i want to be a vegetarian, but i'm not sure what to eat. any suggestions?

Question

thanks for all the help guys! does anyone have any actual meals though? right now, the only meat i eat is chicken. i eat a lot of pasta, rice, vetgetables. i want some different ideas though.

Answer 1

It's tough to know what to eat, I know. It does take some getting used to. I'm a new vegetarian and here are some foods that I eat.

Breakfast: Salad, instant oatmeal (Kashi is the best-so healthy), cereal bar or leftover veggie pizza. Eggs are great, of course, if you choose to eat them.

Lunch: Salad, soup, pizza, a veggie burger (check out Morningstar Farms Grillers Original or Garden Patties-so gooood!)

Dinner: I almost always eat pizza, mexican food or italian food. I love veggie pizzas, I order them several times per week and sometimes make them too. Try french bread pizza if you don't feel like cooking. Italian food and Mexican food is pretty easy. You can make a wide variety of pastas without meat. And black bean burritos are fantastic. Sometimes I also make potato dishes. Get a vegetarian cookbook to help you out. I love mine.

Answer 2

If you're serious about being veg, start out eating what you'd normally eat but replace your meats w/ meatless meats, e.g. Boca Chik'n nuggets, Morningstar meat crumbles (vegetarian ground beef) and so on. Do that for the first few weeks, but start swapping out some of the processed "meats" for veggies, fruits, legumes, tofu and so on. For example, if you eat tacos a lot, start out w/ the meat crumbles or other meatless meat, but then start eating just beans and veggies in your tacos. That way, you aren't quitting everything cold turkey, and you gradually change your tastes. After a while, your taste buds will change, meat will sound nasty, and then you can get into the REALLY good veg food. Get creative! Here are a few websites w/ good recipes (these are all vegan, but if you don't like soy milk and cheese or egg substitutes, you can use normal dairy products or eggs.)

http://www.razzledazzlerecipes.com/vegan-recipes/index.htm
http://www.compassionatecooks.com/recipes.htm
http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Main.aspx
http://www.vrg.org/recipes/index.htm

Also, many people don't seem to realize it, but many foods we eat are vegetarian/vegan. For example:
*Cheese pizza
*Bean burritos
*Grilled Cheese sandwiches
*PBJ
*Potato soup (or any other veggie soup, even Cup 'o Noodles makes a specific vegan veggie-flavor soup)
*French fries (if they're not fried in beef fat)
*Just about any salad
*Veggie spring rolls
*Spaghetti or fettuccine or really any pasta
*Chili
*Chips and dip
*Pretzels and cheese sauce

...and so on.

If you're really serious, there's a few cookbooks I'd recommend.
First of all, my absolute FAVORITE!
"Vegan with a Vengance" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz- this book kicks butt. She's funny, the food is the best, and it's relatively cheap

"The Joy of Vegan Baking" by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau- She is my veg world hero. The book isn't technically on the market, but you can pre-order it, and her work is amazing. Check out some of her recipes on her website, under the "recipes from past cooking classes" page, http://www.compassionatecooks.com

Hope this helps, and I hope you enjoy and stick with your choice. The veg lifestyle... well, it kicks butt!

Answer 3

Soy products are a must. I've been a vegetarian off and on, but it's been a while since the last time I was eating like that. I had a friend who was a vegetarian who helped me learn to cook vegetarian foods. Now you can learn to cook vegetarian meals at health food stores that offer demonstrations, and at community colleges, and at community learning centers. Pick up the class offerings pamphlets or newsletters they put out, and you will find lots of great possibilities.

Vegetarian cookbooks abound. Find those at health food stores and book stores.

Answer 4

Beans, legumes, soy milk, tofu, whole grain pasta, rice, vegetables and fruit to name a few things. Just use your creativity.

It's really easy, I've been a vegetarian for 21 years. Now days there are many options out there for non meat eaters.

I commend you, you are doing something great for your body, animals and the environment! Yay for you!

Answer 5

Beans and cornbread.
Bean burritos.
Tofu stir fry.
Green chile enchilada casserole-mix two cans cream of mushroom soup with small can chopped green chiles-layer this with torn up corn tortillas and shredded cheddar,ending with cheese. Bake at 350F 30 minutes,let sit 5 minutes.

Quinoa stir fry-quinoa is a South American grain with lots of protein, if store near you doesn't have it you can buy it on line.
Rinse the grain and let it dry. Toast 1/2 cup pecans in a dry skillet until golden brown and fragrant-set aside. Toast the quinoa in 1 Tbsp olive oil until brown-add two cups veggie stock,bring to a strong simmer, cover and cook 20 minutes-add 6 ounces fresh spinach,cook to just wilted, stir in 1 cup chopped tomato, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese and the nuts-cook just to heat through. I have also made this with different nuts, cheese and veggies-it's always good.
Hope this gets you started, and it won't hurt you to go cold turkey on meat (ha-ha) like someone said-just be sure to get enough protein, which is not hard.

Answer 6

The website http://www.vegcooking.com has a lot of info. Meal plans are here: http://vegcooking.com/veganMenus-1.asp

Other good recipe sites are http://www.cok.net/lit/recipes/ and http://www.chooseveg.com

Think of the meals you eat that involve meat, and then figure out how to replace the meat with mock meats or other foods. For example, replace the chicken breast with a Boca chicken patty. Many fake meats are shown here: http://www.tryveg.com/cfi/toc/?v=07groceries

Good luck.

