Trying Out Vegetarian: Store suggestions?

AmberlyMarlene · June 2020

Many a year ago I was a vegetarian for a year and in that time period I lost a significant amount of weight. I have since gained an even more significant amount of weight trying plenty of diets along the way. I figured maybe I should give vegetarian another shot since it has a good track record.

Now I suck at cooking. I burn things constantly, and when I don't it's still not worth eating. I have things I remember eating and enjoying, but it's not enough variety. Things like Amy's soups and frozen meals for example. Even now however I struggle to find stores that carry a decent amount of options and variety here in Georgia USA. Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations in regards to meal options, favored common grocery stores, or websites that might help me?

MelanieCN77 · June 2020

Well you probably know this already but vegetarian as a weight loss diet is not going to yield better results than other ways of eating you could not adhere to. It's just about maintaining a calorie deficit.

That said, you may suck at cooking now but that doesn't have to be true forever. I don't think you'll make much difference buying vegetarian frozen meals than those that aren't plant based. You don't have to go full gourmet but you can probably chop, steam and pan saute which gives you a massive amount of options to use fresh veg which all markets have usually in decent variety. The flavours you can choose from to go with each are as numerous.

yayamom3 · June 2020

Do you live near a Trader Joe's? When I decided to become a healthier vegetarian (I had been subsisting mostly on carbs and highly processed foods), I found TJ's a great starting point. Growing up in a farm family where every meal centered around meat and heavy starches, I really had no idea where to start with healthy vegetarian cooking. TJ's has lots of pre-made, frozen and shelf-stable vegetarian meals. I tried lots of them. When I really loved something, I found a recipe online and learned how to prepare it myself.

If you belong to Reddit, there's a Trader Joe's sub that is very fun and offers great recommendations from other TJ's enthusiasts. I also got some really delicious suggestions from other users here in the Recipes section of MFP.

AmberlyMarlene · June 2020

Melanie as I said it worked before. It's more of the fact that I have a more confined variety of food groups to choose from that typically have a lower caloric value. I'm really bad about talking myself into fast food for example, but when I'm on this mindset it doesn't even occur to me as an option. As for cooking I have definitely been trying since I moved out of my parents house 8 years ago. There's been minor improvement. I have a pressure cooker and a rice maker to try and ease that factor. Not trying to make excuses when I say I can't cook. I'm hoping to take a cooking class when COVID stops meddling.

Yayamom not for hours. I know they can easily be found back home but they don't seem to be very common here in my current area. I do have a Reddit though. I didn't think to look for any subs that could be helpful. Thank you!

janejellyroll · June 2020

If you previously lost weight as a vegetarian due to restricting yourself to a limited number of foods, I'm not sure doing it again while adding a wider variety of foods will have the impact that you believe it will.

That said, some of my favorite minimal cooking meat-free meals are: sheetpan dinners with vegetables and tofu (lots of recipes on Pinterest), bean burritos (can be super-quick if you buy canned beans and just add your favorite toppings), pasta with beans and vegetables, ramen bowls (again lots of recipes on Pinterest), baked potatoes topped with chili, veggie burgers, and black bean soup with guacamole.

Every grocery store should have an assortment of fresh vegetables (some of which are even pre-prepped) which can easily be roasted, canned beans and tomatoes, and condiments like salsa, hot sauce, and soy sauce to help you add flavor to your meals. If you're not sure how to roast vegetables or which vegetables to roast, Pinterest has a HUGE variety of ideas. In my experience, just about every vegetable tastes good roasted and it's pretty hard to mess up. Lots of grocery stores also stock pre-cooked grains, which can be useful if you're in a hurry or just unsure about how to begin cooking them. If you have a pressure cooker, you have the option of easily cooking entire bags of dried beans at once. Anything you can't eat in a few days will freeze really well. Once you've cooked some black beans, you're 75% of the way to black bean soup or some delicious refried beans.

LinkedEmpire · June 2020

I do a deep dive of the organic sections of Kroger lol. It's just where they typically keep their healthier options also including vegan and vegetarian.
I really like edamame fettuccine with a slightly alternative Alfredo sauce, shitake mushrooms and walnuts. Around 400 cal and 36g of protein plus high in potassium. Original recipe - Source: thekitchengirl.com
Another source some people like is Abbey Sharp. She's a vegan and RD.
My personal favorite is Christina Pirello. Vegan chef, hosts her own show. I drink almond milk because of her lol.

Another favorite is taco salad. Spinach leaves, Quorn meatless crumbles, nutritional yeast or cheddar cheese, petite tomatoes, pumpkin seeds and avocado. Sometimes I'll add a tbsp sour cream. I spice the crumbles with chili powder, cumin, salt and sometimes a touch of cinnamon. Most of the fat and cal comes from the crumbles and avocado but it's also 24g protein, a boost in micronutrients including fiber and iron and under 400 cal. I have it for lunch.

Last one is BBQ stir fry. Some people use tempeh, tofu or meaty mushrooms. I found those recipes on youtube. Make your own BBQ sauce from there or I've used Master something BBQ sauce with no added sugar.

