To serve meat

[Mim78]

Occasional poster, long time frequent lurker.

At the moment I am on maternity leave with DS (nearly 6 months). DD (5) is on school summer hols so I have them both at home all day. This is great and I'm really enjoying the holidays before I go back to work in September.

DH is working long hours at the moment and so I am doing all the cooking in the week. On the weekend just passed he did all the cooking on Sunday; we were out on Saturday.

This evening I made penne with a bolognaise sauce I had made from the left overs of Sunday's dinner. Tasty and economical I thought.

DH asked me this evening "can we not have meat every day?". This was on health grounds as he does not think it is good for him to eat meat every day.

My initial response was "I am not a restaurant" and am not going to cook to order. TBH we don't have meat every day, but I was planning a meat based meal tomorrow (also incorporating some [different] left overs). I also said I am not having a meat based argument with him, but then we agreed to ask the MN jury to see who is BU.

He is probably right on health grounds, but AIBU to say I am cooking so I will choose what we will have? His response to that was, "fine I will cook something else for myself", which seems to me a waste of time.

Additional info that may be relevant:

1. I am weaning DS, who is just starting to move on to a wider variety of food, i.e. passed the one ingredient/food at a time phase. I am doing a mix of puree and finger food.
   

1. DH recently lost weight doing the 5/2 diet and exercise and is looking good on it!

[itsbetterthanabox]

Cutting it out completely is good for you

[maninawomansworld]

I am a die hard carnivore, I would eat meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner if I could (plus I'm a farmer and beef makes up a big chuck of my business) but meat every single day is not good for you unfortunately (nor is cutting it out totally either).

I try to have 3 meat free days a week but my heart does sink when I'm working hard in the late afternoon having been up since 5am, my mind turns to dinner and I realise that tonight is fish night... or veggie night. Can't beat a nice steak and ale pie with mash and fresh veggies!

[polomoomin]

Yabvu. Good on him! Meat is destroying the planet, is terrible for your health (especially if you're eating it every day!) and to me, is entirely pointless in 2014. Listen to him.

[Droflove]

Problem with unprocessed meat is it can be full of hormones etc. You just can't know. But pork meats are the highest offenders usually. I love all meat and veg. Just closing on a house with land so I can finally raise my own meat so I know what's in it. Will still do some meat free meals but really want to cut down on the processed meats and make my own instead. The food chain is a total mess. I think we will pay for it in the near future. Our parents (60+) had no way as much exposure to all the chemicals and hormones my generation has grown up eating.

[RawCoconutMacaroon]

Droflove, wrt hormone injected meat- it depends on where you are. And where the meat comes from. If you are in the USA, yes, it is almost certainly injected with growth factors and antibiotics (and fed on GMO soya and maize), unless it's certified organic.

In Europe including the UK it's illegal to use the things routinely used in meat and milk production in the USA.

[RawCoconutMacaroon]

Tinkerball, because they buy into the idea that animal proteins and animal fats are bad for your health (and no surprise as that is what we are told).

IMO the diseases of civilisation are caused by the foods we are eating NOW (massive amounts of heavily processed and adulterated grains... And sugar syrups derived from grains, adulterated with synthetic additives that didn't exist a few decades ago)... And not as a result of eating natural foods like meats, seafood and eggs (with lots of leaves and other plant matter of course).

Something is very very wrong with a diet (and dietary advice) that is making roughly half of all adults (over 18) pre-diabetic or diabetic, with skyrocketing rates of every autoimmune condition you can think of. The more removed we get from an unprocessed low grain diet, the sicker and fatter we all get (as a society).

There was a very interesting article on land use and vegetarianism in the Economist recently, exploring ethical matters often cited by those who don't eat meat. Iirc in conclusion, there is an awful lot of the worlds land that is good for nothing other than growing meat (hilly, rocky, arid), you can't crop that land but you can rear wonderful pastured animals on it.
To me the huge ethical issue is intensively reared feed-lot animals pumped full of drugs and denied any kind of natural grazing and movement. Both cruel to the animal and unhealthy for the people eating them.

