What do vegetarians eat?

My sister-in-law decided to take up vegetarianism for one week and I decided to do this with her. I think I understand the concept of a vegetarian diet and I know what nutrients to focus on in order to avoid any malnutrition. After looking around at a lot of vegetarian recipes though, I find myself at a loss. Everything that I found sounds good if I want to go through the whole process of making it, but it seems rather tedious to follow only recipes. I wanted to get an idea of what vegetarians eat on a regular basis. On an AVERAGE day, what is it that you eat?

breakfast: oatmeal made with water, or a bowl of kashi go lean Crunch, a piece or two of fruit

snack: apple with yogurt or peanut butter

lunch: cottage cheese with splenda and cinnamon, carrot sticks, or scrambled eggswith tomatoes,

snack: south beach high protein cereal bar, salad

dinner: steamed butternut squash, eggs or some vegetarian meat substitute like any boca meat product, morningstar farm product, or vegetarian meat sandwich, a salad with lemon juice and olive oil, green beans, any kind of beans, spinach etc.

before bed snack: yogurt or protein shake

check out this thread
http://www.calorie-count.com/forums/post/8679 2.html

I'm not vegetarian but reduce my meat consumption and grocery bills often by having 'veggie weeks'.   Don't be too put off by the fact that you have to make your own food.  It's so much healthier to eat unprocessed foods and vegetables are a lot nicer to eat when they're freshly cooked rather than when they've been pummelled to death in some ready-meal.   Recipes don't have to be long-winded unless you want them to be.  A typical day for me.

Breakfast....  Porridge oats made up with milk/water and served with honey and mixed seeds.  Orange juice

Packed lunch.... A wholemeal sandwich with some egg mayonnaise and watercress.  A yoghurt.  Piece of fruit

Supper..... A simple 'Chilli Non Carne' made with chopped mixed vegetables, kidney beans and tomatoes and served with brown rice.  A glass of wine.

I am between being vegan and vegetarian (not sure which is the direction, tho ) and I usually eat:

Yakult bottle, Porridge Oats with soy milk, 1/2 banana and a little cinnamon and coffee for breakfast.

for Lunch pasta or rice with tomato sauce or vegetables a little olive oil, a big salad, a fruit

For dinner a soup made with beans or chickpeas or lentils, sometimes eggs, always steamed or grilled vegetables as side dish, slice of bread.

mid-morning or mid-afternoon snack is usually fresh fruit or a yogurt.

This is when I try to lose weight. There's a lot of vegetarian junk food out there, so beware!

Hope this helps - Silvia

 

breakfast: oatmeal, brown sugar, orange juice and/or soymilk if I have it.

snack: apple and peanut butter, blueberries, walnuts, banana and peanut butter, almonds (not all of those, but some combination)

lunch:  sandwich (hummus and spinach, or PB+J, or banana and peanut butter), fruit of some kind, veggie of some kind.

snack: comes from the same list of things that the morning snack comes from.

supper: pasta, chick peas, olive oil, basil and oregano, or pasta and tomato sauce, or rice and veggies, or black bean soup, or split pea soup, sweet potato, green beans or broccoli, and a fruit of some kind.

 

Breakfast- Smoothie made w/half a cup frozen berries, a small banana, peanut butter or soy protein, and a cup of soymilk or kefir

Snack- Slice of home-made banana bread

Lunch- A can of vegan chili w/a serving of plain baked potato and a roasted sweet pepper

Snacks- Baby carrots and whole grain crackers or plain popcorn; a piece of fruit

Supper- Home-made black bean soup w/sliced avocado

this is today's menu for me:

1. oatmeal made with soy milk, cinnamon, and ground flaxseeds

2. an apple

3. no-cheese pizza with peppers, onions, and garlic (plus about ten pieces of minty gum to kill the stench afterward - haha!). it's leftovers; otherwise i usually eat a spinach, pepper, and cucumber sandwich with spicy mustard.

