Juggling school and meals...

[miss_taken77]

Hello there. I'm new to this forum and to Vegetarianism itself (I just went lacto-ovo a week ago, someday I want to go vegan). My mom is very supportive about my switch to meatless cuisine, however with three other meat eaters in the family, she rarely makes a meatless meal. Having to make meals for myself, even though I've only been at this a week, and since it is May (when HS teachers are loading on the homework/projects), a couple nights I've found it difficult squeezing a quick but healthy meal and school work into my schedule, and I was just wondering if any of you, possibly in the same situation, had any time saving tips.

Thanks so much for the help.

x Jamie

[iceflower]

Is it possible for you and your family to have the same meals? Maybe you could ask your mum to dish out a serve for you before adding the meat. Do you ever have self-assemble type meals like burgers or tacos or burritos? It's easy to skip the meat there. Or half meat, half veggie pizzas maybe.

What type of meals do you family eat? I might be able to make some better suggestions..lol

[Final Aeon]

I guess you can have the main dish (or side dish, the one which is meatless) and open a can of lentils or beans. It takes 30 seconds dans it is yummy with spicies. You can cook them too, like refried beans, bean pizza, ... Or take tofu, it is great too (if you can stand it, I can't)

[woodentree]

I'm vegan, and I'm in the same situation as you. I just make lots of one dish meals like vege-pasta bake and shepherds pie. You can make enough to last you a few days so you don't have to cook every night. Leftovers are tastier anyways :)

[VeggiTash]

I have the same problem.

My time-saving tips are...

~ If your mum/dad is cooking a sauce that's veggie, take a bit before meat is added and quickly cook your own pasta (rice takes aaaages, but Gnocci - this italian pasta - takes about 5 mins or so, and most other pasta is quite quick to do)

~ Ready cooked veggie sausages are handy for quick sausage sandwhiches

~ Buy some ready made curries (perferaly in jars so you can put any remainders in the fridge for another day)

~ Buy some ready meals perhaps? Linda McCartney does a good lasagne which can probably go in the microwave, i think

~ Veggimince is quick and easy to cook. Just fry mushrooms and onions in a pan and add frozen veggiemince. Then add a tomato sauce when everything is defrosted. It normally makes 2 meals by the time everything is added so, you could save the other half for the next meal :) oh yeah - serve with pasta.


Hope I helped!

[miss_taken77]

Thank you for the suggestions. Once in awhile we have things like spaghetti or tacos, but for the most part we're the traditional meat-and-potato kind of family, however with your time-saving tips I think I'll be spending less time in the kitchen! :yes:

x Jamie

[thebelovedtree]

When i was working 30 hours a week and going to school i would freeze things in individual portions to save time. I would make a big pot of soup or something on my day off, and then i didn't have to cook for the rest of the week, and in a few weeks i have enough left over that i don't have to eat the same thing everynight. Blackbean soup is most versital, its good over rice, in tacos, by itself, with cornbread....the list goes on.

[Jennifer89]

I sugest making something in bulk. I have a real good pizza crust recipie that I'll post after church, it's simple and only takes 10-15 minutes to bake, 10 minutes to prepare, and 15 to rise. It makes a 8" crust. You can make it in bulk, like if it calls for 1 cup of something, you can pute in 10, seperate it into 8 baggies, let it rise, and pop it into the oven when you feal like pizza. You could also go ahead and chop up veggies and get out the sauce, and freeze those with it, so that all you have to do is pop it in the oven.

Try to cook on saturdays or sundays, after finishing what needs to be finished for school. Make about 3 different chouses, and find room in the freezer! Every week you can make three different things in bulk, untill you are satisfied with not eating the same thing over and over because you have veriaty.

If you don't have much room in the freezer though, then I sugest the Students Vegetarian Cook Book, it has yummy food, it's quick, it's easy, and it uses normal foods so that you won't have to run off to the co-op trying to find that weird food that you've never heard of before.

[SPCAluver]

I found some Indian food that is vegetarian (some are vegan) and they can be eaten with rice or pasta! If you go to their website they are cheaper than when I buy them at the store and I think that we got free shipping because we ordered in bulk :cool:

Go to:

www.tastybite.com

They come precooked it foil pouches and they can be heated in the microwave or in hot water. They are really good too!!!! :yes: