Here are my top tips on how to eat vegan when at a friend’s house!
1. Be honest.
The first and most important tip I have for you is to actually make your friend aware of your situation.
You may get some mixed receptions varying from defensiveness to acceptance but no matter what, it’s extremely important that you not only tell them that you are vegan, but that it is a very important part of your lifestyle.
If they love you and are worth keeping in your life, they will understand and accommodate you.
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2. Help your friend out
If you know that you are going to your friends house and they will be cooking for you, be helpful and send them a list of the foods that you can and can’t eat.
You can even specify your favorites and let them know where they can get them from.
Make them aware of any additional cost your food may come to.
This is optional but you could offer your friend a little bit of money toward any special food they buy in for you, this is something I always offer to do though my friends have never taken it!
3. Bring/buy your own food
If you and/or your friend are not confident that the right food will be purchased by them, why not take your own food along?
Pack a little bag of vegan snacks to keep you going through out the day and maybe bring a meal with you that you will be able to heat up whilst you’re there.
If you’re not able to travel with a lot of food for whatever reason, why not go shopping with your friend and purchase everything you’ll need yourself?
READ : 8 Ways To Live With a Non Vegan Partner
4. Prepare in advance
When you are invited to your friends house, think about what you’re going to do in advance.
Does your friend live too far for you to travel with frozen/chilled food?
Great, then pack some money to go shopping with.
Will your friend be cooking for you?
Fine, then send them a list of your needs, wants, likes and dislikes.
No matter the situation, try to think about what you’ll need to do in advance.
Whenever I go to my friend’s house, I always drop her a text offering to bring some food with me and she is always very honest in return by either stating that she would indeed like me to bring some food or that she’s bought some food in for me already.
Once you’ve been to a friend’s house a few times, you’ll find that they get to learn your likes, dislikes and foods to avoid.
5. Don’t let yourself feel like an inconvenience
Perhaps most importantly, never ever be afraid of feeling like you’re being a bother.
You have chosen a vegan lifestyle for yourself but this doesn’t mean that you should be made to feel bad.
If your friend is not happy accommodating you then this is truly not your concern.
If you are a socially anxious person and have trouble with one on one confrontation, why not drop your friend a message on a social network?
That way you can make them aware of the situation without the fear of having an anxiety attack in front of them.
No matter what happens, being vegan whilst visiting a friend is completely doable and should not be something to dread.
Far too many of you write in to me telling me that your friends have mocked you, made rude comments and even spiked your food with animal based produce.
This is absolutely not acceptable.
You need to go somewhere where you can feel safe and comfortable and where you can put 100% trust into your friend.
Please take a moment to reconsider your friendship if you are not in a place where you are comfortable enough to be honest with them because you deserve better.
Friendships are built on trust and you need to know that this friend is safe and will not do anything to negatively interfere with your lifestyle.
