8 Vegan Food Staples You Need in Your Pantry
Hello everyone and happy New Year! This is my official first post of the new year, and I am super excited for what 2021 will bring. Life is what you make it, so let’s all spread positivity and have an incredible year!
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I’ve been a vegan for a little over four years now, and I couldn’t be happier. I started becoming more interested in health and fitness after graduating from high school, and my passion for health is the main reason I started this blog.
So, today I want to share some of my favorite vegan staples that you can get from places like Costco and Trader Joes’s.
Let’s get into my favorite vegan staples.
1. Nutritional Yeast
You’ve probably noticed that in a lot of my recipes, they call for nutritional yeast. This is because nutritional yeast is highly nutritious, and is rich in a specific vitamin: vitamin B12. This vitamin is primarily found in animal products, which is why it’s so important for vegans especially to eat.
One serving of nutritional yeast fulfills the requirement for vitamin B12, which is why it’s in so many of my recipes. I like to add nutritional yeast to avocado toast, pasta, and zucchini fries. It’s a tasty ingredient and is worth trying if you haven’t already.
2. Tofu
Tofu is a great source of protein and iron, which is crucial for vegans and vegetarians. It’s a great replacement for meat because of its high protein content. One of my favorite meals to make is vegan egg salad sandwich.
While the appearance may throw people off, as it has a strange texture and comes in a thick, white block, it’s seriously one of my favorite foods. Once cooked, it’s really tasty. You can add all sorts of seasonings to it and if you want it crispy, you can fry it in oil.
3. Quaker Lightly Salted Rice Cakes
Quaker Lightly Salted Rice Cakes are one of my favorite snacks. They’re quick, easy, and a super light snack that’s great to eat prior to working out. I like to run in the mornings soon after waking up, but I can’t eat much before working out. If I do, it’ll irritate my stomach. So, I like to have one or two of these rice cakes with peanut butter, banana, and cinnamon as a healthy snack before going for my run.
4. Orgain Protein Powder
I’ve tried numerous protein powders and my favorite by far is by the brand Orgain in the peanut butter cup flavor. It doesn’t tasty chalky like some of the other protein powders I’ve tasted, and it’s just a really yummy protein powder. It also comes in vanilla, which is another great flavor.
You can add it to smoothies, oatmeal, pancakes, and cereal. I like to make protein powder cereal as a dessert after dinner. You can seriously add this protein powder to anything and it makes for a great dessert. I might be a little bit bias, but I seriously love this stuff.
5. Nut Butters: Almond Butter & Mixed Nut Butter
I’m a sucker for nut butters. I seriously love them all. Some of my favorite nut butters are from Costco. The first is Roasted Almond Butter, which just contains almonds and salt. It’s a super healthy and tasty almond butter, and it’s perfect to add to your toast or oatmeal in the mornings.
Another one of my favorite nut butters is the Mixed Nut Butter from Costco. It’s essentially a nut butter that has a variety of nuts and seeds in it. It’s another tasty nut butter and doesn’t have any unhealthy ingredients in it. It’s clean and plant-based.
6. Cheerios
As a kid I would eat the sugar cereal for breakfast every morning. I didn’t realize until I grew older how bad most cereals were for you, which was kind of a bummer because I really liked cereal.
While I don’t eat cereal as often as I used to, there is one cereal that I really love: Cheerios. Cheerios are a healthier alternative to high sugar cereals because they only have 2g of added sugar per serving. I like to add a scoop of the chocolate peanut butter Orgain protein powder and it’s a super yummy treat.
7. Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips
I bake quite often, so I use chocolate chips in some of my recipes. I wanted to share with you all one of my favorite vegan baking chips: Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate Chips. They still have sugar in them, but it’s a great alternative to milk chocolate if you’re looking for good vegan baking chips.
8. Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
I have tried a number of plant-based milks, and my favorite by far is the Almond Breeze Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk. I like to buy the unsweetened version because it has no sugar. It still tastes good and is also pretty inexpensive.
Final Thoughts
These are some of my favorite vegan staples that I use almost everyday. I hope you found this post helpful. 2021 is off to a great start, so let’s make it a great year!
~Spread happiness & kindness