Vegan shopping list needed....

[lee472]

I'm new to not eating meat and dairy products and having trouble coming up with things to eat beside fruits, nuts and veggies. Between last night and this afternoon I've had a entire bag of hazelnuts which I'm sure can't be good for me.

Can someone please give an idea of what to get when I go food shopping so I don't starve to death or turn into a "nut!" (smirk-hahahah) :yum

[Quietspirit]

We are not strict vegetarians but we do avoid dairy and eggs. We eat:

beans/rice
salads
pastas (olive oil and herbs is delicious)
Earth Balance spread makes a good butter substitute (I like it better than butter!)
Bean tacos
Stir frys
Asian noodle dishes

There are some great vegan cookbooks out there. Our library has quite a few. Perhaps a library browsing would help? :)

[lee472]

Thank you! That was very helpful.

[flowermama]

Oh, when I first became vegan, I lost 10 pounds (wish I could do that again :shifty), and I was talking to another lady and she said she lost 20. We were joking about how we lost the weight because we didn't know what to eat. :giggle

I'm not the biggest on variety :O, but we eat lots of potatoes, brown rice, and pasta, enchilladas, tacos, sandwiches, soup, and more. lol

Can you eat soy? Have you tried tofu? We love tofu. It can be used in so many different ways... for sauces, cubed, frozen and then defrosted (gives it a different texture),...

One item I use very often is vegetarian chicken-flavored broth powder. The vegetarian beef flavored broth powder is good, too. If you buy tvp, if you add the vegetarian beef-flavored broth powder to the water that you put the tvp in, it flavors it really nicely and gives it a nice brown color (if you like that brown color lol). One thing we use tvp for is what we call "potato pie." It's one of our favorites -- we put tvp on bottom, corn on the next layer, and then mashed potatoes on top.

This will give you a good idea of what we eat...
http://www.gentlechristianmothers.com/weblog/archives/2005/09/first_weekly_me.html

[lee472]

I was really going for the "Full Fledged Vegan" but find I'm easting worse for lack of option. I was doing good "eating habit" wise with just not eating meat. I think I'll stick to that (no meat only) and try to cut back on dairy intake without completely giving it up.

Thank you for the great ideas.

P.S. What would one put in a taco if not a meat eater?

P.S.S. Question do you think it's better to eat whole fruits or to use a juice extractor?

[Mama Calidad]

P.S. What would one put in a taco if not a meat eater?


1) Beans, rice and salsa
2) Beans, rice and avocado with a squirt of lime juice
3) Sauteed carrots, potatoes, squash and mushrooms. We're not veg*n, so we usually put sour cream on top of that. :shifty
4) Beans and guacamole
5) Bean and potato

[lumpofclay]

I'm not really big on meat substitutes, but we use something called Soy Taco that we find in our produce section for tacos sometimes (for variety). It's like taco-seasoned "ground beef".

We eat soup once a week. (potato, cajun bean, chili, veggie, black bean)

We eat mexican about every other week. (tacos, mexican pizzas, wraps, fajitas, burritos) Our toppings include refried beans, whole beans in a spicy chili/taco/enchilada sauce, rice (spanish or yellow), soy taco, black & green olives, salsa, taco/enchilada sauce, mushrooms, onions, peppers.

We eat some other "ethnic" food every other week (Thai noodles with peanut sauce, stir-fry over brown rice or in wraps, greek pitas)

We eat pizza about once a week. (made at home, even the crust & breadsticks, so it's a lot more nutritious!)

We have our easy meals, like spaghetti, that we sometimes fall back on.

We eat lots of salads, as either side dishes or sometimes the main item. We made salad wraps too. (load a wrap full of veggies. . . spead some hummus on the wrap for more protein)

We eat bean dishes. (hummus, black bean dip, red/black beans and rice, a thick chili-like meal over rice)

We eat tons of whole grains. (I grind my own wheat.) So we have breakfast (IOW, pancakes) for dinner sometimes. (My DH loves pancakes for dinner. :giggle) We also have cous cous and quinoa.

We do eat seafood. (for various reasons) So we have fish maybe once a week.

To go back to breakfast, we also have oatmeal for breakfast. Sometimes the girls have eggs. (We also eat eggs, but don't eat any other meat/meat product, with the exception of the seafood already mentioned.) We have waffles, pancakes, muffins, buttered/cinnamon toast etc. for breakfast.

Lunch is where I struggle the most. We end up with pb&j, pasta salads, leftovers. . . :shrug

As far as fruit or fruit juice, we opt for fruit. (fresh if at all possible) I figure that's how God made it, and we should eat it as close to how He made it as possible. We definitely buy what's in season. That holds true for veggies as well as fruits.

