Back at the start of the year I wrote Why I’m Not Doing Veganuary. Whilst writing that post, I decided that although veganism and vegetarianism are not for us, I would try to reduce our family’s meat consumption and choose organic meat and dairy.

So far so good. We’re probably eating meat and fish at home only once or twice a week at most. We’ve stopped buying meat from the supermarket and instead have bought from a newly opened local farm shop which sells its own organic beef and pork. We have also bought non-organic bacon from our village shop, but it is from a local farm. Since watching Seaspiracy (an interesting documentary on Netflix, well worth a watch) I can’t bring myself to buy fish anymore either.

We have switched to organic milk from our milkman and I swear it tastes nicer! I have also convinced my parents to switch to organic milk (the ripple effect in action). I’d been buying supermarket organic butter for a while, but recently realised that they also sell organic cheddar and feta cheese, so these have been added to our online supermarket delivery.

Since Veganuary we have been trying different brands of vegan and vegetarian sausages and burgers. On the whole, these have been popular with all the family including the fussier members (everyone except me!). So, without further ado, here’s our vegan sausage review!

Linda McCartney 6 Vegetarian Sausages 270g £2.20

Linda McCartney sausages have come a long way since the 1990s when I was a vegetarian! The general consensus from the family is that these are “alright”. Mainly made from soya, the texture is pretty good and they taste nice enough. They are surprisingly filling (perhaps a bit stodgy) so a pack of 6 is enough for our family of four. Interestingly, these sausages sell themselves short, they are Vegetarian Society approved as Vegan, not just vegetarian. We’ve also tried Linda McCartney Lincolnshire Sausages, which I liked but the kids found a bit too herby!

Heck Meat Free Vegan Italia Sausages 10 Pack 300g £2.50

Also Vegetarian Society approved as Vegan, these Heck sausages are made from pea protein and flavoured with vegan mozzarella, tomato, basil and garlic. I’m not going to beat around the bush, these are disgusting! They have a horrible paste-like texture and the flavours are too strong and artificial. We didn’t finish these and won’t be buying them again.

Naked Glory Vegan Sausages 8 Pack 320g £2.25

Made from soya and wheat protein, these went down very well with the whole family. A good texture, not too stodgy or dry, and very nicely flavoured, we have bought these a couple of times now and would recommend them. They are suitable for vegans but not Vegetarian Society approved as far as I know.

Richmond 8 Frozen Meat Free Sausages 336g £2.00

The Naked Glory sausages were our family favourite until we tried Richmond Meat Free sausages. These are almost indistinguishable from Richmond Meat sausages (makes you wonder how much meat the meat versions actually contain) and my son, when asked, said he thought they were “normal” sausages. These are also Vegetarian Society approved as Vegan and made from soya and wheat protein. They come highly recommended!

Along with vegan sausages, we’ve been trying a few other vegan and vegetarian products. Successes include Quorn Crispy Nuggets (again indistinguishable from so-called chicken nuggets), Linda McCartney Mozzarella Burgers (really tasty and quite “meaty”), and GRO Spicy Bean Burgers (the Co-op’s vegan brand).

Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how easy it has been to reduce our meat consumption even further. Most of the Vegan and Vegetarian products that we have tried have been a success and now frequently appear on our shopping list. I’m still not sure that we, as a family with a large dairy intake, could go totally vegan, but almost vegetarian seems achievable. Perhaps that is the next step for us – to try out vegan alternatives to milk and cheese. Watch this space!