does anyone have time/inclination to help me w/ a shopping list?

[bertha katzenengel]

Today marks three weeks since I went veg.

I have been eating peanut butter sandwiches, protein bars, prepared one-serving meals (too expensive), canned beans, and chili. I love all those things but if I don't get some variety I'm going to die. So are my innards.

I don't know how to shop! I am limited to the supermarket - Safeway, specifically.

I honestly don't know what to buy!

One caveat: right now, I don't have time to do real cooking. That includes no time to learn how to cook tofu. I just can't do it yet. I haven't the energy to add cooking to my 14-hour days, and on the weekend I have too much to do around the house to cook.

Thank you so much for your help, anyone!

[smbolisnch]

1. Bertha- here are some of my staples.

Brown Rice
Veggie bullion cubes (for cooking brown rice)
Lots of fruit and veggies
Veggie "chicken" nuggets
Salad mix
Zatarains rice pouches (1 or 2 flavors, like 1.50 each)
Salsa
Thai spring onion soup pouches (Like ramen noodles but better)
Pitas
Refried beans (Old El Paso vegetarian)
Frozen fruit (for smoothies)

Hope that helps!! :)

[bertha katzenengel]

2. it does help

Are those meat-sub things like "chicken" nuggets any good? I mean, I can choke down just about anything in the name of variety/protein, but I don't want to hurl.

[smbolisnch]

3. The kind I usually get are called Chick'n.

I have also had the Morningstar Farms and Boca kind. They are all absolutely delicious. Seriously. Sometimes I eat them plain, sometimes on a bun and sometimes in a salad. I love them!

[friesianrider]

8. I'll second the Morningstar chick'n...

It really is VERY good, and chicken was the hardest for me to give up when I became veg. The Parmesan Ranch chick'n patties are my favorite, but the plain is excellent as well.

Just something I've found with them: definitely cook them in the oven. Their time is somewhere around 18-20 minutes, and I flip them over halfway through and they get a nice little crunchy layer on the outside (they're breaded). VERY yummy! Same thing for the Morningstar veggie crumbles - I make tacos with them with vegan cheese (or regular cheese if you prefer) and vegetarian chili. The chili can take a bit longer but the tacos are very quick and one of my favorites!

Also the Quorn Naked cutlets are great - you can do a fake chicken parm, chicken teriyaki, or chicken barbecue with your favorite sauces. These are all cooking times of 20 minutes or less (again it's usually best to flip them halfway through).

Overall, nearly all Morningstar's stuff is really good for quick and easy veg meals, IMHO! :)

On edit: spelling errors!

[livetohike]

4. I am addicted to Trader Joe's chicken nuggets

Not sure if you have a Trader Joe's where you are. I never tried the "fake meat" products until two months ago.

Morning Star Grillers are good burger substitutes, imo.

I sympathize with you not having time to cook. If you can buy, or borrow the cook book "Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home", you will find all of their recipes take about 30 minutes or less.

Tofu is really quick to make. You can marinate it over night and then just broil, saute, or bake it the next day.

There are lots of good recipes in their (not all are vegan and they do have a chapter on fish/seafood recipes).

All of the Moosewood cookbooks are great, imo. Especially, for beginning vegetarians.

[Beaverhausen]

10. Veggetino's "meatballs" are great!

I also like the Morningstar Farms "buffalo wings" - they are spicy and good.

tastes like chicken!!! Have lots of blue cheese dressing on hand.

[City Lights]

5. I suggest some of the veggie ground meat and some Morningstar

Farms Spicy Black Bean Burgers.

I do a lot with the veggie meat - tacos and spaghetti are easy and quick to prepare - casseroles take a bit longer. The Black Bean burgers are :9 and easy to prepare (pop them in the oven).

Black beans are a godsend, IMO.

If you're just veggie rather than vegan, try some egg salad. It's great in pita pockets with fruit or veggies as a side dish.

Good luck. :hi:

I just found this site. Never ordered from it, but it may give you some additional meal ideas.

