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Help a mofo out...
I've been a vegetarian for 7 and a half months now. I'm really getting tired of eating the same stuff over and over again. I almost never have the means to cook for myself or store foods in cooled areas. I refuse to eat junk food and usually end up getting salads from fast food places with light or no dressing and the occasional veggie delight from Subway. I'm mostly stuck on drinking protein shakes and eating granola/special K bars.
If you have any good ideas on decent food that can be eaten quickly I'd love to hear 'em.
I've been a vegetarian for 7 and a half months now. I'm really getting tired of eating the same stuff over and over again. I almost never have the means to cook for myself or store foods in cooled areas. I refuse to eat junk food and usually end up getting salads from fast food places with light or no dressing and the occasional veggie delight from Subway. I'm mostly stuck on drinking protein shakes and eating granola/special K bars.
If you have any good ideas on decent food that can be eaten quickly I'd love to hear 'em.
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Replies
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I've been vegetarian for two years. There are plenty of options out there if you are willing to cook. If you aren't then you will eat mostly salads and veggie delites.
I have a lot of cook books that I use. Or i look online for recipes.0 -
I like to bake a sweet potato (best cooked in it's skin in the oven.....like 425 for about 45 minutes depending on size of potato)......open a can of black beans and drain......heat the beans together with a really yummy salsa or just hot sauce,,,,,top the roasted sweet potato with however many beans you want and top with chopped avocado, chopped tomatoes, chiffonaded lettuce, some cilantro if you like and I like some cheese and sour cream. It is very filling and full of great stuff. You just figure out the nutritional content based on the size of the items you use. Oh and to make it especially yummy squeeze a bunch of fresh lime juice over the whole thing.0
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If you want to sustain a healthy diet you will have to make some changes and have the ability to cook and prepare your own food. Storage isnt that much of an issue as many people shop daily but it will be difficult until you can test out and play around with foods you like and actually do some cooking.
I bought a tabletop electric 2 burner unit when we were renovating the kitchen and just set it up on a table in the dining room. Perhaps you could make some modifications to your space to accomodate for food prep and cooking?????
Good luck to you!0 -
.... I almost never have the means to cook for myself or store foods in cooled areas. .....
why is this?
Check out this site for meal ideas - many are single serving "assembly" or very easy recipes. 28 days of vegetarian breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/vegbootcamp/mealplan
You can also invest in a small cooler so you can prepare your food and bring it with you.
Where there is a will, there is a way. good luck!0 -
Dude I feel your pain. I don't really like to cook either, but I have to. Have you tried stocking up on soups, hummus, pastas, or quinoa? There are a lot more frozen food options for vegetarians these days from Gardenburger, Morningstar and Boca.0
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I've been vegetarian for over 20 years, and I eat tons of different things. Beans and rice, w/w pasta with mixed veggies (you can always buy them frozen), tons of ethic options--stir fries, Indian curries, Thai curries. If you have a Trader Joe's or a Whole Foods near you, they sell lots of jarred sauces and frozen fake meats that make fast meals.0
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.... I almost never have the means to cook for myself or store foods in cooled areas. .....
why is this?
Check out this site for meal ideas - many are single serving "assembly" or very easy recipes. 28 days of vegetarian breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks
http://www.vegetariantimes.com/vegbootcamp/mealplan
You can also invest in a small cooler so you can prepare your food and bring it with you.
Where there is a will, there is a way. good luck!
It's because I stay at various different places during the week. Thank you for the recommendation.0 -
Dude I feel your pain. I don't really like to cook either, but I have to. Have you tried stocking up on soups, hummus, pastas, or quinoa? There are a lot more frozen food options for vegetarians these days from Gardenburger, Morningstar and Boca.
Yes. And, actually, I love to cook. I just don't have the time or the means. Also, I love garden or boca burgers. I just about cream my pants every time I get the chance to make one.
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I think the other's are right, your life will be a lot better if you can at least buy a mini fridge and a microwave!!!
With that you could get a lot of the Pacific Foods soups (in boxed containers) with really cool flavors like carrot/cashew/ginger or lemongrase corn. You can also make fresh salads (not boring ones) but ones like what I call the 'shaker' salad. You shake together the salad, dressing, and very few ramen noodles when you're ready to eat...it involves cabbage (uncooked), thin sliced red pepper, cilantro, green onions, shaved carrots with a fresh cider vinegar and OJ dressing. It's so refreshing, I modeled it after this Kona Grll restaurant, a nice one nearbye.
Also, find your Spouts/WholeFoods/Trader Joes (Although I prefer the first two for price reasons). Whole Foods has printable coupons online you can print as many times as you want, and sprouts just has GREAT fresh food prices and amazing new products for vegetarians. Such creativity on premade foods if you just had a freezer and microwave that would open up many of your options. Like tofu bologna sandwiches (tofu bologna soooo much better than tofu turkey slices FYI), or meatless meatballs (Frozen) those are YUM and microwavable within seconds!
