Vegan forum members - what are supermarket offerings like in your area?

[signal]

Just curious about the options & costs in different regions with regards to finding vegan stuff easily. Is there a lot of selection for you at 'normal' supermarkets or do you need to go to specialty places? And is it expensive maintaining the diet where you live?

When I was in Canada I'd say it was mostly specialty shops & was kind of expensive, but that was like almost a decade ago so not sure now. Prices still seem high but you can get a lot at any supermarket now I think. Japan stuff was basically non-existent in normal shops. In Germany now and it's both extremely easy and not more expensive at all. I use this and this instagram account to see what random supermarket items are vegan (new items anyway, since everything has a giant vegan label here so it's easy to tell usually) and a lot of it is kind of junky but the options are there at least.

 

[Deleted member 18944]

Whole foods and Kroger are the go to around here.

Vegan food products for the most part are pretty cheap. Only becomes wallet leach when you eat the exotic new vegan foods.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

They're pretty good, really. What's hard is getting everything at the same store. I live in the north east so there's stores like Market Basket, Hannaford, Shaw's, etc. Whole Foods and Trader Joe's too.

There's lots of vegan items and substitutes we like but we have to hit three different grocery stores to get them all. I'd say we almost always have multiple vegan options where we live but not always the ones we want. Like one store will have Gardein beefless crumbles but not Beyond Ground. So if you want Beyond Ground, which we prefer, we have to go to another store. But that store might not have the cashew-based yogurt my SO likes.

That's the only thing that's hard for us. Not actually finding the stuff we like, just having to go to numerous places to get it all.

 

[ned_ballad]

But that store might not have the cashew-based yogurt my wife likes.

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Trader Joe's cashew yogurt is arguably better than "real" yogurt

 

[Deleted member 13148]

I try to mostly eat a whole plant-food diet, so it's pretty easy to find what I want at any grocery store. But it's also relatively easy to find processed vegan products in the big grocery stores. But since we have a local vegan grocery store, I try to buy from them as often as possible, which has the nice added benefit of not needing to scan the labels for hidden animal ingredients.

 

[signal]

Trader Joe's cashew yogurt is arguably better than "real" yogurt

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I always hated yogurt but alt yogurts are my thang. This forever.

 

[Ploppee]

I live in Brighton, UK and we're spoilt for choice really. So many options as its seen as one of the more progressive cities in the UK (not sure I totally agree after living here almost 10 years but hey ho).

All the supermarkets apart from a couple stock vegan stuff and it's usually pretty cheap now. It will never compete with the insanely cheap chicken from say Iceland or Aldi but I don't agree with buying that anyway so 🤷‍♂️

 

[psynergyadept]

Not a Vegan but my sister is; she mainy shops at Whole Foods. And since our mother works there along with getting certain discounts because of my Amazon prime account she get a great deal of food for a fair price; except for the vegan cheese, she always complains how expensive it is.

she makes a great Vegan mac & cheese!

 

[Krauser Kat]

my local mexican market in chicago has been stocking more and more awesome vegans stuff for super cheap like 48grams of protein chicken setan packets for 2.50.

 

[Gawge]

UK here.

Absolutely superb over the last couple of years.

I went vegetarian (only vegan from supermarkets etc...) about 3 years ago, and the change in that time is huge. All major supermarkets now have a fairly large selection of vegan food. Sausages, bacon, mince, chicken pieces etc...

New faves are the Richmond vegan sausages (8x for £2ish), Naturli mince (£3), and Vivera bacon (£3). There are so many options now that there will always be a good range on offer though, so usually pay lower than that. Ocado is good too, with THIS! isn't chicken/bacon.

Also, frozen bags of mince, meatballs, nuggets etc... are really cheap in some places. Like £1-something for several portions of fake mince or meatballs. Sainsbury's actually do 8x vegan burgers for £1.25 or something.

Also a fan of the Linda McCartney shredded chicken/duck/pork - goes amazing on pizzas and in curries.

Iceland is excellent too, with their No Bull Burgers and fake chicken too.

 

[Mr X]

I'm in Virginia, the Richmond area. Been getting more whole foods so easy to get that at pretty much any grocery store, but the Wegman's I go to is pretty good about labeling their own brand products vegan. They have a pretty good selection of vegan processed foods as well, we can get everything we need there when we go.

 

[signal]

Sainsbury's actually do 8x vegan burgers for £1.25 or something.

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Dang, made of what? That's cheap. Lidl here has this stuff which is cheapish but not that cheap lol.

