My Favorite Vegan Substitutes

A friend of mine recently started eating a vegetarian diet.  We were talking this weekend about cheese substitutes-there are tons of animal food substitutes for vegetarians out there in grocery stores, but not all are created equal.  I sent her a list of my favorite products and decided to post them here too ( I do not currently get paid by any advertisers, this is just my personal preferences after years of not eating animal foods).  These are all foods that are cholesterol free, and animals aren't used to make them.  However, instead of going heavy on animal food substitutes in your diet, I'd strongly recommend eating lots of fruits, vegetables and other whole foods, and use these on the side.  It is sometimes fun though, to veganize things that you used to love to eat and also to veganize recipes that look awesome that aren't vegan, and these can help you out.  They can also help transition from a primarily animal foods diet to vegetarian too!

When you are buying animal food substitutes, be sure to read labels-sometimes there are hidden, unhealthy ingredients, like Casein, which is milk protein, or yeast extract which is sometimes covering up for MSG.  All of the products in this list are MSG free.  Also, if something has an ingredient that looks like this: sldkfjeiorrle, try to find out what it really is and what it comes from and you might just want to bypass that product.  If you buy soy products, make sure the soy is non-GMO or organic.  Here's my list of favorites that I've tasted, as well as researched ingredients, with links to the company websites-many of the websites have yummy looking recipes too:


My favorite cream substitute for savory things:
Cashew cream-soaked cashews blended with water-amounts varied depending on how thick you need the cream to be.


Here's my favorite mozzarella substitute:
http://www.followyourheart.com/products/mozzarella-cheese/

Here's my other favorite cheese substitutes, the cheddar wedge is great:
http://www.daiyafoods.com/

Here's my favorite meat substitutes:
http://www.gardein.com/products.php?t=frozen&p=47

Brats and sausage:
http://www.tofurky.com/tofurkyproducts/sausages.html
Tofurky roast is great for Thanksgiving dinner-have the carnivores eating turkey try it-most of them will say it's not that bad:)

Here's my favorite milk substitute for sweet things, but notice it's the unsweetened version still:
http://www.sodeliciousdairyfree.com/products/coconut-milk-beverages/unsweetened

Here's my favorite butter substitute:
http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/product/original-buttery-spread/

Here's my favorite vegan mayos:
http://www.followyourheart.com/products/grapeseed-vegenaise/
http://www.earthbalancenatural.com/product/original-mayo/