Vegan ready meals
Although making a vegan meal needn't be difficult or time-consuming, sometimes it's just useful to have a ready meal in the fridge or freezer for a vegan guest.
While the supermarkets are coming up with ever-increasing ranges of vegetarian ready meals, there's still not a huge choice when it comes to vegan ready meals, as most of the vegetarian products include milk or eggs.
Wholefoods shops and Holland and Barrett usually have a better range of ready-made vegan products than supermarkets, if you have one near you it's worth dropping in and having a look what's in the freezer. Use the HappyCow directory to find shops near you.
Supermarket vegan ready meals and 'instead of the meat' products
Here is a list of vegan ready meals I (and some kind people on vegetarian online forums) have spotted so far in supermarkets. This is not a complete list, I don't eat ready meals very often myself so there are probably some I haven't found yet! If you know of any others, please let me know!
I have also included ready-made items which you can serve a vegan guest instead of a piece of meat in a meat-potatoes-vegetables meal, such as a Sunday roast. Sometimes this is more suitable than a whole separate ready meal if the potatoes and vegetables you're already cooking will be suitable for vegans. (Find out how to veganise a meat-potatoes-vegetables meal.) All 'instead of the meat' products are frozen unless otherwise stated.
Manufacturers do have a habit of changing their recipes with no prior warning, so check the label before buying. Products listed here may not be available in all stores.
Asda
Instead of the meat
Asda spicy bean and nacho burgers
Asda nut cutlets
Asda Chicken-style fillets
Co-op
Frozen
Linda McCartney chilli non carne
Instead of the meat
Linda McCartney sausages, cornish pasties and country pies
Grassington's multigrain vegetable bakes
Marks and Spencer
Chilled
Vegetable curry (Indian)
(The Indian Starter Selection - onion bhajis, samosas and pakoras - is
also vegan)
Bean and lentil roast: the roasts themselves are vegan, but they come
with a sachet of non-vegan yoghurt dressing
Morrisons
Frozen
Linda McCartney chilli non carne
Morrisons 'eat smart' vegetable chilli and rice
Chilled
Simply Organic ready meals
Cauldron Sweet potato and aubergine balti
Instead of the meat
Linda McCartney sausages, country pies, sausage rolls
Grassington's Spicy bean burgers
Goodlife nut cutlets
Sainsbury's
Frozen
Amy's Enchiladas
Chilled
Cauldron Chickpea and spinach balti
Sainsbury's Vegetable dansak
Instead of the meat
Sainsbury's Spicy bean quarter pounders
Sainsbury's Vegetarian nut cutlets
Sainsbury's Vegetable Dunkers (nuggets)
Linda McCartney sausages and country pies
Goodlife Butternut squash roast
Grassington's Multigrain vegetable bakes and Spicy bean burgers
Somerfield
Chilled
Love Foods ready meal range (Thai, Chinese and Indian-style ready meals)
Tesco
Frozen
Tesco Meat-free Mexican wraps
Chilled
Tesco Vegetarian chilli and rice
Simply Organic ready meals
Chickpea & Apricot curry with rice
Instead of the meat
Tesco Meat-free mexican-style bean burgers
Tesco Meat-free chicken-style fillets
Tesco Meat-free chicken-style dippers
Tesco Meat-free nut cutlets (these are now labelled vegan again after
being non-vegan for a while - July 08. Watch out though as my local Tesco
currently has vegan and non-vegan nut cutlets next to each other on the
shelf!)
Tesco Meat-free falafel
Linda McCartney sausages and country pies
Waitrose
Instead of the meat
Waitrose chunky vegetable quarter pounders
Waitrose Morrocan-spiced couscous grills
Goodlife butternut squash roasts
Goodlife spicy bean quarter pounders
Linda McCartney sausages and country pies
Cauldron carrot and onion burgers (chilled)
Wicken Fen carrot and coriander sausages (chilled)
Simply
Organic make a range of 'Pure and Pronto' vegan ready meals including
chillies, stews and casseroles. Be careful as they do also make some which
contain meat, but all the vegetarian meals are also suitable for vegans.
Tinned or fresh shop-bought soup and bread can be a suitable light meal for a vegan, but check the ingredients for non-vegan ingredients, as many vegetable soups include milk, cream or honey. Also watch out for meat or fish stock, although in Britain these are not usually used in soups described as 'vegetable' and should definitely not be in any 'vegetarian' soups.
Alternatively, have a look at the 10-minute meals page for super-quick recipes and home-made frozen ready meal ideas.