Easy kid friendly meat-free meals?

[Rockbird]

We're a family of happy carnivores but over the last few months DD1 (11) has developed an aversion to meat. She's not fully veggie so cheese etc is fine. She'll eat fish fingers and certain types of sausages but that's it.

However, I'm totally stuck for what to cook. I'm happy for our family meals to be largely veggie and to do her an alternative on the days we have meat but I'm struggling to find things she'll eat. I've googled but finding that a lot of so called kids' recipes still have avocado and other stuff she won't touch. I need help with something both girls will recognise and be vaguely familiar with but will suit both of them.

Does that make any sense? TIA.

If you do the odd freezer meal, Tesco Mexican bean burgers are lovely.

I’m vegan with omnivorous kids, but I don’t cook meat at home (except Christmas). They get meat at their dads. These are what all of them enjoy at home...with 3 it is hard to please everyone, especially with only 1 of my children being adventurous and 1 being downright difficult (don’t like rice for example!)
Fry’s fake chicken nuggets (dirty food but they say better than chicken).
Tofu tikka kebabs (press tofu, marinate it in spices and yoghurt, grill on a stick)
Crispy tofu with sweet chilli sauce
Tofu marinated and then cooked as a “steak”
Double bean chilli (bbc website)...you can make loads and freeze it.
Macaroni cheese!
Gnocchi tomato and mozarella bake (bbc website). Can also do with pasta.
Fake chicken fajitas (Jamie Oliver website)
Lentil spaghetti Bol (mumsnet)
We use meat the alternative mince in normal spaghetti bolognaise/lasagne and a pack of soffrito from Waitrose, as well as tomatoes
Pitta bread pizzas
Sausage plait using sos mix and ready rolled puff pastry.

Pasties/pies using fake chicken and puff pastry.
Jackfruit tacos
Spinach and ricotta cannelloni (I make fake ricotta)

why do you say she's not fully veggie because she eats cheese but not because she eats sausages and fish fingers? She's not veggie at all if she eats those.

DD and DH are veggie and we eat:

Macaroni cheese
broccoli pasta with pine nuts
veggie bolognese made with lentils (those Merchant bags of lentils)
pesto pasta
curry
veggie sausages/fingers (frozen section of Sainsbo's)
roasted tomato risotto
pea risotto
pea and mint soup
leek and potato soup
broccoli quiche
caramelised onion tart
jacket spuds
pizza
egg fried rice

BBC Good Food site has some cracking veggie recipes - well worth a look.

Mac cheese
Pasta pesto
Pasta with tomato sauce
Veggie burger
Omelette
Quiche
Veg fajita
Veg curry
Baked potatoes
Veg sausage and mash
Cauliflower cheese
Cauliflower cheese grills
Toasties
Risotto
Veg lasagne
Poached eggs on toast
Hummus and crudités
Boiled egg salad
Falafel in pitta bread
Quesidillas

Our family favorites:

Jacket potato
Lentil curry
Veggie burgers
Spicy bean soup
Spinach risotto
Mushroom casserole
Cannelloni
Quorn sausages
Egg salad
Toad in the hole
Cheesy pasta

Tesco's own brand frozen meat-free range is very useful for quick meals. Includes bean burgers, sausages, cauliflower cheese bakes and various others.

Omelettes, with veggies included (eg mushrooms, mixed peppers, sweetcorn), and a side salad.
Veggie/tomato/lentil soup, with baguettes. Or French Onion Soup, with the sliced baguette/melted cheese on top.
Veggie lasagna.

Apologies RiverTam. I was typing as I thought rather than having set it all out in my head. I knew someone would pick me up on that though. I was trying to preempt people looking for more complicated recipes with veggie cheese etc.

fair dos. I just thought that if she starts identifying herself like that she's going to a) confuse people and b) look a bit of a numpty!

(With regard to cheese, most British cheese is veggie, and you can easily by veggie parmesan in Sainsbo's, and veggie pesto, for that matter. If she decides to be a bit stricter.)

No she absolutely doesn't identify as veggie. She knows that fussy and awkward isn't the same thing

- I have a DD who is both actually veggie (and pretty strict at that, always checking if sweets and cheese are veggie) and also very fussy and awkward.

Happy days.

Quorn, especially the chicken pieces, can be subbed in and the carnivores won't notice if it's in a sauce. Linda McCartney rosemary sausages are also good. We eat veggie pasta a lot, and bean casseroles. Stuffed mushrooms and peppers are a good main feature. We told our daughter if she wanted to be veggie the fussiness stops and she really does eat pretty much everything now except meat and fish

Tofu is basically tasteless, reminds me of egg white. I just cut it into cubes and fry it and put it in pad Thai for my veggie kid and me, but you could use it in loads of things. You can make it a bit crispier if you freeze it and defrost it first.

Other meals we have:
Lentil bolognese or lasagne (green lentils not red work best)
Linda mcartneys with mash and veg
Chickpea and spinach korma/curry
Egg or tofu fried rice
Lentil Dahl (red lentils this time)
Macaroni cheese
Pesto pasta
Jacket potatoes
Pizza
Fajitas with quorn pieces
Vegetable stew
And freezer crap we have quorn nuggets/cauliflower cheese grills/birds eye vegetable fingers.

Should add Aldi do some nice meat free individual pies, they are next to the meat ones so i buy 3 meat and 1 veggie

We are omnivores but eat meat free three times a week. We all like

Veggie curry, usually involving coconut milk aubergine and lentils
Shakshuka
Quiche
Frittata
Puff pastry tart, something like goats chees and beetroot
Pizza
Pasta with pesto and veg
Mac and cheese
Burritos filled with beans and salsa
Middle Eastern aubergine, tomato and chickpea stew (Jamie Oliver)
Baked potatoes with beans and cheese
Eggs, beans and chips

Mostly pretty everyday stuff; I doubt the kids even register it is meat free.

slippery what the fuck?

Oh wait, it's half term, isn't it.

Have you tried paneer? It's a kind of Indian cheese to use in curry- delicious and easy to cook!

The dd is just fussy that's all. Surprisingly an 11 month old can't identify as a veggie!

I read it as 11 YEARS old, Halfwitpicker, they absolutely can be awkward

We are all veggie or vegan, and our weekly staples are:

Chilli with lentils and quinoa
Veggie bolognese with Quorn meatballs
Vegetable stir fry - you can add Quorn nuggets into this and that goes down well.
Fajitas/burritos (although we do load them up with avocado and stuff, you can always do them with rice, beans, peppers and onions, cheese etc )
Leftover chilli on a jacket potato
Veggie burgers, peas and chips
Vegan carbonara with portobello mushrooms

where does it say the dd is 11 months? I see this as 11 years old and can definitely identify as a veggie.

What'd I miss?

DD is 11 years and stroppy as hell! She was equally stroppy at 11 months but we've moved on a bit. She knows she isn't vegetarian, she just doesn't like the taste/texture/thought of meat. Hence she will eat certain sausages etc because they're not 'meaty'. But not very much else, hence my struggling.

Thank you so much all, there are loads of ideas to try here so well hopefully find things she'll eat.

OP, I wouldn’t Quorn too often as it’s very low in iron so not great for growing girls. Soya substitutes are better and most supermarkets, especially Tesco, do a good range.

Familyofaliens you are supposed to eat veg to get iron if using a lot of quorn but too much soya is bad for kids as it can mimic oestrogen.