Our favorite fall/winter veggies are winter squash and kale. I also try to stock the freezer with veggies throughout the summer, so we'll have some over the winter. (buy what's in season and cheap. . . store it in the freezer) I just started that this year, so I didn't get a lot done, but I learned quite a bit!

Oh, and I add fresh garlic to just about anything I can! I buy a huge tub of whole garlic cloves from Sam's. I keep onions & potatoes. I also buy green/red/yellow/orange bell peppers (from Sam's -- cheaper) and slice and freeze them. It's so easy to grab a handful to add to a recipe.

For snacks, we eat nuts and trail/snack mixes. (I have started making my own, mixing together things the girls like.) We eat popcorn frequently. Oh, and we all love smoothies. (soy milk or juice base, with whatever added fruit sounds yummy. . . sometimes I add protein powder, like on a full day or when the girls haven't eaten much) I make my own salsa. (I add a small can of tomato paste for extra "tomato" -- it's so good for men!)

[Punkie]

Great list, Jessica! :tu

Since my dh eats meat, and I'm not a fan of meat substitutes, I've found a lot of foods that I can use in place of the "fake meats". As was mentioned above, I love beans in place of meats for anything Mexican. If you have a Chipotle restaurant near you, their vegetarian burrito is amazing for inspiration! I think I'm going to try to copycat it this week. It has black or red beans, rice, cheese and sour cream (if you eat it), guacamole, lettuce, and tomato. Its great! Its also huge!

We make chili with bulgur instead of meat (http://vegweb.com/recipes/soup/chili13.shtml). Bulgur is a wheat, and it adds an awesome texture that is similar to meat, but my dh will eat it because its not a fake meat ;)

If you like pasta salads, this one is great (http://vegweb.com/recipes/quick/6871.shtml).

For stir fry, I really love using portabella mushrooms, but if you're not in the mood, you can also use black beans (http://vegweb.com/recipes/stirfry/5065.shtml).

If you're really sick of regular vegetarian lasagna (http://pasta.allrecipes.com/az/HeartyVegetableLasagn.asp) (that one has cheese), then you can try this vegan pumpkin lasagna (http://vegweb.com/recipes/pasta/4029.shtml)

So, there's a lot of alternatives out there that aren't made with soy and taste great! :) Of course, if you do decide to use the fake meat, most people probably won't know. I fed fake meat to our Bible study and no one guessed ;)

[lumpofclay]

Thanks, Amanda, for the compliment and the recipes!!

You reminded me that we frequently add white beans to stir-fry and other pasta salads. Garbanzo beans work better when you need/desire a firmer-texture bean. :)

[Punkie]

We do too! :tu Pinto beans can be really good in a pasta salad too. You can add corn, tomato, pintos, and cumin or other seasonings :)

[ShangriLewis]

Do you have a Trader Joes by you? They have some awesome sauces that you can just add some tofu or canned beans to and serve over rice.

Did anyone say Fantastic Falafell yet? It's a dried mix that you add water to. I like to fry it in Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Then I serve it with Trader Joes mini pizzas or Greek flatbread. I cut up tomato, onion, peppers, lettuce, cucumber etc and serve those in little bowls. You can use salad dressing, tazaki sauce, hummus, tahini sauce or Garlic sauce to top you falafell with. http://www.garlicsauce.com/

I like to make my own convience items. I make a big salad a few times a week. If I make pasta I use some for dinner and then I always make extra. Spaghetti is awesome for making a quick stir fry. Extra rice can be thrown into some miso broth for quick soup. Just heat up a kettle of water. Add a spoonful of miso to a coffee mug or bowl. Add the boiling water and then you can drink as is or add some finely sliced green onion and leftover rice.

[lee472]

:hugheart Thank you guys for the GREAT tips! Thanks to you guys i will not live on "nut" alone! lol I'm excited to try these new dishes.
P.S. does anybody know of a "good" web site that specializes in raw food recipes?

[ShangriLewis]

www.alissacohen.com She has a great message board on there and everyone is really kind.

[peacefulveganmom]

Also- you might want to check out www.vegweb.com They have an endless supply of vegan recipes. :tu I LOVE their site and use if lots!! :yum

[memory maker]

we really like seitan as a meat substitute. We usually eat it as a stir fry, but you can substitute it where you would be eating chicken

[acrunchymama]

serene allison has a cookbook for raw foods ( lol is that possible, maybe a raw book lol )www.aboverubies.org