How to be a lazy vegetarian?

fruit, raw veg and nuts make healthful and quick, as well as cheap, snacks.

Meal wise, I like greenheart's crockpot idea - although I like stews and hotpots more than chilli. For a stew, just throw in some veg broth, canned beans of any kind, and chopped vegetables, and leave it until it's cooked. For hotpot, also add TVP mince (or a different veggie mince substitute), and fry some potatoes and add them to the top.

Curries are great for lazy people! I eat them all the time! Buy ready-made curry sauces, fry onion and add the sauce, then add a bunch more vegetables (and a meat sub. if you like). Serve with rice.

there are a lot of vegetarian ready meals here, but I don't know what's available in your area, so I suggest just label-reading like crazy until you find some you like. Once you know a selection of them by heart, you're all set.

I have basically little time to cook these days (though I DO like to cook). I buy frozen meals (Amy's, Moosewood, Linda McCartney, CedarLane, with a few from the pitifully small selection available from Lean Cuisine and Weight Watchers) a lot. I've gotten to the point where I'm rather bored with my options and have begun to look for other things.

vegetarian chili (I have a recipe that basically means I open a bunch of cans and heat the stuff up)

vegetarian baked beans (another lots-of-cans recipe, done in the crock pot this time)

pasta (either macaroni and cheese or pasta with marinara - throw in veggies or some beans to add nutrients)

homemade veggie burgers (to reheat in the microwave later)

soups (I really don't like soup all that much, but they're easy to make and easy to freeze and reheat)

a can or two of beans heated in Trader Joe's simmer sauce of your choice, served over rice (also easy to freeze and reheat)

I'm looking for other options, too. I have a lot of 30-minute recipes, but these days I'm busy enough I'm looking for 10-minute recipes.

As for the nutritional question - beans (including soy) are the most concentrated source of protein. Dairy products will also provide that (if you're still eating dairy). Whole grains and veggies also have protein in them. Some people think meat is the best source of iron - your green leafy veggies do just as well with that. A good book which outlines all the details is "Becoming Vegetarian."

Easy options that aren't very expensive (US only):

* Annie Chung soup bowls (I've just discovered this line, so I'm not fully familiar with what's vegan or not).

* Just about anything from Tastybite,

* Just about anything from Fantastic Foods/Fantastic World Foods (especially those soup in a cup thingies - yum)

* Some Thai Kitchen flavours (watch out, though - some of their flavours have crap like chicken stock in them)

* Hormel vegetarian chili

* Bush's vegetarian baked beans

* Manwhich sloppyjo sauce (super scrummy if you sub TVP instead of ground meat).

* Some Simply Asian flavours (so far, the tofu miso and the hot sweet & sour seem ok but that was only at a glance cause I was in a hurry)

*Heinz vegetarian beans in the green & pink can (cut up some good vegan notdogs in it and you have weniebeanies )

* Hunt's spaghetti sauce except for the flavours that obviously aren't ok like the meated ones and the cheese flavours IF you're avoiding cheese.

And everyone else has given some great options for veg*n fast food dining.

But MY favourite short-cut isn't really cooking whole meals for the freezer, it's cooking seperate things that can be combined later. For example, I'll make up a biiiiig pot of rice so I can eat on it one night and put the rest into individual portions in zipper topped baggies for nuking later. Just about any whole grain freezes nicely, too so don't feel you're limited to JUST brown rice.

A lot of beans freeze really well, too. Some of them do get a bit mushy in the re-thawing so either slightly undercook your beans or make "refrieds" out of them when they thaw.

Frozen fruits and veggies are your friend! A couple of bags of single veggies and a couple of bags of blends will help keep the variety going, but do feel free to keep more on hand if you want. And don't forget frozen greens like spinach and mustard greens for variety and extra nutrition. They're also lovely during times when the fresh version is a tad pricey or hard to find, too.

Tinned tomatoes (diced, stewed, whatever), tinned beans and even tinned olives or tinned green chilis/jalapenos will help round out your quickie foods pantry. If you can get raw nuts, they're also really handy for extra nutrition/extra flavour but they don't keep well in things so only use them as a garnish when serving.

I used to live off lunches consisting of wholemeal pita bread stuffed with things like hummus, tahini, tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumber, lettuce (romaine or whatever's in season), fried tofu and peanut butter. Not all at once, of course. I'd freeze the pitas and put them in the toaster as needed. Frozen sweet corn fried with tomato sauce or mushrooms fried with rosemary (tomato and thyme optional) are good on bread too.

Scrambled eggs (if you eat them) fried with some onion, garlic, chopped tomatoes, jalapenos from a jar and curry powder make a very quick meal. Or get some dry falafel mix (I've seen veggie, nut and soy burger mix around too), add water, fry, eat with vegetables. Oven fries and grated cucumber with mayo (or sub) will do.

Gnocchi (again, these usually contain egg) don't take as long to cook as dry pasta. Probably about three minutes once the water's boiling. Add some sauce, heat it and you're done. Instant couscous, glass noodles and rice noodles make good meal accompaniments when time's limited too.

Stir fried sprouts don't require much prep, apart from the actual sprouting part. But then again, the "effort" involved in rinsing the sprouting jar twice a day is completely worth it. Sprouted peanuts with red peppers and toasted sesame seeds are my favourite.

These days, I throw some frozen fruit in a blender with a banana, lemon juice, mint and plant milk (whatever happens to be in the fridge) or soy yoghurt before dinner to take the edge off until my "real" food's ready. The "real food" is generally at least two meal's worth of food, so I have something to reheat the next time I'm feeling lazy. So basically, I'll cook when I'm in the mood and always find something to eat in the fridge when I'm not, even if it's just nuts, bread and a spread.