From the manufacturer there is a VollEy, EyWeiss and a EyYellow. First fry some of the EyWhite in a fried egg dish and then put some of the EyYellow on top. Here I recommend you for the taste again the sulfur salt Kala Namak.
11. how to replace gelatin vegan?
Probably the best known vegan alternatives to replace gelatin are agar-agar or pectin. Agar-agar is a tasteless product made from seaweed. Pectin is made from fruits. With agar-agar and pectin you have to keep in mind that both are used warm. Otherwise they are used in the same way as gelatine.
One of the best-known products containing gelatine is probably gummy bears. Meanwhile, there are vegan pectin bears or for vegetarians bears with beeswax.
12. how to replace honey vegan?
Many are certainly wondering why you should do without honey as a vegan. Therefore a short explanation, why also honey is not vegan. Often bees fall ill or die during the production of honey, because they are deprived of their actual food with the honey and replaced with sugar water. The sugar water contains less healthy substances and thus the immune system of the bees is weakened. Abroad, even the queen bee is often deliberately killed and replaced by a younger, more productive queen. However, since bees are essential for our ecosystem, it is important for all of us to protect bees.
To replace honey vegan, I usually use Date syrupbecause the date is a super mineral supplier. You can get date syrup here in a jar. Otherwise, maple syrup, agave syrup or homemade dandelion "honey" are also suitable as vegan alternatives for honey.
When making desserts, I usually just use whole Dates and mix them with the remaining ingredients. Dates are also a great snack for in between and therefore I always order them in bulk from amazon.
13. how to replace sweets vegan?
For many sweets there is already a vegan variant. As mentioned above, there are pectin bears that do not contain gelatin and beeswax. There are also vegan chocolates that are mostly rice milk based. There are also some candies that happen to be vegan without being produced specifically for the vegan market.
13a. Surprising vegan sweets
Many sweets are already surprisingly vegan, like
- Oreos,
- most potato chips,
- Dark chocolate,
- Haribo Pasta Frutta,
- Haribo Jelly Beans,
- Skittles (except the red ones),
- Ritter Sport Marzipan and
- Take 2 Soft.
Therefore, you do not have to replace all sweets vegan.
13b. Reduce cravings for sweets
Of course, it can also make good health sense to reduce your cravings for sweets. You can do this by...
- Drink enough water every day
- Avoid soft drinks and store-bought fruit juices
- Buying as few unhealthy sweets as possible - "out of sight, out of mind".
- Brushing your teeth early in the evening and manipulating yourself into not eating sweets anymore
- Beat the craving for sweets with dried fruits like Dates, figs, pineapple stills
- Eats enough healthy fatty foods like avocado or nuts, as these reduce cravings
13c. How to replace chocolate vegan?
Vegan chocolate is now available from many manufacturers. Mostly, vegan chocolate consists of cocoa butter and a vegan milk. In terms of taste, I find the chocolates from iChoc very good, but unfortunately they are not packaged completely plastic-free. Of course, you can also just eat dark chocolate, as this is usually vegan.
Often the ingredient "cocoa butter" confuses consumers, because they are not sure whether cocoa butter is vegan. Cocoa butter is obtained from the fat of the cacao and is therefore purely vegetable and suitable for vegans.
I personally like to add these cocoa nibs added to desserts. The cocoa nibs taste chocolaty with a slightly bitter cocoa note. They're a little too tart for eating plain for me, but in smoothies, chocolate milk, or in cereal, they're a great chocolaty addition. Cocoa nibs also contain many antioxidants and more calcium than milk.
You can also get a good chocolaty taste in smoothies or milk with Cocoa powder. One should make sure to buy a cocoa powder as natural and little processed as possible without added sugar. Cocoa powder contains blood pressure-lowering flavonols and also some minerals such as magnesium, potassium, iron, copper, chromium, zinc and manganese, but also many calories, which is why you should not overdo it with the cocoa powder.
So vegan alternatives for chocolate are easy to find.
13d. Prepare desserts vegan
Many desserts you know are easy to prepare vegan. Often it is enough if you use a vegetable milk instead of cow's milk. If eggs are also used in desserts, then you can simply replace them as mentioned above.
This way you can for example simply
- Rice pudding with Coconut milk prepare vegan
- Prepare pancakes vegan with vegetable milk and bananas
- Prepare pudding with vegan milk instead of cow's milk
13e. Vegan ice cream
Many types of fruit ice cream are already vegan. Classic sorbets, such as lemon, mango or strawberry are vegan. When you go out for ice cream, you can just ask and you'll be surprised how many ice cream varieties are already vegan. Often there is even a vegan ice cream made of dark chocolate. So there are also many vegan alternatives in ice cream parlors.
Of course, you can also easily make your own ice cream if you have an ice cream maker or a high-powered blender. To do this, it is often enough to mix a few frozen bananas with a few dates or date syrup and a little vegetable milk.
Most supermarkets now also sell vegan ice cream. There are manufacturers who specialize in vegan ice cream and also vegan ice cream from other manufacturers. Ben & Jerry's now also sells vegan ice cream in Germany, namely the three varieties: Chocolate Fudge Brownie, Chunky Monkey and Peanut Butter & Cookies.
vegan alternatives for animal products are quickly found
Many products like Vegetable milk or vegetable cream you can make yourself. Then you know exactly what's in it and avoid harmful substances. Homemade also means fresh and with as little waste as possible.
Vegan alternatives tend to be more environmentally friendly, as they use far fewer resources in production than animal products. You can learn more about this in my post on Food & Environment. Unfortunately, some vegan substitutes are packaged in plastic, although it must be said that even non-vegan chocolate, sausage or cheese are usually packaged in plastic.
From an ethical and moral point of view, not using animal products always makes sense, since animals are exploited and killed in both organic farms and factory farming.
It also makes sense for your health to eat more plant-based products, as they contain better fatty acids, less cholesterol and less cancer-promoting methionine, and are less likely to overacidify your body than animal products. So vegan alternatives offer some advantages.
All the best,
P.S.: Look at you nevertheless also still my best tips for vegan living an.
