It can be done effectively by keyframing morphs and/or magnet deformers, but as you pointed out... it's time consuming. If you have an applicaton that supports softbody dynamics, it can be done very "easily", but you still have to wait for calculations just like you would with dynamic cloth. I think keyframing the motion is still the best way, if you have the patience. Because you'll have more control over the final output of the motion. If you don't care about control, or if it's not as important to you as getting "fast" realistic movement for such things, then exporting your animation to a software that has some form of editable Softbody Dynamics (Maya, 3dsmax, Lightwave, or C4D) is the answer.

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Tools :  3dsmax 2015, Daz Studio 4.6, PoserPro 2012, Blender v2.74

System: Pentium QuadCore i7, under Win 8, GeForce GTX 780 / 2GB GPU.