92 shop-bought foods that are actually vegan

From Heinz Tomato Ketchup to Mr Kipling Treacle Tart, here are some supermarket favourites that are the perfect foods for vegans. 

Following a strict vegan diet can be challenging at times, especially when it comes to shop-bought, readymade foods. Some foods you assume are vegan, can actually be non-vegan containing animal-based ingredients such as milk powder often found in different types of bread or crisps for example.

And of course, it’s not just about animal-based ingredients, it’s also about how the product has been produced. For example, the ‘is honey vegan?’ debate, raises concerns that the production of honey impacts bees health and exploits them for human benefits according to The Vegan Society, which therefore makes it non-vegan produce. Then there are products that are surprisingly vegan-friendly including Oreos, Colman’s mustard and Warburtons crumpets. All in all, it can often be hard to differentiate between vegan and non-vegan foods.

Most shop-bought products nowadays will display a label that says whether the item is ‘suitable for vegans’ or not. This can often be found next to the ‘suitable for vegetarians’ symbol of a capital ‘V’. If in doubt, it is recommended to contact the manufacturer directly to make sure the food product is suitable for you.

Foods for vegans

Vegan condiments

There are quite an array of condiments that are actually suitable for vegans including Tabasco sauce and HP Brown sauce. By far our favourite is Hellmann’s vegan mayonnaise made specifically for vegans. This popular mayo first hit supermarket shelves in America in 2016. It’s the perfect vegan alternative to mayonnaise made with rapeseed oil, mustard, lemon juice and a handful of other very clever, vegan-friendly ingredients.

• Heinz Tomato Ketchup, 910g, £2.80 VIEW AT TESCO
• Hellmann’s Vegan Mayonnaise, 270g, £2.15 VIEW AT TESCO
• Tabasco Original Red Hot Pepper Sauce, 57ml, £2.10 VIEW AT TESCO
• Thai Dragon Sriracha Hot Chilli Sauce, 455ml, £1.99 VIEW AT TESCO
• Amoy Dark Soy Sauce, 150ml, £1.40 VIEW AT TESCO
• HP Brown Sauce Bottle, 255g, £1 VIEW AT TESCO
• Colman’s Original English Mustard, 170g, £1.40 VIEW AT TESCO

Vegan drinks

Robinsons Real Fruit, Galaxy Hot Chocolate and Coca-Cola are just a few drinks suitable for vegans

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. As fish gelatin is a common ingredient in squashes or fizzy drinks, milk powder is often found in powdered drinks like hot chocolate.

Vegan cheese

Supermarkets have a great variety of vegan cheese available nowadays

Cheese is one of the things often cited by new vegans as something that they really miss. While the traditional milk-based cheeses are not an option, there are plenty of alternatives including Free From selections from Tesco and Violife classic vegan cheese. Most vegan cheeses are made with water and coconut oil, meaning they contain much less fat and calories than regular cheese. Vegan cheese is however low in calcium and protein.

• Sainsbury’s Deliciously Free From Cheddar-Style Coconut Based Alternative To Cheese, 200g, £2.25 VIEW AT SAINSBURY’S
• Tesco Free From Coconut Oil Alternative To Mature Cheddar, 200g, £2 VIEW AT TESCO
• Violife Original Grated Cheese Alternative, 200g, £2.50 VIEW AT ASDA
• Tesco Free From Coconut Oil Alternative To Grated Mozzarella, 200g, £2.50 VIEW AT TESCO
• ASDA Free From Grated Cheddar Alternative, 200g, £1.40 VIEW AT ASDA
• ASDA Free From Grated Mozzarella Alternative, 200g, £1.40 VIEW AT ASDA
• Sainsbury’s Deliciously Free From Cheddar Style With Onion Coconut Based Alternative To Cheese, 200g, £2.25 VIEW AT SAINSBURY’S

Vegan bread

Vegan crumpets, pitta, classic loaves and more

A traditional loaf of bread is made with just four ingredients; flour, water, yeast and salt, making it one of our favourite foods for vegans. Some enriched breads like brioche or buns may contain butter and egg yolks so do check product packaging before buying. Some crumpets, pitta and tortilla wraps are also suitable for vegans.

Vegan ice cream

Vegan ice cream is another sweet treat that has exploded over the last few years, with lots of options to choose from. The most recent launch comes from Magnum, who have launched two flavours of vegan-friendly ice cream. Available from Tesco in packs of three for £3.89, you can buy an almond version or classic chocolate.

