Pizza

Went to have dinner with my dad and Debbie last night and Debbie made the most delicious vegan pizza using Mozzarella Sheese. I haven't ever used this before but it really worked well and melted nicely. I would recommend it to anyone, really should have taken a photo of it ...next time I will!

http://www.buteisland.com/a_mozzarella.htm

I have been asked if I ever made my blackberry jam and yes I did...well I made blackberry jelly. Tastes really nice but I did overcook a bit and it is a bit thick. I will have another go next year and I think the jelly works well as it doesn't have loads of pips.

Tesco reply

Just to update on my earlier post. Tesco have just called me to talk about my email and say the following things:

1. Thank you for getting in touch with Tesco.

2. If I want any further info why not google it as they just send out a list. I pointed out that the list is only made up of Tesco's own products, so I thought they would have the full information such as ingredients of these products available to them and would be more than happy to give it to their customers.

3. The Tesco representative said if I want info on the ingredients of the wines on the list why not google them - why are they on their list if they do not know what the full ingredients are?

4. I pointed out that some people are vegans for health reasons so having products on their vegan list of Tesco only products that contains Buttermilk is not good - she agreed. She did say that if there was products on there it was probably because they only had a bit of milk powder in them! - unbelievable but true.

5. I also pointed out that the way they have compiled the information and presented it left a lot to desired for example one of the sub-titles has the word Egg in it. Well as this is a vegan list - none of the pastas on it should contain egg.

6. I also made the point that Tesco should be respectful to their customers and not send out wrong and misleading information about their own products as though some of the groups that shop in Tesco are insignificant and do not matter. Do they not value diversity awareness and accessiblity for all as important in their business - at the moment it doesn't look like it.

Needless to say I will not be stopping here and hope that Tesco will take the issue seriously and make improvements. Tesco did acknowledge that more work was needed on this and it had only recently been put together as though this was an excuse.

Will keep posting my responses, Sainsburys next.

List of vegan products from Tesco

Now yesterday I emailed Tesco to ask for their up-to-date list of vegan products and they very kindly emailed me back later the same day with it. Looking through it there are all the products you would expect to find such as fruit and vegetables but on first glance there were a couple of items I was surprised were on the list, such as their own brand Bean Burgers. I had looked at these in the supermarket in the past and thought they contained dairy products, so I looked up their ingredients on the Tesco website and sure enough they do state that they contain milk! I will be raking through the list and examining it with a fine tooth comb and will contact Tesco about any product that I feel suspicious about and will report back. I have in the interim emailed them to point out this one product - maybe they have changed the ingredients or maybe it is an error, who knows.

The other grey area on this list is their list of wines. The Co-op are brilliant at labelling their wines with the actual ingredients including the products used in the filtration process. I have looked up on the Tesco website to find the ingredients of the wines they list and there are none listed. I am therefore not in a position to drink these until I know what products have been used in their filtration processes and that they do not contain albumen or shellfish or any other product. My recommendation is continue to buy at the Co-op until this is cleared up.

I will be taking my list along to Tesco at Pembury and checking what proportion of these products are available to me locally - it is a shame that they do not list all products available in their stores and only list their own brand products. They should be a responsible retailer and have a full knowledge of every product they sell. The vast profits they enjoy from us the consumer does mean that there should be correct, detailed information available about all the products they sell.

After my investigation into Tesco I will be turning my attention to other retailers in my local area. My local campaign is to try and encourage retailers to provide consumers with informed full information about the products they sell and not take for granted our patronage. Customers in turn must be more discerning in their choices and expect companies to request accurate information about the food they eat and feed their families.

Still no blackberry jam

Didn't have time to make the jam but will do it tomorrow - am now going to do make jelly rather than jam - so no pips (thanks to Helen H :) ).

Made chinese soup/stir fry with tofu for tea which was delicious and had veggie burger with salad and pitta bread for lunch.

Went to Tesco at Pembury to get a couple of things earlier and their Nut burgers are suitable for vegans and they sell Swedish Glace (they only have vanilla) which is very good. Holland and Barrett in TW town centre has a bigger selection of flavours. Had tahini on toast for breakfast - another staple that Tesco do not sell, will write to them and ask them to start stocking it.

Day one - Blackberry Jam

Breakfast: Toast and peanut butter, cereal and soya milk (Tesco's unsweetened value soya milk - very good), black tea
Lunch: home-made tomato soup, bread
Snack: Home-made lemon and lime vegan biscuit
Tea: Shepherds pie (using TVP mince) and vegetables
Wine to drink from the Co-op - good selection of labelled wines so you can easily choose something vegan. Everyone may not realise that wine can contain animal products such as albumen and isinglass.

A3 had the same as me to eat but with a soya yohurt and a few other things and so did Man50, M14 ate the soup at lunchtime not sure about O15 as have not been in all day.

Picked blackberries today from Hayesden to make blackberry jam - haven't made any before but will give it a go tomorrow. Looked up a recipe and looks pretty easy and got to be better that bought jam - not so many added unnecessaries. Will give you the recipe tomorrow and a pic.