4. almonds

5. more pizza (hey, i eat leftovers till they're gone), spinach salad with raspberry vinaigrette and baby carrots - there is no average dinner for me as i cook a lot, but i'll often make some kind of stir-fry, soup, or casserole

6. popcorn, maybe some cereal if i'm still hungry

 

hope that gives you ideas. good luck!

My dad calls himself a vegetarian, though he's truly a pescetarian. This is typically what he eats:

Breakfast - Some kind of bread (bagel, english muffin, toast, biscuit) with loads of butter and maybe some faux sausage, always two servings of Tropicana orange juice, and 3-5 cups of coffee with cream and sugar.

Lunch - It varies, usually a frozen dinner of eggplant Parmesan or alfredo and pasta, sometimes pizza, sometimes some lettuce with half a bottle of thousand island dressing, sometimes a veggie sub sandwich swimming in mayo, etc.

Snack - Pretzels, chips, cookies, protein bars, chocolate, or alcohol, and looooots and lots of sweet tea.

Dinner - Whatever I make, which is usually stuffed peppers (recipe), pasta w/ red sauce, some type of seafood dish, pita pizzas, red beans and rice, stir fry with or without tofu, taco salad (chips, refried beans, spanish rice, and condiments), soup salad & bread, veggie calzones, stuff like that.

Snack - A couple servings of ice cream with some cake or a brownie or something like that.

I eat a pretty low-meat diet too, I like to think I'm a little healthier, and on a good day I usually have something like this:

Breakfast - Always fruit, and usually one or two of these; some yogurt with berries, some oatmeal, an english muffin or a piece of toast, occasionally cereal, or (more than I'd like to admit) a fancy coffee drink.

Snack - More fruit, some chopped veggies, some pretzels, sweets, or a cup of milky black tea.

Lunch - Most likely any combination of.. garden salad, a smoothie, leftovers from the dinners mentioned above, a pita filled with veggies and dressing or hummus, a luna bar, some soymilk, a carnation instant breakfast, fruit, frozen corn and/or peas, sliced cucumber or broccoli or carrots or whatever and light ranch, pea salad, crusty bread with veggies and cheese cooked on top, cereal with or without milk, olives, instant brown rice.

Dinner - Whatever I make, as mentioned above, or another mish-mash like lunch.

Snack(s) - Pretzels, fruit, veggies with hummus or dressing, soup, black tea, hot chocolate, a hardboiled egg, some yogurt, some peanut butter and apple slices, peanut butter over graham crackers with banana or chocolate on top, a baked potato, sweets.

So, two different stories, I'm sure neither of them are the healthiest, but I hope it at least gives ideas. Good luck. :)

breakfast- bran cereal, kashi cereal, oatmeal w/ apples and cinnamon, this morning i had 1/2 a banana nut muffin----one of those plus some kind of fruit

lunch- left over eggplant parm w/o the cheese and wild rice was today, but normally a have a HUGE salad, usually spinach or spring mix lettuce, lots of veggies, some kind of fruit (strawberries are my fav) and some type of nut(sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, walnuts...)

dinner-stir fry tonight! tons of veggies, tofu and chow mein noodles. i always get creative with dinner, so bean burritos, tempeh, another salad, pasta, casserole.....yum

I've been vegetarian for 3 years, am 17, and very healthy at 126lbs and 5'6".

 

Typical day

Breakfast

Oatmeal (made with silk vanilla soy milk) with raisins and raspberry tea

or

Whole grain cereal, in soy milk, with cut up bananas and strawberries and coffee

 

Lunch

SBLT- Soy Bacon (I suggest Morningstar), lettuce and tomato sandwich on white bread, with low-fat mayo and an apple

or

Grilled Cheese with tomato and a half a grape fruit

 

Dinner

Penne with broccoli and vodka sauce (make sure that the brand you use doesn't have meat in it, some do.)

or

something with eggs, cheese, etc. Be creative. For something quick and easy there are a lot of brands such as Amys, and Morningstar that make vegetarian freezer foods. Amys is really good, I completely recommend it.

