I'm looking for a completely prepacked, frozen vegetarian Thanksgiving style meal (tofu "turkey", gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, taters,..the works...). I'd be happy to order it online because I haven't seen anything like it in any of the local grocery stores. I'm thinking something along the lines of a vegetarian Hungryman style meal. We have a huge Thanksgiving thing here every year and while I'd be perfectly happy to prepare separate items that my son could eat (I saw a recipe for tofurkey and everything), I'm afraid that he would be unwilling to try them. :( If you haven't seen it already, read some of the stuff in my post about being a new vegetarian's mom...help! and you'll see what I mean. He's very paranoid right now about hidden ingredients. The idea of making an entirely separate batch of vegan stuffing just for him - only to have it go to waste because he thought I snuck some giblets or something in there makes me think finding something prepacked is a better idea right now. If anybody has seen anything, I'd really appreciate the link. Thanks again. Ya'll are awesome! :smitten:

What's so bad about making stuffing without giblets in it? Lots of folks eat it that way and its delish. Mashed potatoes are lacto-ovo vegetarian so that would be good for everyone as well. You can easily find vegetarian gravy at most supermarkets. This year, to make it easy on you, just cook him up one or 2 of those breaded soy patties or nuggets that he likes. Cranberry sauce has always been vegetarian so that doesnt need to be made special.

Can you ask him to help you with preparing the things he can eat (like mashed potato ilovemydragon referred to) and presumably most other vegetable-based dishes, he can make his own little dish of stuffing if you're going to stuff the turkey with that, and if he can help (and SEE!!) what's going into his food, maybe he would be more comfortable, and let you enjoy your Thanksgiving?

Hi again, Kat!

I actually don't use giblets... they make me gag!:spew:

I'm just trying to avoid the whole holiday dinner, "you snuck something in here" scene by having a nice little prepackaged option that he can throw in the microwave for himself.

I still plan on making quite a few things that he should be willing to eat. I just want to cover the 12 going on 13 year old paranoid little tofurkey base! I normally have about 20++ people here. I've been doing this every year since my first apartment at 16. I've got it down to a science pretty much, so it isn't too stressful, but I like to try to keep things peaceful and I don't want to be in a big power struggle with my son all day about food stuff. If he has something that I absolutely know he'll eat then there won't be an issue. Hopefully, he'll have settled down a bit on all this by then, but I figure if I have to order something online, I'd better do it now or it won't be here in time.

He helped with the spaghetti sauce thing last night and still accused me of sneaking something in there when he went in the other room. That's why I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a nice sealed box!

I think you can order the "Tofurky" Thanksgiving feast online? It's "turkey, stuffing, gravy and cranberries" but it's like enough for 4 people - and probably EXPENSIVIO!!

Try http://store.foodfightgrocery.com/ and see what they have? It doesn't look like they have frozen available but it never hurts to ask. They are a small vegan grocery in Portland Oregon. Call them, they might even ship to you something that's not on their regular sales list... they have done so for me before.

OK - actually I just checked... http://www.tofurkey.com/purchase/onlineordering.htm

You CAN order the Tofurkey dinner from their website.

I know your son is going thru a "stage" right now, it may be a power struggle, it may be something else, but it's a holiday, it's great tha you're trying to figure out a way to make him feel included and not threatened... you're doing an AWESOME job!!

Well..the soy chicken nuggets and patties come in a box and so do many stuffing mixes. As far as stuffing goes, just use vegetable broth or stock to moisten.

Heh, well he's going to have to learn to trust _someone_ wrt to what he's eating - who knows what they could have put in there in the factory, etc.

Good luck, I hope he 'calms down' for you soon :)

Amy's makes a "meatloaf" frozen meal with mashers and gravy...

For future Thanksgivings, my mom and I pre arrange kitchen time so we'll both have time to make stuff (my family is that old southern bacon grease in everything so I literally make everything I eat at thanksgiving) and not be in each others way, and then reheat stuff that can be made ahead on thanksgiving day, but I'm not sure your son is quite ready to make his own thanksgiving meal.

For prepackaged stuff, I'm not a big fan of tofurkey but their wild rice stuffing, which can be bought on the side is super yummy, and they also sell gravy, etc. If you can get to a health food store some time before thanksgiving they'll have tons of veggie thanksgiving stuff in the freezer section, and maybe your son can go with you and pick it out.
If not...my first vegetarian thanksgiving was a frozen "chicken" patty with gravy I made myself, corn I microwaved myself, and mashed potatoes I made myself, your son can totally open a can and microwave if hes gonna be bratty about what an awesome mom he has.

