Switch Over to Homegrown Plastic-Free Pasta!

The Yorkshire Pasta Company is a young fresh company founded by four friends. Also sold in sacks for wholesale use (or for big families that eat a lot of pasta!), the bags are sealed with metal clips, to keep the pasta fresh without plastic.

Rather than use cheap methods of production and inferior wheat that creates ‘slimy pasta’, this brand uses bronze dies, to cut the pasta to produce uneven rough edges, which helps to hold onto your pasta sauce better! Winner of five Great Taste Awards, you’ll find this pasta in over 500 independent shops nationwide, or buy online at Farm Fetch.

Before cooking, read our post on food safety for people and pets (as well as fresh dough, many pasta dish ingredients like garlic, onion, mushrooms, lemon and spices are unsafe near animal friends).

For recipes, just bin allium scraps (onion, garlic, shallots, chives, leeks, as acids could harm compost creatures (same for citrus/tomato/rhubarb).

The pasta is also slow-dried, so this gives time for the wheat flour to mature, producing a more flavourful pasta. The brand is even powered by solar energy! The wheat is also fortified with vitamins and minerals, and some people find it easier to digest, than common white pasta.

The Yorkshire Pasta Company’s success is now helping to support 169 local farms, and a local mill with over 130 years experience. Plus all the range is vegan-friendly (no eggs).

The range includes:

• Fusilli
• Penne Rigati
• Conchiglie Rigate
• Tortglioni
• Mezze Maniche Rigate
• 5k Sacks

How to Cook Pasta (like the Italians)

Bring a pan of water to a rolling boil, and salt the water before adding pasta. Unless you have a medical condition. Not salting water in Italy when cooking, makes it ‘silly pasta!’ You will notice the difference in taste.

Serve with Plant-Based Parmesan

Everything tastes better with a little grated cheese on top. But Parmesan is not even vegetarian, as by law it contains a cheese made with calf rennet.

Instead, just grate your favourite vegan cheese on top. Or learn to make plant-based parmesan! It’s very simple, and once mastered, you’ll never go back!

Also look in stores for Biona macaroni pasta (this also organic and in sustainable packaging – the brand is gradually going plastic-free).

Northern Pasta Co (spelt pasta in paper packaging)

The Northern Pasta Co is made in a sustainable manner. It uses nutty spelt flour (not gluten-free, but an an ancient grain that’s easier to digest than wheat). Grown in fields using regenerative farming methods, to create a nutritionally dense flour that is used to make the pasta.

The farms are biodiverse to support local pollinators and sheep are used to graze the fields, as natural pest control. The pasta is then cut using bronze dies for a rough surface, and sold in paper packaging.

This brand now has over 500 5-star reviews, and is sold in many independent health and farm shops. It also uses a local miller, to support independent historic businesses.

The range includes:

• Radiatori
• Rigatoni
• Fusilli
• Gigli
• Casarecce
• Conchigilette

Hasta La Pasta Seasoning!

This offering is ideal to add to pasta. It’s made with fennel seeds, herbs (parsley and chives), garlic powder, black and Aleppo pepper and flaked sea salt. Ideal to elevate all your dishes, and also packed in a tin for easy recycling.

A Few Simple Vegan Pasta Recipes

A Recipe For Easy Pasta Bake (no boiling required!)

This easy pasta bake (Happy Vegannie) is an original recipe, if you like pasta but not all the washing-up after, with various pots and pans. This recipe is by a chef and environmental scientist, who has come up with an easy alternative!

How does this work? You simply mix the ingredients (dry pasta, coconut milk, veggie broth, onion/garlic powder, chilli flakes and tomato paste, then pop everything into a baking dish and bake. The broth and milk ‘cook the pasta’ by soaking into the ingredients in the oven. Clever stuff!

Vegan Macaroni Cheese Recipe (with peas)

This recipe for vegan macaroni cheese (The Simple Veganista) is a cholesterol-free and plant-based version of everyone’s favourite comfort food! And for added bang for your buck, it adds peas (if you don’t have fresh, look in stores for Pack’d frozen petit pois – organic and in paper packaging).

This recipe uses soaked cashew nuts (very good results, but takes a bit of while and not good if you’re forgetful!) If you want to ‘cheat’, you can make vegan cheese sauce (or even buy it), which greatly simplifies this recipe.

If making the homemade cheese sauce with nuts and cheesy nutritional yeast (rich in vitamin B12), avoid miso (unpasteurised) for pregnancy/nursing or weak immune systems). 

You can also vary this recipe with Julie’s other recipes:

• Baked Mac and Cheese (breadcrumbs needed!)
• Spicy Mac and Cheese (chilli and chipotle)

This 5-Ingredient Baked Mac and Cheese (The Banana Diaries) is super-simple to make.

Produce on Parade offers a slightly more complicated recipe using soaked cashews and cheesy-tasting nutritional yeast.

Mushroom & Vegan Sausage Pasta 

If you like a nice big hearty supper, then try this recipe for mushroom and vegan sausage pasta (The Simple Veganista). Once you’ve mastered the method, it’s sure to become a weeknight favourite!

It’s cheap and filling, contains healthy tomatoes and mushrooms, with protein from ready-made vegan sausages. The only ingredient you’ll have to look out for are vegan sausages. We like Moving Mountains (sold everywhere, and made from natural ingredients). Most councils now recycle soft plastic packaging.