I don't want my kids to be vegetarian

[HowToTrainYourTeen]

DC (15 & 13) have decided they want to go vegetarian. I don't want to go vegetarian and neither does DH, so they'd have to have different meals. I/DH don't want to be wasting time making 2 different meals whenever we want meat or fish, and we don't really have space for 2 people to be cooking at once. WIBU to say no?

YABU. Get yourself a flexitarian cook book.

I've been vegetarian pretty much my whole life but still cooked meat for DH and DC.

Now it's only DH who eats meat but I don't force him to be a vegetarian because of our choices.

Make a meat bolognaise and a veggie one and freeze half of each for another day. Big batch of the tomato sauce. Fry mince and add half of sauce. Add a can of lentils or frozen veggie mince to theirs.

Vegetarian risotto then add grilled chicken.

Roast dinner - beef for you, vegetarian sausages for DC. Just shove them in the oven. Or chicken for you and Quorn fillets for them. Again just shove in the oven.

Chilli. Make a big pan full. Fry mince and add half of the chilli. Add an extra tin of pulses to theirs.

Curry. Make curry sauce. Add chicken to half and chickpeas to the other. And so on

It really isn't difficult.

You will need to add the stock cubes after you've divided the sauce.

Fair enough, it’s their choice.

But I would refuse to be cooking two meals each night, the meal plan would have to be adapted to cater for us all and they’d have to start learning to cook too even just once a week. I saw my mum cooking two meals each night for years and it taken for granted, nope, not doing that.

But I would refuse to be cooking two meals each night, the meal plan would have to be adapted to cater for us all

Countless posters have outlined how it’s easy to cook for a mixed household without doing two separate meals every night.

I’ve been cooking family meals for 15 years now. I never cook a separate meal for the veggie (me).

Same as before I was veggie, if I was cooking something one absolutely hated I adapted the meal so the cheese, olives, sweetcorn or whatever were left out of their portion.

Recipes can be adapted to taste.

Been vegetarian for 27 years, since I was 8. So glad my parents supported my choice. We ate a lot of veggie meals together and then as I got older i learned to cook meals for the family too. I really think that (especially at their age) you need to support this.

Many people here seem to think 'vegetarian meals' are something odd and difficult to prepare.

However I'm pretty sure most people eat vegetarian meals often without thinking about it.
Egg and chips? Tomato soup and crusty bread? Pasta and pesto? Beams on toast? Sausages and mash? (just do a vege sausage as well as your meat ones) margarita pizza? Jacket potato, beans and cheese?

It's not hard, takes about 3 minutes to think of.

Then there are all the recipes above that show how easy it is to adapt a meat meal to a vegetarian one.
This is such a non issue it's not worth worrying about.
The DC choices can easily be accommodated without all the hysterical 'they must cook for themselves' nonsense.

Do make them 100% of their meals and do their own food shopping. If they think they are old enough to make this choice they are most certainly old enough to buy and cook their own food

Do make them 100% of their meals and do their own food shopping. If they think they are old enough to make this choice they are most certainly old enough to buy and cook their own food

Do you also make them buy their own clothes if they don’t like what you choose for them every day?

Buy their own tv if they want to watch something you don’t?

These are kids, food and meals are a basic need. Refusing to buy and prepare food for your children is neglect.

Yabu

Are you really saying there is not one meal that you make where meat is on the side? Every dish you make has meat in it? Do you put meat in your mash, broccoli, carrots, swede, etc? Never make a cheese and onion sandwich? Never had macaroni and cheese? Spaghetti with tomato sauce?

You could easily just add meat last to many dishes and give your teens the meal without it while satisfying your want for meat.

At their ages, they should be able to make a small meal on their own anyway without adult supervision. My mother had me cooking and making meals at 12 (using the stove and oven) and I was using the microwave responsibly at 8.

Lots of sensible posters on here pointing out the considerable environmental benefits of eating less meat.

We need carbon pricing, so that meat become prohibitively expensive.

Then the veggie option will start to make much more sense for people who are too narrow-minded to recognise that they can make a simple, better choice about what to eat which will have benefits for everyone.

15 pages of debate and the OP hasn't been back!

@HowToTrainYourTeen What do you think of the advice on offer?

YABVU
Lazy, disrespectful and dismissive. Don't be surprised if they start resenting you.
This exactly.
If you’re not willing to support your children in good life choices they make like these, then you shouldn’t have had children.

