London is a relatively vegan-friendly city. You can often find vegetarian or vegan zones in supermarkets and convenience stores and plant-based choices in restaurants and cafes. When I passed by a store called Planet Organic, its name caught my attention: two simple words convey some powerful messages.
Later, I discovered that Planet Organic was the first organic supermarket in the UK. It opened its door in 1995 and now has seven branches in London. The founder Renée Elliott used to live in the United States. Back then, she was blown away by the local organic stores and dreamed of bringing people convenient access to high-quality organic food. So she brought the organic supermarket to the UK. After several visits, I'm happy to say that it's truly a good place to go. =)
This shopping guide will introduce some vegan options in Planet Organic (Torrington Place). Mark this article and visit the store with the local guide next time!
Let's go! ✌🏼
📍 Planet Organic
(Vegan-friendly, organic supermarket)
*Note: Please always be sure to double-check the ingredients before purchasing, as manufacturers are at liberty to change their ingredients at any time (suggested by PETA).
- Plant milk -
Walking into the store, I first saw Planet Organic's oat, coconut, and almond milk. Up to 16% of oats can be found in oat milk, the naturally-sweetest oat milk I have ever tasted, with the price of £1.99. There are many other plant milk on the shelves of the store. Recommended: Oatly, Provamel.
- Food to go -
Looking to the left, several freezers offer sushi, salad boxes, raw desserts, etc. Many are from local entrepreneurial brands in London, hand-made by bakers and chefs.
Sushi
Recommended: tanpopo (two flavours in the pictures), ima (forbidden roll black rice vegan sushi & vegan tuna sweetcorn nori wrap). (Note: the soy sauce in the sushi box usually contains alcohol.)
Salad Bowl
Planet Organic: vegan, gluten-free, mostly free from allium veggies and alcohol, with prices ranging from £4.99 to 7.99.
Raw Dessert
There're several different flavours to choose from, usually raw and vegan. Recommended: Raw Press, Planet Organic.
Waffle
Raw Press's gluten-free waffles. Recommended: blueberry & maple waffle (see picture). It tastes very healthy, with fresh and quality ingredients.
- Order area -
Here you can find some hot food and fresh salads, for either eat-in or takeaway. First, choose the size of the paper box (small £5.5, medium £7.5, large £8.5) or bring your lunch box, and then select the food you want to have. You can also order drinks, from basic espresso coffee to hot chocolate - I feel they taste a bit watery. A selection of healthy and nutritious smoothies is also available.
At Planet Organic, every dish has a label that states its specific ingredients, which makes it quite easy to find suitable choices. It's said that the chef pays attention to maintaining the nutrition of the ingredients, for example, by keeping the vegetable peels and using various sprouted seeds. During peak hours, many students and office workers queue up in the store, while the staff are always friendly and patient in serving each customer.
Hot food & Cold salad
Here's the selected menu of vegan options, also free from allium veggies and alcohol:
Hot food
- Vegan Mash (Mashed Potatoes)
- Detox Greens
- Asian Squash (Baked Pumpkin)
- Steamed Broccoli
- Carrots with Orange & Rosemary
- Sweet Potato Wedges
- Spinach Falafel
Cold salad
- Biolive White Kombucha Slaw
- Zingy Beetroot
- Winter Spelt Salad
- Nutty Carrots
- Seasonal Kraut
- Pastries & Sweets -
Turn around, and you will see two patisserie stands, one of which is all vegan, offering croissants, cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, muffins, banana bread, etc. What I like the most is the chocolate doughnut 🍩 from Crosstown, which is moderately sweet and tasteful.
- High-energy snack -
The snack area is filled with high protein, vegan, gluten-free snacks without refined sugar, such as energy bars, energy balls, etc. It's a good idea to always keep one of these with you and recharge again with a few bites—convenient and timely energy. Recommended: Trek's Flapjack mainly contains oats and plant protein without the over-sweetness of dates and tastes similar to the Chinese caramelised snack Shaqima. 😋
- Unpackaged area -
Next comes the zero-package bulk shopping area, another thoughtful design of Planet Organic. You can bring your container or take a recycled paper bag. Then weigh the food you want to buy in bulk and get the price tag. You can buy all kinds of cereals, such as quinoa, pasta, rice, brown rice, lentils, and oats, as well as a variety of nuts and superfoods, such as chia seeds, cocoa nibs, etc. 💪🏼
When I was a child, I often went to farmer's markets to buy fresh vegetables or supermarkets to buy bulk food, but I always used disposable plastic bags. In recent years, many countries have implemented policies restricting the use of single-use plastic. However, more and more commodities are industrially produced and packaged, and even fruits and vegetables have plastic packages. Therefore, simple and environmentally-friendly zero-package shopping is becoming a trend again.
In this way, not only can the consumption and pollution of plastic packaging be reduced, but we can decide the quantity to buy according to our needs. Moreover, it's also cheaper than packaged products. You see, a sustainable and civilised lifestyle is a positive circle and sometimes only needs a little more attention.
As a one-stop supermarket, Planet Organic also sells many organic essential fresh ingredients, including bread, fruits and vegetables. The price is higher than that of ordinary supermarkets, but the quality is usually better, and there are also some less common offers.
Plant-based dairy products include vegan yoghurt, cheese, butter, and so on. Recommended: The Coconut Collaborative coconut yoghurt (original, mango passion fruit, and blueberry flavours are all delicious), Sojade soy yoghurt (the taste is quite pure and authentic), nush vegan cheese (a great choice of spread).
Organic skincare products, health supplements and cleaning products are available. Recommended: ecover. There are also reusable lunch boxes, drinking glasses, shopping bags, etc.
At the back is the simple and cosy dining area where you can find all kinds of seasonings to add to your meals.
🌱
Planet Organic has the value of being organic, natural and sustainable. It has been certified by the Soil Association. It promises that all products can be traced back to the source, ensuring no processed food, artificial sweeteners, preservatives, colours, flavours, hydrogenated fats or GMOs (genetically modified organisms).
There is no consistent standard for the definition of Organic Food around the world, but in general, organic farms are committed to recycling resources, pursuing ecological balance, and protecting biodiversity. Therefore, organic food is generally more nutritious, sustainable, and tastes better, but often at a higher price.
If you want to have a warm lunch on a busy working day or want to get some healthy and environmentally-friendly food and daily necessities, Planet Organic is a good place to visit. Londoners, why not give it a try? 😊
References:
Comments