Each year, January marks the start of a health kick and life-style change for many with some cutting out sugar and other going to the gym.
But in a bid to help themselves, animals and the environment, many people are currently taking part in Veganuary and cutting out many items altogether.
Veganuary - a combination of vegan and January - is a period where people aim to give up all animal-based products for a month and go plant-based. Alternatively, it could just mean trying new vegan dishes or taking part in 'Meat Free Monday'.
One supermarket that has launched a whole new range is Marks and Spencer who have been praised by vegans and non-vegans alike.
As someone who is lactose-intolerant (I know, lucky me) I find that dairy is included in a lot of items that I enjoy eating like cheese, ready meals or a simple sandwich to grab whilst I'm on the go and I miss enjoying these foods.
So marching to M&S with my £50 voucher, thanks to the chain themselves, I bought everything I could to give their range a fair shot.
What did I buy at Marks and Spencer?
For £50 (and 33 pence) I was able to purchase a total of 16 items.
This included:
- No Pork Vegan Sausage Rolls - £2.25
Sweet n Sour No Chicken - £3.50
- Chocolate Brownies, two pack (x2) @ £2.50 each - £5.00
- Vegan Basil Pesto - £1.75
- Chocolate and Hazelnut Spread - £2.80
- Spinach Ravioli - £3.00
- No Chic'n Gyozas - £2.75
- New York Style No Salt Beef Sandwich Roll - £3.50
- Churros - reduced @ £2.68
- Salted Caramel Cookies - £3.00
- Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream - £3.10
- Mini Battered No Fishcake (frozen) - £5.00
- Chicken Nuggets (frozen) - £3.00
- Vegan Cake in a jar - £4.00
- Woodfired Pizza - £5.00
What about the portion sizes?
Each portion size was more than enough for one person and I'd happily have leftover the nest day.
The pizza can easily be shared amongst four people whilst the pasta can also be shared with two or three others.
I did try to tackle the pasta myself but soon realised my eyes were in fact bigger then my belly.
The Sweet and Sour No Chicken would be good for one person simply down to how many chicken pieces were in them - unless you're happy to split seven chicken pieces between two then that would also work.
The ice cream comes in your average size tub and whilst the cake jar may seem small, it's pretty filling.
Overall the value for money versus the portion sizes are pretty decent.
I have one of the 'Big Four' supermarkets close to me and I think it would be more expensive shopping there for vegan products - and they certainly don't have the range that M&S do.
My final thoughts on the M&S Plant Kitchen range
My first impression of the overall range is that there is a lot to choose from which is pretty rare when it comes to vegan items - so we're already off to a good start.
There's nothing worse than people sitting down to a lovely meal and you're stuck with plain pasta or a bland pizza - or worse a tomato salad.
Walking into Silverburn's newly refurbished M&S store, I immediately went to find the cake jar - because who wouldn't want to eat this?
And yes, their Vegan Chocolate Cake Jar tastes as good as it looks.
The good things about this jar are pretty endless, it's hard to list them off but to name a few, you can't tell its dairy-free or egg-free let alone vegan and lastly, it has so much filling in it you can't complain about not getting enough.
The downside is that it's £4 a pop so its pretty expensive. But if you don't mind having a jar to yourself then I would highly recommend this. It is quite sweet - not overly so - meaning I couldn't finish it in one sitting.
The brownies also tastes just like a non-vegan one would and pairs nicely with their Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream which is light and full of flavour.
It's chewy, fudgy and exactly how a brownie should taste so it's a thumbs up in the dessert department.
Even though dessert should be last, it had to be the first item I spoke about.
So now for dinner...
I've tried a few of their dinner options including as their pizza, the spinach pasta and the Sweet and Sour No Chicken.
Out of the three the chicken had to be my favourite as it tasted just like the meat itself I genuinely wouldn't be able to tell it apart.
And for reference, I am a meat-eater.
The pizza was also great and had a nice kick to it so if you don't like spice definitely avoid.
I would say it was disappointing that they don't sell any other Plant Kitchen pizzas as more options would be nice - even if it's plain old pepperoni or pineapple and ham.
Controversial I know.
From pizza to pasta now and shockingly the spinach ravioli was not bland and had a lot of flavour. Some of its contents did leak when it was boiling in the pan but it's not the end of the world.
For some added extras I used pine nuts which complimented the dish nicely alongside their pesto sauce which was lovely.
The only item I could tell wasn't actually meat were the 'chicken' nuggets and battered 'fish' cakes.
The nuggets had an almost prawn-like texture which wasn't horrible but it didn't replicated the chicken so a meat-eater would know - but it still tasted good and I'd happily snack on them.
The fishcakes were also nice but tasted more like potato than anything from the sea.
Looking at the whole range I would actually say the sausage rolls were my least favourite down to the smell of mushroom and the texture whilst the cake jar and the Sweet and Sour No Chicken were top of my list.
If you like mushrooms though then these rolls could be your new favourite replacements just as they were for my non-mushroom hating parents who didn't complain about any of the meat substitutes.
I would happily buy everything again - minus the sausage rolls - and would place money on meat-eaters not being able to tell the difference between most of these alternatives.
Overall from the products that I've tried I would give the whole range a massive thumbs up.
The extensive range just screams that M&S actually care about their plant-based customers and the flavours are all there.
Price wise I actually think it's also pretty decent and is around the same prices as any other store.
Although as mentioned before, I would rather shop here for my vegan alternatives than anywhere else due to the vast amount of products whether you're vegan or just looking to avoid dairy or eggs.
Would you or have you tried the M&S's Plant Kitchen range? Let us know what you think!
