Well, here we are in 2019 already. Umm… where the bloody heck did 2018 go?!

2018 was the biggest year BY FAR for veganism but it’s predicted that 2019 will be so big, some are even saying it will be the “year of the vegan”.

To kick it off, the Veganuary campaign is underway and record numbers of people have signed up to go entirely plant based for the month of January.

Going plant based can be a bit scary when you first start out. If you’re about to give it a try, you might have a fear that you’ll never enjoy food again. The word ‘sacrifice’ might be coming up a lot. Oh, but little do you know your world is about to change for the better!

Whether you’re a vegan from the old school or just trying it out, I know just the apps (mostly free) that will make your plant based life a total cinch.

 

HAPPY COW

This app is absolutely crucial for anyone who’s even so much as thinking about a vegetarian or plant based diet. Especially if you’re travelling! It’s much like the restaurant-finder element of TripAdvisor but with a focus on plant based food. You can filter your searches to places that are entirely vegan, entirely vegetarian or that offer vegan options.

Listings include an overall user star rating, detailed user reviews, map, contact info and photos submitted by users and restaurant owners. You can narrow your searches even further with filters like category, cuisine, keywords, radius and more. So it really leaves nothing to be desired.

Happy Cow has become the number one app of its kind, growing to include almost 90,000 listings and over 400,000 reviews from its users. When you allow location finder on your device, it will search the eateries closest to you.

FREE | Get it on IOS | Get it on Android

 

 

GONUTSS – VEGAN TRANSLATOR

This app is pretty new and is a must for the vegan-curious or newbies, featuring a ‘Veganpedia’ – encyclopedia of plant based foods. It allows you to type in any non-vegan food, then it brings up a list of plant based alternatives from the encyclopedia!

It’s a great educational resource for anyone starting out on a plant-based journey. Even if you’re a seasoned vegan, you may find a few items in their list that you’ve never heard of so it’s worth a download.

FREE | Get it on IOS | Get it on Android

 

 

VEGAN AMINO

If you’re starting out or you just love a good community vibe, this is the app for you. Dubbed as the largest online platform for vegans and vegan-interested, it’s like a plant based social networking app.

You can share recipes, search the massive database of user-submitted recipes, participate in polls and chatrooms. You can hear about the latest vegan news and discuss it with others. Hear and share personal stories around your plant based adventures. It’s a great app for the “lone riders” (those who are the only vegans in their household or circle of friends)!

FREE | Get it on IOS | Get it on Android

 

 

IS IT VEGAN?

Before you go reading the terrible reviews on this app, listen up. The app is designed to allow you to either look up ingredients, or scan the barcode of products to see if they’re vegan. I’m based in Australia and it would seem that unless you’re based in the US, this app is not so great for scanning items.

Since it’s a free app that relies largely on the contributions of its users to create the database of products, this just means that we Aussies haven’t been contributing enough yet. SO, if you want to help the situation, scan your products and if they are unrecognised you can submit them!

That aside though, I find this app super handy for looking up ingredients in packaged foods to check if they are vegan friendly. Animal products can often be hidden in the form of fancy names or numbers on packaged foods. So this app is a must if you want to get on top of what’s what. Before you know it you won’t even need to use the app, you’ll be able to just read the ingredients.

FREE | Get it on IOS | Get it on Android

 

 

FOOD MONSTER

The Mother of all vegan recipe apps. This one is not free, but the $2.99 USD that it costs is soooo worth it. With a database of over 8000 vegan recipes and at least 50 being added to this every week, it’s like one giant never-ending digital plant-based cookbook!

It has a cool bookmark feature so you can save your favourite recipes into separate categories. And there’s even a meal planning feature to make things really simple.

COST: $2.99 USD /month (annual subscription also available) | Get it on IOS | Get it on Android

 

 

VEGAHOLIC

Enjoy a drink once in a while? What many don’t realise is that not all alcoholic beverages are vegan-friendly. Beers and wines are often refined with bone char, gelatin, egg whites, casein and even dried fish bladders or animal blood. **Get me a bucket.**  Some spirits are also derived from, or use animal products in the distilling process.

That said, this app will help you quickly determine whether your drink of choice is vegan-friendly. Just type your choice into the search bar. Easy as that. I’ve found that not every single item I’ve searched for has come up, but it’s very regularly updated so the database is ever-increasing.

If in doubt, you can always read the label of the bottle carefully for any mention of animal products, or check with the store staff. They usually have a list of vegan-friendly items.

COST: $1.49 AUD | Get it on IOS | Not yet available for Android

 

 

PLANT BASED NEWS

Hands down the best resource for keeping up to date with the latest from the vegan movement. It covers topics around the environmental, ethical and health aspects and everything in between. Keep on top of new product launches (who would want to miss the launch of VEGAN MAGNUMS?!), celebrity news, activism and big events.

A regular scroll through this app will keep you informed, inspired and totally excited to keep on the plant based path!

FREE | Get it on IOS | Get it on Android