Look for local spots that are nutritious and vegetarian friendly. It takes a while to find them. In Ohio I found a place called Alladins, a lot of middle eastern/medditeranean places will have vegetarian friendly options (fallafel/hummos/pita/grape leaves) SOOOO amazing.and many cities have middle eastern restaurants now. What's great about this is you get protein from the hummos / fallafel too! Here in Phoenix I've found Pommegranite (a vegan creative little place) and Pei Wei (a newer asian place faster food owned by P.F. Chang's that has great tofu.). You can find places like P.F. Chang's that have tofu dishes and do take out.
Also Chipotle's is pretty good for fast food vegetarian b/c you can get the black beans, and get it in a bowl or even w/o rice, with the corn mix, which is so yummy. At least the guac i healthy fats too!0 -
I think the other's are right, your life will be a lot better if you can at least buy a mini fridge and a microwave!!!
With that you could get a lot of the Pacific Foods soups (in boxed containers) with really cool flavors like carrot/cashew/ginger or lemongrase corn. You can also make fresh salads (not boring ones) but ones like what I call the 'shaker' salad. You shake together the salad, dressing, and very few ramen noodles when you're ready to eat...it involves cabbage (uncooked), thin sliced red pepper, cilantro, green onions, shaved carrots with a fresh cider vinegar and OJ dressing. It's so refreshing, I modeled it after this Kona Grll restaurant, a nice one nearbye.
Also, find your Spouts/WholeFoods/Trader Joes (Although I prefer the first two for price reasons). Whole Foods has printable coupons online you can print as many times as you want, and sprouts just has GREAT fresh food prices and amazing new products for vegetarians. Such creativity on premade foods if you just had a freezer and microwave that would open up many of your options. Like tofu bologna sandwiches (tofu bologna soooo much better than tofu turkey slices FYI), or meatless meatballs (Frozen) those are YUM and microwavable within seconds!
Look for local spots that are nutritious and vegetarian friendly. It takes a while to find them. In Ohio I found a place called Alladins, a lot of middle eastern/medditeranean places will have vegetarian friendly options (fallafel/hummos/pita/grape leaves) SOOOO amazing.and many cities have middle eastern restaurants now. What's great about this is you get protein from the hummos / fallafel too! Here in Phoenix I've found Pommegranite (a vegan creative little place) and Pei Wei (a newer asian place faster food owned by P.F. Chang's that has great tofu.). You can find places like P.F. Chang's that have tofu dishes and do take out.
Also Chipotle's is pretty good for fast food vegetarian b/c you can get the black beans, and get it in a bowl or even w/o rice, with the corn mix, which is so yummy. At least the guac i healthy fats too!
Good ideas! Thanks!0 -
Two words: Morning. Star. They have everything (well not EVERYTHING, but them stuff is pretty decent and they have a lot of stuff you can grill, bake, fry, WHATEVER. There's also Boca.0
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Two words: Morning. Star. They have everything (well not EVERYTHING, but them stuff is pretty decent and they have a lot of stuff you can grill, bake, fry, WHATEVER. There's also Boca.
I am a big fan of morning star. I actually just got to make some garden burgers today. The tomato basil is probably the best I've ever had.0 -
Tons..i never eat at fast food.
there are micro pizzas, amy's soups, amy's foods, morning star. etc etc0 -
I'm a new vegetarian slipper up and ate meat the past couple days but now I'm back on track, anyway I'm just going bump for latter0
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I have been vegetarian for 21 years and never yet felt the need for a protein shake!
I don't eat bread or pasta as I don't find wheat agrees with me, but they are good vegetarian staples, I have the occasional seeded wrap with rocket, chilli jam and grilled halloumi lite, which is amazing, and very high in protein. If you want to do it wheat free, you can do the same as a salad. It's really good with pomegranate seeds added.
I eat a ton of humous, with cucumber, radishes, anything, really. Adding a dollop of humous to a salad is a good protein source. Moutabel is like humous but with smoked aubergine instead of chickpeas. I make that if we have a barbecue.
There are a lot of vegetarian sushi options - cucumber, avocado, tamago, tofu, also edamame beans. I make a lot of stir fries with rice noodles or whole grain rice. Can you get quorn? I make a great mushroom and quorn pie that tastes just like chicken and mushroom.
I cook all the time, I love cooking, but tbh I have never felt limited by my vegetarianism. There are so many foods out there, meat should only ever be a small part of your diet anyway, and one that is very easy to cut out.0 -
I not a complete vegetarian but could be if my wife wasnt a meat and potatoes kind of gal. I have been with MFP since March 29, 2011 and lost more than 20 lbs with hourlong treadmill, dieting and scrupulous attention to food intake. My main lunch consists of salsa and chips. The salsa is made by Ortega Medium Chunky and I add fresh chopped sweet onion, green onion, tomatoes, black beans, etc. and whatever is in the fridge veggie bin.
Bottom line is if you can wield a knife safely you can eat.0 -
You've gotten some great ideas! I don't know what I would do if I couldn't store/cook food. Like everyone sez, there are so many great new foods out there, these days. I've just discovered Morningstar's new "Turkey" patties with tomato and avocado. Delicious! Ditto their bbq ribs.
