Vegan Haul

Update: I still don't want to be a vegan. Coincidentally, I recently purged my fridge, freezer, and cupboards of all animal products. Then I realized I didn't have anything to eat, so I went to the store.

Actually, I went to four stores.

I was holding off on buying craptons of vegan-specific products because that shit is expensive and also because I wanted to find things to eat that weren't pretending to be other things. But I was totally running out of stuff and my cupboards were looking a little sad, so I figured this was as good a time as any to spend way too much money.

I present the HAUL:

This isn't even all of it. There's some other stuff that I bought yesterday, too. I was too lazy to dig it out.

Martin's

Martin's is my local Giant-derivative. I usually avoid this store because it's pricey and I'm broke, but some wonderful vegan person in the corporate office put tons of stuff on sale for me, so here's what I got (minus the stuff I didn't photograph):

Vegan Ben and Jerry's ice cream marked down to $2.50/pint!!!

Tofutti "Better Than Cream Cheese" $3.29 for 8oz

Tofurky Deli Slices $3.49 for 15 slices

Daiya Mozzarella Style Shreds $2.49 for 8oz

Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds $2.49 for 8oz

Alba Botanica Even Advanced Sea Mineral Cleansing Gel $6.49 for 6oz

Trader Joe's

I was excited to go to Trader Joe's because I heard they had a whole line of vegan fake meats, but when I got there, all they had was meatballs, so I'll try again some other time. I got plenty of other stuff though:

Inner Peas puffs $1.49

Nutritional yeast $2.99 for 4oz

Sprouted tofu $1.99 for 15.5oz

(sidenote: this is divided into two smaller packages for us lonely vegans--thank you Trader Joe's)

Red pepper spread $2.49 for 12oz

Meatless meatballs $3.99 for 16oz

Sriracha hummus $1.99 for 8oz

Chocolate chips $1.99 for 12oz

Raw cashews $7.99 per pound

Penne Arrabbiata $2.99 for 16oz

Cinnamon rolls $3.99 for 17.5oz

Peanut-only peanut butter $2.29 for 16oz

Whole Foods

Okay, so when they say "Whole Paycheck," they're not kidding. I heard rumors that the Whole Foods prices would be going down with the Amazon deal, but apparently that hasn't kicked in yet, because holy crap. There were so many things that I wanted to try and then ran away from because of the price. This is all I ended up with:

Earth Balance Vegan Cheddar Puffs $3.29 for 4oz

Penne Arrabiatt $3.99 for 16oz

Ginger Chews $2.49 for 4.4oz

Amy's Rice Mac & Cheeze $3.49 for 8oz

Made Good Apple Cinnamon Bars $3.49 for 6 teeeeny bars

365 Unscented bar soap $1.99 for 4oz

365 Vitamin E bar soap $1.99 for 4oz

Lush

This store was crowded as crap, so I just grabbed a shampoo bar that smelled good and ran out. Next time I will have a better plan. 

Jumping Juniper shampoo bar $10.95

Shampoo bar tin $3.95

That's all I can afford right now (my bank account is crying), but I'd love to get your recommendations for next time. Is anything at Whole Foods actually worth the money? What else should I try from Trader Joe's? Teach me your ways, Vegans of the Internet! (not that I'm vegan or anything...just checking out the scenery)

Half Assed Vegan?

Guys, we need to talk.

Something happened.

On Friday night, I was sitting on the couch, minding my own business, watching YouTube videos, and avoiding my homework like any other self-respecting college student with no social life. All of a sudden, out of the blue, this video popped up as a commercial, and I don't know what the heck I was thinking, but I sat there and watched all five minutes of this commercial:

I'm still not okay, guys.

I couldn't sleep on Friday night. For a couple of months I'd been effectively silencing the tiny voice in the back of my head that was like "Dude, you know where cheese comes from. What are you doing?" Mostly, I silenced it by eating a lot of cheese.

But not after this video. Seriously. I got into bed and stared at the ceiling. I tried to sleep. I failed. This video kept gnawing at me, horrible image after horrible image running through my head. I felt guilty and angry and sad, and I spent the night seriously considering my life choices.

I do not want to be a vegan. I'm getting that out in the open right now. I do not want to be a vegan. Vegans are crazy. Vegans are elitist and unreasonable and they just don't understand what a perfect, heavenly creation macaroni and cheese is. Also fettuccine alfredo. And cake. I have been a vegetarian for twelve years for exactly two reasons: meat seriously grosses me out, and I do not want to be a vegan.

Vegan resistance aside, I stopped using eggs a while back. A pretty long while back. Years, actually. My rule was that I avoided eggs I could see. I wasn't reading packaging or boycotting desserts that might have eggs in them, but I stopped buying eggs, baking with eggs, and eating eggs as a standalone thing. I also started buying almond milk instead of dairy milk at least 80% of the time. I don't know why. It just happened.

But I really, really do not want to be a vegan.

Except...it might be happening. For the last two days, I have avoided eating all animal products. I haven't known what to do with myself, but I've succeeded in eating like a vegan for 48 hours.

I bought some nutritional yeast and a thing of eggless mayo.

But this does not mean I'm vegan, guys. Not yet. It just means that I'm having some serious issues about food and I need to keep thinking.

The good news?

These new, limited edition Dunkin Donuts (learn to spell, people) Mocha Oreos are the freaking bomb.

And they're egg, milk, and animal free. Just to help me think.

Brand Wars: Coke vs. Pepsi

It's the question that has plagued humanity since the 1800s. Today, at long last, we will have our answer.