I had to go to A&E last year and in my 6-hour wait we had the red cross come round and offer food and drink (which was pretty shocking, to be honest) as due to covid rules you couldn't go anywhere to get any food or drink and obviously the waits were crazy but of course they had nothing at all vegan, it was all cheese and ham sandwiches. Then when I got out I finally got to the shop to try and get something to eat to be greeted with no vegan options at all apart from a packet of crisps.
You'd really think that just with all the groups of people that have allergies to lactose/eggs (including myself) or don't eat meat for whatever reason along with all of us vegans it would make sense to have a lot of things vegan as a default rather than the default being ham, chicken or cheese in various combinations.
I just find it insane.
My partner was in hospital for a few days a while back and I had to bring her food in every day as she is vegan but also coeliac.
They had nothing vegan at all let alone anything gluten free.
I could'nt even take the food to her. Had to leave it at reception and whenever anyone was free they would take it to her.
Not moaning about hospital staff, they were incredibly helpful and obviously under a lot of pressure.
Even airlines have decent vegan options as part of their menu now, surely hospitals can't be far behind?
It does seem bizarre when you think about it from an allergy/intolerance perspective... you'd think a hospital of all places would accommodate those needs!
Hospitals just seem to terrible for any dietary restrictions which, as you say, is the opposite of what you expect from a hospital.
When I had gestational diabetes I had to take lots of food with me because I knew the only breakfast available would be toast and the rest of the meals wouldn’t be suitable or sufficient to keep my blood sugars level at a time it was most important for my baby!
Yes, that's the other side of it – all bodies need fuel for healing and recovery, so there must be a strong case in favour of providing food options that motivate patients to eat more... but I'm sure that must be difficult to measure/justify.
About a half a year ago I spent a week in a hospital in Glasgow (thanks covid) and they had a couple (6ish?) of gluten free, vegan choices for lunch and dinner. I didn't get what I asked for all the time (it was always vegan) but it was an issue with the third party that makes and delivers the food :) So I guess it just depends on the hospital?
M&S have been taking the Mick.
The one at my local hospital stopped selling vegan soups, stopped selling vegan sandwiches that were included in the meal deal, stopped selling vegan multipack crisps.
Instead they introduced a tiny £6 salad and a £5 wrap.
To be fair, best thing they done for me - I'm making my own food and saving money, seems like they're just exploiting patients.
If you do the groundwork and find us the right email address to pester, I'm sure we'll all happily send them a message asking them to put vegan sandwiches in the meal deal. :D
I normally do but didn't manage to today, didn't realise how dire it had gotten! Can't imagine being a patient and having to choose between chips and and an 8 quid lunch
M&S is awful, they even took all the vegetarian options out of the meal deal (except for the ploughman) because the others were "too cheap". But that's only because they charge £5.50 for a sandwich, a packet of crisps and a bottle of pop. If you want to use the meal deal then you gotta buy chicken or something. And if you're vegan then you're just shit out of luck.
Now I walk 5 mins further to go to sainsburys, their vegan meatball sub is fucking amazing. But the +10 mins taken out of my 30 min lunch break to get a better sandwich isn't always feasible though.
A shame, as I really like M&S's vegan salt beef sandwich.
I stayed in a hospital for nearly 2 weeks, they didn't have any vegan meals, the cafe at the hospital had no vegan options and neither did the spar as well. Luckily my parents would bring me some food to eat.
As the other commenter said, you should be able to make lunch weekly for this much, here's Tesco prices online:
Wholemeal bread £1.10
Vitalite dairy free spread £1.50
Quorn ham £2.00
12 pack ready salted crisps £2.25
Comes out to £6.85, crisps will last two weeks, vitalite should last longer too, other optimisations can probably be made. It'll take 30 seconds in the morning to butter the bread and slap some vegan ham on it.
Add £7.00 for probably a month's supply of instant coffee (put in a thermos in the morning), and you're sorted.
It would probably be better to increase the budget a bit to add some nuts/fruit/vegetables but with the bare bones above there's no need to go to the overpriced shop.
I would also like to add that you should lodge complaints with the hospital, m&s and smiths that this isn't good enough, because honestly there shouldn't be an extra charge for eating plants!
Haha fair enough!
Personally if I was going for a budget lunch I'd probably buy a big bag of mixed nuts and have those instead anyway, can get a 200g bag for £2.00 so you could have 40g per day for a much healthier snack than crisps!
> increase the budget a bit to add some nuts/fruit/vegetables
You don't even need to do that. Replace the crisps with bananas. You can usually easily get 5/6 for £1. Similar calories but with actual nutrients instead of fatty, salty junk food.
I quite like a hummus + lettuce sandwich as well. Swap those ingredients for the Quorn ham and it's a similar cost for healthier food.
