To not understand why some people dont eat meat free meals

[reducingfootprint]

I do not call myself vegetarian but i eat meat rarely for health reasons (bowel cancer is common in the family) but i am happy to prepare it as my dh eats meat but enjoys meat free meals around 4 times a week. DC also eat meat free around 4 times a week. My siblings and their partners are also part time vegetarians and pre covid we all enjoyed getting together for meat free feasts.

When DM comes over, she refuses to eat anything without meat. Butternut squash soup? Needs bacon.
Halloumi fajitas? Needs beef.
Goats cheese and onion omelette? Needs chicken.
Plowmans salad? Needs ham.

AIBU to think ffs one meal without meat wont kill you!

I am a lapsed veggie and we eat a lot of meat. But I still enjoy some of my veggie meals.
A decent macaroni cheese and mushroom risotto are my favourite dinners and I adore cauldron sausages and quorn nuggets so eat them a lot.
We also keep hens so often have meals with eggs and no meat.

Also I believe the most environmentally friendly diet isn't vegan, but a diet where we get our protein from insects. The insects are ground into a protein powder to use in meals.

Boak.

Because I like the taste of meat and going meat-free aka meat-like/whatever you wanna call it irritates my insides to the point I need morphine :)

I’m vegetarian so I hear you- just laughing at the person above who said no plant based shit was coming through their door I think I can hear your early grave calling!

Also I believe the most environmentally friendly diet isn't vegan, but a diet where we get our protein from insects. The insects are ground into a protein powder to use in meals.

This is actually quite right. Insects are the future. It's discussed a lot. I had cricket bars. But not whole cricket yet. Though in my time gardening I swallowed enough bugs to feed an army😂

Im with you on this. Had friends round before lockdown made a veggie chilli. Everyone loved it including the men. Have been asked for the recipe by them since, although they have added Quorn. They make it regular now.
When got married hubby was a meat n veg person, loves veggie food now.

Indeed. But I live in hope that either by choice or necessity people will realise that if we want polar bears, the Maldives and the Amazonian rainforest to still exist in 100 years we have to do something about the carbon emissions caused by our currently excessive levels of meat consumption.

We started off with meat free Mondays a couple of years ago and gradually started having more meat free days, as our range of good veggie meals increased. June has been our first ever meat and fish free month.

On balance, we’ve decided that we will be meat free from July but we will have fish or seafood up to twice a week. We don’t eat much dairy (just personal taste) so that will make up for eating fish a couple of times a week. I realise I’m strict terms we are pescatarians, rather than veggies but we’ve reduced our meat consumption by 100% over two years.

Reasons for doing this are due to the environment, as well as concerns over the food chain. Especially as when we leave the EU, the USA will be able to supply our meat and I’m not happy about some of the things I’ve read / seen on this subject.

I’ve started a couple of threads and asked questions on others and am amazed by the variety of veggie options available. Some mumsnet suggestions have become firm family favourites this month - coronation chickpea, baked onion bhajis, pulled portobello mushroom. Can’t say I’m that keen on the fake meat products out there, tend to be very high in salt and additives but we do like Tesco spicy bean burgers, instead of meat burgers.

Perhaps you should have started a thread along the lines of “What are your best veggie recipes that meat eaters also love?” and got some good ideas with which to feed your relative.

I came on here expecting completely bland or unsubstantial meals, but what you've described sounds lovely.

I wouldn't even notice there wasn't meat in any of those. Some things just don't have meat in.

I do enjoy my meat. So most of my food either contains meat or fish.

But I do eat some meals with no meat in, like boiled eggs and toast, beans/spaghetti with cheese on toast - basic stuff I guess really.

Although I did go to a restaurant once where I ordered a Cannelloni and didn’t realise I’d ordered the spinach one rather than meat, until I’d started eating it. It was actually bloomin lovely. I’d happily have that again.

As long as it's not quorn or anything like that we're quite happy with meat free meals too but I know some people prefer to have meat most meals. Think it's just a preference thing really, each to their own ;)

I don't see how it matters to you what other people eat. It's up to them.

