Inexpensive Beginners Vegetarian Market List Please?

I am going vegetarian for health reasons and this is the one thing I know I can stick to to help me lose some major weight. Times are tough and I don't want to experiment with expensive food that will sit in my fridge. What is a good basic market list for a vegetarian? Thanks.Inexpensive Beginners Vegetarian Market List Please?
If you've got a Trader Joe's near you, you're in luck! They use minimal packaging and have lots and great vegetarian and vegan options.



The very best way to save a ton of money besides not buying meat is to make out a meal plan using a vegetarian cooking website. The best one out there and the one I live off of is www.vegweb.com. All the recipes are easy and user submitted, so there's no fancy chef-style recipes with ingredients no one's ever heard of.



Make out a menu that will last you a week, and then buy all the ingredients for those meals and little else. Another good way to transition is to stick with your favorite casserole-type dishes and just leave out the groud beef, or replace it with veggie crumbles, TVP, crumbled tofu (extra firm), ect.



Beans are your friend. Especially lentils, which can fill in for meat in a lot of dishes. Check out greek-style recipes, as well, because they use a lot of lentils and rice.



If you wanna go easy, it doesn't get any easier than canned beans, especially refried. Make sure you get lard-free. Make bean and cheese burritos, or bean and rice, ect. Mexican food is way easy to replicate, especially is you're still using cheese and sour cream. Fajitas with stir fried bell peppers, refried bean tostadas, enchiladas, tacos, ect, can all be made with beans in place of meat. Once you get more familiar with meat replacements, you can experiment even more.
This is very basic but includes some cheap, easy, and minimally processed foods that are great for a vegetarian diet!



Dry beans (black, pinto, kidney, garbanzo, whatever you prefer)

Dry rice

Veggies- lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, onion, broccoli....

Milk or soymilk

Cheese and eggs

Nuts- peanuts, almonds, pecans, etc

Fruit- fresh or frozen. Frozen makes good smoothies.

Yogurt? (be sure to check that it doesn't have gelatin!)

Extra firm (not silken!) tofu (only if you know that you like tofu)Inexpensive Beginners Vegetarian Market List Please?
Tofu (iron)- But after opening put in a container with water.

Soy products- ( vegetarian meat)- high protein

Vegetables

Fruit

Soy milk. ( even if your not vegan)

Nuts- peanut butter, almonds...

Bread



Sorry I can't think of it,my mom buys me stuff so.... yeah.
Remember that you don't need a meat substitute (like soy burgers). "Fake meat" products don't have a necessary place in vegetarian diets; their main purpose is to help people with the transition to vegetarianism, or give them something that tastes like meat if they're craving meat. If you're not craving meat, don't worry about soy burgers (they're fairly expensive compared to other things you could be eating).



One good cheap vegetarian food is any type of bean. Buy them dried or canned, and use them in recipes; eating beans isn't boring because there are so many options. Google "bean recipes". I especially love garbanzo beans.Inexpensive Beginners Vegetarian Market List Please?
most tofu or veggie burgers are a wee bit on the pricey side. but those are the best (in my opinion)

basicly, go for:



almonds to snack on (lots of iron)



lots of veggies (carrots, cucumbers, celery, tomatoes)



a couple of boxes of veggieburgers (try some different flavored kinds for variety, like Asian Style, or Buffalo)



salad materials



whole grain pastas and breads



iron enriched cereals (total, and life hasd a bunch of iron)



soy milk (it can be expensive, but the chocolate is really good..and good for you!)



i hope i helped, and good luck (:

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