Help!

[LollipopViolet]

Right, back story first. I'm a student, live at home, and have no kids. I'm trying to lose a considerable amount of weight, and I've hatched this new idea today that going veggie, or at least mostly veggie might be a way to shift some weight (that and I'm just not fussed about eating most meats). So, I'm thinking, since this is my choice, I should buy/cook everything myself, no problems there.

But, I can't decide whether to do menu planning, and I need lots of ideas for recipes, because veggie stir fry and curry won't sustain me forever!

We tend to have lots of rice in, and lots of frozen veg, if that helps with ideas. I live 2 minutes walk from my local Tesco, what's their range of things like tofu like? And what else can I eat? I may keep fish in my diet (salmon being a favourite) just because I did go full veggie once and felt so ill I had to revert, so maybe if I eat fish that'll stop that. I can get lunches (sandwiches, pastas) from uni, but need ideas for breakfasts and dinners. I tried muesli, that didn't go down well...

Help!

I think when you first change to a veggie diet, the danger is you can end up eating a lot of cheese - because you are trying to replace the strong flavour of meat. So I'd recommend using lots of fresh herbs in your cooking, and making chilis and curries so your meals are always tasty.

I think a menu plan is probably a good idea until you build up a repertoire of veggie recipes. I do quite a lot of standard meals but substitute pulses for meat. So I make batches of bolognese style sauce using green lentils instead of mince (you can buy them tinned in supermarkets.)
Also there are lots of veggie versions of shepherds pie (I often do Red Dragon Pie - which you will find recipes for on google).

I do a lot of soups and veggie stews in the winter.

You can usually get tofu in supermarkets, also health food stores.

Breakfast: I quite often have something like scrambled egg (or boiled/poached/omelette) because I find a protein breakfast keeps me going longer.
If you are eating fish what about something like smoked haddock for breakfast? (my parents eat this a lot)

I have porridge, and sprinkle it with fax seed, or mixed seed for flavour and a bit of an energy boost.
Sometimes I have fruit and yogurt, I make my own yog. and add either fresh fruit or dried fruit compote (soak over night in fruit juice, and cook up next morning add cinnamon for really warming spicy b/f).

Smoothies are nice too, - there's loads of different combinations, but I make one with milk, spoonful of yog, banana and a few porridge oats. It's quite filling. Berries, blueberry juice and yog, blitzed up is also nice.

I sometimes make myself up little snack boxes if I'm going to be out for the day - with dried fruit, carrot sticks, cherry toms, pumpkin seeds, oatcakes - whatever I fancy in case I get hungry - stops me buying large coffee and cake when I'm out

Hope some of that is useful, - good luck