Cutting down on meat for family meals - best replacements?

[Belmondo]

We don't eat a huge amount of meat but I'd say we (family of four) generally have chicken thighs, sausages and one other form of meat each once per week.

So in a week's worth of meals we might have chicken and rice one night, sausages and lentils another, and then maybe a beef/pork pasta dish. In between we might have a veggie soup, omelette and salad,, vegetable chilli etc.

We often have a pasta bake with meat as flavour rather than the main thing - so broccoli with pancetta/bacon.

What other successful veggie family classics are people using? I find it hard not to fall back on meat, but whilst one kid will eat literally anything, the other is a bit pickier - not a massive fan of squash, sweet potato, courgette, cauli or aubergine, which is frustrating!! He'll eat some in a meal (and loves green veg), it's just a bit of a harder sell. He's not even a massive fan of potatoes so jacket pots aren't in the rotation!

Any guidance welcome 😃

Our standard veggie rotation meals are:
-Veg chilli (the Bosh one is amazing)
-Chickpea and spinach curry
-Falafel and hummus in wraps with couscous on the side

• jacket potato with cheese,beans,coleslaw etc.
• Jamie Oliver's aubergine and tomat pasta

We also try to have one fish meal a week at least so:

• fish cakes / fish burgers
• fish pie
• salmon or tuna stir fry / kokoro bowl
• prawn or smoked salmon risotto

I'll watch this thread with interest though as I would also like more veggie options and ds has the same aversion to squash/courgette/sweet potato as yours.

Beans are a classic vegetarian option - things like daal, chickpea curry, lentil shepherdess pie and so on.

Mushrooms are another popular "meaty" kind of stand-in, mushroom risotto, mushroom stir fry, big field mushrooms in a bean.

Have a look through recipes from cuisines where vegetarian dishes are more culturally common, a lot of Chinese or Indian dishes are classically meat-free anyway. Or use substitutes like tempeh and tofu.

You could also go full old school and look at WW2 kinds of meals, with rationing there was very little meat around so veg had to fill in the gaps - things like Woolton Pie.

Tomato pasta or pesto pasta with garlic bread is about as simple a meal as you can get and no meat involved. Works fine in a rotation!

All the curries!
shakshuka
falafel in pita
homemade bean burgers
haloumi, flatbreads and slaw
pasta arrabbiata
root veg and bean stew
stuffed peppers
field mushrooms with Stilton and breadcrumbs
root veg tagine with cous cous

I make many of the options listed above by PPs, it is difficult to substitute for meat when you have a family member who isn't into vegetables but it can be done with pulses, beans, and the different ways of preparing them with spices in sauces and cheese, always cheese! Sprinkled on top it looks appealing and it really sells!
This isn't really a substitute for meat so much as it is an extender of meat that I've been using now for a few years.
Soy granules.
I get it in my local Asian market and it is easy to prepare ( instructions on box) and add to raw mince.
Mix it in well and fry or bake as usual with whatever spices you use. You can't taste it, or see it if you don't put too much in, but it does extend the meat and no one has said they've noticed.

AHH thanks so much everyone, lots of ideas and stuff to research here! Yes we have a lot of daal currently, forgot to mention that, as everyone loves lentils and curryish flavours. We also make a chicken thigh and chickpea curry that I often bulk out with whatever veg I have around.

We also have pesto pasta a couple of times a month too, and I often manage to use up random bits of rocket or parsley in that too

I'll look up the JO tomato and aubergine pasta as pickier child will often not bother about aubergine too much if it isn't too front and centre!

Shakshuka is a great suggestion, thank you, as we always have homemade tomato sauce and spinach in the freezer and eggs in the cupboard.

I'm not a mushroom fan though which is limiting...we al generally like tofu although I have to say mine is never as tasty as Thai restaurants...

I used to make a delicious potato and onion pie (maybe Nigel Slater) but pickier child is also not a massive fan of potatoes 🙄 (who doesn't like potatoes??!)

We are vegetarian and our children are quite picky and often one will eat something and the other won't so it's a pain!

Id say in place of meat we eat:

• Tofu - however DC7 point blank refuses to eat this.
• Cheese. Lots of cheese but the kids sadly won't eat halloumi, feta or fresh mozzarella, they'll basically only eat quite plain soft or hard cheeses basically.
• Quorn - mince, sausages, 'chicken-style' nuggets, fillets, pieces.
• Soy based meat replacements e.g. Richmond sausages/ 'bacon', Asda 'mince'. I try not to have soy based meals more than twice a week though as too much soy can cause issues with hormones in children I believe especially in boys.
• Tinned beans/pulses. Kids will eat basically any type of beans so butter beans, baked beans, kidney beans, pinto beans, black beans, lentils...
• Eggs - boiled, scrambled, omelette, fried, homemade crustless quiches.

We eat a lot of simple:

• Curries
• Pasta/spaghetti/gnocchi dishes and bakes
• Stir fry dishes
• Stews
• And admittedly some easy freezer dinners like burgers/ sausages/pies/nuggets etc

Halloumi works well as a meat replacement if you like it? There’s a lovely recipe for it battered using lemonade and then it can be served with salad or with veg in wraps etc.

These burgers are lovely:

https://www.homemadebyyou.co.uk/recipes/main-courses/mile-high-chickpea-burgers-with-purple-coleslaw

We are similar in that we tend to eat meat two or three times a week but have vegetarian family dinners most of the time. It started mainly as a money saving exercise but I actually prefer it now!

Our standard vegetarian dinners on rotation are:

Fajitas made with a mix of onions, peppers and whatever beans or pulses we have in. Usually chickpeas and kidney beans.

A version of "marry me chicken" made with halloumi or butter beans instead. It's basically a sun dried tomato and cream sauce.

Build your own wraps. Falafel, hummus, grated cheese, olives, salad etc....whatever we have in the fridge. The kids love this as they can choose what they want and if that's a cheese and cucumber wrap then so be it 🤣.

Loads of pasta dishes. Cajun halloumi pasta is popular, good old pasta and pesto, walnut and sage garlic butter pasta, Nigella's Marmite spaghetti, veggie pasta bake etc.

Gnocchi or spinach and ricotta tortellini with peas, sweetcorn and tomato and mascapone sauce.

Bean burgers with potato wedges and coleslaw.

Egg fried rice or stir fries. Add tofu, peanuts or cashews if you want more protein.

@Belmondo if you cut up the aubergine really small in the JO pasta recipe and cook it down with the onions and garlic for ages it kind of melts into the sauce so your veg hater will definitely be able to cope!

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