I am a vegan, so that means I pretty much don't eat anything that casts a shadow...

but seriously folks, think about what you normally eat, and then remove the meat and replace it with something else

 

breakfast:

eggs and toast with fruit

VEGETARIAN - scrambled tofu with sauteed veggies and toast, with fruit

 

Lunch

lamb curry with basmati rice and mango chutney

VEGETARIAN - chickpea curry with basmati rice and mango chutney

 

Din-Din

Big old honking steak with potatoes and veggies

Vegetarian - Big old honking stuffed portabello mushroom with a light gravy whipped potatoes and steamed seasonal vegetables

 

YUM YUM, it won't hurt your calorie count either!!!

breakfast - porridge with banana, almonds, seeds

snack - fun size chocolate bar

lunch - egg and salad wrap, yoghurt

snack - apple, orange and apricot

dinner - quorn sausages, mash, spinach, broccoli and onion gravy

using a meat substitute like quorn will make is easier to cook and eat veggie to begin with - you can buy mince and 'chicken' style pieces, sausages and burgers, fillets and even nuggets. and they are all much lower in fat than the meat versions.  it is also a good idea to buy a whole range of veggies and then roast them in olive oil - you can then use your roasted veggies with a tin of tomatoes for pastas, lasagnes, chillis (just add beans) and all sorts.

I second yahv.  Don't try to get all complicated.  Just eat what you used to (assuming you had a healthy diet before, and not just candy bars and fried chicken, LOL) but cut out the meat or substitute it for something else.

Don't rely too heavily on meat substitutes, but they are useful occassionally when you can't think of anything else.

 

Breakfast - whole wheat toast with hummus or peanut butter spread, some fruit (melon, strawberries, orange, apple, etc.), and glass of almond milk

Snack - baby carrots, celery and/or a piece of fruit

Lunch - a veggie sandwich, or a salad, or last night's leftovers.  Occasionally I will have a baked sweet potato with cinnamon, but sometimes those make me crash in the afternoon (too much sugar)

Snack - Nuts or wasabi peas, or cup of cherry tomatoes

Dinner - Usually try to have a green salad with a normal dinner such as a stir fry, beans, pasta, rice, lentils, soup, stew, or casserole... the possibilities are endless.  I have found I have MUCH MORE variety in my diet since going veg.  When I ate meat I tended to have the same things over and over again.  Now we are always trying wonderful new things. 

Evening snack:  I am usually not hungry in the evening, but sometimes I will have some popcorn or some nuts.

I won't get into the stuff i make from scratch, and i'm not actually a vegetarian because i cook with chicken or beef broth sometimes for flavor, and also i would rather have a low fat meat option if i'm out, rather than say, onion rings or french fries if that's the only meatless thing on the menu.

but... the majority of my (and my son's) lunches consist of almost anything by morningstar farms. I don't like to do a lot of cooking at lunchtime, i'm usually too busy. I like to top their basil tomato patties with some fat free ricotta, very nice. my son, of course, loves the chik'n nuggets and corndogs (i love them too).

so my recommendation, if you hate cooking, is to go to the freezer section and experiment with fake meat. morningstar farms is my favorite. just make sure to read the label, they're not all low fat & calories.

if you decide to fully embrace being a vegetarian, you should start enjoying cooking, because there are some awesome recipes out there, and you really don't want to rely too heavily on meat substitutes.

I cook enormous meals and live on leftovers.  Examples:

Breakfast:  Oatmeal with raspberries, toast with honey, pancakes (made banana chocolate chip pancakes this weekend - yum!), veggie omelet.

Lunch:  Whatever is leftover in the fridge.  If on a rare occasion I'm out of leftovers, I'll sometimes make lentil soup with toast or crackers, or minestrone with a side of pasta.  Big soup fan.

Snacks:  Nuts and dried fruit.  Sometimes chocolate, if I'm in that kinda mood.

Dinner:  This is where I have my fun.  Stir-fried vegetables with tofu, brown rice or noodles, and a wide variety of asian sauces (peanut, hot garlic, pad thai, sweet black bean, white homestyle); homemade chili with rice; tofu loaf with potatoes and sauteed kale; all kinds of dals and curried beans with a vegetable side - curried cauliflower and potatoes, sauteed broccoli, sweetened carrots.

