How to go vegan: our beginner’s guide to everything from essential supplements to meat alternatives

Whether you’re doing it for the animals, your health or environmental reasons, there’s never been a better time to go vegan. There’s meatless meat, dairy-free cheese, plant-based liqueurs and, well, anything else you can think of.

With more than a decade of veganism under my belt, I’ve tried pretty much every plant-based brand going. I was a full-blown omnivore until the age of 20 though, so I can tell straight away when a new vegan product hasn’t got it right. Below, I cover the must-buy alternatives, from cheese to meat, to the foods that would-be vegans fear they’d miss the most. I’ll also tell you what not to buy. Worried about what supplements you need to take? I spoke to a dietician to find out.

Please bear in mind that these products are not intended as a replacement for eating a varied and balanced diet. Rather, they should be incorporated into the everyday meals you cook at home.

The essential products for going vegan

Best vegan multivitamin: the Vegan Society Veg 1 orange

_{£7.60 for 90 at the Vegan Society
£19.49 for 180 at Ethical Superstore}

Rather than buying all your vegan vitamins separately, you could just take one tablet that has the whole lot, as suggested by Hazel Clarke, a dietitian specialising in vegan and vegetarian diets at HC Dietetics (see the supplements section below for her other recommendations). Veg 1 Orange is a chewable multivitamin formulated and sold by the Vegan Society, which is about as high of an authority on vegan health as you can get. Each tablet contains at least 100% of the recommended daily amount of seven essential nutrients: vitamin D3, selenium, vitamin B12, vitamin B2, vitamin B6, iodine and folic acid. With this all-in-one tablet in your system, you’ll be saving money and hassle, as you won’t have to juggle several supplements at once to meet your vegan-specific nutritional needs.

Best vegan milk alternative: Minor Figures Oat M*lk Barista

_{£10.99 for six at Holland & Barrett
£8.99 for six at Amazon}

When it comes to vegan substitutes for cow’s milk, you’re spoiled for choice in the UK. To get started, give Minor Figures’ Barista blend a go. It’s easily steamable, making it ideal in coffee, but it also makes for a cracking cup of tea. It has a smooth consistency with an aftertaste that’s sweet but not saccharine, and it pairs nicely with cereal and porridge. It’s so tasty that I’m partial to drinking it on its own. Minor Figures’ rivals include Alpro Oat Barista and Oatly Barista, both of which are worth trying. Whatever oat milk you buy, don’t forget to give it a good shake before each use.

Best vegan cheese alternative: Cathedral City Plant Based Mature

_{£3.50 at Waitrose
£3.60 at Asda}

Vegan cheese has moved on from the handful of pitiful offerings that were available when I first went vegan in 2014. Cathedral City’s Plant Based Mature is easily my top pick of the dairy-free cheeses you can find in the supermarket today. It’s a little on the crumbly side, which can make it annoying to grate, but it has a rich, full flavour and it melts exceptionally well in everything from toasties to pasta dishes.

Best vegan meat alternative: Redefine Meat

_{From £2 at Ocado}

Whatever you’re cooking at home, Redefine has an option for you, from fake beef mince to pulled plant-based pork. It’s convincing enough when cooked and eaten on its own, emulating the complex textures of fried meat incredibly well. But when it’s mixed into a dish, Redefine is capable of completely fooling the palate. I’ve had various types of Redefine, including the flank steaks inside a burger and the lamb inside a shepherd’s pie, and I’m still genuinely amazed at the realism.

What about the macros? Well, to take the mince as an example, it has 12g of fat per 100g, it’s not quite as lean as tofu. That’s cholesterol-free fat, of course, as with all vegan foods. And it has a well-balanced profile overall, packing in 5g of fibre and 11g of protein per 100g. Unlike some other fake meat brands, Redefine isn’t prohibitively expensive either.

Best vegan butter alternative: Flora Plant Butter Spreadable

_{£2 at Waitrose
£3 at Sainsbury’s}

From taste to texture, Flora’s Plant Butter Spreadable is the most well-rounded vegan butter I’ve tried. As the name suggests, it’s really easy to spread – even right out of the fridge. For baking, it’s best to go for the Flora Plant Butter Unsalted Block, which is slightly denser. The Block is also better if you prefer to keep your butter in a dish on the counter because it doesn’t melt as easily as Flora Spreadable.

Best vegan cream alternative: Oatly Whippable Creamy Oat

_{£1.35 at Ocado
£1.35 at Waitrose}

Oatly’s Whippable Creamy Oat is a true staple in vegan households. Whether you’re pouring it into a stroganoff or whipping it up as a topping for your hot chocolate, it acts exactly as you’d expect from a standard cream. The shelf life is also significantly longer than dairy-based cream products, and it’s completely free of trans fats, which is a bonus.

Best vegan protein powder: Protein Works Vegan Protein Extreme

_{From £10.39 for 500g at Protein Works
£12.64 for 1kg at Amazon}

Just like their non-vegan counterparts, gym-going vegans like to top up their nutrient intake with a tasty post-workout protein shake. There are plenty of protein powders to choose from, of course, ranging from low-calorie “clear” protein shakes to artificial offerings. Larger companies offer sample sachets, so you don’t have to commit to a whole 4kg bag until you’ve found the right match. After sampling flavours from several popular brands, I’ve settled on Speculoos Biscuit Heaven (AKA Biscoff flavour) from Protein Works.

For a creamier, more satisfying taste, I recommend pouring in a mixture of soya milk and oat milk before you start blending. Oat milk is naturally sweeter, whereas soya milk is full of protein but has a more neutral aftertaste. To turn it into a full-blown meal replacement, you can add in frozen banana along with some nut butter. And if you’re having a bad day, you could just whack in a spoonful of (accidentally vegan) Lotus Biscoff spread. You can do it. It’s fine.

