I just found out today that there is no longer going to be veggie burgers for us. My center says they will be out by mid next week. WAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!
~JaMiE

That's a bummer. I didn't know! We just lost Pasta Ole (which was my fav). Thay say they're removing some items to get new ones. They better be meatless as well! I like the food but if they keep cutting out my choices I'll have to buy at the market. That'll start cutting into their bottom line if everyone does that. I think they're smart enough to put more veggie item on. Here's hoping.

The new item that is replacing the veggie burger is a mushroom with beef tips dinner. The farthest thing from veggie!!!
~JaMiE
(my center director told me "just lose it fast"...the rest of my weight that is. She thinks that they are going to eliminate the veggie option entirely very shortly from now) Very sad and I still have 30 lbs to lose.

i really love the veggie burgers, im not a vegetarian, but its a great way for me to get in my veggies and it actually tastes good..mmm guess i'll have to stock up.

My consultant told me that Jenny Craig doesn't really worry that much about vegetarians, because their research shows that vegetarians don't join JC (except for us, I guess).

WOW.. I hated the veggie burger but... PASTA OLE!!!! AARRGGGGG!!!!!
On a positive note... I have a fantastic meat replacement for all of you. Has everyone tried the brand "quorn"? I had the turkey roast for christmas and it was incredible (not squeeky like tofurkey)

it's a stupid business move on their part - I used to spend a ton of money on food -- bottom line eating beef is bad for you - no matter how it's marketed, beef is bad for the human body -- look at colon cancer statistics, heart disease statistics, etc. - not to mention the fact that cows are tested for BSE only when they can't walk - it's ridiculous - they get rid of two vegetarian options and replace them with a beef option - WHO IS AT THE WHEEL??

Personally, I am sick of JC getting rid of vegetarian options. I love the program, but I think I am going to go elsewhere. I'm going to try Nutrisystem. They have a complete vegetarian plan. I know I have heard in the past that the food was not as good, but at least they have vegetarian food. What I still don't understand is the fact that the Australian menu is loaded with vegetarian options. Hmmmmmmmm,,,,makes one wonder.......

I asked my counselor about this, she said JC isn't phasing out the meatless plan but the won't be xpanding it either
I am already starting to feel like I'm eating too much starch, tho I do eat a lot of steamed veggies and salads.
I'm thinkin I may have to actually start cooking, bleah! But maybe less processed foods would be better tho I think JC does a great job w/the frozen entrees in terms of making them as healthy as processed food can be.
Zetti

PLEASE do not go to NutriSystem!
I used them last year with good results, but not only has the quality of their food dropped considerably (and the availability is horrendous, depending on what "fulfillment center" your area ships from)... but they have completely lost any and every bit of customer service/quality they once had.
I placed an order with them in early Nov 2005; not only did it take them 2 weeks to even SHIP my order, when I received it they had sent someone else order entirely (a man's order, and a much higher calorie level). They kept sending Fedex to the wrong locations to pick up the return order, resulitng in several 30-minute phone calls, and delaying the return by another week.
Here it is early Jan 2006, and I am STILL waiting for my refund. All the while paying finance charges on my credit card.
So I repeat, run as far from NutriSystem as you can.

quote:

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Originally posted by Roda13:

I'm going to try Nutrisystem. .......

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I probably won't got to Nutrisystem, but Jenny Craig needs to get with the program, the veggie program. I'm close enough to my goal again, so I will start eating on my own.

Since the second week, when I was pretty dissatisfied with the vegetarian choices, I've been buying Lean Cuisine, Smart Ones, or Boca or Gardenburger entrees, along with doing some cooking on my own. Quorn also has good meat substitutes. They're not thrilled about it at my center, but they understand. I'm still losing weight, albeit slowly, but it's working.

I'm also very disappointed in the JC pattern of dropping vegetarian choices. I am finally half-way, but it is still difficult to stretch the vegetarian choices over 5 days. Our only option, is to cook or purchase substitutes. Where do you purchase the brand quorn meat substitute? I don't think I have ever seen it. I am sad to say that I have eaten one to two chicken entrees and one fish choice, and I felt as if I was betraying myself. It was not a pleasant experience.

My center did not tell me when I joined TODAY that they are phasing out vegetarian options. Is this happening everywhere? Or just certain areas?

