Are you the only vegetarian in your family?

[MymbleClement]

I don't eat huge amounts of meat but thinking of ditching it altogether. Just wanting to hear from people who are vegetarian but have families who are all meat eaters. How do you adapt family meals?

Yes, have always been the only veggie however DH is very supportive and it isn't that hard now. Fussy kids do make it more difficult - at one stage I was often cooking 3 different dinners and the only things we could all eat were macaroni cheese (with added veg but only peas and sweetcorn!) and fajitas/wraps as we all added different things.

DH and kids eat a lot of veggie meals now, or we eat a lot of meals where meat is added as an after thought. Both kids happily have veggie meals at school and will eat meat substitutes - eg vegetarian sausages - without a thought.

DH is veggie and I’m not, and I cook all of our evening meals (he washes up!)
Either we both have a vegetarian meal, or a similar meal with Quorn or lentils in his and chicken or mince or whatever in mine. This includes stuff like fajitas, chilli, curry, Sunday roast. Or I’ll do something like jacket potatoes with veg or salad, he can have a slice of quiche/vegetarian pie/Quorn crispy fillet or similar and I can have a piece of fish or meat if I fancy it.
For us though it’s mainly easier to stick to vegetarian meals and try out lots of new recipes etc to find things we both enjoy.

Only veggie. 2 young childre so they tend to eat fussy stuff anyway. We just cook the same base e.g. mash and I will have veggie sausages and everyone else has meat sausages. All eat quorn in curries or in place of meat mince quite happily though.

I am not veggie but my daughter was for ages. When I cook meat dishes I tend to get a big pan on for the meat eaters and a smaller one for veggie. Generally the small pan will be 2-3 portions of the veggie, one for DD to eat with us and the other to freeze. I don't think of it as making 2 different meals, it's the same meal but just splitting all the veg etc between 2 pans. I then freeze the extra veggie portion for a day when what we eat is a bit harder to adapt, and I keep a few Quorn burgers etc in the freezer. Also have a few storecupboard standby ideas like dressed mixed beans, halloumi or scrambled eggs, to substitute when everyone else is having baked chicken.

I try to cook meat free about 2-3 times a week, and we never really have meat at lunchtime apart from the occasional bit of ham. I reckon no one needs to eat meat more than once a day.

I found it easier than I expected, though DD's diet was a bit less varied than I'd like.

Thanks everyone. Lots of good ideas!

I am vegan, DD is veggie and the rest of the family eat meat.

I cook most of the meals, so most of them end up being Vegan anyway. If people dont like what i offer they can cook for themselves.

When I work late and DH cooks its always readymeals for the children and steak for him and DS1, so the younger children dont have a very high bar to compare.