Vegetarian meals-AIBU

[AreYouDaveGorman]

Ok, kind of light hearted, but am I doing this wrong??

There are so many threads on here that say to go veggie to save money.
I have friends that have lost weight by going veggie??

Please! If you are one of these people what are you eating?
I really want to reduce my meat consumption for a lot of reasons. It doesn’t help that I’m also gluten free so a lot of veggie substitutes aren’t suitable (but even if they are they’re still pretty processed and expensive).

I gained weight when I went veggie as I just ate carbs!

My friends who have lost weight say they eat loads of salads-but no-one can actually give me a good veggie salad recipe that is filling enough to have as a main meal.

So....AIBU or has anyone else found this?

If you haven’t found this pleeeeeease tell me what you eat!

Some great suggestions on this thread and also I cannot stress this enough TOFU. Low carb and high protein and you can do so much with it. It's delicious in the air fryer. I'm vegan but also type one diabetic so I try to have low carb snacks. I eat a lot of almonds and mixed seeds too, as well as peanut butter. I don't worry about fat, I just try to stay away from heavy carbs.

'I am vegetarian and my absolute favourite cookbook is 'The Green Roasting Tin', by Rukmini Iyer'

And I'm NOT veggie, but absolutely love this book! Every recipe is pretty much - chop some stuff, mix it with other stuff, shove it in a roasting tin and 30-60 mins later, you have your dinner!

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall Veg Every Day also excellent, as are the BBC Food and Waitrose websites

@AreYouDaveGorman

Ok, kind of light hearted, but am I doing this wrong??

There are so many threads on here that say to go veggie to save money.
I have friends that have lost weight by going veggie??

Please! If you are one of these people what are you eating?
I really want to reduce my meat consumption for a lot of reasons. It doesn’t help that I’m also gluten free so a lot of veggie substitutes aren’t suitable (but even if they are they’re still pretty processed and expensive).

I gained weight when I went veggie as I just ate carbs!

My friends who have lost weight say they eat loads of salads-but no-one can actually give me a good veggie salad recipe that is filling enough to have as a main meal.

So....AIBU or has anyone else found this?

If you haven’t found this pleeeeeease tell me what you eat!

Lentils and whole carbs are your friends. Ignore white carbs for wholegrain.

I eat 95% vegetarian food (with the odd bit of fish).
Losing weight is a seperate issue. Vegetarian food isn't inherently less or more fattening. The only issue in my experience is that it's harder to follow a low carb diet if you're vegetarian, as meat and fish are such a great source of protein without the carbs.
Personally, my favourite meal is vegetarian chilli. I don't follow a specific recipe, but there's many online from cheap and cheerful to more fancy.

Have a look at the bosh cookbook, some lovely veggie and vegan recipes in there and nothing too challenging to make.

I've been trying to eat more vegetarian meals to help with several health conditions, but am severely restricted due to multiple allergies.

I've found getting weekly organic veg boxes has helped a lot in increasing the variety of veggies I eat (not to mention exploring new recipies when I have to google how to cook things I've never come across before!)

I'm cautious of trying to change too much too quickly so the other thing I've found helped a lot was gradually swapping my processed meat products for processed vegetarian/vegan ones. Yes its still processed and high in salt etc but less so than before, and its making a difference. 12kg in a year lost, and my specialist nurse is happy I'm going in the right direction, she says she'd be worried about massive drastic changes as they are rarely sustainable long term.

Chickpeas, beans, lentils and potatoes as a main base for meals. Curries are great.
I agree about salads not being filling - I love a salad on the side, but unless it’s got pasta in it it’s not enough to keep me going.

minimalistbaker.com/the-best-whole-roasted-cauliflower-5-ingredients/

I made this for dinner yesterday and just had leftovers for lunch. Cheated with a jar sauce with separate spice mix in a pot on top. Really nice. I also had kala chana, red peppers, spinach and onions in the curry sauce on the side to make it more filling. Plus toasted cashews on top.

Experiment with tins and packets.

I was intending to make a pork and beans dish cooked with passata.

But I opened a tin of tomato and basil soup.

I ended up with a really nice tomato/bean stew.