@UntamedWisteria

15 pages of debate and the OP hasn't been back!

@HowToTrainYourTeen What do you think of the advice on offer?

Maybe she's too busy writing her book about how to train your teen?

LOL. Remind me not to buy it when it comes out, if all her advice is that bad.

Don't say No - but you could tell them that you cannot cook separate meals, so they will have to do theirs; they are old enough to do that.

Lots of veggies on the thread methinks.

It’s easy to make moral choices when someone else is doing all the work for you. Evidently I’m in the minority but I’d be paying for their food at that age and would not be cooking separate meals at all. I appreciate that some dinners are easy to do veggie and then add meat at the end for the meat eaters so would do this as much as possible but if I fancied steak and chips one night then I’d expect the kids to do something for themselves! If you have to respect their choice not to eat meat they have to respect your choice to eat it!

if I fancied steak and chips one night then I’d expect the kids to do something for themselves!

This is so easy to do though ...

in our house I might make halloumi or eggs to have with chips, instead of steak.

Or you can buy plenty of other vegan alternatives.

but if I fancied steak and chips one night then I’d expect the kids to do something for themselves

You do know chips are veggie? You wouldn’t do them some as well while you’re at it?

Is sticking a veggie sausage or burger on with it just so much hassle?

All the veggies on this thread have said it’s no extra work to include veggies in family meals, and given examples. Yet the meat eaters are still bleating on about cooking two completely separate meals and making children shop and cook for themselves every day.

@ladyvimes

Lots of veggies on the thread methinks.

It’s easy to make moral choices when someone else is doing all the work for you. Evidently I’m in the minority but I’d be paying for their food at that age and would not be cooking separate meals at all. I appreciate that some dinners are easy to do veggie and then add meat at the end for the meat eaters so would do this as much as possible but if I fancied steak and chips one night then I’d expect the kids to do something for themselves! If you have to respect their choice not to eat meat they have to respect your choice to eat it!

This is logical when you are dealing with adult children

But a 13 year old?

Sure go down this route if you want to widen the gap between you and your children during teenage years

Or... compromise. Discuss. Negotiate.
Perhaps they cook one night for all and do leftovers for themselves when you have your steak and chips the next night.
You coo a veggie meal and do heaps of left overs so next night they have left over when you have bangers and mash.

Whilst it would not be ideal for me if my children said they were turning veggie (I love my chicken for example), I would see it as an opportunity to show that I do listen to them and that I will try to make it work but they must be invested too as we are a family

You don't want your kids to make a more and decent choice because of the extra fuss of cooking?

Yorkshirelass04
Your opinion doesn't make it a fact, if parents believed it was so wrong to consume any animal product, they wouldn't be doing it in the first place would they.

YABU, it’s really easy to cook veggie meals and just add/substitute meat into yours.

You could also batch cook and freeze some veggie meals like lasagne.

Why would you force your children to eat meat? That's fucked up.

@ladyvimes

Lots of veggies on the thread methinks.

It’s easy to make moral choices when someone else is doing all the work for you. Evidently I’m in the minority but I’d be paying for their food at that age and would not be cooking separate meals at all. I appreciate that some dinners are easy to do veggie and then add meat at the end for the meat eaters so would do this as much as possible but if I fancied steak and chips one night then I’d expect the kids to do something for themselves! If you have to respect their choice not to eat meat they have to respect your choice to eat it!

Steak and chips is probably about the easiest thing to substitute! There are loads of veggie alternatives inc. plant based ‘steaks’ at all the major supermarkets.

I am a vegetarian and I really don't see what your issue is...

They have made a moral choice and I don't see why they should be forced to eat meat.

As long as they eat the right food and supplement with vitamins if needed this won't have any negative aspect on their health and that should be your main concern.

Vegetarian meals are easy to make and don't require that much additional effort. You can make the same meals for everyone (rice, pasta, vegetables, noodles...) and then just add meat/fish for yourself on top.

Also it will do everyone a lot of good to eat more fruits and vegs.

Really not a problem.

My partner is veggie and my daughter is vegan. I still eat meat but it's opened up a lot of recipes to me that I'd never looked at before. I really enjoy the variety.

I definitely wouldn't have told my daughter that I wouldn't support her choice. She did it for health reasons and I'm very proud of her.