God, there's a ton of stuff to eat.  I really don't have any problem getting a variety of nutrients ... if anything, it's easier since I stopped eating meat because I don't have this enormous contribution of protein that I don't particularly need.  I used to frantically worry about getting all my essential nutrients and tracked everything here and on nutritiondata.com to make sure I wasn't coming up short.  After a few months of never having a problem, I stopped paying attention to it.

Thanks everyone for all the responses. Just to clarify a little, I have no problem putting in some time to do some cooking. I usually cook for dinner every night. I just wasn't ready to put in too much time to prepare something for every meal. So far, here's how things are going:

Day 1:

Breakfast: Oatmeal made with vanilla soymilk, strawberries, and brown sugar.

Lunch: Peanut butter and strawberry sandwich with baby carrots and a pear.

snack: black tea with honey and a little cream.

dinner: I made some tomato basil manicotti shells and stuffed them with a mix of ricotta, parmesan, romano, mozzarella, and spinach. I also tweaked a recipe that I had for pasta sauce and it turned out really good. As a side, I baked some sugar snap peas with cherry tomatoes, fresh oregano, and leeks. We also had some garlic bread that I bought from the farmers market. Finally, we topped it all off with some sparkling spiced apple cider. 

Day 2:

Breakfast: Clif Bar and a tangerine.

Lunch: Amy's texas veggie burger on whole grain bread, some corn and a pear.

Snack: some thin mint girl scout cookies

Dinner: Aloha tofu over white rice. Some sauteed mixed vegetables with edemame mixed in. This was my first time actually cooking tofu. It turned out pretty good.

im a pesc but only eat fish once a month. i would still recommend making some of the more intensive dishes (i can only make assumptions on what you meant) maybe once every week or every two weeks to last for a couple of days. they can be worth it and once you do it as im sure you know it will be a little easier.

my recent fav: i made onion & black bean soup. soak the beans of course for more than 1 hour (i some times do overnight), cook them up & puree them. get a few large onions & some garlic, spray some oil in a pot and soften the onions, then add some very dark brown sugar to carmalize. add in some teriyaki or dark soy sauce (either will do). now sometimes i would also add a little molasses. let that all carmalize and soften the onions until very soft, let the onions soak up all that before adding broth. then add veg broth or french onion broth cubes & the beans, let simmer for awhile till onions melt in your mouth. i usually do everything to taste. if you get enough onions that soup can last you a few days. the beans give it a nice texture as i don't really like watery soups.

anyway good luck.

I usually cook from scratch, but as you get used to the recipes they become quick to make. Here are a few things I make often:

Vegetarian chili is easy - just through together some onions, peppers, corn, a ton of beans, tomatoes and some imitation beef if you want, and add spices after it all simmer for awhile.

Veggie soup is easy to make, or there's lots of pre-made veggie soups

A nice loaded pizza is always delicious! :)

grilled veggies on rice

some assortment of steamed/boiled vegetables/legumes

veggie fried rice (be sure to add some eggs for protein)

lasagna

omelette

And you can get pretty creative with pastas

I work at starbucks, so don't be alarmed by all the lattes. :)

Morning: 1 iced venti nonfat skinny caramel latte, mini wheat cereal

Lunchies: pb and j sandwich (natural jam and natural pb on wheat toast) and some asparagusssss and a grande nonfat no whip 2 pump mocha

Dinnnnnnner: dunno yet. :)

I do eat dairy products

Breakfast - oatmeal or high fiber cold cereal with dried or fresh fruits and milk
Snack - fruit or a few nuts
Lunch - salad with chickpeas, avocado, tomatoes, salad greens, and whole grain bread
Snack - yogurt or reduced fat cheese, or peanut butter on a cracker
Supper - brown rice, lentils or beans cooked with vegetables stir fried or in a curry or tomato sauce, a green vegetable and a vegetable of another color
Snack - Brown rice cake with fruit spread

You can find a nice vegetarian food pyramid on the Mayo Clinic website

Another helpful source is The World's Healthiest Foods website.  Be sure to look at their LIST