[livetohike]

6. A list (also posted in the lounge)

of what is in the pantry now:

Canned and dried beans of all kinds

Grains ex. brown rice, arborio rice, basmati rice, bulghur wheat, oats, millet, barley, buckwheat groats, quinoa

Seeds: sesame, sunflower, poppy

Canned tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, green olives, black olives, kalamata olives, sun dried tomatoes, canned green chilis, chipotle chilis

Pasta (various shapes)including couscous, soba noodles, rice noodles

Potatoes, onions, garlic, shallots

Dried dates, figs, raisins

Soy milk and rice milk

Vegetable stock

Coffee and various herb teas

Olive oil, virgin olive oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, canola oil

Red wine vinegar, raspberry vinegar, white wine vinegar, cider vinegar

Microwave popcorn, tortilla chips, salsa

Crackers

Unbleached white flour, wholewheat flour, chick pea flour, soy flour
and dried yeast

Silken tofu

[Kenneth ken]

7. my staples more or less

dry foods:
pinto beans (protein source)
red beans (protein source)
rice
peanuts (protein source)
cashews (protein source)

stir-fry ingredients:
snow peas (protein source)
green beans (protein source)
red bell pepper
green bell prepper
zuchini
yellow zuchini
brocoli
pear
pineapple
(etcetera)
szechuan sauce
teriyaki sauce
peanut sauce
chili sauce
(etcetera)


snack food:
the little carrot pieces that are already cut up
bananas
apples
any other fresh fruit that sounds/looks good

a lot of times what I do for the work-week is cook up a batch of rice and divide into 4 parts. Then I will spend an hour or so chopping up veggies for stir fry. If I have 5 or 6 different veggies chopped up and in different containers, I can microwave a serving of rice, toss part of 3 different chopped up veggies in the wok, stir fry that for a few minutes, and put a bit of sauce over it, then dump it all on the rice - dinner in under 8 minutes.


By mixing and matching veggies and sauces I can have a wide variety of stir-fry each night, and if I have say, 6 different veggies chopped up and use maybe 1/3 of one type and 3 different types in one stir fry dish, I only have to chop veggies once a week. (does that make sense?) Like from the above list, use 1/3 zuchini, 1/3 green beans, 1/3 brocoli and a peanut sauce for one meal. Then you still have 2/3 of the already chopped zuchini etc. left for use later in the week.
Pears and pineapple also work really well, if you want sweet-and-sour stir fry.

The thing I do when I want a bean dish is use about 1/2 C dry beans and put them in a crock pot with spices and water and let it cook all day; if I am going to make burritos I just toss the cooked beans in a skillet and mash them and let the water boil off - refried beans. If I'm making red beans and rice, I will put some corn starch in the crock pot to thicken up the excess water and make sauce that way.
(I always make sure I put in excess water so there's still some left after the beans have been cooking all day.)

Other days, I pretty much just eat snack food - an apple, or a banana or carrots or something like that as often as I'm hungry.

I pretty much only do "real cooking" on the weekend, and then only if I feel ambitious.

[Beaverhausen]

9. Amy's foods are great!!!

If you need to have stuff on hand to cook quickly.

http://www.amys.com/

They have tons of it at Whole Foods. My local Safeway chain (Pavillions)has a few varieties in their little "health food section."

[livinginphotographs]

15. I second that.

I discovered Amy's a couple of weeks ago, and they are by far better than all of the vegan burgers that I've tried.

[shockra]

11. I hope you have a Costco around (Blue company).

You can buy Morningstar Farm Chicken Nuggets and Gardenburgers there, in bulk. :D

[4_Legs_Good]

12. Hows about Mexican food?

It's filling, fast and easy to do vegetarian. You're not going vegan (yet) are you?

Burritos, enchiladas (cooked over the weekend), tostadas, etc.

Geesh, I'm trying to think about what I eat everyday. I know I need to get more in the habit of fresh fruits and vegetables. Luckily I have some health food stores near where I work. Unluckily I live 50 miles away from where I work.

david

[Gardeaux08]

13. I'm new too!

Six weeks now...still eating some fish when I eat out due to lack of anything else...but I'm learning.