When I went veg, I just stopped eating the turkey part of the meal and my parents "altered" some other things a bit.
You can get bags of stuffing mix (stovetop stuffing aside) that don't have any animal ingredients, and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth (or unchicken broth if you can get it!) and then if you usually stuff the turkey with it, leave out some in a small baking dish for him.
Other than that... I ate sweet potatoes baked with apples, veggies, cornbread (not Jiffy, its got Lard. But making it out of cornmeal is just as easy), cranberry sauce, one could eat Mashed potatoes but I think they're foul (ow ow! don't hurt me!) and as I've gotten older I started making Pumpkin Soup which is super yummy. Last year my entire Thanksgiving dinner was vegetarian. I made stuffed pumpkins as a centerpiece in lieu of a turkey. Very pretty! So really, you don't even NEED a turkey substitute, but if you want one, the Tofurkey dinners are usually about $30 if you can find them, and they serve 4 people I think, whereas you could spend $5 and get a package of quorn patties or veat pieces or something like that, and he could eat that with all of YOUR side dishes. (Vegetarian gravy, btw, can be made with vegetable or unchicken broth with some turkey seasoning thickened with cornstarch)

$49.95 for no stress... no hassles... serves 4.... sounds like a bargain to me! Well sort of, right? The best part of Thanksgiving is the leftovers... this way, he'll have his own!

Whoel Foods is also aparently taking orders for per-person servings of vegetarian dinners, but it's a little less traditional, and he probably wouldn't like it. :(

The closest Whole Foods is like an hour drive from me. With the kind of gas mileage I get, I think it'd be cheaper to order online! I asked at HEB and they looked at me like I had an extra eye in the middle of my forehead or something... I think ordering the tofurkey meal for 4 is the way to go. We have sooooooo many people coming. I'm sure that it won't go to waste. Nothing ever does.

Are you up Woodlands way? I happen to live maybe 5 minutes from the whole Foods on Woodway in Houston.

Tess...Howdy almost neighbor! Small world. Conroe, actually, but we do everything we have to do in the Woodlands. I wish we lived in town though. It must be nice to live in the REAL city!! With real people vs. Woodlands Barbie and her husband Redneck Ken... I hate it here!

I'll be in the medical center getting a bunch of tests run tomorrow. Maybe I'll stop at Whole Foods on the way home if I can get out of there before rush hour hits. Last time I was down there my doctor let me go at 5 till 5. It took nearly 3 hours to get home. I don't know how people make that commute every day. I'd go nuts!

if I can get out of there before rush hour hits. Last time I was down there my doctor let me go at 5 till 5. It took nearly 3 hours to get home. I don't know how people make that commute every day. I'd go nuts!

Ha ha, that's why I live in town. I take a local bus from my front door (Memorial area) and get to work in 35 minutes-- the exact same time it takes me to get in my car, drive downtown, park in the parking garage, and get into the office. :nana:

Only there is talk of Metro discontinuing my bus route! :grr:

First of all, here's a link to what I'm cooking for my extended family's Christmas dinner. (We already had an omni Thanksgiving... I ate the vegan stuffing I brought... >.< )

Thanksgiving Dinner (http://www.livejournal.com/users/kreeli/12323.html#cutid3)

It's a lot larger than what you'd need for your son alone, but maybe some of the side dishes...

:)

And second of all, if he's that paranoid, he's probably feeling isolated (which is strange, since you seem so open to the idea; then again, he is at the worst age for hormones, hehe). Maybe try getting him to visit us, or find some veg*n friends, if that's an option. He should cool it and learn to trust you.

Good luck!

:bobo:

I also suggest the Tofurky kit, of local supermarkets is selling them for $17.99, usually $24.99. It's a big block o' fake turkey (very tasty, but available in my opinion), gravy (none for me thanks), rice, and 8 cranberry apple potato dumplings.

http://www.tofurky.com/products/tofurkyfeasts.htm

Thanksgiving Dinner (http://www.livejournal.com/users/kreeli/12323.html#cutid3)

It's a lot larger than what you'd need for your son alone, but maybe some of the side dishes...




Trust me its not larger than you need, that stuff is so freaking good! You might want to make it as a side for yourself. And you can freeze it ahead of time and it'll bake right back up whole or in single size portions. My omni family is begging me to make it again next year.

Tofurkey kit wins! Hands down! It seems the best answer with the way things are going right now... I'll let ya'll know what happens. I'm also going to make all my traditional stuff (because that's what my family expects), but I'm going to add several other options and tweak some things (use veggie broth in the mashed taters instead of chicken broth for example - my family will never know) that my son SHOULD try. I don't know if he'll be able to get past the trust issue or not. At least he'll have his little frozen meal thing if he doesn't so I won't have to stress about him not eating anything and there won't be a big arguement.

Tess....Whatcha mean? You don't take the TRAIN?!?!?!??! ROTFLMAO!!! Does anybody? Stupid train! The thing about killed me when I was trying to cross into the St. Luke's Tower last week. I think the hospitals must have funded it!

nrh,

Check out some other threads about Tofurkey. From what some have said, I dont think I'd even try it LOL.

I am hearing some decent things about the Quorn Roast though. People say its pretty close to the real thing. They dont carry it here but the store does have cutlets that I'm going to give a try before I serve it to anyone else. I suggest doing a trial run of both brands.

Quorn Roast is uncannily just like chicken.... Thing is, you want to try just a little at first... It gives me heatburn, so I don't use it. :(

I already ordered the Tofurkey kit.... So I'm hoping it'll go over okay. Wish me luck. :)