When Asda introduces vegan cheese to their choose your own toppings counter it was big news. It’s been years since I’ve visited one of these counters and I can’t say I’ve missed it but you know what let’s give it a go. We got two 10″ pizzas with vegan cheese, one plain and one with all the veggies.

They were bad. Okay so the base is just basically a biscuit. Hard, crispy and bizarrely sweet. I could’t taste the tomato sauce so I’ll just assume it was okay. There was far too much cheese so at the centre it was just like a pile of white sauce. It didn’t really have any flavour to it at all.

So we’re probably never going to buy these again. But that might be progress. 2018 could be the year when vegans are just as disappointed with supermarket pizza as meat eaters.

Waitrose are trying to up their vegan game. We approve because it’s one of the few supermarkets in walking distance and it makes us feel fancy to shop there. One of the few offerings we’ve managed to track down so far is the spinach ravioli.

There was a point in our life when we lived off supermarket ravioli. We’d have spinach and ricotta ravioli whenever we were stuck for ideas so this is a real nostalgia trip. Of course it has no ricotta in it; instead the packet promises ‘solidified coconut derivative’. That’s not a joke. That’s what the packet says: ‘solidified coconut derivative’. At this point I’d recommend Waitrose hire some better writers.

Despite the plain packaging and the bizarre description this is a pretty solid midweek, no-fuss option. We tossed ours with some tomato sauce and relived our memories.

UK vegan bloggers, social media users, and just about everyone else has been talking about the meaty-tasting and meaty-textured No Bull Burgers from Iceland. It’s been a big deal, especially at £2 for a 2 pack. I’m not usually one to shop at Iceland because I like to pretend I cook everything from fresh. Which I don’t, but I feel like shopping at a frozen food place would be admitting that. Here we go then, off to try the vegan food of Iceland.

First up, the No Bull Burgers. The texture is reminiscent of a beef burger but softer. I would have liked a bit more bite myself. As you can see from the pan pic they have the look down but it doesn’t really translate when cooked. Only the outside browns so it’s still pink in the middle. I know that doesn’t matter. It’s still cooked but when you’ve spent your childhood avoiding eating meat that’s pink in the middle it messes with your head a little. Because of that it’s not my favourite burger but it’s a solid choice. Especially at the price.

Of course I couldn’t just stop at the burgers. While I was in there I picked up four dishes from the Mumbai Street Co range. 4 for £2. Why not? The rice in the range has milk in it so instead I made some in the Instant Pot to go with my selections. Let’s start it’s the Tandoori Shashlik. Because it’s worth starting with. Packed to bursting full of lovely veggies in a rich sauce. The bhajis, apparently from Calcutta, are crisp and satisfying.

Next up I piled Gobi Dhansak and Chennai Dhal onto a plate. The Chennai Dhal is good, I can’t say a bad word about it. The Gobi Dhansak however is amazing. Perfect sweet and sour sauce, lentils and more of that lovely, lovely veg. There’s some good stuff in Iceland right now and I’m happy to support them as they’ve made a commitment to reducing plastic packaging and have a yummy vegetable Dhansak.