Eating Out As A Vegan 101

Eating out at non-vegan restaurants can be really hard. Especially when you are with your family or friends and don't want to be high maintenance. So these are pretty average restaurants/types of restaurants that my friends and family usually go to when we hang out. 

1. Chipotle

Chipotle is actually my favorite fast-food place to go to since they have vegan options. Luckily we can get a bunch of things there. Here is a chart of all the food we can have. So my go to meal is a "Burrito Bowl" with brown rice, both black and pinto beans, sofritas(tofu), grilled veggies, medium salsa, and lettuce. I definitely recommend getting some sort of tortilla on the side. I like the corn ones but both are good.  Once in awhile I will get some chips and salsa. I always get the hot sals on the side. 

2. Pizzeria

My family likes to get takeout pizza a lot. And believe it or not, pizza without cheese is pretty darn good. Sometimes I don't like to order pizza because I like to know exactly what goes in and on it. So I make my own super easy crust and put all the fixins on that I want. But sometimes I don't have time for that or I'm not feeling up to it. Before you place your order I recommend asking if there is any dairy in the pizza sauce they use. Chances are they don't but if there is then thats a problem. You can ask if they have any sauce without cheese or opt to not get any sauce. In my experience it's not great without sauce. You can also look around in your area and call to see if they have dairy in their sauces. Most mainstream places don't have cheese in the sauce. Here is a link to some places with options.  So when you order your pizza make sure to load it up with every veggies they have/you like. Trust me, having a plain sauce and crust pizza doesn't look great if you are trying to attract your folks to veganism. 

3. Panera

Panera is actually such a disappointment for vegans. Eating nothing but bagels all the time is lame. So I did some research and this is what we can have according to Panera. But according to PeTA and other vegan outlets we can get a lot of different sandwiches and salads. Just ask for no cheese or a different dressing. Here is Urban Tastebud's full Vegan Panera Menu. 

4. Chili's 

I love chilis! One because of their chips and salsa (duh) and second because it's pretty easy to make their meals vegan. When I go I usually get the veggie quesadillas without the dairy (cheese and sour cream). But in my research I found that we can also get the fajitas without meat and on a corn tortilla! I haven't tried them yet but I'm sure I will soon. Here is Urban Tastebud's full Vegan Chilis Menu.   

5. Cheesecake Factory

To be completley honest I have only been to cheesecake factory a handful of times in my life and I wasn't vegan then. So this is all research based. I have never tried these things but I'm sure I will be soon. It's a pretty popular place to go. So according to ChooseVeg.com we can get a handful of things with some small replacements. I really want to try the soy-glazed edamame. That sounds super good. And according to PeTA, here is a list of things we may want to try. So go check it out! I think you will be presently surprised!