DD wants to go vegetarian

[TeenagersDontWearCoats]

DS most definitely does not.

I do not want to be cooking (or planning for) multiple meals as I find it hard enough as it is making sure everyone has the right meal at the right time.

DD is 13 and announced at lunch today she wanted to go veggie. Fine (although she's have saved me a bit if she'd said that before I'd bought the bbq for the weekend!). Except for special occasions. And except for lasagne!

So, for now I won't be e.g. separating pans or whatever, just a gradual increasing of veggie main meals.

Any favourite recipes that are easy to cook parallel to meat dishes? Or is the easy option to do vegetarian main meals and throw DS a meat sandwich every now and again?

Honestly, it's the planning rather than the concept that worries me. Although making sure DD gets enough protein is my initial thought.

What kind of things do you normally cook?

When DD went Veggie we found it easier to make veggie meals and add meat rather than the other way around if that makes sense?
Also DD doesn't really like meat subs and is allergic to Quorn anyway so all meals ended up being vegetable based with meat added to a portion for whoever wanted meat. Myself and DH are happy not to eat meat but DS prefers to.

I wouldn't touch the "fake" meat with a barge pole tbh. It will be beans, chickpeas and tofu. Can't have mushrooms/quorn (allergy) in anything.

I normally cook simple things like fish pasta, stews, sweet&sour, meat pies etc. I am not a talented cook, can't just wing it so need concrete recipes!

My DD has been a veggie for years. The easiest thing to do is have a separate pot on the go at the same time. For example, if you’re making a curry, chop up all the veg, put most of it in the ‘family’ pot, and some in the ‘vege’ pot. When you add the chicken to the main pot just chuck a can of chickpeas into hers, same spices, tomatoes, coconut milk, etc. If you make enough of hers you can freeze or refrigerate for another meal. As long as you have tins of chickpeas and lentils, a bag of red lentils (good and easy for bolognese style meals), maybe Quorn nuggets or fake chicken pieces, and cheese, you’ll be fine. Quorn also do fake meat slices for sandwiches, etc. so it’s not too much effort once you get the hang of it.

Personally I wouldn’t be entertaining a part time vegetarian! Or at all if it was too much for me to do daily - if she really wants to she can cook for herself at 13.

She should be able to cook her own stuff at 13. Not difficult to knock up a veggie bolognaise/chilli or basic pasta sauce. If we're short for time I do my dd Quorn nuggets or meat free sausage roll, jkt potato & salad or veg

I was happy to cook veggie meals when both my Dc were veggie, but no way would I cater for a part-time vegetarian.

I’d talk to her about why she wants to be veggie. Is she trying to lose weight? If it’s for ethical or animal respect reasons, why does she want to be part-time?

Just do the same meals without meat in her portion. Easy

Do you eat meat with every meal OP? We are probably what you would call part time vegetarians in that we will occasionally eat meat (lasagne!), but maybe once every 2-3 weeks. I think a lot of people these days like the idea of reducing meat intake.
We eat a lot of vegetable curries, wraps and pasta dishes which it’s easy to add meat to if you fancy.

This, what a way to show you have a favourite! 'Well everyone's diets now changing to accommodate DD.. don't worry DS... you can live off sandwiches so your sister can get what she wants...'
This part time vegetarianism I wouldn't tolerate...at 13 she can do her own food!

At 13 she's old enough to cook/plan her own meals. Cook for your family as normal leaving her portion of rice/pasta/potato/veg/salad for her to create a vegetarian meal. Let her add (within reason) items to the shopping list to accommodate her meals.

This is the approach I've taken in the past with SC and nobody has gone hungry (but they do now eat meat again because they couldn't resist their favourite dinners) .

Things that worked well for us were Mexican style meals where we all had wraps with various fillings or Indian where there is loads of vegetarian options.

She did start to take the huff if we were having a roast and she had vegetarian sausages and there was one evening where she kicked off massively as we all had steak and she had a stuffed pepper. I thought she'd enjoy it , apparently not 🙈. Despite us trying to provide lots of vegetarian options at BBQs she always ate normal burgers and sausages and the vegetarianism gradually disappeared.

