Do people really eat meat for every meal?

[CurlewKate]

There seems to be a post every day about the difficulties of catering for a vegetarian guest. I'm an omnivore and I do love meat, but probably only eat it 3-sometimes 4 times a week. And if a guest was a vegetarian I would have no trouble cooking a nice meal without meat-either a family staple or something posher. So do people really eat meat for every meal? And if so-why? Apart from anything else, meat costs a fortune!

I do actually do a cauliflower/ broccoli curry every so often, which is not greeted with joy and has all the chickpeas, which I do feel it needs for protein, picked out of it by the kids.

Apart from breakfast, yes I do roughly 95% of the time.
Lunch will be mostly a sandwich with ham, chicken or maybe twice a week I’ll have eggs or cheese.

My main meal of the day always contains meat of some description 6/7 days,(we have fish one day, sometimes a Friday sometimes another day). This next week is as follows.

Today - roast chicken
Mon - belly pork
Tues - Minced beef in a bolognaise
Wed - gammon steaks
Thur - Salmon
Friday - slow cooker beef stew
Sat - curry (probably chicken, posssibly prawns).

I enjoy meat, the thought of eating a diet of vegetables and pulses makes me feel bleh.

Some people do. If my dm came to stay and I cooked a pasta sauce, she would poke around suspiciously looking for the meat, and if she couldn't find any, she abandon her food, throw down her fork and sigh dramatically. 😂 My df had meat three times a day, incl. cooked breakfast every day. It's probably what killed him.

Now we always have meat or fish or cheese or eggs. I'll occasionally have a meal based on nuts or olives with veg, but ds isn't keen yet.

rarely have meat for breakfast unless a special treat then bacon sandwiches
lunch i mostly have salad with egg or cheese as the protein if having homemade soup it probably is base don homemade chicken stock. I occasionally have ham, prawn or chicken sandwiches if out at lunch time.
we rarely eat vegetarian at main meal fish 1-2 times a week, one meal might have the meat as a flavoring like bacon in spaghetti carbonara rahter than the main event
lot of cheese costs more per kg than meat though you generally eat less, but if the cheese is your main protein you need a fair sized portion not a wee grating

We don't eat meat at breakfast unless in a hotel or something with cooked food on offer; lunch varies sometimes veggy like soup or salad but sometimes salmon & rice.
Our main evening meal always has meat - we like it, enjoy it, & get most of it from our local butcher.

Oh & yes I can cater for a vegetarian quite easily & have done. Vegan on the other hand is trickier.
& I really dislike vegan baking, but do it when necessary.

@maddiemookins16mum I imagined that about a vegan diet, however I was surprised. It opened my mind up about how unadventurous I was with ingredients. I think a lot more about texture and flavour, I switched with concern about missing things and I've ended up having the time of my life with new experiences. Even if a person doesn't switch completely, variety is always fun and interesting, new things and combinations in particular

I have meat or fish for most of my dinners (only chicken really though) - maybe a couple of times a week I have a dinner without either. I rarely have meat for breakfast or lunch though.

Most meals, yes. I wouldn't usually have it for breakfast unless having brunch out in a restaurant.

I could cater for a vegetarian if I had to, or have some meat free meals myself but most dinners and lunches involve meat in some way.

Yes, every dinner. Because I like the taste and I usually centre the meal around whatever meat we have that day.

No, only dinner and some weekends I buy a pack of bacon.

We used to have meat for dinner every day, but it's expensive and I try to have vegetarian food at least twice a week, if not more. I do need to look up more recipes - my repertoire is bean chilli, and veg and chickpea curry.

I love meat, but vegetarian food can also be as tasty. I'm not keen on meat substitutes though.

@WotNoUserName you're not alone, even amongst the veggie and vegan folk its a divisive sometimes. One veggie/vegan restaurant owner here in Norwich refuses all substitutes for his menu. For me personally, its a little overzealous. Soya chunks and TVP are lightly processed and "sort of" meat texture like without trying to be any particular type. Seiten is also lightly processed and, because making it is adding flavour to a sort-of dough like thing and shaping it. So while its sort-of meat(ish) the way it works, it is also its own thing.

I also like anything remotely claiming to function in a meat-like context, like meat, to have a decent protein content. It's easier on the brain, when trying to figure out the variety of nutrients I'm consuming. I think its not good for the tourists, either, not eating the stuff regular enough to understand

Most of my meals have meat in, or some sort of animal protein like eggs.

My parents always insisted that a meal was not a proper meal without meat in it... even though they will happily eat beans on toast.

Because I have many friends who would like at least one meat/fish dish. I don;t mind it in my home. I just prefer not to cook it myself, as I have no experience cooking it.

Haven't eaten meat for 25 years but on off DP only eats meat &/or some kind of beige carb for every meal, no veg whatsoever.

We do similarly. Bolognese, curries, chilli, cottage pie and so on are typically 500g into six portions. I think a recommended serve of meat is 125g? We then would have a bigger portion for something like a burger.

99% of our meals contain meat or animal protein (eggs, cheese etc).

Its a superfood.

Yes, we pretty much eat meat every meal apart from breakfast. Mainly chicken, but beef or pork once a week. I love tofu and fish, but other family members don’t and we all need a higher protein and lower carb diet for health reasons.
Meat is healthy and delicious. My weekly food bill is high, but that’s because I buy the best quality organic meat I can find. Food is a big pleasure to me, not just fuel.

We're like you OP. Omnivores and don't eat meat all that often. Chicken is a treat to us - not more than twice a month.

I'm quite repulsed by people who eat chicken, eggs or steak or whatever it is every day just because they want a beautiful body. It's so over-priviliged and "fuck you, who cares about the planet". We all need to learn to use vegetable protein more often.

Every meal? nope. Everyday? mostly.

@CurlewKate Surely when you host, you aim to give people what they like/ can eat!!
If was hosting a vegan I’d cook them a vegan meal!

We would probably have eggs or dairy in most meals that don't have meat. Eggs or porridge (with milk) for breakfast. Cheese or yogurt with most lunches (unless I just take an apple and chocolate).