1st grocery shopping

   I came to the conclusion that I needed to become vegan on Saturday afternoon while eating... sushi. It was somewhat awkward finishing the last few pieces, my GI issues were flaring up a lot after having eaten, and knowing that I was going to make the decision, they just didn't even taste good. But I hate letting good food go to waste, so I finished and immediately began thinking about just what I was going to eat next. A quick inventory of all the food in the house indicated that almost all of it had dairy in it- chocolate, many varieties of crackers, my all time favorite freezer standby, Kashi black bean enchilada (gonnna have to figure out how to recreate that), fro yo, milk for tea (quite an issue), frozen pizzas, canned soups, etc. I came to the realization that I was going to have to completely change the way I thought about food and eating, and that from now on, making sure I had food to eat was going to be  A LOT more work.
  Still, I was committed, and it was off to the store to get some soymilk, cereal, and tea so I would have something for breakfast the next day. First things first, the tea. I usually take black tea with cow's milk in the morning. I know from experience that other milks do not work well in black tea, so I had to find a replacement for black tea. There is a tea blend from Teavana that I really like that has mate in it (a caffeine substitute), so I bought a pound of it, for the bargain price of $71! So while I will enjoy it for now, I will have to find a cheaper, energy-giving tea for morning consumption.
  It was late, the grocery store was near closing, and I was tired and cranky, and all I wanted was some chocolate or dessert. Having already picked out some bread from the bakery that I knew was vegan, some soymilk and rice milk, and some cereal, I began the quest for some sweet treats. I did find a brand of specifically dairy free dark chocolate, which has turned out to be good, although I am still looking for a dairy free dark chocolate with sea salt, as that used to be my preferred daily chocolate fix.
  The most concerning part of this trip, however, was whether or not I would find the most important thing, cookies. I am a bit of a cookie monster and a cookie snob, and I had very little hope that I would find something that met my standards. Hidden away, under a table in the bakery, I found a small selection of cookies from a company called East Side Ovens, a local Milwaukee company that makes vegan baked goods. I have since sampled 3 different varieties- peanut butter chocolate chip,blueberry, and cranberry. The peanut butter cookies were initially a lot more dry than I would have liked, but I have adjusted and now I can't stop eating them. The others are like a very moist sugar cookie and are also delicious. So, so glad that we have a company in Milwaukee that makes such products, and I look forward to trying all of them! Although, I will have to learn how to bake my own cookies as spending $5 dollars on cookies everyday is not in my budget (figure of speech, the only budgeting I'm capable of is not overdrafting my checking account).
  I did look at some other snack products at the store, and I found that most of the ones I would have wanted did have dairy in them, but I was hopeful about my cookies and left the store feeling better than when I got there.