So leaving out the pork open a tin of haricot beans and a tin of tomato and basil soup, add a few spices, salt and pepper and put in a slow cooker for 4 hours.

Stir fried veg with noodles. Use a lot of veg. Add some soy sauce or black bean sauce.

Stir fried veg with noodles. Use a lot of veg. Add some soy sauce or black bean sauce.

I really like the lee Kum kee black bean and garlic sauce in a jar. It lasts for ages because it’s really strong. Chiu chow chilli oil is a great way to spice anything up.

The Green Roasting Tin is amazing!

Jack Monroe not so much

I have to admit to loving 70s/80s style veggie food too - big one pot stews and curries, brown rice, nut roasts.. all great hearty nourishing stuff

I’m vegan (have been since a child).

I don’t eat much in the way of carbs and don’t buy meat replacement processed food.

Have a look at this website. The food is fun and very varied. It’s a great start to cooking plant based.

www.bosh.tv/

I’ve been vegetarian my adult life. For dinner I may have pasta or rice pilaf type dish or e.g. a plate of sliced tomatoes good Olive Oil and good mozzarella Or e.g. houmous and pitta or guacamole or Spanish Tapas spread or Middle Eastern Mezze et etc. So long as I’ve eaten well for breakfast (porridge eggs fruit toast whatever) and for lunch dinner at home isn’t always major. Many who turn veggie make the mistake of thinking you need a ‘meat replacement’ it main meal special veggie option. Nonsense. Just don’t meat (or fish). Eat everything else a you wish !

Many who turn veggie make the mistake of thinking you need a ‘meat replacement’ it main meal special veggie option.

Or replacing meat with cheese. I put a stone on when I went veggie eating cheese and quorn chicken nuggets.

All of the above! Quinoa salads, beans, lentils, roasted veg, nuts and seeds, so many options. There are some really good veggie food influencers to follow now too with some amazing recipes.

Imam bayildi - stuffed aubergine
Salad nicoise without tuna.
Russian salad with eggs
Roasted cauliflower with parmesan, lime and cashews
Broccoli stir fried with tofu, ginger, soy sauce and sesame seeds
Potato tagine
Green beans and macadamia nuts roasted in coconut oil

I like The Green Roasting Tin too.
Also Leiths Vegetarian Bible. A bit old-fashioned but there are a few recipes that have become go-tos for me (the root veg curry particularly; a nice spice mix that you can use for a range of different curries as well as the actual recipe one).

And yes to SE Asian and Indian food that is vegetarian/vegan by default. Middle Eastern too.

We’re a vegetarian coeliac family but rarely eat salad

Favourites here are chilli, lasagna, pasta bakes of various types, curries, quiches, jackets with fillings, cauliflower cheese, Mac cheese, lentil casserole, sweet n sour, homemade soups

I tend to batch cook so there are spares for if the teens don’t fancy the dish of the day, freeze extra jackets and soup so I have handy fillers

I pick up recipes on Pinterest and make sauces in bulk and freeze them, buy pasta from Asda at 45p a bag and big bag of jackets for about £1.20

Forgot stir fry! I make my own gluten free sauce which you can keep for a week and use rice noodles

@Sexnotgender Would be very interested in a recipe/link to a recipe for Indian cottage pie! 😍

@Sexnotgender Sorry, just saw you posted one! 😂 Thank you!

I used hello fresh, every other week for 6 months), to learn how to cook decent vegetarian food as I'm not really a fan of meat substitutes. I know just use the recipe cards and do it by myself.

Some ideas from our week

Mushroom burgers sweet potato fries and salad
Vegetable kurma with chapatti
Jacket potatoes & bean chilli
Squash soup

It’s actually quite easy. Get onto the internet and start look and you’ll get the hang of it.

I second the Bosh books!

Gluten free veggie here.
5 bean chilli is amazing.
Salad - leaves, beetroot, tomato, cucumber, sweet corn, carrot, onion, coleslaw, cheese, potato or tofu.
Roast dinner minus the meat with plenty of veg.
Pasta with hidden veg sauce.
You can turn most things veggie and gluten free to be fair.