Best vegetable box delivery: Oddbox

_{From £11.49 at Oddbox}

Oddbox is a subscription service that provides a steady stream of seasonal vegetables that would otherwise have gone to the compost heap, either due to their wonky appearance or because of an oversized harvest. Packaging is minimal and you can avoid unnecessary waste by vetoing items you don’t want to receive in your deliveries. I’ve found that it encourages more creative cooking, motivating me to find great recipes that incorporate vegetables I wouldn’t typically buy in the shops.

Best vegan cream liqueur: Dirty Cow Sooo Original

_{£20.50 at Master of Malt
£25 at Amazon}

Dirty Cow is your go-to for creamy and delicious after-dinner liqueurs. Of the three flavours on offer, the chocolate variety is easily my favourite. However, if you’re looking for a plant-based alternative to Baileys, then you should try the Original. It has a rich butterscotch taste accompanied by a smooth vanilla undertone, followed by a hefty 17% alcoholic kick at the end. Baileys’ own vegan beverage, Baileys Almande, has seemingly been discontinued, possibly defeated by market dominators Dirty Cow and its rival Liquid Oats.

Best vegan cookbook: Bosh! by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby

_{£10.95 at Amazon
£20 at the Guardian Bookshop}

Cooking is at the core of maintaining a healthy lifestyle while going vegan. Out of the thousands of vegan cookbooks on the market, I’ve chosen to recommend the first book from Henry Firth and Ian Theasby, co-creators of the Bosh brand. This veritable vegan bible has 145 plant-based recipes, covering every meal from breakfast to dinner, plus desserts. The success of Bosh’s book is down to its accessibility: the ingredients are ordinary, the techniques straightforward. Healthy, comforting and simple to prepare, these recipes will carry you right through your first year of veganism and far beyond.

Don’t bother with …

Vegan egg substitute
Simply put, there aren’t any good ones yet. There are several better ways to make up for the lack of eggs when baking, most commonly vegetable oils and apple sauce. Fake egg products aren’t convincing when used in savoury dishes either. Instead, many vegan recipes for scrambled eggs rely on a combination of firm and silken tofu. Quick tip: a bit of black salt does a fantastic job of replicating the taste and aroma of cooked eggs.

Omega-3 supplements
The British Dietetic Association doesn’t recommend omega-3 supplements for the UK general population. This came as a surprise to me; I’ve been buying them for years! As Clarke of HC Dietetics says: “Omega-3 data is inconclusive for both fish- and plant-based supplements. We would always recommend getting omega-3 from foods rather than supplements.” She adds: “That includes on a vegan diet.” Sources of vegan omega-3 include nuts, seeds, vegetable oils and soya-based foods.

Hemp milk
This has to be the worst vegan milk alternative out there. Honestly, hemp milk tastes like my worst fear of what vegan milk would be before I went vegan. Its water-like consistency makes it impractical for use in hot drinks or cooking and it has a terrible, earthy aftertaste. One to avoid.

What supplements should vegans take?

Photograph: Tanja Ivanova/Getty Images

Supplements are a crucial consideration when going vegan. Since I’m no expert on nutritional science, I sought dietitian Hazel Clarke’s guidance.

What vitamins do vegans need?
The Vegan Society should be your first port of call when making the switch to a vegan lifestyle. Its website has a list of the recommended nutrients with which vegans ought to supplement their diets. Of these, the nutrient of most pressing concern is B12, as vegans and vegetarians are more prone to having a deficiency in B12 than those on an omnivorous diet.

Why do vegans need to take B12, but not non-vegans?
“Vegans need to take B12 as it isn’t as [readily] available in their diet,” says Clarke. “Generally, vegans get B12 through supplements or supplemented products.” Such products include “plant milks, plant spreads, cereals and yeast products, such as Marmite. You can also find it in fermented products, such as kimchi.”

As Clarke says, “B12 used to be more present on the skins of root vegetables. However, our fertilisers are more treated now and, therefore, B12 is no longer rich on our root veg.”

It’s not just vegans who are short on B12: “Livestock in agriculture also has more of a sterile diet, therefore they’re supplemented by B12.” In fact, “up to 90% of B12 supplements produced in the world are being fed to livestock” to maintain the rich levels of B12 in meat and dairy products, Clarke says.

How much B12 should vegans be taking a day?
“If you’re having two to three portions of fortified products or B12-rich foods a day, you’ll be meeting your B12 needs,” says Clarke. “Supplementally, you can either have 10mcg a day or 2,000mcg a week.”

What about vitamin D3? Do vegans need that more than non-vegans?
No. “Everyone in the UK (over a year old) [should] take a 10mcg supplement of vitamin D daily,” says Clarke, “especially in the winter months, but ideally year-round.” (This is a little over what the NHS recommends: 10mcg/day for people over four in autumn and winter.) The form of vitamin D is not the important part – what’s important is that we get it. As Clarke says, “Vitamins D2 and D3 are just vegan-derived vitamin D,” whereas other forms are animal-based (although note that some forms of D3 aren’t vegan, so make sure to check the labels).

Is there anything else I should know about vegan supplements?
“If in doubt, I always recommend a vegan multivitamin to cover all bases,” says Clarke. “This way you won’t be taking too much (as certain nutrients in high levels are toxic or can cause gastro issues) or too little [of any essential nutrient].”

Tom Bruce is a freelance writer from London with a background in consumer reviews. As a long-term vegan, he’s obsessed with sampling every plant-based product on the market so he can add it to his personal tier list.