In addition to the advice of the meatless frozen foods available, the one thing I have found myself just scarfing down is eggplant patties. They are frozen and cook up nice in the oven. I just love them with tomato sauce.

As for tofu, I have only done one thing with it so far. Slice and marinate it in hot sauce for 30 minutes. Pan fry to get a crunchy crust....mmmmmmmmm. Better than a chicken wing any day.

[friesianrider]

14. Welcome to the wonderful world of veggies!

And I see you're from PA - so am I :) I'm close to Harrisburg.

[bertha katzenengel]

16. No time to acknowledge everyone but THANK YOU ALL

thank you very much

[Hell Hath No Fury]

17. Here's some of the staples I keep on hand...

for the times I have to eat but don't have the time to really cook (which is most of the time):

Morningstar Farms bacon, Parmasean chik patties, spicy chik patties
Boca All American grillers, sausage patties
Ives or Wildwood Farms veggie dogs
Assorted Near East couscous dishes
Zataran's black beans & rice mix
Nate's beef and chicken taqitos
Amy's pizza pockets
Marie Calander's pasta marinara medley
Stonewall's jerky treats (great for a quick protein filled snack)
TVP for making quick pasta sauces or skillet lasagna
Faux pepperoni stick (can't remember the damn brand name!) to make grilled pepperoni and provelone (real or faux) sandwiches


Have you checked out the online veggie shopping sites? They are great for the specialty stuff you cannot find at your Safeway.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

21. Forgot to add...

falafel!

They are not time effective if you make them from scratch, but I pick up a couple of dozen from a local middle eastern deli and freeze them in batches. When I want a quick meal I cook'em up, throw'em in a pita with a little hummus, cuke, and tomato. Yum-my!

[AFSCME girl]

18. Hi Bertha,

I just tried D'Giorno's Veggie Pizza, which is quite good ~ and sometimes you can catch them on sale. Also, I just learned about "redoing" the open-faced sandwich. This is the one I like:

* 1 slice multi-grain bread, toasted w/crusts removed (I "butter"
using a soy margerine after toasting).

Top toasted, buttered bread with Boston Bibb (or any) lettuce, 2 slices of swiss cheese (or any cheese you prefer), 2 thin slices of cucumber, a dollop of mayo, and a sprig of fresh dill.

This is really easy to whip up after work ~ I like to have this with a cup of hot tea.

AFSCME girl :hi:

[AFSCME girl]

19. Also, if you're near a Trader Joe's, they're

veggie meatballs and three cheese pasta sauce are both out of this world. Just boil some pasta, and you're all set! :bounce:

[Ilsa]

20. Veggie Patch makes delicious meatballs and portabella

burgers. Very tasty.

On the weekend, you might try making a simple tomato sauce to split into small containers that you can take into different directions, depending on whether you are doing pasta, meatball sandwich, something peppery or whatever.

I have a pasta cookbook that has alot of interesting recipes that don't even require meat substitutes.

I also have been eating varieties of mexican food. Even Taco bell has a 7 layer burrito with no meat if you have to go w/fast food.

There are some really good prepared rices available, like jambalaya, etc.

I'm also into stir-frying. Use some really good soy sauce.

[Beaverhausen]

22. Those portabella burgers are so yummy!

[SiouxJ]

23. baked potatoes make a good quick meal

you can nuke 'em if you don't have time to bake. You can add veggie chili (canned varieties), salsa, etc. Use your imagination.

Pasta primavera is always fast and easy. You can just use garlic and olive oil on it or a marinara sauce. I usually saute my veggies in the garlic and oil and then just dump it over the pasta. You can even find decent frozen veggie meatballs at Safeway.

Bean burritos made with veggie refried beans. Heat up a can of beans and roll one up with some veggie cheese and salsa - add some guac if you want to nix the cheese. Or just some avocado slices.

I usually keep a can of refried beans, veggie chili, potatoes, pasta and tortillas on hand at all times.