 

[Famassu]

Pretty much every local food store from small to big nowadays has an assortment of vegan products. Some more than others. When it comes to animal product replacements, prices vary from ~2,50€ per package of meatball like things to 8-9€ for a pack of Beyond Meat, and everything between for sausages, kebab & nuggets. There's also affordable vegan mayos, ice creams, frozen pizzas, candy, milks, yoghurts, and most everything else one could want. Of course there's also all kinds of beans & stuff if replacements aren't your thing. And ingredients to making your own seitan are starting to be easier to find in basic stores, not just specialty stores.

 

[Empress of ice cream]

I never had a problem anywhere I have lived. We mostly shop at the local farmer's markets and the occasional organic food store. We do not buy any kind of processed meat alternative though (or processed food in general). Plain old tofu is just fine.

 

[Walter White Walker]

I'm not a vegan but Sprouts is pretty awesome. Two opened in my area last year and they have good produce and great prices.

 

[ShyMel]

The Food Lion, Publix, Target, and Harris Teeter near do carry most of the vegan staples and the latter three locations have lots of Gardein and similar brands in their frozen section. The loss of Earth Fare means I will have to go to Whole Foods for certain items (Dandies vegan marshmallows, the Better Than Bullion vegan chicken version, and the more expensive vegan cheeses for example).

 

[Gawge]

Dang, made of what? That's cheap. Lidl here has this stuff which is cheapish but not that cheap lol.

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Soya mostly (https://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/oca...sburys_Meat_Free_Burgers_8_per_pack_454g.html)

They are very good for the price.

 

[CrumbSnatcher]

Erewhon Market in west L.A, Whole Foods, Sprouts, Trader Joe's has a smaller selection.

 

[signal]

Soya mostly (https://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/oca...sburys_Meat_Free_Burgers_8_per_pack_454g.html)

They are very good for the price.

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Still, 8 for that price!

 

[mattiewheels]

I noticed Walmarts around me have Alpha frozen stuff which is well-done comfort food. Alpha nuggets are almost at McNugget level to me.

 

[Saucycarpdog]

There's a Natural Grocers in my city. That's about it.

 

[Supermanisdead]

There's really no processed stuff except tofu-based snacks, but ample veggies, beans and grains basically everywhere.

 

[aerie]

Really quite strong. My main grocery store has a good selection, and it's not all one little mostly ignored area, and there is a specialty store that I hit up for a few other things, depending on my budget that month. Options for eating out are also getting better and better. I'm pretty thrilled about it. Costs are generally a little higher, but not by a significant amount.

 

[Cheesecakebobby]

In Tokyo. Good quality vegetables and fruits available everywhere (for a price in the case of fruit). Vegan replacements like cheese and processed meats almost non existent outside a few specialist stores, though online stores deliver fast and reliably. Tofu is extremely cheap and available everywhere.

 

[ExpandedKang]

Very good these days. The milk alternatives have exploded in popularity.

I tend to not buy so many meat and cheese substitutes nowadays but there is a good selection even though they tend to be pricey. Fruit and veg is of a good quality in Melbourne generally.

 

[Cheesecakebobby]

Oops quoted myself instead of editing my original post. I guess I can add that the stores near my hometown in England have exploded in terms of availability of vegan products. I couldn't believe that the small supermarket near my parents house had hemp milk etc.

 

[Poppy]

i just eat vegetables and snacks

so i'm good

 

[Macam]

I assume this largely refers to processed vegan foods, like dairy and meat alternatives.

It's gotten substantively better in the last few years. That's largely to being in California along with a real shift in preferences for vegetarian/vegan friendly foods, like alternative milks (Oatly, Ripple, etc), which has led to higher growth rates in that segment and thus made it easier to convince retailers to dedicate shelf space to them.

I typically hit up Sprouts or Lazy Acres (a regional chain akin to a mix of Sprouts and Whole Foods), but still largely confine purchases of processed goods to alternative milks (which you can get anywhere these days, let alone make at home) and yogurts. I don't buy alternative meats at all.

The vast majority of my food is in the produce and bulk aisles though, so I can pretty much shop anywhere.

 

[Sly Chimera]

Strong showing, tons of places that make really good stuff. One store even sells prepackaged meals. Of course its all expensive but you know haha

 

[Deleted member 8166]

I am not vegan, sorry, but I eat everything and try vegan or vegetarian dishes all the time.

It is pretty awesome what rügenwalder Mühle has achieved in Germany, their meat balls taste absolutely like meat. the biggest problem is their cordon bleu tho, the ham replacement tastes just sour ._.

 

[signal]

I am not vegan, sorry, but I eat everything and try vegan or vegetarian dishes all the time.

It is pretty awesome what rügenwalder Mühle has achieved in Germany, their meat balls taste absolutely like meat. the biggest problem is their cordon bleu tho, the ham replacement tastes just sour ._.

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Those are so common but I don''t like most of the products lol. It's funny you mention sour though I thought the same of one of the things I tried, either the fake gyro meat or some cut up chicken style thing. Was oddly sour.