I want to become a Vegetarian, and eat organicly but I don't have the time or money to cook....?!
Answers: What are some simple snacks or ready-mad foods that are vegetarian, and healthy.
Chili mix - the local bulk store sells this. You add hot water. It has veggie protein and beans and spices and such in it. You eat.
- > Similarly, you can buy a box of boca crumbles/Yves veggie ground round, chuck in a can of beans and a can of chili flavoured tomatoes, heat, and presto, you have chili.
Amy's - They make organic veggie foods (a bit expensive) which are very healthy. Burritos, pizza, Indian TV dinners, 'meat' loaf dinners. MMm.
Gardenburger, Boca Burger, Sol Burger, etc. - A veggie burger takes 5 minutes, max, to make. Add a baked potato and you're set.
Portobello mushrooms - Clean and remove stems. Spread a little olive oil or butter on the mushroom. Smear with pureed garlic. Grill. Serve as a sandwich or by itself as a main.
Veggie kebabs - Get kebab sticks. Put mushrooms, onion chunks, and zucchini on it. Pour some salad dressing or marinade over it. Grill or bake until onions are cooked.
Honestly, what I do is take a good two or three hours, set it aside, and plan to make four or five large pots of 'veg' meals that I can freeze as TV dinners. I usually make...
- Veggie soup - cheap vegetables like cabbage, potatoes, carrots, turnips, and frozen spinach, celery, garlic, broth cubes, and a can of crushed tomatoes. Easy and very tasty with a chunk of bread, a sandwich or salad.
- Veggie pot pies - A packet of white sauce (or homemade cheese sauce) mixed with a half pack of drained, chopped spinach, a cup of chopped mushrooms, one onion, a cup of broccoli florets, and a half-cup of shredded cheese. Place in pre-made large tart shells, use another tart shell on top (or put in a pan and cover with mashed potatoes or puff pastry) and bake 'til brown.
- Veggie curry - A spoonful of curry paste, a few chilies to taste, a spoonful of coconut milk or yogurt (yogurt for an indian curry, coconut milk for Thai curries), and a crapload of veggies and tofu quickly sauteed in a wok.
- Yakiudons (Japanese fried noodles) - 1 packet udons, 1 cup chopped mushroom, 2 chopped green onions, and 1 bell pepper, sauteed in a wok with garlic. If you want, fry them with teriyaki sauce.
Honestly, pasta's always easy and yummy, too. Veggie food often takes less effort and money to prep.
Raw vegetables? You don't actually NEED to cook them first. They'll taste like crap when raw, but that's part of being a vegetarian. Enjoy it.
The vegetarians here have suggested that buying in bulk is cheap.. so buy beans, rice, carrots, potatoes and other veggies by the sack...
don't look at me, vegeheads have suggested that many many times before...
well you can go to your grocery food section usually around the breakfast stuff and you can find Morningstar brand burgers, hamburger crumbles, sausages, and loads of stuff. Or try Gardenburger they make both a vegetarian and vegan burger patty. Delicious. BOCA is an other brand of vegetarian products. plus if you do a little lable reading you can find pizzas pastas and even arificial chicken stuff.
roast beef sandwiches hot dogs and tuna fish /all you veggies have no better quality of health or longer lives and that's a fact there are more chemicals in veggie even organic than in all meat products is this a cry for attention or are you just bored
Walk into your supermarket's produce section. You'll find all sorts of ready-made meals. Make that the bulk of your diet, add in rice and beans, maybe pasta. Swing by taco bell and get a 7 layer burrito minus sour cream and cheese, or a bean burrito fresco style, or sub beans for meat on anything else and hold the dairy. These clearly aren't organic but I doubt you're looking for all organic foods.
Meat analogs found in the grocer's freezer section are nice, but they are a luxury, not a necessity.
canned pulses, cheese and bread, pasta and rice with vegetarian sauces, yoghurt, fruits, vegetarian pizza, veggie burger, grilled fruits or vegetables meatless kebab
halloumi or mozzarella sandwiches, canned tuna, shrimps, fish, cornflakes and milk, vegetarian ready made soups, or make your own..
