A day or so ago I told you all about vegan snacking, in my attempts to make it much easier for you to be healthy and satisfied on a plant-based (and gluten free..should you need) diet.  Today I hope to make it even easier, not just for snacks but for all your food shopping needs.  

When I am staying in a super vegan friendly city like London, Brighton, Berlin, San Francisco, even, to a lesser extent, Mexico and Buenos Aires, I have found it easy to access whole food shops (even totally vegan stores), that cater for mostly all of my whims.  However it is far from the case in most cities in the UK to have a good grocer/produce market where I can find artisan or even generic vegan products.  I’m staying with my mother right now, in between trips.  In a commuter city only 20 mins outside London.  It has not got one healthy food store.  Being here has been frustrating to say the least.  So, when I got an invite from Ocado to come chat about their vegan range, I was sceptical to say the least.
I met with some super nice members of the Ocado team, and some fellow bloggers. Karin Ridgers from Veggie Vision was there..I was so excited to finally get to meet a woman I’ve long admired for her commitment to bringing fun and entertainment to the veggie world, via her TV shows. Also, Claire, a vegetarian blogger for FoodIFancy.com, to name but two.  We were presented with a feast, dreamed up by the Ocado team and created by the chefs at Tibits.  Whilst we were happily chowing down and getting to know each other, the Ocado team were telling us about how they feel it is so important to cater for all dietary requirements and tastes and how open they are to expanding their range. It was a real eye opener.  What was so surprising is that I never thought of Ocado  as a retailer who could deliver really good vegan fayre.  A search for ‘vegan’ products currently grabs up 251 products.  

As I was enjoying the company and the food, I was thinking of you and the implications having a well known online-delivery grocery store be so interested in making sure they have a well rounded stock of vegan and gluten free foods.  Yes, independent and co-operative stores will always remain uppermost in my choices, but to know we can all get these foods so easily now filled me with much excitement.  Our dietary choices impact the world and our loved ones in so many ways, we are all now waking up to this. It is all making a difference.  My vision for a vegan world by 2035 is steaming ahead!

I sampled a few of their range of convenience foods and condiments.
Vegan Pesto   so tasty I was eating it straight from the jar!
Holy Cow Spicy Bombay Ketchup oh mama, a slow, sexy burn  
Booja Booja Champagne Truffles  so good. A sure fire vegan seducer.
Granovita Mayola Egg Free Mayonnaise   where would life be without vegan mayo?
Belazu Tomato & Smoked Paprika Sauce   excellent for a speedy mid-week pasta dinner
If you remember, I recently reviewed gluten free wraps.  You can now get those from Ocado too.

They are just a taster of what you can find.  If they don’t have something that you’d like to see them stock they told me they welcome your suggestions.

I hope this makes life a little (or a lot) easier for you.
All opinions are my own. No thumbscrews were used. I just want to help.