Do you love grocery shopping too? Ugh. So fun.
If you’re fully plant-based or not, you can still imagine it's a bit more stressful for vegans to do the whole, “shopping cart fill-up”.
You need to actively hunt for animal products to avoid. Items that have that little green vegan sticker are screaming for you, but they’re not always there! Sometimes trying to shop vegan can be as frustrating as eating soup with a slotted spoon. Just when you think you’ve got it, something changes and you gotta go back to the beginning.
Luckily, it turns out there are loads of delicious and nutritious products out there that are vegan. With this list, we’ll give you the lowdown on vegan products that are easy to find! We include more products than just food because #vegan is a lifestyle!
We all need breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and dessert, if you’re also a sugar-loving human) so let’s just dive in.
Granola Bars and Baked Goods
Granola bars and baking goods can be a sticky situation. With products like butter, milk, and eggs throughout their baking recipes, it’s hard to find products that are truly vegan. However, some companies have been using vegetable shortening and other replacements instead of traditional animal products. *insert sigh of relief here* We all need a little baked goodness in our lives sometimes, right?
1. (Most) Clif and Luna Bars - Almost every flavor of Clif and Luna bar is vegan, except Peanut Butter & Honey (kind of a no-brainer) and some of the Body Builders bars. The Body Builder bars that are vegan are:
- Chocolate Peanut Butter
- Chocolate Mint
- Vanilla Almond
- Chocolate
- Cinnamon Nut Swirl
- Crunchy Peanut Butter
- Cookies N Cream
2. Some Betty Crocker Cake mixes - Flavors such as Devils Food, Tempting Chocolate, Red Velvet, and Velvety Vanilla are 100% vegan for you to enjoy.
3. Duncan Hines Creamy Home-Style Buttercream Frosting - This frosting uses vegetable shortening instead of dairy products, so spread away on your vegan cake and cupcakes.
4. Unfrosted Pop Tarts - Turns out, you don’t have to go too far to fill your childhood Pop Tart void. The Blueberry, Strawberry, and Brown Sugar Cinnamon Unfrosted Pop Tarts are made without the use of animal products.
5. Ritz Crackers - The buttery-esque goodness of these crackers are vegan, which is a win for soups and pesky stomach aches everywhere.
6. SuperPretzel Soft Pretzel - These stadium classics contain no egg, so they’re vegan friendly! Definitely one of the biggest surprises to us here.
Sweets and Snacks
Don’t we all hear the call for sugar-y snacks? Too bad all of them aren’t vegan.
As it turns out, a good portion of well-known snack brands are vegan too. Instead of gelatins and milk, these products contain no animal products whatsoever.
1. Swedish Fish - The title is very disconcerting, but these fishies are free of fish and gelatin! Instead, they use ingredients like cornstarch and mineral oil.
2. Twizzlers - We don’t know about you, but these are literally the best when they’re left to warm in the sun for a while. Plus, they’re made with cornstarch and other stabilizers instead of the dreaded gelatin.
3. Sour Patch Kids - These babies are loaded with lots of sugar and corn syrup. They’re not the best for you, but, hey, they’re vegan.
4. Skittles - These products used to be made with gelatin, but innovating alongside the vegan movement, they moved to a fully plant-based product!
5. Starburst - These are bursting with vegan flavor. (Any votes on the best colour? We think pink… and please do not say orange)
6. Jell-O Instant Pudding - While the original pudding may not be vegan, the instant pudding doesn’t contain any gelatin. #woot
7. Cracker Jacks - Every Cracker Back Jox… I mean, Cracker Jack Box is full of a 100% vegan snack.
8. Oreos - For the win? Touchdown? Insert some sports metaphor here.. Oh what a happy day for vegans and non-vegans alike. Oreos do not contain milk products, so they can still attend the party on your tongue. (Disclaimer: they are produced in a facility with milk, but that’s it.)
Cooking and Condiments
Accompany your meals with some wonderfully vegan foods found in most supermarkets. Many of these you may already have in your home. A few might even surprise you.
1. Campbell’s Mushroom Gravy - The gravy’s thickness is from flour and water, not animal products.
2. Soy Sauce - Spread it all over your artfully cooked and colourful vegan stir-frys.
3. Heinz Tomato Ketchup - You may not be using it with your chicken nuggets or burgers, but you can use it on your plant-based meats. We’ve heard it makes for a Very Good burger.
4. Sriracha Sauce - Another delightfully vegan topping for all of you spicy food lovers.
5. Some Kraft Salad Dressings - A good variety of these are vegan including:
- Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Classic Catalina
- Fat-Free Creamy French
- Zesty Italian
- Fat-Free Zesty Italian
6. McCormick Vegetable Dip Mix - How about dipping your veggies in more veggies? Help spice up your life, and your veggies because why not make it and them interesting?
7. Green Giant Cream Style Sweet Corn - Mmmm… don’t we all love our corn around Thanksgiving time. Luckily, these Green Giant Sweet Corn cans are vegan, and ready to impress those holiday guests.
8. Progresso Vegetable Classics Soups - Stay warm on those chilly days ahead. There are some tasty vegan flavors from Progresso:
- Lentil
- 99% Fat-Free Lentil
- Hearty Tomato
- Tomato Basil
Drinks
Vegan vigilance can be thrown to the wind with these drinks. Zero animal products = zero problems.
1. Coca-Cola - America’s favorite soda is, in fact, vegan!
2. Regular Pepsi - Diet Pepsi actually has animal by-product ingredients, but regular Pepsi is fully vegan!
3. Alpine Spiced Cider - You don’t have to give up all ciders. This one happens to be vegan!
4. Powerade - Power your day with some vegan Powerade!
5. Whole Foods Strawberry Banana Blueberry Smoothie Mix and Strawberry Banana Smoothie Mix - Whole Foods never fails to disappoint. These two flavors are vegan for your smoothie power-up needs.
6. Ghirardelli Premium Hot Cocoa - Use these Ghirardelli Hot Chocolate flavors with vegan alternatives for a warming winter beverage:
- Chocolate Caramel
- Chocolate Mocha
- Double Chocolate
Cleaning Products
So, fun fact… we already wrote an article about plant based cleaning products! Did you know that a large number of household cleaning products have 5 to 10 animal products in them?
Most of the products we listed are safer for the environment than regular cleaning products. Get out your reusable bottle because we’re about to spray a whole lotta ethical business practices your way! Here is our list of woke cleaning companies:
The Grocery List Lowdown
To adapt to a vegan grocery list may not be as hard as you may have thought. Learning about which ingredients are code names for animal products can be a big ordeal. Hopefully, this list helps decrease your vegan product research time!
Catch you on the flipside, bean-eaters.