How to Start a Vegan Food Pantry

A vegan diet strictly excludes all meat by-products including milk and eggs.

Vegans follow a strict diet which avoids all meat and meat by-products. Many vegetarian and vegan food products are readily available in standard grocery stores. However, chain grocery chains specializing in natural and organic products typically offer a larger selection of vegetarian and vegan fare. You also can find privately-owned specialty shops catering to vegans in larger municipalities. You also can purchase many vegan foods online. Does this Spark an idea?

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Instructions

- 1
  
  Read the labels to make sure items are free from ingredients not part of a vegan diet. A vegan pantry, in general, is stocked with items free of certain ingredients, namely dairy, meat and fish. Vegan kitchen staples include beans and other legumes, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds.
- 2
  
  Shop at stores catering to customers on a vegan diet. These stores will offer a variety of packaged vegan substitutions to make stocking a vegan pantry more convenient. Whole Foods Market is a national chain which offers a variety of vegetarian and vegan products ready to purchase.
- 3
  
  Shop online. A number of vegan food shops are available online and will ship the items anywhere.
- 4
  
  Make baked goods or desserts with vegan substitutes for dairy products. Recipes with suggestions for replacements for milk and eggs are available online and in recipe books. Practicing vegans use soy or almond milk as a milk substitute.
- 5
  
  Choose an appropriate egg substitute based on the recipe. For leavening, 1/4-cup of soy milk mixed with 1 tbsp. lemon juice is a good replacement for an egg. Replacing eggs that are needed to bind ingredients often requires some trial and error in a vegan kitchen. For some dessert recipes, 1 tbsp. of ground flaxseed combined with ¼-cup water equals one egg. For cakes and breads, 2 tbsp. of cornstarch can usually serve as a substitute for one egg.

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