And I keep Tofurkey Hickory Smoked Deli slices in my fridge at all times. Great for club salads or sandwiches and at 30 cal each, I can indulge!
Quorn "chicken" patties stuffed with Gruyere cheese make me weak in the knees, but I'm on restriction from them now because of that (amazing) cheese.
If you have a Whole Foods nearby, they have "mock chicken salad" in their deli case. It's awesome, but you can make your own with packages of Delight Soy "chicken" nuggets in their freezer case. I make it with chopped cekery and Vegenaisse (which I now like better than Kraft Mayo). My carnivore friends eat this up!!
Egg Beaters. Again, at 30 cal/serving, it's really good, all loaded up with veggies.
I like a BLT made with Morningstar Farm's bacon. The trick is to make sure it gets crispy; then it's yummy with a big, fat slice of heirloom tomato!
I've stauchly defended my vegetarian lifestyle of 11 years until recent bloodwork told me a quadruple bi-pass is dangerously near (and I have no insurance!) That, plus the fact that I'm extremely obese. So I have to lay off the dairy and eggs (cholesterol). Outside of a few new low/no fat cheeses and yogurts, I'm basically a vegen now, but it's why I'm here, soaking up all the great experiences/info that you kind folks have to say. Many thanks!0 -
I make a lot of quesadillas....any combination of tortilla, cheese, beans, and veggies...and all you need is a hot pan to lay it in and fold over! Delicious! Good luck!0
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I think you are going to need to start cooking for yourself. The vegetarian options are endless......but not much that is quick and easy that doesn't need to be cooked or at least stored in a cool place. You might be stuck with salad and veggie delights.
I would choose one day a week (say sun) and cook several meals (like a chili, or lasagne etc) and then freeze into the portion size you want and invest in a decent cooler that you can bring with you with some reusable cooler packs. Then you just need to reheat your meals and you can eat well with minimal cooking and no fridge needed.
Some portable foods I like is hummus and crackers or veggies instead of crackers but the hummus needs to be in the cooler bag.
You could do canned veggie chili, just need a microwave but gotta watch sodium.
Frozen dinners are quick but again usually high in sodium and you need a microwave.
Make your own sandwiches, no cooking required but you will need to keep them cool, you can do just veggie sandwiches, or use some sort of deli "meat" like yves or tofurky. You can use bread, pitas or tortilla wraps to change it up. Add cheese if you want.....tons of variety here.
You would need to cook this but quinoa and grilled veggie salad is delicious. It can be served hot or cold.
I could go on and on but if you go to vegweb you can get tons of ideas for meals0 -
My favorite VEGETARIAN FAST FOOD is a bean burger. I put a little bit of oil with drained canned beans and onions and fry them just a little bit. Then I mashed them and make a burger,then I put the burger in a pan an let it cook for a couple of minutes each side. It takes less than 15 minutes... then the usual, bread, mustard or whatever you like in burger
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I've been vegetarian for two years. There are plenty of options out there if you are willing to cook. If you aren't then you will eat mostly salads and veggie delites.
I have a lot of cook books that I use. Or i look online for recipes.
this is pretty much what I learned. I've been a vegetarian for 8 years and a pescetarian for about 5 months of those 8 years. You really have to cook things in order to stay on track or you'll pretty much eat salads and mac and cheese everyday, which isn't good for you. There's a lot of easy frozen foods you can try, I love Boca brand everything and Morning Star is really good too.
EDIT: If you never had Indian cuisine, I recommend trying it. It's amazing and almost everything is vegetarian.0 -
My husband travels and has the same problem sometimes. If you want more restaurant options, ethnic restaurants are almost always a good choice, especially Indian, Thai, Chinese, Japanese. They almost always have veg dishes. A lot of chain restaurants will sub a veggie burger or portabello mushroom for their meat burgers. I know Red Robin, Denny's, Ruby Tuesday, and several others in our area do this, and we're not exactly in a veg friendly area. Sometimes you have to ask because it isn't always listed on the menu. Lots of places will simply leave the meat out of a dish too, all you have to do is ask. I do this a lot with pasta dishes, salads, and other things that have bacon or chicken on them. Some simple foods don't require heating or cooling - single serving packets of nut butters on bread, bagel, crackers, fruit slices, etc.; raw fruit; dried fruit; trail mix; cereal; nutrition bars. You can buy lunch at a local grocery store or health food with a deli instead of a restaurant. I get things like guacamole or salsa and chips, hummus and crackers or veggies, cheese and bread, salads from the deli, or yogurt and cereal. Some of the grocery stores and health food stores even have microwaves if I want to heat up a frozen entree.0
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Excellent! Many options I've never heard of before!! (And I've been vegetarian for 10 years!) Thanks!
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One thing I really like to do is to get some nice tofu at the super market, and then just slice it up into cubes. Add some nice finely cut ginger and green onions! A little soy sauce makes it perfect!0
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Been a vegetarian for 8 months and have gotten a few new ideas from everyone's posts! Thanks0
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