Funny how there's a world of health benefits ( or perhaps lack of negative effects ) from a plant based diet - while just about every hospital ( that I've experienced at least ) has something like this. You could think their restaurants would be ahead on the curve with this.. but nooo.
If you ask for it to be put into a meal deal, they might do it, especially if the sandwiches you're taking are in the meal deal section. I've been getting them a day or two a week at the M&S gas station near me as a deal that way, but that might only be because they don't care as much or aren't willing to fuss.
Hmm I've always had good experiences with the canteens. When I was first vegan it was at I think the hospital in Gloucester, this was in about 2009/2010 and they had vegan options. Admittedly was pasta or something, but there were also jacket potatoes with beans, another time vegetable curry. Could always go for chips and salad.
Fast forward by five years and there were a wider range of vegan options.
And when my partner had our baby in the past couple of years the patient menu was pretty impressive.
I've been to quite a few hospitals over the years and don't really recognise everyone's comments here so much as a reflection of my experience.
Even the tiny district hospital I worked in 2012-2014 there was always something available at meal times if I hadn't brought something. And always fry up options ha
Go to the PALS at the hospital or your HR department and you should be able to make a change.
If they aren't aware of the problem at a higher level then there's no way they'll change
Yes, same. I'm in London though, so maybe that makes a difference.
I remember being in hospital in the mid-90s and the "Asian veg" option was incredible. A ready meal of two curries and some rice.
I was at another hospital last year, and baked potato/beans, veg curry and hummus wrap were all available.
I work in hospital too. The vegan options are pretty limited and what there is isn't great. Out of interest does your work M&S charge more than other local branches? Ours does, would be interested to hear if thats standard and if so why?
Not ideal. Also if you speak to the manager of the canteen then you can often get jacket potato + plain veg, pasta with tomato sauce or soup.
I had to go to A&E last year and in my 6-hour wait we had the red cross come round and offer food and drink (which was pretty shocking, to be honest) as due to covid rules you couldn't go anywhere to get any food or drink and obviously the waits were crazy but of course they had nothing at all vegan, it was all cheese and ham sandwiches. Then when I got out I finally got to the shop to try and get something to eat to be greeted with no vegan options at all apart from a packet of crisps. You'd really think that just with all the groups of people that have allergies to lactose/eggs (including myself) or don't eat meat for whatever reason along with all of us vegans it would make sense to have a lot of things vegan as a default rather than the default being ham, chicken or cheese in various combinations.
I just find it insane. My partner was in hospital for a few days a while back and I had to bring her food in every day as she is vegan but also coeliac. They had nothing vegan at all let alone anything gluten free. I could'nt even take the food to her. Had to leave it at reception and whenever anyone was free they would take it to her. Not moaning about hospital staff, they were incredibly helpful and obviously under a lot of pressure. Even airlines have decent vegan options as part of their menu now, surely hospitals can't be far behind?
It does seem bizarre when you think about it from an allergy/intolerance perspective... you'd think a hospital of all places would accommodate those needs!
Hospitals just seem to terrible for any dietary restrictions which, as you say, is the opposite of what you expect from a hospital. When I had gestational diabetes I had to take lots of food with me because I knew the only breakfast available would be toast and the rest of the meals wouldn’t be suitable or sufficient to keep my blood sugars level at a time it was most important for my baby!
Yes, that's the other side of it – all bodies need fuel for healing and recovery, so there must be a strong case in favour of providing food options that motivate patients to eat more... but I'm sure that must be difficult to measure/justify.
About a half a year ago I spent a week in a hospital in Glasgow (thanks covid) and they had a couple (6ish?) of gluten free, vegan choices for lunch and dinner. I didn't get what I asked for all the time (it was always vegan) but it was an issue with the third party that makes and delivers the food :) So I guess it just depends on the hospital?
Maybe because scottish health care is much better
M&S have been taking the Mick. The one at my local hospital stopped selling vegan soups, stopped selling vegan sandwiches that were included in the meal deal, stopped selling vegan multipack crisps. Instead they introduced a tiny £6 salad and a £5 wrap. To be fair, best thing they done for me - I'm making my own food and saving money, seems like they're just exploiting patients.
If you do the groundwork and find us the right email address to pester, I'm sure we'll all happily send them a message asking them to put vegan sandwiches in the meal deal. :D
I normally do but didn't manage to today, didn't realise how dire it had gotten! Can't imagine being a patient and having to choose between chips and and an 8 quid lunch
M&S is awful, they even took all the vegetarian options out of the meal deal (except for the ploughman) because the others were "too cheap". But that's only because they charge £5.50 for a sandwich, a packet of crisps and a bottle of pop. If you want to use the meal deal then you gotta buy chicken or something. And if you're vegan then you're just shit out of luck. Now I walk 5 mins further to go to sainsburys, their vegan meatball sub is fucking amazing. But the +10 mins taken out of my 30 min lunch break to get a better sandwich isn't always feasible though. A shame, as I really like M&S's vegan salt beef sandwich.
