FIND OUT WHAT'S ON NEAR YOU WITH OUR NEWSLETTER SIGN UP Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

One of the most common misconceptions about veganism or plant-based diets is that they're expensive or hard to manage.

A dreaded and regular question for 'full time vegans' is, "but what do you even eat?".

But when you've been doing it a little while, you'll discover that there's actually loads of foods you can enjoy.

Most importantly, without breaking the bank over the 'vegan' tag often placed, which have a fun habit of increasing the price of things by about a third.

We've put together a list of 25 things commonly sold in stores, which are what's known as 'accidentally vegan', you might be surprised as to how much of your diet is plant based already, or if you are vegan and didn't know you could eat these - well, you're welcome!

Note: Please always be sure to double-check the ingredients before purchasing anything on this list, as manufacturers are at liberty to change their ingredients at any time.

Cadbury's Drinking Chocolate

(Image: Daily Mirror)

Most of the big name fizzy drinks available in supermarkets are vegan-friendly, with just a few exceptions, namely Lilt, Lilt Zero, Kia-Ora and Schweppes Orange Squash, which all potentially carry traces of fish gelatin.

However, if it’s a hot drink you’re after and a delicious sweet treat fix, then we have good news – there are plenty of hot chocolate drinks that happen to be vegan. Mixed with warm almond milk, soy milk or even boiling water, they taste rich and creamy without the need for dairy.

Freddo's hot chocolate and Cadbury's Drinking Chocolate are two of the best known brands.

Crumpets

(Image: Handout)

Stop the press. Crumpets are vegan.

We've got Warburtons as the main image, but most store branded packs are plant based.

After all, real bread is made with just four ingredients: flour, water, yeast and salt. Although they have other added preservatives, crumpets are fundamentally the same concept.

Bread

(Image: Publicity Picture)

As said above, real bread is made with just the four core ingredients.

If you look out for quality bread from the bakery it makes an excellent vegan option.

Although you should beware some enriched breads like brioche or buns contain butter and egg yolks, but there are plenty of vegan alternatives.

Chicken flavoured noodles

(Image: Waitrose & Partners)

You wouldn't think it, but a lot of noodles are vegan. A lot aren't, and have milk powder in as a thickening agent.

But chicken flavoured noodles, especially a lot of the ethnic brands and super noodles don't use the dreaded dairy as an ingredient inclusion.

Veganism isn't all salads as some would like you to believe, comfort, treat and lazy eating is a huge part of it too!

Bisto gravy

(Image: Publicity Picture)



One of our favourite discoveries is that instant vegan gravy is a thing (thanks, Bisto!) - but onion and vegetable gravy Tesco own brand is also vegan.

You just can't beat a veggie sausage, mash, peas and gravy dinner on a rainy day.

Lotus Biscoff Biscuit Spread

(Image: HANDOUT)

Lotus Biscoff Biscuits are vegan and is now available as a spread, and when it came out it was an absolute toast game changer.

Lots of fruit jams are vegan too, but Biscoff on bread was a dish we never knew A perfect alternative to chocolate spread or peanut butter if they're not your thing.

Create a delicious, unique sweet spread with this best kept secret.

Garlic bread (pizza bread or slices)

(Image: The People)

It might not seem like it but some garlic breads are totally suitable for a herbivore human.

Some have butter as the spread, but a lot use a margarine/oil based garlic spread.

One that we particularly like you can pick up at your local essentials shop, Safeway's garlic bread. It's like a pizza, only better.

Jelly

(Image: Getty Images)

Jelly often has gelatin in it, for those who don't know what gelatin or gelatine is, it's a translucent, colourless, flavourless food ingredient, derived from collagen taken from animal body parts.

If that doesn't float your boat, but jelly does, Sainsbury's raspberry jelly is gelatin free, and even has real raspberries in it - so it's a bit like one of your five a day.

(We said a bit)

Bournville dark chocolate

(Image: Publicity Picture)

Aside from Bournville, Cadbury doesn't offer many vegan options. But this one kind of makes up for it with it's creamy delicousness.

At Easter, the chocolate company released Bournville chocolate buttons, which was incredible to be totally honest.

Crisps - Pringles, Walkers, Twiglets

(Image: Handout)

As with seemingly everything, lots of crisps have milk powder in them, unless they're cheese or sour cream flavour though, literally who knows why.

But believe it or not, a lot of meaty flavoured crisps are actually entirely meat free, which makes them a great choice for vegans who every now and then get a craving for something a little on the edge.

Crisps that are totally okay include: Pringles Original - BBQ Sauce, Texas BBQ, Paprika and Smokey Bacon flavour, Twiglets, Bacon Hoola Hoops, McCoy’s Thai Sweet Chicken, Sainsbury’s bacon crispies, Sainsburys Taste The Difference sea salt and peppercorn crisps, Sainsbury’s meaty variety crisps, M&S fish ‘n’ chip crisps, Doritos Chilli Heatwave and salted original and Walkers Ready Salted, Salt and Vinegar, Prawn Cocktail and Worcester Sauce crisps.

Biscuits - chocolate bourbons, Oreos, Fox's Party Rings

(Image: Daily Record)

People who have a problem with veganism will try and tell you you can't eat biscuits. But they're wrong, so so wrong.

One of the biggest surprises for us was chocolate bourbons, custard cremes aren't usually okay (there is a Tesco brand you can eat though), but vegan biscuit treats include: Lotus Original Caramel Biscuits, Fox's Ginger Crinkle Crunch Biscuits, Fox's Dark Chocolate Chunkie Cookies, Fox's Party Rings, Bourbon Biscuits, Oreos, Nairn's Biscuits – Dark Chocolate Chip Oat, Stem Ginger Oat, Mixed Berries Oat, Fruit & Spice Wheat Free and Crawford's Pink Wafers.

