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| Sat, 06-25-2005 - 2:59am |
Okay, last week I asked you what books, websites, and other informational resourses you would recommend to a new vegetarian.
This week, pretend that this imaginary friend is with you at the grocery store. What products would you point out as being (1) good (2) nonthreatening to a person used to eating meat, not tofu and such and (3) easy to prepare. (yes, I do know that not everyone shares my love of cooking!). Give us your favorite products as well as give us an idea of what you buy to make meals that aren't prepackaged. Like the rice, pasta, canned and fresh veggies, and seasonings that I make stir-fries, pasta salads, and such with.
And how do you prepare those foods that don't have the heating instructions on the box (the things that cook up quickly for everyday meals, not involved things)? What do you serve with them? (so many people have trouble planning meals, since a lot of the foods we eat are made of the things most people think are side dishes! There's a note written on our favorite macaroni salad recipe- "a perfect size for our family". Now it is the main dish- DF loves it enough that he doesn't even bother heating up a micro meat- and tripling the recipe gives us barely enough for a meal! But at first, just a pasta salad seemed lonely and we had no idea of what to serve with it. I know that there are meat substitutes, but the fake meats taste so much like meat to me that I have the same reaction to them as I do to meat, but don't taste enough like meat for DF. So the "easy" centerpiece for a meal just doesn't work for us. But with experience I have learned how to make meals we all find filling and enjoyable.
I hope that we can help those people here to find out how to switch to become more confident, and also point others in the direction of new foods.
Jaseann
co-cl: Celiac Disease
co-cl: Vegetarian Living
People saying you look healthy doesn't men your symptoms aren't valid. Just because some physician didn't listen doesn't mean it's all in your head. Just because there is no definitive test yet doesn't mean the disease doesn't exist. You know you body- trust yourself!

Hi Jaseann,
This is a great question!
I too make most of our meals from scratch. If I was taking this friend to the grocery store I would show them this great vegetarian hummous that they sell in small tubs telling them how this can be used as a great snack when you come home from work starving for something..it's great for dipping the small raw carrots or any veggie into and I love it on pieces of baguette or pita. I like this lentil soup made by Primo and also President's Choice brand black bean soup......these are "almost" as good as homemade and can help you out when you're in a pinch.
I always have greek style whole wheat pita bread on hand and cans of sliced black olives and sliced mushrooms to make a quick "Pita Pizza" you can add cheese if you want...any toppings can work with this and kids love to make their own too! just a few minutes on the centre rack of your oven with the broiler on is all you need.
I always keep certain staple products like brown basmati rice, various lentils, canned beans, diced tomatoes, pastas of all shapes, potatoes, olive oil, pesto in a jar, dijon mustard tabasco sauce...lots of different spices...frozen spinach etc..
I don't like too many of the fake meats out there either...BF gets sick when he eats them so the only ones he eats are the Boca Chick'n nuggets and these Zoglos spinach patties. and we probably eat those only twice a month.
We do go out once a week to get these great falafels from a Lebanese take-out place...they are so good!
When I plan meals I try to make them colourful...I think this makes a big difference to people who are used to eating meat.
I always try to have something green, something white, and something orange, yellow or red on the plate. using fresh herbs and things like lemon, lime and tomato slices can spiff up the plate too.
Can you imagine eating white rice, cauliflower and white asparagus on the same plate??!Yuck!!
Even though it all tastes good..it's just not visually appealing.
We also use our "Good " dishes for everyday and fancy glasses to have our beverages.
BF and I are on our own so I don't know if this would work very well with young children.
My sister serves her kids their juice in small wine glasses at the table for breakfast....they love it!!!
Anyways..I could go on and on...
Nathalie.
This is such a helpful topic - I'm posting mainly to keep it at the top and going, but being a new to the vegetarian lifestyle, I haven't got much to offer. My current favorites I would point out would be the "Amy's vegetarian entree's" in the health food section. I have not found one entree that wasn't comperable in taste to something I'd made from scratch. Also, she makes an awesome canned chunky tomato soup - excellent w/ grilled cheese! The frozen foods have saved me when I need to make something for just the kids and need my own dinner in a pinch.
I usually grab a bag of frozen fruit. The fruit along w/ frozen yogurt or soy ice cream, ice and choice of juice/soy milk makes for a yummy breakfast or snack. I'd run them by a Trader Joe's too, which I think has the best Vanilla Soy Milk on the market.
Then for an after grocery treat, I'd run them by Starbucks for a Soy Chai Tea Latte - yummm!!! But that's another post.
I'm totally writing down all the ideas previously posted - thanks so much!
- Jkaz