I had the chance to pop in the Irish Alpro Planquet, an open space where one of the top plant-based brands, Alpro, was giving away delicious meals to discover a new, healthy way of eating.

Alpro products are plant-based, so they are suitable for vegetarians and vegans, which means they are suitable for everyone! The products are basically dairy-free alternatives to milk and yogurt, with a thick smooth texture and a lovely fresh taste coming mainly from nuts and seeds, soya, whole grains, pulses, legumes, veggies and fruits.

The range of delicious breakfast, lunch and dinner dishes all have Alpro at their heart, including fruit-filled breakfast options, wholesome sweet potato curry for lunch and mushroom and tofu stroganoff with garlic bread for dinner.

This initiative took place over one week, from the 24th to 30th April, open 12h a day, starting at 7am. Free breakfast, lunch, dinner and ice-creams were provided to anyone who was passing by.

This initiative made me and, hopefully, many more people, more aware of how you can perfectly add a yogurt alternative to any meal or a milk alternative to your breakfast, breaking the rules of when to eat milk and yogurt – so far, milk has been reserved for breakfast and yogurt for the mornings or after a meal.

Here are a few of the samples that I tried over the week. A tablespoon of a different flavored dairy-free yogurt alternative was added to each of those:

BREAKFAST

Starting the day from 7am to 10am with healthy breakfasts like strawberry overnight oats, served with Alpro plain with coconut. As you can imagine, this recipe was the smoothest because you give the oats enough time to become creamy and infused with the exotic coconut flavour.

Another tasty recipe was muesli with fresh fruit, served with Alpro unsweetened, Alpro oat original and Alpro soya original. A mix of Alpro products gave this breakfast a sensation of flavours which can only be explained by trying it!

Another alternative was The Food Medic’s banana and flax smoothie served with one of my favourite Alpro products, the oat original!

I would say there are two types of people in this world, those who love oats and those who don’t like them at all.

So, my advice for the latter is to use it as the base in your breakfast because while it’s true it doesn’t have a specific flavour by itself, it might be an advantage to add any other plant-based ingredients, like banana, giving it a smooth taste; honey, giving it a sugary taste; fruits or berries – antioxidant wild fruits, giving it a fresh flavour and, maybe, some nuts.

This way, the breakfast will be all you need to start the day with energy due to the nutritional ingredients.

LUNCH

The 3 alternatives for lunch were varied to satisfy every flavour.

• Chunky waldorf and spinach salad, served with Alpro simply plain.
• Sweet potato Curry, served with Alpro plain unsweetened.
• Homemade veggie black beans burger with a salad topped with Alpro simply plain.

 

My favourite lunch?                                                                                                                                                                                                      

I am a lover of the combination of different flavors and textures so I might say I found the crunchy salad a very interesting meal, the combination of nutritional foods made it my highlight! Ingredients like walnuts, raisins, apples and crunchy veggies were wonderful and already providing me with many different flavors, so the most suitable Alpro product to add was the simply plain.

I found it a really intriguing meal for breakfast or as a side in your lunch or dinner, or even in a small portion as a snack, so satisfying, highly natural and nutritional food!

The burger alternative was another good choice. I was never a big fan of burgers because I don’t see white bread as a nutritional food, it just makes you feel full without adding useful nutrients to your body. It also makes many people feel swollen so, a veggie burger suitable for everyone, even for meat lovers, was refreshing to see.

 

The Alpro simply plain also proved to be a great sauce! A welcome alternative to sauces like ketchup and mayonnaise, the composition of which we better not get into.

If you follow a Mediterranean diet like me, maybe adding yogurt would be better than any kinds of sauce.

DINNER

Dinner options were the most varied!

From mushroom and tofu stroganoff served with garlic bread to spinach falafel with lemon and garlic, both served with Alpro simply plain, and the Mexican veggie fajitas! Served with Alpro Go On Plain.

I am not into spicy food at all so when I saw “fajitas” I imagined myself crying as usual. Nevertheless, the stubborn person that I am, I wanted to try them and the simply plain helped quite a lot!

The meal with tofu made me feel fuller for longer due to the combination of high in protein and carbs foods. It was also more related to a similar dish I could prepare at home.

Plus, the idea of creating my own turned out delicious by adding my favourite veggies rather than others 🙂

 

My favourite Dinner?

My favourite so far was The Food Medic’s spinach falafel with lemon and garlic, such an outstanding dish! I would advise parents to cook this kind of meal for children who are not into legumes – everything is more interesting when made into the shape of a falafel!

I really wanted to repeat and it is a pity I only tried this dish on the very last day, I should have ordered it at the very beginning 😀 a good idea for a recipe at home, though!

 

 

 

 

 

Do you experience a lack of control around sweet food?

I have always had such a sweet tooth and it’s hard to control myself around chocolate and nuts, they can be so addictive. But since I tried some of the dairy-free milk alternatives, my mind is not asking me for sweets so much. The dark chocolate flavour almond milk especially helped me because it has exactly the two flavors my mind would be asking me for, nuts and chocolate. 

Here is one of my recipes for a sweet tooth like you! Using exactly the Alpro dark chocolate flavour almond milk and Alpro vanilla soya yogurt!

During Alpro Planquet, I tried this almond dark chocolate in the iced-coffee and added to porridge.

Cashew milk is another of the alternatives and I must say it is my favourite one! The flavour is so real. It’s just like putting cashews in a blender and drinking them afterwards, a paradise for any sweet tooth! Just give it a try and you will feel the difference yourself.

It can also be added to your coffee, your breakfast porridge or any other cereal. It’s good for baking, without the need to add artificial sugars or nuts, because Alpro products are very low in sugars.

I am not a big fan of coffee as I find its flavour too strong but I would never say no to a sweet ice-cold coffee drink like the one I tried these days in Alpro Planquet. My favourite? Coconut flavour!

Passers-by were also treated to Alpro’s new delightfully creamy plant-based ice-cream.

All in all, this was a great opportunity to discover a fresh way of eating, giving guests a full insight into just how much variation there is in plant-based eating.

Not just for the incredible texture and taste in their products but to change people’s minds by creating delicious, naturally healthy plant-based foods, which are more sustainable for the planet, too.

 

I enjoyed all the meals with my friends, colleagues and my boyfriend. Everyone was delighted with the meals – the vegetarians, the vegans and even those who eat everything, like me! No one was excluded! Everyone was more than welcome to try plant-based meals and learn how to start integrating more and more plant-based dishes in their day-to-day.

 

CONCLUSION

Regardless if you are vegetarian, vegan, or neither, we all need to make a change in the way we eat and focus more on plant-based food.

ADVANTAGES

This way of eating is sustainable for our lives. It’s good for people and for the planet, as well as easy and ultra-tasty.

Plant-based eating is gaining momentum, and for good reason. That’s why I truly believe that the future of food is plant-based and we’re committed to leading the charge.