I do also make a huge portion of soup weekly which is usually vegetarian and is always available as can be microwaved from frozen, we always have plenty of bread, eggs, fruit, veg salad so they'll never go hungry but I think with her she was very influenced by social media and her peers

I would like to add that I know that absolutely is not the case with all vegetarians but our teen was very much doing it for appearances.

I'm pretty sure it's because of her friends. She's finally finding her feet in new class and of the three others she seems to be with a lot one is definitely vegetarian, I suspect one is and the third doesn't eat beef.

@CaptainFuture don't worry, the comment about throwing DS a sandwich was a bit tongue in cheek, he will not be neglected!

She is often home late, after going directly to training from school so it's not as simple as saying let her fend for herself. She'd never get to bed if she had to sort her meals by herself!

I will suggest she looks for some recipes for me though.

I have one vegetarian daughter (and two who are not) and I mostly do the two pots approach that somebody said above - parallel cooking. When we are having meat she gets beans, lentils, tofu, halloumi, paneer and the odd Linda McCartney sausage. None of us are keen on the fake meat that is available everywhere.
so for example if I am making a shepherd’s pie, she gets a small one that is exactly the same but had half a tin of lentils where we had mince. It takes a bit more thought but not too much

Maybe a compromise of veggie meals, half the week for all. It's cheaper and you could add variety to diet. I find a lot of recipes are quick to prepare too. As she gets older she could start doing her own for the remaining days. You may find everyone starts to enjoy them.
My DH is very much a meat, no veg, anything green is for rabbits only type bloke, now eats veggie meals happily as its been a gradual switch. We eat meat a couple times a week..

This ^
why is the key.
I wouldn’t mind decreasing meat in general e.g to have 2 vegetarian dinners per week and then aiming to increase them. Also I would expect her to choose and cook one of them and again slowly increasing. But if she just wants you to do all the slaving when she fancies it - no, no and no.

By the way I always buy a big box of drumsticks when they are on sale in Tesco, roast them and freeze. Then I do something veggie and defrost a few of them for those who wants meat - very handy.

Life is too short to be pandering to this nonsense. I wouldn't force her to eat meat but I wouldn't be doing any special cooking either.

I would definitely ask her to get involved with meal planning

I have a friend who was told at 12 to cook for herself if she was vegetarian and who ate a horrific diet for many years - oven chips and cheese, pesto pasta type stuff - and ended up very obese. So I wouldn't go too far but she can definitely take some responsibility

We have a complex set of dietary requirements in our family and mainly we approach it with buffet/family style meals. A classic example is what we had yesterday:

A selection of roasted vegetables (aubergine, peppers, cauliflower, courgettes)

Couscous

Hummus

Natural yoghurt

Chicken drumsticks for the carnivores

Halloumi for the vegetarian

When DD went Veggie we found it easier to make veggie meals and add meat rather than the other way around if that makes sense?

I agree with this

Pasta
Curry
Pizza
Quiche

There are tons of online vegetarian recipes. You just need to think outside of the meat and two veg box.

She's either a vegetarian or she isn't, none of this part time nonsense.

It’s not quite that easy, though; you have to ensure she is eating enough protein, iron, etc.

Would she consider pescatarian instead? This was the compromise I made with my dd.

I went veggie at a similar age and actually became ill as I was very fussy and didn’t like any veggie alternatives 🤦‍♀️

going veggie is often the first step towards anorexia.

I was vegetarian as a teen. Did me no harm. Things like curries and stews are easy and you can make enough for two nights running, so you don't have to cook differently so often. Make enough for four and you can freeze half and reduce the cooking even further.

One of mine decided to go veggie at 20. I wouldn't mind if it was just me but no way does the rest of the household want to be veggie, I don't have time to do special cooking, so I told them they would be making their own meals, unless I happened to be cooking vegetarian. With that decree, they decided they didn't want to be veggie after all.