• Ben & Jerry’s Swirled Non Dairy Ice Cream, 465ml, £4.50 VIEW AT TESCO
• Ben & Jerry’s Non Dairy Chocolate Fudge Brownie Ice Cream, 465ml, £4.50 VIEW AT TESCO
• Swedish Glace Vanilla Non Dairy Frozen Dessert, 750ml, £2.50 VIEW AT TESCO
• Magnum Vegan Sea Salt Caramel Ice Cream 3x 90ml, £3.50 VIEW AT TESCO
• Wicked Kitchen Cookie Dough Ice Dream Treat, 500ml, £2.50 VIEW AT TESCO
• Halo Top Plant-Based Caramel Chocolate Pretzel, 473ml, £5 VIEW AT TESCO
• Cornetto Vanilla Gluten Free Soy Ice Cream Cone 4x 90ml, £2 VIEW AT TESCO
• Oatly Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream, 500ml, £4.50 VIEW AT TESCO
• Roar Hazelnut Chocolate Cookie Plant Based Ice Cream, 500ml, £5 VIEW AT TESCO

Vegan store cupboard ingredients

Bisto Gravy and Sainsbury’s Instant Noodles are both vegan-friendly

Stock your cupboards with a variety of these foods for vegans. We’ve included a few surprising products too like Bisto Favourite Gravy Granules, which are in fact vegetarian and vegan-friendly as they’re made from wheat flour, potato starch, soya and barley, amongst other ingredients. And it’s not just Bisto beef gravy, Sainsbury’s Instant Chicken Noodles are also made with vegans in mind, yet they taste exactly like they’ve been cooking in traditional chicken stock.

• Bisto Favourite Gravy Granules, 170g, £1.30 VIEW AT TESCO
• Sainsbury’s Instant Chicken Noodles 90g, 35p VIEW AT SAINSBURY’S
• Tesco Free From White Lasagne, 480g, 65p VIEW AT TESCO
• Smash The Original Instant Mash Potato, 360g, £2.50 VIEW AT TESCO
• Tesco Free From Basil Pesto, 190g, 90p VIEW AT TESCO
• Tesco Free From Korma Cooking Sauce, 500g, 80p VIEW AT TESCO

Vegan pastry

Jus-Rol is the perfect option for creating vegan pies and tarts

Making pastry from scratch is a great way to ensure that it’s a suitable food for vegans. However, if you’re looking for the shop-bought vegan-approved alternative, Jus-Rol and Tesco own brand both shortcrust and puff pastry are great choices. When shopping for pastry make sure you keep an eye out for any unwanted dairy products on the ingredients list such as milk and most commonly, butter.

Vegan spreads

Try one of these mouthwatering vegan spreads on a slice of vegan bread

A vast amount of spreads nowadays are made with vegans in mind. Some however still use milk powder or buttermilk, like Nutella and Cadbury’s Chocolate Spread.  One of our most recent discoveries has been Lotus Biscuit Spread. This indulgent spread is made with soya, has no added colours, flavours and is suitable for both vegans and vegetarians. It tastes heavenly spread on toast and is one of our top foods for vegans.

• Lotus Biscuit Spread Smooth, 400g, £2.30 VIEW AT TESCO
• Nature’s Store Gluten Free Chocolate Spread, £2.25 VIEW AT TESCO
• Marmite Yeast Extract, 125g, £1.85 VIEW AT TESCO 
• ASDA Crunchy Wholenut Peanut Butter 340g VIEW AT ASDA
• Vitalite Dairy Free Spread, 500g, £1.40 VIEW AT OCADO
• Pure Dairy Free Vegan Sunflower Spread, 500g, VIEW AT SAINSBURY’S
• M&S Avocado Oil Spread, 250g

Vegan pizza

Free-form and vegan-approved, White Rabbit Smokin’ pizza and BFree pizza bases

When it comes to vegan pizza, it’s not just about what goes on top of the pizza, it’s about what the base is made of too. Asda offers a build-your-own service at their in-store counters with the bases being vegan-friendly. This means you can pick plenty of veggie toppings.

Vegan jelly

Vegan jelly including Hartley’s jelly pots

One of the biggest concerns about jelly, when you’re on a vegan diet, is gelatine. Gelatine is a translucent, edible ingredient that, once baked or set, creates a jelly-like texture associated with jelly or jellied sweets such as Haribo. It is commonly made with collagen, taken from animal body parts making jellies unsuitable foods for vegans. Luckily for vegans and vegetarians, there are alternatives including Agar Agar and Vegan Jel to name a few.

Vegan chocolate

These delicious vegan chocolate bars taste like the real deal

One of our best foods for vegans, chocolate. Despite being made predominately with milk, chocolate has been adapted to cater for vegans too. Most of the options are dark, but some brands now use coconut oil to lighten their chocolate and give a rich, melting texture similar to traditional milk chocolate.