Unfrosted Pop Tarts (blueberry, strawberry and brown sugar - cinnamon)

The two main non-vegan ingredients found in most Pop-Tarts are milk, which can also be found in the form of whey, and gelatin.

Sadly, every frosted Pop-Tarts flavor contains gelatin in the frosting, but there are still three very delicious, unfrosted Pop-Tart flavors that are vegan-friendly.

These include: blueberry, strawberry and brown sugar-cinnamon, which are all on PETA's list of "accidentally vegan" foods.

Cereal - Weetabix, Shreddies, Asda blueberry wheaties

(Image: Daily Record)

As a vegan, you can still have your breakfast cereal in a morning, instead of using cow milk, switch to a plant milk instead: oat, soy, almond, rice, coconut, hemp, cashew.

Unfortunately, like with most things, not all cereals are vegan.

Easy ingredients to look out for are of course milk and honey but however, vitamin D can also be a red flag.

Many companies, including Kellogg’s, source their vitamin D from lanolin. This is grease from sheep’s wool, therefore not vegan.

But lots like Weetabix and Shreddies are proudly vegan, even the frosted ones and ones with chocolate.

Smiley face potatoes

(Image: Birmingham Post and Mail)

According to McCain's web site, “Mealtime is fun time with McCain SMILES® Fun Shaped Potatoes. ... SMILES, like basically all fries, are vegan.

These squishy happy potato faces will not only make you happy with their happiness, but they don't require milk or butter or whatever - so they're commonly guilt free.

And even though they're a kids treat - they can be yours too!

Sweets - Starburst, Love Hearts, Flying Saucers, Skittles, Turkish Delight

(Image: Daily Mirror)

Some sweets recipes actually contain animal and insect-derived ingredients like carmine (also called Cochineal – a red colouring derived from beetle shells!), beeswax and gelatine.

Thankfully though there are plenty of sweets that you are probably eating that are on the market today that are vegan friendly. You can find all these vegan sweets in Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and other major UK supermarkets.

They include: Starburst, Millions, Haribo – Sour Rainbow Strips, Flying Saucers, Love Hearts, Jelly Tots, Sherbet Fountain, Skittles, Goody Good Stuff and Fruit Sherbets.

Pasta

(Image: Getty Images)

You may have heard that pasta is not vegan because it may contain egg as a listed ingredient. But those are usually 'fresh' pastas.

But generally, pasta contains no animal-derived ingredients and most packaged pasta—including spaghetti, rotini, and any other type is 100 percent vegan.

Marmite

(Image: PA)

As it says on the Marmite websites 'frequently asked questions' this spread is "perfectly suitable for vegetarians and vegans".

The question is: "Does Marmite™ have any meat in it?"

To which the company answer: "Absolutely not – Marmite™ is a meat-free product and always has been. It’s perfectly suitable for vegetarians and vegans. We couldn’t possibly let anyone miss out on our much-loved spread."

Coop/Asda/Morrison's jam and custard donuts

Quite a few supermarket doughnuts are actually vegan. Shiny ones like Krispy Kremes aren't, they have milk in their glazing and egg in their recipe.

But Morrison's, Coop and Asda to name a few are animal free in their jam and custard doughnuts. Be sure to check though, and ask a staff member if you're not sure!

Ritz Crackers

Despite having cheese on the packaging, Ritz Original Crackers are vegan, as are some of the brand's other flavours.

On the ingredients list are "natural flavor" and "natural smoke." - so there are no hidden animal products to be found here.

Ritz Crackers and cup of tea? Yes please!

Nature Valley Granola Bars

The majority of the crunchy granola bars are vegan.

The flavors include Apple Crisp, Peanut Butter, Cinnamon, Pecan Crunch, Roasted Almond, and Maple Brown Sugar.

Oats 'n Honey flavor isn't listed, because most vegans choose to steer clear of honey.

Popcorn

Unless it says 'butter coated' or 'honey' or something similar, popcorn is cooked in oil (or in the microwave) and even when it's sweet it's vegan.

Those bags of Propercorn, sweet and salty and just plain salty are just popcorn and seasoning so you can go to the cinema or Tesco and munch on these addictive and moreish snack.

Salted pretzels

(Image: Daily Mirror)

If you go to Aunt Anne's and ask for a pretzel with no dairy, they'll brush it with an oil based spread that is equally delicious and arguably not as heavy.

But an awesome snack are these little dried pretzels, especially the Sainsbury's ones. For £1.20 you can pick up a 150g bag to pick up whilst watching a bit of late night netflix.

Pot noodles

(Image: Daily Mirror)

This may be a bit left wing, but a few Pot Noodle's have no animal product ingredients in them.

This includes: Beef & Tomato, Bombay Bad Boy, Sweet & Sour, Brazilian BBQ Steak, Chilli Beef, Chinese Chow Mein, Piri Piri Chicken, Sticky Rib. All totally vegan, so student and low key eating can still totally be a thing.

Cup-a-soup

(Image: Daily Mirror)

Many cup-a-soups have milk powder in to thicken them up. Even loads of tomato soup, which came as a huge surprise to us anyway!

However not all of them are. Including a lot of Batchelors soups, some Heinz and brands such as Amy's Kitchen.

This is another one where if you shop in the ethnic or own brand paper soup packet section, they tend not to have anything untoward in it.

Betty Crocker Cake Mix

(Image: Daily Mirror)

Did you know that many boxed cake mixes are vegan?

It’s easy to slightly alter the directions on the packet by using egg replacers, which you can pick up online or in natural grocery stores.

Lots of pre-made icings and toppings are vegan too.

Does this list surprise you? Did we miss any 'accidentally vegan' treats that you love? Let us know in the comments!