AS if January isn’t a tough enough month to get through as it is, my wife Sarah made the decision to try ‘Veganuary’ this year.

Veganuary is where you sample a vegan diet for 31 days – so you temporarily give up animal products entirely and, of course, meat. Now I can almost hear you all groaning already but stick with me because, don’t worry, I won’t get tangled up in any ethical arguments here. But the health benefits of a vegan diet – done properly – speak for themselves.

We all know the risks of too much red meat and cutting out meat and dairy means less saturated fat which is related to cholesterol levels and risk of heart disease.

But enough of that. This was my wife’s challenge so how do I come into all this?

Sarah’s already a long-standing vegetarian so veganism wasn’t a big push for her but considering I make most of our evening meals it pretty much turned me into a vegan as well.

So now that the vegan challenge is almost over here are a few things I learnt:

It’s a lot easier than you think it will be

Supermarkets are really well stocked these days. Considering about one in 10 people are vegetarian they have to be. And a lot of vegetarian food is vegan even if it’s not labelled as such or endorsed by the Vegan Society. Just check the ingredients. Main culprits to look out for are milk and egg. Leading meat substitute Quorn’s core range of products contain egg but the brand has also launched a vegan range.

Don’t worry, it’s not all plates of vegetables

Meat substitutes are the way forward. Your meals can pretty much be the same that way. Fry’s chicken style pieces (made from protein rich soya), available at Morrisons Warrington, are particularly good. They can be fried up from frozen and we had them with a barbecue paste.

You can still do a mean roast dinner

Linda McCartney does a vegan beef style roast. Some people don’t rate it but I enjoyed it with gravy, roast potatoes and parsnips. Ok, it doesn’t taste much like beef but it’s tasty enough.

It is easy to slip up

Remember this was a month of NO animal products and while making the above I nearly put honey in with the parsnips. Bees make honey hence no honeyed parsnips for us (I went for maple syrup instead – there’s always choices if you’re inventive). You may think vegans take it too far but it’s a stark reminder of how reliant we are on animals and animal products. I also once reached for a curry sauce in the cupboard before remembering it was made with milk. The Sri Lankan coconut based sauces were the way forward – and very nice they were too.

Mexican food is the way forward

Warrington Guardian:

Nachos are so easy to turn into a vegan dish. Just chuck on some soya based mince (in the meat free section of supermarket freezers) and salsa. As tasty as they are simple. Enchiladas (a variety of ingredients wrapped in soft tortillas and then bunged in the oven) are easy to adapt too. We used Fry’s ‘chicken’ strips (as mentioned earlier) and peppers and onions. We smothered both with vegan ‘cheese’ (more on that later) and served with smashed avocado. Superb.

Vegan ‘cheese’ is not as bad as you’d think

Violife is one of the leading brands and is coconut oil based and it melts just like any dairy cheese. It doesn’t have quite the same consistency but it is genuinely nice. Some vegan ‘cheeses’ are better than others admittedly but you’ll pretty much be fine with Violife.

I missed pizzas

There’s nothing like gooey mozzarella on a pizza. For all my praise for Violife it’s not quite the same for pizzas plus you’d be hard pushed to find a vegan pizza in the supermarkets. Some of the Italian chains like Zizzi have started offering vegan ‘cheese’ though

Vegan coffee? No thanks 

Alpro soya milk is a good all rounder and tastes fine on cereal but if you like white coffee you will probably miss dairy. Coffee with a milk substitute just doesn’t taste right in my opinion. It’s a small complaint though considering the huge amount of milk alternatives there are these days. Rice milk comes close with a similar thickness and creamy consistency and Aldi have also recently launched an excellent coconut milk.

Vegan junk food is a thing

Warrington Guardian:

Deaf Institute in Manchester is a bar and music venue but it is also known for its vegan junk food and it does a ‘vegan hangover’ menu on Sunday afternoon. Their seitan burger, made from wheat gluten, is brilliant and gives beef a run for its money.

We also discovered ‘Plant Powered Sundays’ run by Grub at Manchester’s trendy Fairfield Social Club. If all vegan food tasted as good as Hip Hop Chip Shop’s battered sausage and chips I’d have no problem with an animal product free diet...

Warrington’s vegan hangout is relaunching

You find yourself looking for suitable places to eat during Veganuary and this is when I heard on Facebook that The Vegan Venue in Marsh House Lane is under new management and will be changing its name to The Green Room.

It is set to reopen with a new look and style very soon so watch this space.