Christmas
With our top tips for a cruelty-free Christmas, it really is the season to be jolly!
1st December
First things first - advent calendars. You can, of course, buy the old fashioned kind, where there's a picture of a bell or a lamb behind the windows, but no chocolate. For those with a sweet tooth Veganstore.co.uk sells a chocolate advent calendar during the festive season. You can also make your own, there are a multitude of fabric advent calendars on sale with empty pockets for you to fill with your own treats, pack them full of vegan chocolates and give them to your friends.
12th December
Time to be thinking about decorating the Christmas tree... Baubles and tinsel are simple enough, but what about those chocolate, foil-covered snowmen that the kids love? Once again, it's Veganstore to the rescue. They have chocolate decorations to hang from your tree (if you can resist them for long enough!)
Christmas Eve
Rudolph and the gang are happy enough with carrots, but we all know that Santa Claus enjoys a bit of Christmas cake and a little sip of something to warm him up on a cold winter night. We've got a wonderful recipe for vegan Christmas cake that's guaranteed to get you onto Santa's 'nice' list. If you're pressed for time and want to buy a cake you can mail order rich fruit cakes and Christmas cakes from the likes of Blue Lotus, The Vegan Cake Girl, Babycakes Direct or Paul’s Tofu. Santa will want to wash that down with a wee dram, so visit our Animal Free Shopper for an online list of vegan alcohol.
Christmas Day
So the day has finally arrived and the relatives are on their way - but what do you feed them?! You know they're just waiting for the opportunity to say 'but Christmas just isn't the same without turkey' and you really don't want to end up in another argument about the horrors of poultry farming and the exploitation of animals, so you have to make sure dinner is so delicious that they'll never want to eat turkey again.
Redwoods have the answer. For the perfect Christmas dinner try their Celebration Roast which includes a vegan turkey roast and sausages wrapped in bacon. Serve with steamed cabbage, carrots, brussel sprouts and roast potatoes - smother it all in gravy (which Redwoods have thoughtfully provided) and serve with a dollop of cranberry sauce. Just make sure you make plenty of it since even your most carnivorous relatives will be demanding seconds! You’ll find Redwoods products in the chilled section of health food shops or branches of Holland and Barrett.
Tofurky, a popular vegan Christmas roast in the US is available in the UK too at selected health food shops. To find your nearest Tofurky stockist visit the Tofurky website and view their list of international retailers. Finally veggie-world.com sell chicken roasts and vegan prawns, should you wish to have a vegan prawn cocktail as a starter!
For those who prefer a good old nut roast Granose have some easy to make packet mixes, why make things complicated if you don’t have too. Or if you prefer a home cooked nut roast then try one of our delicious Yule recipes in our recipes section.
Ah, but the fun's not over yet... Next, they'll be demanding the cheese course, so make sure you've got some delicious Redwoods Mature Cheddar Style Cheezly with Cranberries, or try Bute Island's Blue Sheese with biscuits. For milder palettes try Toffuti original cream cheese or their mild cream cheese with herbs and chives.
By now, they'll all be in such a good mood that it won't be long before they start singing 'bring us some figgy pudding...' You can now buy vegan Christmas pudding in most supermarkets and almost all local health food shops (also try the ‘free from’ aisles in supermarkets for all kinds of vegan goods) - check out the Animal Free Shopper for stockists. Paul's Tofu sells organic and gluten-free varieties and good old Veganstore stock a couple of different brands of Christmas puddings in the winter. If you prefer to make your own, we've got a rather nice recipe you can follow, visit our recipes section. Whatever you do, don't forget the brandy!
As if all that food weren't enough, there's still the mince pie course to go. Again, you can make these yourself or they can be found in most health food shops. An increasing number of supermarket ‘value’ mince pies are suitable for vegans, who says being vegan is expensive! If you love your mince pies smothered in cream try Soyatoo’s vegan squirty cream thick whipping cream if thinner soya creams don’t hit the spot. There’s also Ganovita’s CremoVita thick whipping cream available too. You don’t have to stick to soya cream, for a change there is oat cream. Try your nearest health food shop or ‘free from’ section for a selection of creams or order Soyatoo from Veganstore.
Time to put your feet up after all your hard work, if you or your guests have room for nibbles keep in a supply of vegan fudge, marshmallows, coconut ice, candies and jellies available from health food shops or Veganstore or try Montezuma’s dark chocolate dipped kirsch cherries, dates, brazil nuts or orange slices. For chocolate lovers curl up with some chocolate nut-butter cups and gooey caramel bars from Veganstore. There’s also Humdinger “milk” chocolate buttons and Organica’s Chocolate Couverture bars. The Couverture range is made with rice milk and is seriously creamy; try their original or their fruit and nut variation. For white chocolate lovers tuck into Organica’s creamy White Bar - roll on next Christmas!