Who would’ve thought it? Lots of what you already eat is vegan! Many well-known products are accidentally vegan, and we’ve listed some of our favourites below…
The Obvious:
- Pasta (dry)
Almost all dried pasta is made without egg and is therefore 100% vegan. - Baked Beans
(original recipe, without cheese or sausages etc) - Tinned/Canned Spaghetti
(original recipe, without cheese or sausages etc) - Yeast extracts like Marmite
- Bread
Most fresh bread is vegan and Ciabatta, by its very nature, is always vegan as it is made with olive oil - Peanut Butter
- Tomato Sauce/Ketchup
- HP/Brown sauce
- Mustard
Whether it’s Dijon, wholegrain, English or American(note: Steers mustard is not vegan) - Branston Pickle
- Hot Sauces
Tabasco, Sriracha, and Sriracha Mayo - Rice
- Rice noodles
When ordering a Chinese takeaway, ask for rice noodles instead of egg noodles. - Jam
Typically made with pectin (to thicken) rather than gelatin (Pick n Pay jams are labelled vegan) - Hummus
- Chips/French fries
If cooked in veggie oil then they are vegan! - Porridge/Oatmeal
When made with water or plant milk - Bagels
(mostly vegan, check that it’s not brushed with egg)
The Surprising:
- Oreos
Original and Golden - Dark Chocolate Jungle Energy Bars
- Doritos
Sweet Chilli Pepper and Chilli Rib flavour (not cheese or cream flavours) - Pringles
Original - McVities Fruit Shortcake Biscuits
- Ritz Crackers
- Kettle Chips
Sea Salt, Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar - Ritter Sport chocolate
Dark, Extra Fine Dark, Dark Marzipan - Chocolate
Albany Classic and Almond, Beacon Midnight Velvet, Beacon dark Orange and Almond, TV bar dark (slab only), Aero dark, Woolworths dark chocolate, De Villiers dark chocolate and dark chocolate thins (not salted caramel), Woolworths dark chocolate covered almonds, ginger, and orange peel - Spar Squillos Chocolate Spread
- ProNutro
Original and Wholewheat - Spar Rice Crackers
- Moir’s Instant Pudding
Butterscotch and Chocolate flavour - Bakers Biscuits
Ginger Nuts, Mini Ginger Nuts, Romany Tarte, Original Digestive and Snacktime Golden Grain - Ina Paarman Cake Mix
Vanilla, Chocolate, Red Velvet - Ina Paarman
Brown Gravy, Chicken Flavour Stock and Beef Flavour Stock Powders (Note: the liquid stocks are not vegan!) - Lay’s Potato Chips
Classic, Salt & Vinegar, Thai Sweet Chilli, Caribbean Onion & Balsamic Vinegar - Kellogg’s breakfast cereal
Strawberry Pops, Coco Pops, All Bran, Corn Flakes, Froot Loops, Special K - Ouma rusks
Muesli and Condensed milk rusks. - Pick n Pay rusks
Plain/original rusks - Cape Cookies
Choc Chip and Crunchy Shortcake - Gullon biscuits
Sugar-free choco-chip, sugar-free fibre, sugar-free wafers, gluten-free maria cookies, gluten-free cookies (plain) - Cadbury Hot Chocolate Powder
- Woolworths hot cross buns
All except the buns with white chocolate chips - Woolworths ancient grain rice crackers
Plain and Mexican Jalapeño flavour - Pesto
Pesto Princess basil & chili pesto, red pesto, coriander & chili pesto, basil & lemon pesto, Ina Paarman coriander pesto, and sun dried tomato pesto - Salad dressings
Ina Paarman creamy herb dressing, classic balsamic vinaigrette, classic red wine vinaigrette, reduced oil balsamic, reduced oil greek, reduced oil lime & coriander - Dry Cook-in-Sauces
Knorr naturally tasty range, Robertson’s Rajah Easy Indian curry cook in sauces - Wet Cook-in-Sauces
Pakco curry made easy chicken korma, beef curry, malay curry, Royco recipe base butter chicken (no dairy) - Monteverde pasta sauces
(available at Checkers)
Beers and Ciders:
- Heineken
- Carlsberg
- Amstel
- Peroni
- Castle
- Carling Black Label
- Corona
- Devil’s Peak
- Foundry
- Grolsch
- Hansa
- Hunters
- Miller
- Savanna
- Stella Artois
- Tafel Lager
- Windhoek
- Brutal Fruit ( Manic Mango, Luscious Litchi, Lavascious Lemon, Sultry Strawberry, Passionate Peach, Cheeky Cranberry, and Apple-Ginger)
For more information on alcohol please have a look at our Label Reading Guide.
Wines:
Have a look at the Barnivore website.
Please note:
We have not included the obvious plant foods in the lists below (fruits, vegetables, grains, pulses, legumes, dried fruit, nuts, pickled vegetables, olives etc.), but they are most definitely vegan! Check out our Vegan Food Essentials guide.
Ingredients can alter from brand to brand, so do not assume just because an item is vegan in one store that it will also be in another.
On Instagram? Follow @weareveganuary for regular Accidentally Vegan product posts!
Something missing? Know of an accidentally vegan product that’s not listed above? Please contact us on Facebook, Twitter or email us at “[email protected]” mentioning that you’re from South Africa and we will add it to this blog. Thank you!
