Veganuary- splitting meals

[bryceQ]

I'm tempted to do a vegan month, really curious if it could improve how I feel.

My husband is an anti veg man but he wouldn't want to cut out meat. We only have the same dinner.

How easy do you find it to cook two dinners? Are there easy substitutions you've found?

What do you mean your husband is an anti veg man? Do you mean he doesn't like vegetables?

No I mean we do eat quite a bit of veg with our evening meals but he wouldn't want to cut out meat. Basically there is a lot in our evening meals we would both eat.

Genuine question but why would bring vegan improve how you feel?
Meat is a very easy source of iron and other B vitamins. Humans don’t have multiple stomachs to digest just veg.

I have no issue with people being vegan because they don’t want to eat animals but I think in general they feel better for eating less and thinking about their food. Not because it’s a healthier diet than meat.

I'm a vegan but kids and dh eat meat. It's definitely possible!

Easy one is pizza night - sainsburys sell nice vegan pizzas. Hummus and veg to go with it

Curries are easily adaptable. I have chickpeas and dh has chicken.

Chilli con carne - you can do one with vegan mince and the other with beef.

Lasagna. I make a vegetable lasagne with a vegan sauce for me and dairy one for dh and kids. Dh has bacon with his.

Agree with this!

@UserM6 I've only been vegan for 3 months but the difference in how I feel is honestly remarkable. I feel SO much better and blood test confirmed more Iron than when I was just vegetarian. It's honestly a thing, I'm not making it up. So much more energy. I ran 15 miles the other week.

If you are the cooker of meals, you cook what you choose. If he wants meat, he cooks that for himself. If you both share cooking, then whoever is cooking, cooks and the other makes something extra for themselves.

I was a vegetarian for 20 years. I cooked veg meals. If dh wanted meat, he had to cook it himself, which he’d have as an add on to whatever the main (veg) meal was.

That's one person. I knew someone who went vegan and felt awful and had to add meat back to their diet. Everyone is different and think its down to how their body reacts to the diet/change.

I'm just interested. I don't have a hypothesis to test. I do sometimes wonder if dairy agrees with me as I can get quite bloated after I drink it. Just want to try it really. If I see no main difference I'll likely go back to have meat but maybe reduce quantity for environmental reasons.

I would want to keep cooking the evening meal. I'm home based as I'm a carer for our disabled child and my husband works full time. Just really trying to think about easy ways to substitute items that wouldn't give me loads of work.

@blackpanth well obviously if you do it unhealthily then that's going to happen. You could say that about literally any diet!

For environmental reasons local high-welfare meat is far more environmentally friendly than a vegan diet which includes almond milk, coconut milk/yogurt, avocadoes which all have massive air miles and are grown on tracts of land that was previously rain forest.

And from health terms vegan food is often very highly processed ie UPF quorn, meat replacements etc

If you are looking to improve how you feel maybe consider cutting out gluten (or just wheat), dairy and sugar and eating foods as close to nature as possible.

I don't mean to sound preachy, it's just something I've thought about a bit, that vegan food is a corporation jumping on the next food craze to make money but you buying fresh local food doesn't benefit a mega corporation in the same way.

I mean no disrespect to vegans

“That's one person. I knew someone who went vegan and felt awful and had to add meat back to their diet. Everyone is different and think its down to how their body reacts to the diet/change.” So you only knew one person too 🤣

It can be done, I’m vegan DH and DD are not. DH will go without meat for weeks at a time, as he’s worried about cancer.

When I started I lost loads of weight, but then discovered desserts and wine. Cutting them out now, I want my body back! I’m not a fancy vegan, I just have potatoes, salads, pasta, I love mushrooms, onions, chilli, ginger. Look at the vegan board for ideas.
I love Alpro my cuppa for a milk substitute.

I’ve had bloods done, everything was fine.
If you feel unwell you can just go back to meat anyway.

Milk and meat and eggs are all completely different food sources.

You can eat meat like venison or game that’s essentially free range and has a nicer end than most wild animals. It’s great for the environment because animals living in their own environment is what we all want surely (ie rather than arable mono cultures or poly tunnels covering the place).
Eggs you could get from someone locally with hens. They make me feel ill so I don’t eat them but they’re a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals.
Fresh milk is definitely not what it was. Personally I think it’s now over processed too.

Eat better quality food and just less really . All the vegans ( definitely not veggies! ) I know are quite controlled around food.

Looks like you opened a can of (gelatin free) worms there @bryceQ 😬

To try and get back to your question, as a vegetarian I've found the easiest way to split meals is using meat alternatives. They're not to everyone's taste, but there are loads of good chicken fillets and pieces, burgers, mince, bacon, pies, even a half decent chorizo - they're not all vegan though so check the labels. Then there's less processed things like tofu, chickpeas, lentils, beans, sweet potato...which can be substituted in as well.

What sort of things do you usually cook? As @bakewellbride said currys, pizza, and chilli, are all pretty easy to split. We also like burgers, noodle dishes and pasta with meatballs. Anything with a vegan base and the option to add meat or vegan protein at the end will work perfectly.

@youreallyarefantastic we do similar to you really. I made a stew for lunch today which had onion, carrot, sweet potato and mixed beans and it was so good plus the kids liked it. Dh is at work but if he was there he could have added chicken or pancetta to it. Tonight is pasta bake for the family but I'll do myself a separate pasta meal with vegan pesto and chickpeas. I'm very new to veganism so please share any more ideas with me!

I've not met too many vegans but apart from a handful who were excellent cooks, most had appalling diets with overly processed vegan substitutes and very little freshly prepared veg or fruit. I'd happily be a vegetarian for the most part but I would need to expand my culinary repertoire first to ensure that I'm covering all my required nutrients.

How about a veggie/vegan night once a week to ease yourself in to it? That's what I did when we had a pescetarian staying. We would have fish a couple of days a week, a veggie or vegan night once or twice, then the rest of the week it was typical dinners with 2 vegetable sides and a veggie burger or something for the guest.

I'm a meat eater but my partner is a vegetarian. We eat predominantly veggie food in the week but mixed on the weekend.

Would your partner eat vegan some of the days as it does make it easier? We eat things like veggie shepherds pie (lentils and finely chopped veg instead of meat flavoured with cumin and other spices). Which could be made vegan by using nutritional yeast in the mash instead of cheese. Also lots of curries, Indian and Thai with veg and chickpeas, cannellini beans etc. Tend not to eat much meat substitutes. On the weekend I might do a pasta baked or stir fry with lots of veg, pulses etc but add in some chicken at the end for me and DD.