Reddit mentions of Star Stock Cubes Porcini Mushroom (100g)

Focus on flavour. As a long term veggie/2-day old vegan who lives with a vegan I have learned that you can't just chuck cheese, cream, (or in your case meats), in to ramp up the meal satisfaction. Now that I can't run out for a Snickers anymore I'm going to have to re-double on this. I have been doing my prep so that I can stay vegan.

Learn to cook in ways that add that satisfaction back in. Have fun and experiment.

Umami is a great word and a life-saver. If you are not familiar with it it is that rich flavour from glutamates that makes your salivary glands really kick in. So include glutamates in your cooking - cooked mushrooms, dried porcini mushrooms, seaweed, spinach, rich tomato sauces, yeast flakes (with added B12), soy sauce, etc. MSG is just crystalline glutamates, it's the same stuff as you get in the foods above so there is no shame in sprinkling a little on for a boost, much as you might add salt for savour if soy sauce was the wrong thing to add for saltiness.

A bit of fat doesn't hurt, you need some for a balanced diet. Just as importantly it adds to mouth-feel, general satisfaction and slows down the moment when you get hungry again compared to carbs. Olive oil, vegetable oil, veggie suet (depending on your palm-oil production/deforestation views) are all good ways to cheer yourself up.

Proteins: yup you will really struggle to go short on proteins unless you go completely overboard on restricting your diet, so don't worry too much. But protein is deeply satisfying, so you will probably need some with each meal to keep you on vegan-track. It switches off hunger really quickly but more than that there is some primal satisfaction in it. You should have seen my long term vegan SO's face when we found an "all-you-can-eat Thai vegan buffet" restaurant one time. She just tore through the proteins grinning like a scary barracuda. You will also learn to loathe restaurants where their idea of a vegan option is to take the last shred of protein fun out of their already under-sized veggie option. tl:dr protein keeps you happy, eat a bit with most main meals.

Stock: Cheat religiously. Find veggie stock cubes or powders that you like. Veggie Oxo works for us, YMMV. The saviour stock cube if you can get it is porcini, we can get Star, but I think Knorr do one as well. Used judiciously it adds so much umami and mushroomy goodness. To improve on cheating always keep the water that you boil your veggies and potatoes in and use that as a base for a soup or stew with a stock cube as well.

Cheesiness: Yes, you will probably miss cheese. Yeast flakes add a lovely cheesiness to sauces, gravies, toppings. Add some English mustard powder to make it stronger and more cheddary. For parmesan replacement blitz 1 cup of yeast flakes, 1 cup walnuts and 1/2 teaspoon of salt to a powder and sprinkle it on your pasta. The existence of this stuff is what convinced me I could switch from veggie to vegan ;)

Flavourings: Find sauces that you like. Favourite Thai chilli sauce, soy sauce, etc. You need them to make tofu the joy that it can be but rarely is. Get a vegan Worcester Sauce replacement, we have Hendos, not sure what you have <insert where you live here>.

I need to shut up soon so:

Vegan Chicken Soup for the Soul.

Needed for cold damp days, or when your soul feels cold and damp. Find out which veggie stock flavouring suits you. All measurements are flexible. Find out what works for you. It's more fun. Chop a load of onion, celery, garlic and carrot really fine. Soften them gently in oil in a big pan for longer than recipe books usually say till they are soft and sweet and rich. Do not burn. Add water and stock flavouring of choice to make up a big broth. If you can't add in at least one porcini stock cube then blend a load of dried porcini mushroom to powder and bung that in. Expensive but worth it. Slice some carrot into dollars and add. Now for the transformational bit. Chop a metric shit-ton of fresh parsley and dill. More than that, trust me. Add half of it in while the broth is cooking. Make some small dumplings (50:50 by weight not volume self-raising flour and veggie suet, a pinch of salt, a handful of chopped parsley, add a splash of water to make a firm dry dough) and boil them in the broth for about 10 mins. Once cooked (eat one!) spoon them out and add some black pepper and the rest of the parsley and dill. The surface of the broth should be a green slick of herbs. Serve in bowls so that everyone gets some carrot slices and a few dumplings.

Edit: tl:dr #2 Don't be hair-shirt about it. Be generous with food, flavour and texture.

And good luck. Your taste buds will change, your range of flavours will grow. This is a good thing. Be nice to yourself :)

Edit: formatting