Almost Vegan Frozen Meals?

I don't eat frozen meals too much but sometimes I'm on the go and I don't always want to eat sandwiches. Anyways I was wondering if there are any lower calorie frozen meals that aren't drenched in cheese or filled with meat? (Like Smart Ones, Lean Cuisines, etc.)

I'm not a vegan, just a vegetarian but I'd like to try to eat more veganly. Since I've read that it's great for your health and that it can clear up your skin. Please any ideas are welcome.

Just an FYI I do not live anywhere near a health food store and can only purchase food from Wal Mart supercenter. So it has to a product that I can find there. We don't have many AMy's products either.

I don't like ANY frozen dinners, but I do like frozen vegetables.  What I do is buy up carrots; corn, peas - string beans, etc.  It takes about as long to 'steam' this in the micro-wave, as it does to do a 'dinner' (if you can call any of those things a 'dinner').

I buy a ready-prepared salad mix at Wal-Mat; I add some of the shredded carrots they sell - halve up some grapes, and slice up an apple - all of that goes into my FRESH salad.

You can serve the steamed, frozen vegetables on the side - that's about as fast as a frozen meal, and so much better.

I often use frozen peas - defrosted (never cooked - it ruins their flavor I think); slice up some tomatoes and then open up a can of diced tomatoes.  I put the can of diced tomatoes into a sauce-pan; heat on very low.  This is my 'tomato' sauce.  I fix up my favorite angel-hair pasta (takes about 4 minutes), and then I stir the peas (uncooked); tomatoes (uncooked) - into the warmed diced tomatoes; basil and oregano for seasoning, and put that on the pasta.  It's lower in calorie, and I like that.

If you do want a sandwich, I like tomatoes, cukes, sliced onion - a slice of swiss cheese - all put into a whole-wheat tortilla (Wal-Mart has them), and it's not that high in calories, and very tasty (I don't put any mayo' or butter on the tortilla either).

I wrap swiss cheese around carrots - love them as my 'veggie' sandwich.

Do the same thing with celery - another 'veggie' sandwich.

I use only one slice of bread if I make a sandwich - make up the filling on one side - it automatically saves the calories; never make up a whole one, because I tend to eat both slices.

Or make up a whole one; save one half for your dinner with soup and salad.

Anyway, since I'm also limited to Wal-Mart as our major food supplier, figured I could give you an idea or two.

Amy's Meals are some really great frozen meals- I love the enchilada whole meal and the tofu scramble when I get home late from class. I have also found Thai Kitchen noodle carts to be good in a pinch. My favorite last-minute meal is corn tortillas and refried beans-the spicy ones at whole foods are delish. Just throw the tortillas in the oven and the beans in the microwave and VOILA a meal.

I don't believe they are so much on the low calorie side...but Amy's also has a frozen vegetable pizza with no cheese...and frozen Tofutti pizza is pretty great in a pinch too if you eat light the rest of the day :)

This doesn't help you but it might help some other vegan out there. I haven't confirmed it myself, but my friend who is also vegan brings the frozen Safeway brand veggie enchiladas to work all the time, they have no cheese and he says the rest of the ingredients are vegan. They smell really good.

The problem with vegetarian frozen meals, and all other frozen meals for that matter,  is that although they seem healthy they are PACKED with sodium: sometimes twice the RDA for the entire day!  I've noticed that even the health food ones are.  If you want to go vegan for your health, as you stated, and are too busy to cook all the time, I recommend making up stuff ahead of time.  At my house we make a nice veggie soup on sundays that can stay in the fridge all week (though it goes faster). You can pre-cut and clean your veggies too, or buy them that way, and frozen are almost as good as and sometimes even better for you (because they can hold more nutrients in).  Fresh unsalted nuts and seeds are good too, and I think walmart probably carries them because of this country's high incidence of heart problems.  

 

If you want to go vegan for health, a nice quick read is "Eat to Live" by Dr. Joel Furhman, which will make sure you get all the nutrients you need! 

 

Good luck! 

Veggies actually aren't an issue for me. I eat them 24/7 and I prefer them raw or slightly steamed and I make sure to get a good variety. It's the stuff on the side that I need quicker ideas for.

Try the Amy's Organics frozen entrees. You can find them in any grocery store.  THey are vegetarian, and many note no dairy. THey are pretty low cal and tasty. I eat them several times a week.

I ABSOLUTELY love the Indian Amy's Meals.  And they're amazingly low cal for the amount of food-- about 230 calories.

Since you said you don't have many Amy's products in your area, you can still try many other frozen veggie varieties. There's Gardenburger, Boca Burger, and Morninstar to name a few. They have many meat substituted meals, like corn dogs, chik'n sandwiches, hamburgers, breakfast sausages.. etc.

I have never been to Walmart so I don't know if they sell these, but they are the most incredible frozen meals along side Amy's. They are called Helen's and I like the Farfalle and Pesto dish. Delicious 360 calories and lots of protein. They include yummy tofu cubes too! Couldn't be better! Good luck!

By the way, have you read Nickel and Dimed? 

Best, 

Beachchika