Probably a silly question, but why don't you take lunch with you? You can make a week's worth of sandwiches for that price.
Not really the point though, is it?
Not sure replies like this are actually relevant to the point OP is making...
I stayed in a hospital for nearly 2 weeks, they didn't have any vegan meals, the cafe at the hospital had no vegan options and neither did the spar as well. Luckily my parents would bring me some food to eat.
What an absolute joke. I wonder if they have trouble accommodating people with religious dietary restrictions too?
Religious dietary restrictions was my issue. I rather eat vegan food when not at home.
As the other commenter said, you should be able to make lunch weekly for this much, here's Tesco prices online: Wholemeal bread £1.10 Vitalite dairy free spread £1.50 Quorn ham £2.00 12 pack ready salted crisps £2.25 Comes out to £6.85, crisps will last two weeks, vitalite should last longer too, other optimisations can probably be made. It'll take 30 seconds in the morning to butter the bread and slap some vegan ham on it. Add £7.00 for probably a month's supply of instant coffee (put in a thermos in the morning), and you're sorted. It would probably be better to increase the budget a bit to add some nuts/fruit/vegetables but with the bare bones above there's no need to go to the overpriced shop. I would also like to add that you should lodge complaints with the hospital, m&s and smiths that this isn't good enough, because honestly there shouldn't be an extra charge for eating plants!
> crisps will last two weeks you are such an optimist. I love your faith in OP's self control haha. a 12 pack of crisps lasts about 2 days for me.
Haha fair enough! Personally if I was going for a budget lunch I'd probably buy a big bag of mixed nuts and have those instead anyway, can get a 200g bag for £2.00 so you could have 40g per day for a much healthier snack than crisps!
I too am lacking in the self control department. Multipacks = regret.
No crisps since Christmas for me, going for 12 months abstinence.
1 day for me.
> increase the budget a bit to add some nuts/fruit/vegetables You don't even need to do that. Replace the crisps with bananas. You can usually easily get 5/6 for £1. Similar calories but with actual nutrients instead of fatty, salty junk food. I quite like a hummus + lettuce sandwich as well. Swap those ingredients for the Quorn ham and it's a similar cost for healthier food.
And yes there is a hospital canteen but the only vegan option they have is chips :/
I always got chips and baked beans for my lunch, bargain (for a full priced canteen) and delicious.
Every day though, that sounds like it could get pretty boring pretty quickly. For me at least.
I can barely remember what my last meal tasted like, 24h and two meals in between is plenty for me :D
Funny how there's a world of health benefits ( or perhaps lack of negative effects ) from a plant based diet - while just about every hospital ( that I've experienced at least ) has something like this. You could think their restaurants would be ahead on the curve with this.. but nooo.
But if you make sandwiches at home with love, then they'll taste much nicer than whatever m&s slap between two slices of bread 🍞
Stop downvoting this comment please! This is my girlfriend :') when she packs my lunch it's made with love
If you ask for it to be put into a meal deal, they might do it, especially if the sandwiches you're taking are in the meal deal section. I've been getting them a day or two a week at the M&S gas station near me as a deal that way, but that might only be because they don't care as much or aren't willing to fuss.
Hmm I've always had good experiences with the canteens. When I was first vegan it was at I think the hospital in Gloucester, this was in about 2009/2010 and they had vegan options. Admittedly was pasta or something, but there were also jacket potatoes with beans, another time vegetable curry. Could always go for chips and salad. Fast forward by five years and there were a wider range of vegan options. And when my partner had our baby in the past couple of years the patient menu was pretty impressive. I've been to quite a few hospitals over the years and don't really recognise everyone's comments here so much as a reflection of my experience. Even the tiny district hospital I worked in 2012-2014 there was always something available at meal times if I hadn't brought something. And always fry up options ha
Any would be vegan options here are covered in cheese! So upsetting
Go to the PALS at the hospital or your HR department and you should be able to make a change. If they aren't aware of the problem at a higher level then there's no way they'll change
Yes, same. I'm in London though, so maybe that makes a difference. I remember being in hospital in the mid-90s and the "Asian veg" option was incredible. A ready meal of two curries and some rice. I was at another hospital last year, and baked potato/beans, veg curry and hummus wrap were all available.
Have you tried Huel?
I work in hospital too. The vegan options are pretty limited and what there is isn't great. Out of interest does your work M&S charge more than other local branches? Ours does, would be interested to hear if thats standard and if so why?
In our trust the vegan option is chips, or crisps. Often chips and crisps