I totally agree with you OP. There are so many great meat-free meals.

I avoid any meat, eggs, fish etc that involved any horrible farming. If an animal has had a good life up to the point it is hopefully killed by a quick way, I’m ok with that. This option is expensive so I’m doing vegetarian most of the time. Have just seen foxes killing off, I think, a rat in garden. Hopefully not someone’s pet gerbil. It’s nature innit?

You are living healthily op. Only my DH is a vegetarian but we rarely eat meat. I struggle with thinking about which meat dishes to cook actually. If it is good quality meat and a really good recipe/ dish then eating meat is worth the effort but I never understand people who shove some burgers or chicken (gristle) nuggets in the oven? Why? It's crap.

I love a good chicken casserole or a stew. I love my meat but I do eat the odd veggie meal. Jacket potato with cheese. I hate fish but each to their own

I am the mother of 3 sons and we all love meat based meal. Rare roast beef, belly of pork, chicken whatever. BUT we only eat real food, no ready meals, no junk, and we all enjoy meals without meat too. Mushroom risotto - yes please. Aubergine and tomato pasta. Yum. Broad bean and pea risotto with mint - the list is endless. We just like food. Good food. We try not to eat too much processed food - yes you bacon, chorizo, sausages et al, but if we do we buy decent quality. We buy free range chicken and pork, and try to buy our beef and lamb from local butchers. If we could buy locally reared and slaughtered meat we would. I recon we have 3 meat free days most weeks and don’t even really think about it. Sweet corn fritters with smokey chilli relish tonight. I going to stop now. I could carry on all night.

I have multiple food intolerances.
I eat veggies /fruit.
Can't eat wheat /eggs .
That is a pita*.

Because the like it
We don't have many meat free meals in our house
On ds only eats pizza ( meat free ) and chicken and nothing much else and my dh likes meat with all meals
Only soups that we have that are meat free
I could eat a lot more meat free meals

@SchrodingersImmigrant

Sausages don't give that many people explosive diarrhea like quorn does, unless they are off.

Burger patty should simply consist of meat and herbs and spices (including onion and likes). Added egg at best.

Usually people who say they don't like the highly processed vegan food, don't like the highly processed meat food too.

If people were so passionate about and demanded companies moving away from coal like they are about explaining people who eat meat how unenvironmental they are, we would have half the emissions in the air

Just hilarious

diarreah, coal - righto

@Viviennemary

I don't see how it matters to you what other people eat. It's up to them.

Not if you’re cooking for them, as OP is.

Meat free meals can be absolutely lovely, and I say this as an enthusiastic omnivore. We buy free range meat and eggs, but are absolutely not averse to a tasty vegetarian or vegan option. What I prefer to avoid is highly processed food of any variety.

I don't see anything special about meat free meals. One person may only eat meat twice a week but that could be two chicken thighs or three rashers of bacon. I may make a chicken curry with lentils and vegetables with four chicken thigh fillets that last two people for three nights then have one rasher of bacon with a cooked breakfast two days running. Technically I've had meat on five days but what is the difference? What's so wrong about a small amount of meat for flavour in an otherwise vegetarian meal?

Oh, and I don't buy meat from the supermarket, it is all locally produced.

I think you are being unreasonable, people can eat what they like and they don’t have to be dictated too to eat meat free meals

See I disagree with this. People can't "eat what they like". Mass meat production is appalling for the enviroment, for the population's health and of course for the poor animals. It's not okay to eat cheap, mass produced animal products all the time because you want to. We used to think the death penalty was ok- it wasn't.

We have at least two days a week with meat free evening meals. Do many people always have meat for breakfast, lunch and dinner? I do not have meat for breakfast and rarely for lunch ( apart from tuna) I enjoy eating meat over vegetarian food and if given the choice would choose it. I would go to a vegetarian birthday meal for a friend or family member though I might not enjoy it as much.

I have become much more conscious of the meat industry and the effects on the environment, I also want to give my kids a varied diet. Vegetarian dishes can be tasty if seasoned correctly and I think it takes a lot of skill to do them well.