If you don't have the time to cook your own food, then you will not be healthy in your vegetarian diet. Processed foods are not healthy, and especially if what you eat is mainly these foods. I do not advocate Morning Star (isolated soy protein is GMO and the isolation processes uses benzene which is a known carcinogen -oh but they remove ALL of the benzene during processing by heating it up and letting it form a gas which is then collected and redistributed again - yeah then why do you need to keep buying more benzene every year to restock?) or even Boca for the processed vegetarian burgers. Again, processed food is not healthy!
I am in agreement with the answers of fresh fruit and fresh vegetables for not only snacking, but making a meal out of them! Go Raw for a really fast way of eating healthy food! An apple a day keeps the doctor away is a great saying! And of course to stay healthy you will need to go organic! Money on organic is a healthy investment. Plus if you buy organic fresh produce then your bill won't be so high if you cut out all the unhealthy foods in your cart! How many times have I seen people who don't eat healthy say to me "Oh I can't afford to go organic (especially when Walmart even has organic stuff!)" and I see potato chips, cookies, and even cases of pop/beer in their cart. Yeah, like you want to even be healthy! Keep going like you are, and you will be investing in the pharmaceutical industry in a year or too (Type 2 diabetes drugs is one of biggest maker of drugs, next to heart problem drugs).
In today's society it is easy to say "I want to become a Vegetarian/Vegan", but not easy to take control and do it. You have to work at it and commit to it. You will have to work by making your own food - the old fashion way:cooking, baking, mixing, washing, and purchasing different items.
I would suggest you go about it slowly too. I answered a question about going vegetarian/vegan to someone on Yahoo! Answers. Take a look at that. Just starting out slowly makes more sense in today's fast pace world, then just thrusting vegetarianism upon yourself in one full swing. Good luck in your endeavors! And may you reap your rewards as I have.
Being a vegetarian can be great, but if you do not cook at all, you may find that your culinary experience will be much less than when you were a omnivore. Cooking allows you to eat very well at low cost, because you are paying for labor rather than taste when you buy premade/prepackaged anything. Unless, of course, you want to alienate yourself from eating and the joy of food--in which case, not cooking sounds great.
For any cases, for a healthy food, you must learn to prepare your way, before you enable to teach others to convince. For a beginning, as you have time/money constraint, just go and grasp some good vegetarian cuisine around you. You may get some idea of vegetarian food and the outlets, foot stalls nearby. There also restaurants could prepare "vegetarian-style" menus without adding any meat/egg. For a start, do not be so rigid about it.
Keep some "mock/fake" meat, noodles, green veggies, rice, flour in your fridge, for fast cooking. Vege cooking does not require much time.
Vegan burger is my favorite... doubled up with lettuce, cucumber, tomato, onion, vegan mayonnaise and chili sauce. (ready by 15 minutes!).
u could get croditay which is raw veggies such as carrots and broccolli and then u dip it in sour cream and onion dip... u could get fri=uit salad thats aleady perpared...by the way... good 4 u on becoming a vegetarian and eating healthy and organicly... so do I!!!
Check out the Annie's product line. They are organic and vegetarian and really good. She has fast food microwavable stuff and frozen entrees as well as dressing.... Annie's Goddess dressing is my favorite. I think she has soups and quite a variety of other things. My daughter told me about the stuff and a friend of hers was using the products to lose weight. I tried some enchilada type thing and found it quiet good.
You can't really survive on snacks. And the veggie ready-made/processed foods are the "junk food" of the vegetarian world. Plus they are expensive. Processed veggie foods are loaded with sodium and/or tons of spices and preservatives to make them taste like something.
It sounds like you might Google "Flexitarian Diets" ... flexitarian vegetarian diets allow some latitude that would fit your time and your pocketbook .... it's the diet for people who have a life and want to be vegetarians.