Good idea to purchase a few other frozen entrees...How is that working for you?

quote:

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Originally posted by Roundtohourglass148:
I'm also very disappointed in the JC pattern of dropping vegetarian choices. I am finally half-way, but it is still difficult to stretch the vegetarian choices over 5 days. Our only option, is to cook or purchase substitutes. Where do you purchase the brand quorn meat substitute? I don't think I have ever seen it. I am sad to say that I have eaten one to two chicken entrees and one fish choice, and I felt as if I was betraying myself. It was not a pleasant experience.

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Hello, CMDVeg. I am making my own veggie burgers now & that is working well. Also, I am doing my own stir frys with tofu. Before reaching my halfway mark, I used only JC choices. I have pasta coming out my ears, but I am losing weight, and that is what I am here for. Good luck to you. You will do great.

Another option to try is Diet-to-go. They have a great vegetarian menu. The food tastes really good, but depending on where you live, it can be quite expensive to ship.

My suggestion is to stalk up on them now, and then in the upcomming weeks when it is gone have your consultant plan it in for you and then you will not have to pay for that meal twice... I do it all the time with the left over meals i have from unplanned events that happen...

I wish we would get more options! I am S-I-C-K of pasta! I eat a lot more meals on my own so that I can get my vegitarian things in. As long as the calories don't go over. I have been exerciseing four days a week as well and seeing some great results. JC needs to understand that Vegitarians are clients too.

theyve gotten rid of veggieburgers?
i dont want to offend anyone but... is that really such a big loss? ive always thought that they tasted absolutly dreadful >_<
i see where youre coming from though, being a veggietarian means that we cant eat very many things; we're pretty much restricted to just... veggies.
what you could alwasy do is just go out and buy your own veggieburgers from the grocery store you know. you dont ALWAYS have to eat the jenny craig food, its not tha different from the rest of the food out there.

I'm with curleync - I'm sick of pizza and pasta ! They need at least two good oriental options and that mexican cheesy enchilada is a sorry excuse for mexican. So, in addition to the oriental food we need some mexican too!
When I am doing JC hardcore, I feel like all I eat is pizza and pasta. Even some eggs for breakfast would be good. It's nothing short of ridiculous that they can't give us some eggs for breakfast!!!

Yep! They keep doing away with more and more veggie options and adding more and more non veggie options. Bye Bye JC. We got your message loud and clear.

Thanks for the diet-to-go tip! I just joined their program and pick up my food on Friday. I have been on JC for over a year and I just can't take the few options I have here. I would have stayed, if there were more veggie options. I will still stick with the boards though and let you know how it goes.
~JaMiE

Hey folks,
I'm not an "all the time" vegetarian, but for the next six weeks (Lenten fasting) I will be, and it seems to me to be rediculous to try to do it strictly on the JC foods now available. I think it's really sad that JC got rid of the Pasta Ole (I loved that!) and that they don't have more veggie options.
What I've been reading here doesn't sound very optimistic, but I'll be checking in from time to time to see if you all have some helpful hints...
Joan

Hi Joan. Welcome. I don't think it's all gloom and doom for us veggies. You will be eating generally the same food from week to week, but I don't mind too much. That said, more options are always nice.

I am going to stock up on the veggie burgers this week. I had heard that rumor that they were going to be phased out...I didn't know about paste ole which I love.

I am very disappointed that they are replacing the veggie burger with steak. There are already not very many options for vegetarians. I am a platinum member and have always thought the food was good quality and selection. We are turning to the corner though with less selection.
I am bummed.

JC Veggie Burgers use to be the best veggie burgers in the whole wide world, but they did something different to them and they are not so good anymore.
What a shame, they would have been a huge hit in the Health Food Stores and Regular stores as well. Sometimes when they try to make a new and improved version they ruin it.
I use to defrost it and fry it in a non stick pan and add a 90 cal slice of cheese to it and it was better than any quarter pounder that I ever had, that is before I gave them up, but I never did use the JC sauce that came with it. Yuck!

I'm a new member and what I don't get is how you all work all of the "meat" requirements in? Sure, I can sub tofu for meat, but what am I supposed to do -- just eat it off the slab?? I don't get it... Also, it occurs to me that the program doesn't include quite enough "fat" for me -- I really like salad and I find myself wanting more dressing.
Any suggestions? Input? Thank you! Wendy

My center finally ran out of veggie burgers today, so sad! But, they did tell me that Cheese Ravioli is coming in April. Wonder how different this will be than Florentine Ravioli? I want more mexican options!

