I always try to emphasize in my posts that you don’t have to give up any food to become vegan. I try to veganize recipes from my childhood and some of my favorite meals and comfort foods that can rely heavily on meat or cheese. Here’s a list of some of my favorite vegan foods and treats (in no particular order) that make transitioning to a vegan lifestyle easy.

Cheese

Chao Creamery (by Field Roast) Creamy Original Slices:

This is my go-to when I want people to try vegan cheese. Chao’s creamy original slices melt well for grilled cheese and it’s the perfect texture. We used this cheese to make a stuffed crust pizza, too (Homemade Stuffed-Crust Pizza).

 

Follow Your Heart’s Smoked Gouda Style Slices:

Follow Your Heart makes a ton of vegan products from cheese to mayo to a scrambled egg replacer. The Gouda style slices are a personal favorite of mine because they have a strong flavor (I used to love stronger flavored cheeses growing up) that’s very similar to gouda. We used them in a classic mac and cheese recipe a year ago and our non-vegan friends loved it! (I made a whole post about that here: Vegan Macaroni and Cheese??)

 

Daiya cheese (mozzarella, pepper jack, and cheddar shreds):

A lot of people don’t like Daiya’s cheeses, but they have grown on me. Daiya changed their recipe recently and they improved their vegan cheeses in my opinion. They melt pretty well and are a cheap substitute for cheese.

Miyoko’s Creamery Mozzarella Cheese:

Another favorite of mine, they have perfected the texture of mozzarella with this cheese. It’s really good on pizza or on a cheese platter.

Meats

Field Roast Italian Sausage:

We use Field Roast’s sausage mainly for tofu scrambles and to top pizzas with. It’s also really good in meat sauces for pasta.

Hilary’s Vegan Sausage Patties:

These are so good on breakfast sandwiches, especially the Vegan Apple Maple flavor. I like to use the spicy veggie one in rice bowls and burrito bowls.

 

Tofurky Deli Slices:

We use these on sandwiches all the time. The flavor and texture is so close to deli meat and they are perfect for strombolis.

Boca Veggie Ground Crumbles:

We use Boca veggie crumbles because they’re more affordable than other alternatives. They are nice in soups and chilis, and are also great in spicing up tofu scrambles and to top pizzas with. Here we used them in a curry:

Milk

After the Almond Breeze fiasco we pretty much only buy Silk plant milks since they are affordable. Some of our favorites include unsweetened cashew, almond, and chocolate soy milk. I mainly use cashew milk to cook since it’s so creamy and versatile.

I usually drink my coffee black, but when I feel like adding some milk I use Ripple’s Plant Based Half & Half.

Macaroni and cheese: 

I made a video on Annie’s vegan cheddar mac n’ cheese, which is one of my favorite boxed mac and cheeses.

Daiya’s Deluxe Cheddar Style Cheezy Mac is pretty good too and it’s easier to find in stores. They recently came out with a Bac’n & Cheddar one, but they also make an Alfredo Style Cheezy Mac (which I haven’t tried yet).

Ice cream: 

Hands down, my favorite vegan ice cream is any cashew milk ice cream from So Delicious. Salted Caramel Cluster is one of my favorite flavors from them, especially since caramel isn’t usually vegan (and Hershey’s chocolate syrup is vegan!).

A close second is Nada Moo’s ice cream. I love the pistachio flavor and mint chocolate chip, and their vanilla is my favorite vegan vanilla ice cream.

 

Miscellaneous products that I love:

• Follow Your Heart’s Vegenaise
• Daiya Frozen Pizzas
• Follow Your Heart Ranch dressing
• Gardein meats and pizza pockets (anything by Gardein tastes amazing).
• Beyond Meat’s plant-based Beyond Burger and Beyond Sausage.

 

Those are some of my favorite vegan food products. They aren’t the healthiest, but they make the transition easier and makes veganizing recipes easy too. Let me know what some of your favorite products are in the comments.