Ironically, I'm not a vegetarian or vegan but love these recipes because it adds a lot of variety and nutrition. Don't worry, I'm not much of a cook either. Bright side is these recipes take 15 min or less to make and are meal prep/plan friendly. *Hug*

DancingMoosie · June 2020

I don't really have the option of shopping different stores. We've got an HEB and a Walmart. Walmart's produce looks horrible, so I shop HEB. They might not have the largest section if "vegetarian" foods, but they do have nice produce, dry beans and lentils, as well as some frozen and canned ready made options. I like veggie burgers on salad, 15 bean soup, roasted veggies with rice and beans, lots of fruits, tomatoes, avocadoes, onions and peppers...I find Amy's meals to be high calorie and $$. I eat Greek yogurt a lot.

MelanieCN77 · June 2020

If you want low skill fresh-ish there are so many really easy things. Twice this weeks I've chopped leafy greens (one night collards and another chard) and cooked them in a bit of oil and then added some canned beans and cooked rice to heat and there's a decent dinner. First night I plopped in some curry paste and a bit of sweet and salty (sou sauce and sugar will do it) and the next night couldn't even be bothered going that far and sprinkled on some rotisserie seasoning

lisac957 · June 2020

Some of my simpler favs, Pinterest will give you lots of inspiration as well.
Rice + veggies + baked tofu + soy sauce
Rice/quinoa + veggies + beans + salsa
Chickpea pasta + red sauce + mushroom meatballs
Veggie + black bean fajitas/tacos
Soups (lentil, black bean, potato, chili, enchilada, white bean, tomato)
Black bean burgers + sweet potato fries
Omelet with veggies + soy chorizo

HeidiCooksSupper · June 2020

We found when we lived in Columbia SC that the produce section and the vegetarian-friendly products varied from store to store and over time. For awhile, a Bi-Lo near us had a great produce section then management changed and the produce manager retired. End of great fresh veggies there. Our local Trader Joe's had great vegetarian frozen options but lousy fresh veg. A local Piggly-Wiggly had a great produce guy and wonderful fresh fruit and veg selection, far better than the local Whole Foods. Publix was great for "international" ingredients but had lousy veg. The Food Lion near us could be relied on for "Latin" ingredients, including vegetables. This, of course, does not give you an easy answer to your question. I'm afraid it's a question in need of a local answer and some adventurous sampling on your part.

tarun_yadavA · June 2020

AmberlyMarlene wrote: »

Many a year ago I was a vegetarian for a year and in that time period I lost a significant amount of weight. I have since gained an even more significant amount of weight trying plenty of diets along the way. I figured maybe I should give vegetarian another shot since it has a good track record.

Now I suck at cooking. I burn things constantly, and when I don't it's still not worth eating. I have things I remember eating and enjoying, but it's not enough variety. Things like Amy's soups and frozen meals for example. Even now however I struggle to find stores that carry a decent amount of options and variety here in Georgia USA. Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations in regards to meal options, favored common grocery stores, or websites that might help me?

Two words: Indian food.

Full of veggie options.

I think Atlanta has a fairly large Indian population- so you should get access to Indian restaurants & stores

kshama2001 · June 2020

AmberlyMarlene wrote: »

Many a year ago I was a vegetarian for a year and in that time period I lost a significant amount of weight. I have since gained an even more significant amount of weight trying plenty of diets along the way. I figured maybe I should give vegetarian another shot since it has a good track record.

Now I suck at cooking. I burn things constantly, and when I don't it's still not worth eating. I have things I remember eating and enjoying, but it's not enough variety. Things like Amy's soups and frozen meals for example. Even now however I struggle to find stores that carry a decent amount of options and variety here in Georgia USA. Does anyone have any suggestions or recommendations in regards to meal options, favored common grocery stores, or websites that might help me?

The easiest way to ensure variety is to get comfortable with cooking

Online recipes can be hit or miss. I like sites with lots of comments, from the New York Times cooking section to allrecipes.com.

My library system has hundreds of vegetarian cookbooks. I see GA libraries are partially reopened: https://georgialibraries.org/coronavirusupdate/

I prefer hard copies of cookbooks, but also download them from my library. My system has 80 digital results for “easy vegetarian” (many more when I leave out the "easy.")

I used to cook at a small yoga retreat center in the wilds of Costa Rico. The produce, grain, and bean selection was limited, so I varied the same staples with different spices. For example, lentils with curry powder and coconut (over rice), lentils with tomatoes and Italian spices (over rice), etc. I wish I'd written down my rice and bean recipes, lol.

Any supermarket should have staples like rice, beans, garlic, onion, celery, peppers, and canned tomatoes, and from there you can get creative with whatever produce looks good with whatever spice combos you like.

I have a stupid amount of spices, but one staple is Italian seasoning - if a recipe calls for dried Oregano, Marjoram, Thyme, Basil, Rosemary, or Sage, I often just use the Italian seasoning.

Fresh herbs really brighten up a dish. I prefer growing my own herbs to buying them at the store. I have a good size garden now, but when I was in Florida I had a decent container herb garden on my balcony.

Trying Out Vegetarian: Store suggestions?

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