Vegan cake mix

Betty’s Crockers mix is vegan, just substitute the egg for chia seeds instead

Just like pastry, baking a cake from scratch is a great way to ensure that your cake is going to be vegan as you’ll have full control over the ingredients; especially if you’re choosing from a selection of vegan cake recipes. One thing to keep in mind is that readymade cake mixes often need to be bonded with an egg. Just swap for 1tbsp of chia seeds mixed with 2.5tbsp of water – but of course double check the box of cake mix to make sure there’s no hidden milk powder.

• Betty Crocker Chocolate Cake Mix, 425g, £2 VIEW AT TESCO
• Creative Nature Chia & Cacao Chocolate Chip Brownie Mix, 400g, £4.50 VIEW AT SAINSBURY’S
• Superfood Bakery Organic Lemon & Poppy Loaf Mix, 270G, £2.99 VIEW AT TESCO
• FREEE by Doves Farm Sponge Mix, 350g, £2 VIEW AT SAINSBURY’S
• Sweetpea Pantry Raw Cacao, Flax & Teff Brownie Mix, 200g, £2.70 VIEW AT SAINSBURY’S 
• Creative Nature Whole Grain Banana Bread Mix, 250g, £3.50 VIEW AT SAINSBURY’S 

Vegan crisps

Vegan-friendly crisps including Twiglet’s, Pringles and Tesco Finest

There are masses of crisps that are in fact vegan. They may be labelled chicken, beef, pork or meaty, but most contain artificial flavouring and have no animal products in the ingredients list. One of our favourite foods for vegans is Pringles. It’s not just the original flavour that is suitable for vegans, other flavours such as BBQ Sauce, Texas BBQ, Paprika and Smokey Bacon flavours are also vegan-friendly.

• Tesco Finest Sea Salt & Black Pepper Crisps, 150g, £1 VIEW AT TESCO
• Sainsbury’s Bacon Crispies, 140g, 95p VIEW AT SAINSBURY’S
• Sainsbury’s Gourmet Sea Salt Crisps, Taste the Difference, 150g, £1 VIEW AT SAINSBURY’S
• Kettle Crisps Vegan Cheese & Red Onion, 135g, £1.50 VIEW AT TESCO
• Pringles Original, 30g, £2.50 VIEW AT TESCO 
• Jacobs Twiglets, 150g, £2 VIEW AT TESCO 

Vegan biscuits

Oreo biscuits are a classic vegan biscuit

It’s not just the biscuits in the ‘Free-from’ aisle which are suitable for vegans; Oreo, Jammie Dodgers and Mcvitie’s Ginger Nuts are just a handful of foods for vegans. Biscuits and cookies from the fresh bakery section of the supermarket tend to be non-vegan, but do ask behind the counter to see if the bakers have any vegan biscuits that would suit you.

• Oreo, 2x 154G, £1.85 VIEW AT TESCO
• Jammie Dodgers Raspberry Biscuits, 140g, 50p VIEW AT ASDA
• Fox’s Party Rings Biscuits 125G, 50p VIEW AT TESCO 
• Tesco Free From Cookies & Cream Biscuits, 160g, £1.40 VIEW AT TESCO 
• Mcvitie’s Ginger Nuts, 250g, 90p VIEW AT TESCO 
• Mcvitie’s Rich Tea Biscuits, 300g, £1.29 VIEW AT TESCO

Vegan cereal

Weetabix is low in fat, low in sugar, low in calories and vegan-friendly

Serve this array of vegan cereal with almond, soya, oat or coconut milk. There are plenty of options to choose from too including Weetabix, Dorset Muesli and Shreddies. Keep an eye out for any cereals that contain honey as this tends to be an ingredient found in some whole grain cereal.

• Weetabix Cereal 24 Pack, £2.80 VIEW AT TESCO 
• Dorset Cereals Gloriously Nutty Muesli, 500g, £3.49 VIEW AT ASDA
• Shreddies The Coco One, 560g, £2.60 VIEW AT ASDA
• ASDA Fruit & Fibre, 500g, £1.25 VIEW AT ASDA 
• ASDA Blueberry Wheaties Cereal, 500g, £1.80 VIEW AT ASDA
• Kellogg’s Wkk Protein Chocolate & Coconut, 420g, £3 VIEW AT TESCO

Vegan desserts

Vegan desserts including churros with chocolate dip from M&S and dairy-free custard

Non-vegan ingredients such as milk, butter, honey, gelatine, and eggs make up a lot of readymade desserts. This tempting selection of puds range from treacle tart to cheesecakes and are suitable foods for vegans. Pair some of the dishes with soya or oat milk custard, or dairy-free ice cream.