Prepared/Semi-prepared meals?

[Anonymous]

We have a new baby and DH and I are getting used to life with baby. We cook at home 6 days a week and eat out one day. In our pre-baby life, we used to experiment with different cuisines and recipes and used to spend a lot of time making good homemade food. Don't have that much time now. I read posters here talking about TJ or Wholefoods dinners. I want to try those. DH is not convinced because - he thinks they are all bad for health, they cost a lot and since we eat vegetarian, there won't be many options for us. We don't need this for every day but atleast I want to have option of something quick the couple of days in a week when something upsets our applecart schedule. Can you suggest any thing I can try out from TJ that would fit us? Thank you!

[Anonymous]

We're vegetarian and I do a lot of cooking. Some of the things I like from TJ's are their refrigerated ravioli, frozen burritos (especially the vegetable ones), and a lot of their frozen veggie mixes. They have a roasted vegetable mix with beans and mushrooms in butter that is really good especially with some bread for dipping in the butter sauce. Serve it with something easy but healthy and it balances out. TJ's has a lot of Italian dishes, but they're high in sodium and heavy on cheese.

Whole Foods often has grilled tofu squares on their salad bar. I'll pick those up on occasion because then it's already cooked and you can just toss it into your stir fry or add it to something else really simple.

Both places have good vegetarian soups. Get the kind in the cartons. Pick up the bake at home ciabatta rolls from TJ's and put them in the freezer so you can bake them on one of the quick fix nights.

I got a vegetarian slow cooker cookbook last year and really like it. Most meals take about 5-10 minutes to prep in the morning and you are guaranteed to have leftovers. This is the one I bought http://www.amazon.com/Fresh-Vegetarian-Slow-Cooker-Recipes/dp/1558322566

[Anonymous]

You should go to www.semiprepared.com. They make your order fresh and ship it to you. So convenient...saves me time and money. They have all these different semi prepared meals where everything is prepared and put together. All I do is add my protein. I am a meat eater but this is also perfect for vegeterians. Congrats on the new little addition.