Vegetarian Meal planning

[Kimmie213]

I'm having a rough time finding vegetarian meal plans.
I tried to do a search, but AFAIK there isnt a veggie MPing thread. :

So, our family is def feeling the crunch of the economy, I have made a resolution to plan all our meals and THEN do the grocery shopping. Now I need some ideas on what to plan for. Usually we eat mac and cheese, stir fry, and spaghetti. : Oh and did I mention I hate to cook? This is going to be tough.

[Daizynee]

burritos are always good. Cook up a double batch of brown rice to use for your stir fry day then use left overs to mix with stuff for burritos. Good additions are black beans or Morning Star Farms veggie crumbles, then add some sauteed veggies, cheese, sour cream & salsa. Mmmmm

[prothyraia]

One of our favorite easy cheap meals is a big pot of bean soup. We get a bag of 16 bean soup mix at the store (sometimes comes with a packet of "chicken flavor"- throw that out :P). Saute some onions and garlic in olive oil, toss that in a big pot of water with the beans, throw in some carrots and potatoes, and ignore it for a few hours. Viola, dinner/lunch for a few days!

[SeekingSimplicity]

I found a recipe for a Crock Pot that might interest you. It is called Double Thick Potato Cheese Soup.

Here is the link to the recipe: http://www.recipezaar.com/255544

[*Jessica*]

Bumping because all of those moved threads are distracting!

[Dahlea]

Some of our favorites: quesadillas, any kind of pasta, bean dip, beans and rice in pitas, stir fry, and eggrolls. Hope that gives you some new ideas.

[Anna06]

bump

I need to start meal planning.....

love all these ideals......

anymore???? :

[pazerific]

i love to do chili one night, and then make some spag noodles the next night and have "skyline" (like in cincinatti). top the noodles with chili, shredded cheddar, onions and sour cream. it's soooo good!!!

another easy one is to make a huge batch of spag. sauce, and then freeze extra. you can make calzones (we like spinach artichoke ones) and use the sauce to dip them in. i like calzones better than pizza b/c you get a lot more veggies in them.

i'll be watching for everyone else's good meal planning ideas.

[*MamaJen*]

Lentil soup -- make enough to freeze.
Minestrone
curry
various pastas
fritatta
burritos
breakfast for dinner

[missmich]

I'm in! I really need to learn how to meal plan and then start doing it! I'm a vegetarian and even though the non-veggie meal planning threads will give me some great tips I don't want to read about how I can stretch a roast into soup! lol

I eat a lot of pasta! Pasta with cheese,pasta with sauce (normally from a jar) perogies and sour cream,and pasta with butter. I throw in a few veggies when I think about it!

I do love things like burittos,tacos,casaroles,and stir frys but I just never make the time to make them! I like having things in the fridge and ready to heat and the easiest thing to make is pasta when I get home. I'm getting so bored of that though and have wasted to much food so am ready to start meal planning!

In 2 weeks I should get my first "real" paycheck from my new job and then I can stock up on some basics. I'm not counting my first check since it was only $6.78! LOL

[onlyzombiecat]

I'm not vegetarian but we limit our meat intake so I'd love to learn and share vegetarian meal ideas.

A few things my family enjoys-
cheese and spinach mannicotti or lasagna

soups- Fassolatha (makes a lot for my family to freeze or eat as leftovers)

slow cooker refried beans, cheese and tortillas w/Spanish rice

cheese ravioli, salad, garlic bread

pancakes or waffles

vegetarian Moussaka

tomato bean salad- similar to this

sauteed broccoli, mushrooms, garlic and rosemary with rice- very easy... I use wild rice but it would probably be good with other rice. I was thinking it might also be tasty with almonds. http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recip...asp?recipe=347

[AaronsMommy]

The best "system" that I have found is to make a soup, a batch of mixed grains (millet, barley and anything else fun I find at the natural store) and a big salad every weekend. This not only gets me through lunch-crunches when there are no leftovers, but I can make dinners out of them if I run out of time to cook. You can use the grains for fried rice, stir-fry, etc. If there is nothing quick and ready to eat in the fridge I tend to go for crap, so this system has worked well for us and it isn't too much effort on a Sunday.

[missmich]

Originally Posted by SeekingSimplicity

I found a recipe for a Crock Pot that might interest you. It is called Double Thick Potato Cheese Soup.

Here is the link to the recipe: http://www.recipezaar.com/255544

This is a soup that I could enjoy for sure! I don't have a crock pot though: I think I could make it on the stove in a regular pot though and maybe cook the potatoes first or just set the heat higher or something!

Oh wow! I can't wait to try this!

[mamabeca]

I've been finding that 3 or 4 homemade meals a week is about as much as I can do. By homemade I mean cooking right up to the point of serving, I know this is not the right word, I'm just hungry and braindead right now. sorry.

Anyway, I made a little spreadsheet that covers every day of the week, and 3 meals and 3 snacks. I don't necessarily eat them all, but I do plan them, and have the ingredients available so that I don't go for crap.

For dinners this week:
M=lentil daal and naan,
T=burritos
W=sloppy steves w/avo & tomato salad,
Th = hashbrown, zucchini and spinach casserole and apple pie for kids, out to dinner for me and dh (today I fast because of the Jewish holiday, so a nice way to get a date lol!)
F=crock pot moroccan stew w/rice,
Sat = dh's turn to cook,
Sun = spaghetti and unmeat-balls with garden salad.

[missmich]

mamabeca What are Sloppy Steves?

I bought most of what I need for the soup,but can anyone tell me how many potatoes will equal 2 pounds?

Another good way to stretch chili is to poor it over rice the next day or even mach and cheese or plain pasta with a little grated cheese on top.

I was thinking of making some rice this weekend and stirring in some black beans and salsa and eating that with some shredded cheese over it slightly melted. You could also add corn if you had it. If there were left overs it could be rolled in to a burrito with some fresh avocado and sour cream!

[Purple Cat]

I found a great lentil stew recipe on epicurious. I took 1/2 pound of lentils, lots of veggie stock with garlic, ginger, and onions and fresh tomatoes. I added gobs of carrots and cumin, tumeric, and curry and then more curry. Frozen peas and cilantro. It took a little while to cook, primarily because I had such big chunks of carrots in it. But we will eat this for a long time. It's so delicious.

I'm really proud of myself because I've been using the frugal mama challenge to eat out of your pantries instead of buying more and more and more and more groceries. It used up some lentils and some of the jumbo bag of carrots I just bought. It's a pretty cheap, very nutritious meal.

[dbsam]

Originally Posted by mamabeca

Th = hashbrown, zucchini and spinach casserole

How do you make this? I don't have any casserole recipes. Thanks

[onlyzombiecat]

Originally Posted by missmich

mamabeca
I bought most of what I need for the soup,but can anyone tell me how many potatoes will equal 2 pounds?

3-4 medium potatoes.


Purple Cat- That lentil stew sounds good. I think I'll try it because we have a bunch of lentils.

[lovemyfamily6]

I need to get better at meal planning as well. We eat mostly vegan. I used to be so good about dinners, but that was before my kids were older and busier! Now we have stuff going on and it's really hard to muster up the energy or find the time to make good, healthy meals. I'm going to start trying harder though!

[cookinmama]

Does anyone have a recipe for mushroom chili? I made it years ago but lost the recipe.