That would be a real bummer if they slow down on the vegetarian choices. There is plenty of protein in meat substitutes and they're getting cheaper! I don't understand the logic unless there really isn't enough business. If that is the case, I'll lose what I can and go back to eating vegan again. I had chosen this diet over going vegan and then doing the vegan thing at the end. My cholesterol was 127 as a vegan and now as a dairy eating veggie its 205. I just needed the help to have the meals already prepared, etc.
Hope they don't change!

quote:

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Originally posted by Impatient:
it's a stupid business move on their part - I used to spend a ton of money on food -- bottom line eating beef is bad for you - no matter how it's marketed, beef is bad for the human body -- look at colon cancer statistics, heart disease statistics, etc. - not to mention the fact that cows are tested for BSE only when they can't walk - it's ridiculous - they get rid of two vegetarian options and replace them with a beef option - WHO IS AT THE WHEEL??

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I wish I'd read this board before I joined...I haven't even got my first food shipment yet (3/30)! I really hope JC doesn't consider us veggies unimportant, that's not the impression they gave me when I was joining up! If members really want to be "healthy", they should cut out meat...it's disgusting and rots in your intestines! Besides all the negative environmental and humanitarian factors resulting from meat production...don't even get me started!

Just thought of something, perhaps they are getting pressure from the beef industry? It happens all the time....hopefully not. Makes you think though...

I think that on top of all that, they do not have a Dietician/Nutritionist that is creative enough, nor knows what they are doing as far as making sure us veggie are taken care of. Even non veggie people eat non veggie meals. What they should do is make everything for veggie people and then if the non veggie people want to add meat to it, they can do it themselves Now why didn't they think of that?

i just joined today and now i feel like i got totally screwed! the website says that there are meatless menus...my consultant just said we would have to do a personalized menu but htat it was no big deal...and here i am going to be eating the same thing week after week...what do i do????

I like meat. I love beef. I love chicken. I have huge issues with eating it, however. If it's not raised humanely (for lack of a better word), loved, cared for and blessed, I don't want to eat it. I'll never be able to to fully vegetarian, as I don't like most grains or fruits! I'd love it if JC had more veggies in their meals, less pasta, and lots more tofu. I love tofu.
My husband is a vegetarian by doctor's orders. I've learned how to cook eggplant instead of pot roast in my slow cooker!
Darragha

Unfortunately, animals raised for slaughter are never "loved and cared for". That's the saddest part of the meat industry, for me. The funniest part of me being vegetarian is I was SO NOT a veggie & fruit eating vegetarian! I have never eaten so healthy since I joined JC. Before, I could go a week with a vegetable and fruit? Months could go by.

The cows and chickens raised by my family are loved, cared for, and appreciated. There's a huge difference between eating meats from factory farms and eating meat that was raised healthy. There is no "fear" in the meat my family puts on the table. The animals are raised to feed a large family, given lots of attention and respect. They are dispatched, yes--and that is the rub of the lives of cattle raised to feed a community/family.
Yanno...today I'm going to a buffet for lunch. I'm sticking to veggies, fruit and the salmon. I really can't eat "strange" meat. I'd rather have eggplant, any way.

I loved JC origional Veggie Burgers and I wish they would bring them back or at least make them available in the Supermarkets. JC veggie burgers are the best. I tried the others and there is no comparison. JC is the bestest.

Geez, I didn't even know they HAD veggie burgers; I guess my center sold out of them before I joined last month. I suppose I can't miss what I've never had, but I do wish there were more vegetarian options for us.
karen

So much gloom and doom here! Leaving isn't going to make the changes we'd like to see!
Personally, I am mostly vegetarian, but not 100% vegetarian, so I am not as restricted as some of you in my choices. However, there are a lot more options available than you might think.
The veggie burger was OK, but I'd rather have a black bean burger or Boca burger any day. You can use frozen whole wheat bread dough and bake it in a large muffin tin to make your own 1-starch buns, or you can buy the Wonder low calorie buns. Morningstar farms corn dogs are excellent for lunch, too! Chik'n grillers from Quorn, Boca or MF are fgreat, too--I use them to make a mock tenderloin sandwich--bake in the toaster oven until crispy.
I also use Morningstar Farms chik'n and "steak" strips instead of meat in the recipes I get from the JC website and JC cookbooks. I just posted the recipe for fajitas that taste remarkably like the JC fajitas, only without meat. I had it for lunch today, and it was wonderful!
I make my own pasta ole and freeze ahead.
Don't give up! You can still do the program, it just takes a little extra effort to prepare your own foods! And you will save quite a bit of money, too! That makes it JC's loss, not ours.
You can make your own sunshine sandwiches by baking Egg Beaters in the large Corningware ramekins with 1 tsp reduced fat (2%) cheese. Use Earth Grains reduced calorie english muffins, or any english muffin 120 calories or under. Use Morningstar farms breakfast strips to replace the 30-calories of canadian bacon.
Don't get mad--get creative!