Answer 7

Really, what you eat depends on your goal is, and what you like. Do you like to cook? I would suggest you get on the web, or go to the library and check out some veg cookbooks.

or are you a klutz in the kitchen? Research local restaurants to find if they are veg friendly. When ordering at restaurants, don't be afraid to ask questions! It's your servers' job to know what is in your food.

Answer 8

It's easy...eat what you usually eat but replace animal ingredients with a substitute or leave them out all together.

Beans, mushrooms, potatoes are all good substitues depending on what you want to eat...so is Quorn and soy products.

Answer 9

start out slowly every once and a while eat light meat maybe some ham sandwich or chicken salad dint just drop meat fast its bad for you ..
eat veggie hamburgers tofu burgers
etc.

Answer 10

A balanced veg diet should be comprised of grains(pasta, bread, rice, cold/hot cereals), legumes(beans, peas, lentils, soy and meat analogs), fruits and vegetables.
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/food_groups.html

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I'm vegan and these are some of my favorite things to eat:

Breakfast: bananas, cream of wheat with brown sugar and soy butter, cereal, pancakes or french toast with real maple syrup, vegan "sausage" patties, smoothies.

Lunch: VEGAN "SAUSAGE" SANDWICHES, sandwiches with vegan deli slices(Tofurkey is the only one that's kinda funky), fruit, dinner leftovers, couscous salad, vegan sushi, potato or pasta salad.

Dinner: sloppy joes, "sausage" and gravy with homemade biscuits, Spaghetti and Trader Joe's "meatballs" or TVP, lasagna, Thai pad see ew, pad khi mao(drunkard's noodles), pad prig king, tofu+eggplant with basil sauce, yellow thai curry with tofu or vegan chikn and veggies and jasmine rice, Indian dal with homemade roti or dosai, channa masala, aloo gobi, vegetable or minestrone soup, pizza, STEAMED "PORK" BUNS with potstickers or spring rolls, sweet&sour/orange/lemon chikn, vegan pho or wonton soup

I use these sites to find recipes:
http://www.foodnetwork.com
http://vegweb.com
http://www.recipezaar.com

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If you want to become a lacto-ovo vegetarian, the transition should be quite simple. Almost all meats have widely available commercial replacements. All that you have to do is replace any flesh in your diet (beef, pork, poultry, seafood) with meat analogs or just leave it out altogether.

You should keep in mind that a journey such as this can be quite short but should just be the beginning of a longer one to a plant-based diet with no animal products. This is because of the reality of factory farming in which animals that are kept alive to produce milk, eggs, etc suffer much more and longer than animals that are raised to a certain weight and then slaughtered.http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/
http://meat.org
Some people use the word "vegan" in reference to this idea, but be aware that that applying that label to yourself should always come with the inclusion of wise activism and advocacy.http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy/index.html
Two extremely important examples of this are that you should never speak to someone about vegetarianism/veganism without their consent and genuine interest or as a comment on what they are eating AND your dietary beliefs should never be used as an introduction or explanation of who you are as a person. Veg*ism should be something that comes up AFTER people get to know you and they offer you a situation that makes it confusing to withhold the information/dicussion. Also, if you are presented something that you choose not to eat or you are
ordering food/eating together somewhere/picking the best place to eat.

When you you hold off on the subject until it's necessary and then act like it isn't a big deal at all, people are usually surprised and WAY more interested and curious than if you were to bring it up when someone's eating or just using it as a conversation starter.

Just to clear things up, the vegetarian/vegan diet is not composed of salads, vegetables, fruit and fake meat.
A balanced plant-based diet includes grains(breads, pasta, rice,cereal), legumes(soy, beans, peas, lentils), fruit and vegetables.
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/food_groups.html
http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/
http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/eating.html
Being vegan can be an art, one whose challenge is to take things that involve the suffering of the innocent and change them into something free of cruelty.

A vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.

Technically the term "vegetarian" does imply that you don't consume anything that comes from the body of an animal that requires killing it. Many ingredients such as gelatin and glycerin are found in many candies, Fig-Newtons, and many of other foods as well as rennet found in many cheeses.
http://www.happycow.net/health-animal-ingredients.html
The best thing to remember is to take your time so that for example: when you are comfortable not eating beef and pork you can then give up chicken when you are sure you can make the commitment permanently.
Depending on your age or reliance on parents or regional options, it may not be best to give yourself a label. The important thing is to do your best to make progress and be committed to your compassion towards animals. Never put your focus onto what you or other people use to describe yourself.

If you meet someone that talks down to people for eating meat, dairy, etc or to you because they think they are "more veg" than you, laugh in their face and tell them they are a disgrace to the entire philosophy. People like this only hurt the idea of veg*ism AND the animals. The point of all of this is to live compassionately and and as free from cruelty as you can, all the while maintaining your health and a positive attitude. People who don't maintain either, need not open their mouths and represent our beliefs.

If you actually choose to read all of this, I hope it helps. If not, feel free to e-mail me if you have questions.