We eat a "clean" paleo/primal diet, and are fussy about where our meat comes from, but we eat lots of it, and lots of (natural, unprocessed) fat too. The health benefits have been enormous , which brings me back to ... Eat Real Food .

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

I totally understand the ethics point of view and it's definitely a good reason not to eat large quantities of meat and to have a few meat free days a week. But looking at it from a health point of view solely, I think this is where we stand at the moment:

Processed red meat has a strong correlation with deaths from all causes, cardiovascular disease and various cancers.
Unprocessed read meat has weaker correlation but it's slightly debatable and needs further research. The link's possibly stronger for the development of certain forms of cancer than CVD or all cause deaths but an average of

[Droflove]

Problem with unprocessed meat is it can be full of hormones etc. You just can't know. But pork meats are the highest offenders usually. I love all meat and veg. Just closing on a house with land so I can finally raise my own meat so I know what's in it. Will still do some meat free meals but really want to cut down on the processed meats and make my own instead. The food chain is a total mess. I think we will pay for it in the near future. Our parents (60+) had no way as much exposure to all the chemicals and hormones my generation has grown up eating.

[ThatBloodyWoman]

Saturated fats, artificial hormones, all sorts of crap passing through the food chain...

Its mainly the fact that its unethical to eat too much meat, for me, but I also firmly believe that eating in a much more plant based way is healthier.

So much Amazonian rainforest is being laid to waste to provide pasture for beef cattle.The lungs of our planet are gradually being decimated so the richest amongus can eat steak.

Not in my name.

[Tinkerball]

All the people that have said 1 or 2 meat free days a week is healthier - why?

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

The next horizon is on tonight not tomorrow. Sorry!

[ThatBloodyWoman]

Ah!
Sorry -I'm being remarkably dense!

[HarveySchlumpfenburger]

I think orange is referring to the number of people who call themselves vegetarians but who actually eat fish.

Which leads to non-vegetarians offering a fish dish as the vegetarian option when catering.

[ThatBloodyWoman]

Eh orange ?

I don't get it....

[Janethegirl]

Orange

[orangefusion]

Fish is a sea vegetable (according to most of the so called veggies I know) along with "free range chicken vegetables".

[ThirteenMeetings]

For health and environmental reasons it's a very good idea to have a few meat free days a week. Obviously you can do what you like, but you did ask!

[Janethegirl]

mrsbagface you're entitled to your view just as I'm entitled to mine. I didn't say I ate meat every meal, I do enjoy a good homemade soup for lunch but I will have some good quality animal protein on a daily basis, so long as I can afford it.

[itsbetterthanabox]

Fish is meat

[orangefusion]

If he wants meat free, he can plan, buy and cook meat free. HIBU if he thinks that you should abandon your plans for the week if it means you waste food. Why does he need to ask you IF you can not have meat every day?

YABU if you are saying that all your meals must be centred around meat.

However I would go mad if the alternatives suggested to meat were pizza, pasta and baked spuds, these are not alternatives to meat to me, they are just carby stodge and I would be cross if they were put forward as alternatives. I would be looking for dal and rice, veg curries, roasted veggies, fish dishes and substantial warm salads etc.

Why not plan, buy and cook what you eat together? That way there is no-one being unreasonable.

[ChickenMe]

hello Coconut ours is an alternative view I think. My OH thinks I'm bonkers because I eat butter out of the packet.

It's reasonable for the hubby to ask for a non meat dish if he doesn't fancy it and perhaps he could come up with ideas. I don't think its reasonable to demonise meat in general. KFC BAD big fat home made burger no bun lol GOOD

[Droflove]

I think you use up leftovers first and foremost. But you should meal plan some meat free meals going forwards.

[MrsWinnibago]

"May we not have meat every day" means the opposite of what he meant. "Can we not have meat every day" means...oh...I don't actually KNOW what it means!

[itsbetterthanabox]

Suggest not eating meat at all. Healthier and you don't have to worry about your eternal soul

[HatieKokpins]

"can we not have meat every day" is incredibly bad grammar as it actually means the opposite of what he intended it to mean.

He's right to want a say - but leftovers so need using up first!