Whoa, this post is still hanging in there. I haven't been on in a while, but have maintained since. I am back on doing mostly my own foods and just 20 or so more pounds to goal. I am gonna get there.
~JaMiE
(still veggie...still a lil angry...but I still like some of the jc foods....)

It has been over a year, since I started this post. My goodness...time to get back on track... Happy to have remained the same weight.

Helen.....What is you recipe for pasta ole. Pasta ole was one of my favorites.While I think about it ...got a recipe for Crab cakes? I am having a bad craving for them.

Hi all,
I was looking for a list of Jenny vegetarian food today, and found the list on line of Australian Jenny foods. They sound great, curries and things. Wish we could get the same here. It would be a little expensive to have them ship all that way... oh well...I'd love the recipe for pasta ole, too!
~Jemina

i just was reading this thread and was surprised that complaints about the lack of meatless options goes back over 3 years!!! i don't know what to think about it. seems like maybe jenny craig may not want to expand the meatless category. now i understand business but come on. there is a certain percentage of their clientele that choose to eat meatless. customer service, people. if you want more vegetarian options, please continue to post your wishes, maybe someone will listen. thanks for reading.

that's a shame. i would have never joined JC if i had known they had so very little veg*n options. my counselor was just horrid when i signed up last tuesday. when i told her i was veg*n for *MORALITY REASONS*, she told me to just "pick out the meat and throw it away."

okay, first of all, i wouldn't be getting the right amount of protein if i did this, which is damaging to my body.

second, that is WASTEFUL and totally counteracts the reason why i don't want to contribute to buying meat in the first place! why PURCHASE meat, and then THROW IT AWAY? the animal died for nothing then! omg, some people are just so ignorant!!!!!!!

needless to say, i switched centers. not only due to that, but everyone in that center was so clueless and so self-abosorbed and rushing everyone around, i just knew i'd get aggrevated sooner or later. they messed up my order (my FIRST DAY, mind you!!!), their credit card machine wasn't working right, i was rushed out of there, she didn't have all the booklets for me, she over charged me for items she didn't even give me!-- AND SHE WAS THE "MANAGER" of this center!!! argh!

anyway, sorry for the off-tangent rant, but i was just so disgusted with everything from their attitudes towards veg*ns, to their incompetence, that i nearly walked out of there without signing up. but, i'm still glad i did, because the program, itself, is spectacular and i am really doing well so far on it. even though there are few veg*n options, i figure i'll just get by as best as i can for now and eat meat when i have to and once i'm "off" their foods and have to start cooking for myself, i can transition back into my tofu and beans.

WOW! I've been reading the posts for the last couple of years and didn't realize how many vegetarians there were on the program. I've been on the program for 4 months now and I am getting pretty tired of my limited choices. I have been eating more chicken/turkey than I have over the last couple of years and I am tired of the pasta. I am going to start incorporating my own food. My counselor really isn't helping me much. I mentioned this to her last week and she avoided the topic. I do enjoy some of the desserts, though. I liked some of the suggestions about meat replacements in the previous posts.

Just my two cents.....

Skinny B*tch is a great book. However, the recipes from "The Kitch" have a lot of fat, which may be too much of a change from the way we've been eating on the JC program.

Just to take another tack, McDougall has a great low-fat, plant-based eating plan. Check out DrMcDougall for great ideas. If you sign up for the newsletter, you'll get lots of free recipes. The cookbooks (electronic version) are only $8 each. There's also a great forum, so lurk there for a bit and read what everyone is saying to get familiar with the program. There's extensive discussion on the health benefits of eating a plant/starch based diet. You truly are what you eat.

Also, Fat Free Vegan has great ideas. Easy enough to add a little EVOO/avocado/healthy fat when it seems necessary!

But my favorite is The Vegan Culinary Experience. SIGN UP FOR THE NEWSLETTER!! You'll get amazing recipes with tons of info every day. It's free and so interesting, even if you don't cook or only make a few dishes.

I'll probably end up eating a diet between the two extremes, as I find "things" work better when I eat a little more fat than McD, but DH will never sign on for the fat level from the Skinny B*tches.

Anyway, there is no shortage of healthy ideas from Plant World. Good health to all!