For new vegetarians ~ Wow!

[Guest guest]

Thank you, Jeanne! That was a wonderful post full

of sage wisdom from your years of living the veggie

lifestyle. I am sure many new vegetarians will be able

to learn from this, and also be encouraged.

Like Linda McCartney and Mollie Katzen, you have a

pleasant way of making vegetarianism feel accessable and

simplified. Bravo.

 

I plan to copy this post to place it in our helpful hints folder.

 

~ PT ~

 

To see a world in a grain of sand,

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.

~ William Blake, poet, engraver, and painter (1757-1827)

``````````````````````````````````````````

, Jeanne B <treazured wrote:

>

> As we have some relatively new vegetarians here on these lists, I thought I'd

share a few

things I've learned over the decades of eating as a vegetarian. Some folk can

end up

spending a lot more on groceries since going vegetarian because they end up

buying the

fake meat things from the freezer section at the grocery store.

>

> Carl and I had lived over 20 years before even trying one of those fake meats.

I keep a

package of veggie burgers in the freezer, but it is for emergencies, not for

nightly

consumption. I suggest strongly that unless you have the funds to just eat the

frozen

meatless meals, you might want to put the money into buying foods you can make

(and

taste better). Things which have been processed more seem to cost a lot more.

Look at the

cost of a box of oatmeal (even the more expensive steel cut oats) with your own

spices

and fruit added compared to the individual packages of instant oatmeal. (Hint:

If you have

a large family, put your oatmeal and water on to cook in the crock pot on low

before going

to bed.)

>

> There are thousands of vegetarian recipes online and these groups are the best

source

of help online. Of course that is just my opinion. (But I'm right.) My starting

off place for

living as a vegetarian was Francis Moore Lappe's Diet For A Small Planet. I have

the bad

habit of giving my copy of this book to new vegetarians. The Moosewood cookbooks

are

also incredible.

>

> Dry beans, peas and lentils are an awesome source of protein and fiber. Dry is

cheaper

than canned, but I keep both on hand. The canned beans are great for nights I

really don't

feel like cooking.

>

> Plan leftovers. Our pot of chili is served as chili, then taco salad, then

either as soft

tacos or mashed up and served with corn chips. Marinara sauce is another which

can have

several reincarnations - spaghetti, eggplant Parmesan, baked ziti, things like

that.

Periodically I will make things for the freezer, like a veggie pot pie.

>

> I cook with TVP a lot, but not daily. The most useful piece of advice I can

give about

using TVP is to get used to it in highly flavored foods like chilies and

curries.

>

> Read the labels on foods. That old standby, the cheap box of Jiffy cornbread

mix has

LARD in it. A yellow rice which we've been using for many years has chicken

stock in it,

which shocked me.

>

> Get to know yous spices and keep herbs, spices, peppers, onions and garlic on

hand.

Plain pinto beans cooked with no seasoning isn't as good as a pot of pinto beans

cooked

with peppers, onions, garlic and other seasonings. Plain lentils are blah.

Lentils in a curry

sauce and served over jasmine rice is lovely.

>

> About the taco seasoning - those little packages cost a LOT more than a large

jar of the

Tone's Taco Seasoning you can buy either online or at Sam's Club for $4.00. We

buy the

large containers of spices and split them up into smaller jars and use one jar,

storing the

rest in the freezer.

>

> The five things I use the most in the kitchen are my chef's knife, paring

knife, cutting

board, crock pot and rice cooker. I used to have the opinion that a rice cooker

was a

luxury item until getting a Zojirushi rice cooker. When it died on me, I was

totally bereft

until a dear person on both these lists sent me a Black and Decker rice cooker.

>

> Happy eating. Jeanne in GA

>