To ask how to reduce our meat consumption

[Mulhollandmagoo]

Inspired by a thread on here about eating less, better quality meat, I reflected on our eating habits and our household consumes a lot of meat - most evening meals are meat based, as are a lot of lunches, which is very very poor environmentally.

Both myself and my husband very overweight and desperately wish to change our lifestyle, we also have a 2yo, who isn't too much of a picky eater and we really don't want to pass on our poor eating habits to her.

So, I'm hoping for you to share your quick, easy and healthy veggie meals, we love (particularly red) meat, so this will be a huge adjustment for us, but after some self reflection over the past couple of days we have to make some changes.

We are big fans of curries, but not to keen on pasta really so anything along those lines but open to any and all suggestions

Second @ladyjaye suggestion of the green roasting tin book - some of the recipes in there are officially my favourite ever recipes to use now for weeknight dinners.

We also have (inauthentic) Thai/Japanese soups quite a lot with noodles, so laksa/ramen type bowls. You can buy the pastes in a jar or whizz up your own and they don't need meat at all - we add mushrooms, spinach, pak choi, roast squash, sesame/cashews, chilli, sometimes a 6 minute egg. So tasty and your toddler will love the slurrrrp!

A few years ago I decided we would try one new vegetarian recipe each week. Not a huge commitment. Some we liked and, let's have that again. Some we didn't and we said never again. After a while we'd found enough that we liked to eat vegetarian all week. We're not fully fledged vegetarians, but we've cut down a lot and didn't feel like a chore

I would get a veg box. That will force you to increase the veg you’re eating and possibly help you discover some new favourites. Bbc good food is great for veggie recipes, as is Jamie Oliver’s website. Hairy bikers have some great veg based ones too.

Rather than not eating meat, we went with halving the meat and bulking out. So a big tin of chickpeas in curry, a big tin of kidney beans in chilli, and big chunky mushrooms in spag Bol.

I started small in trying to reduce meat. So first I swapped meat for fish - so salmon or fish cakes with veg / salad for tea. Then I tried to only eat veggie lunches, cutting out ham / chicken for sandwiches and eating more cheese or hummus and falafel and eggs. I do a lot of tray bakes and just roast lots of veg - courgette, peppers, sweet potatoes etc usually I add chicken but again now substituting with things like veggie sausages, or cubes of halloumi

We have a few food intolerances to manage, which stopped our drive to eat more veg based meals in it's tracks a few years ago. We've started to get back into it using Hello fresh (was generally noted, so got it for that, but I insist we get one veggie one per week). We're now up to four new veggie recipes that we all like. Lentil sambar curry was a revelation, as both kids thought they wouldn't like it, and both were surprised.

We meal plan and I've always made them do one night meat free, this week, for the first time in ages, we've got 2 meat free nights, and no-one noticed or complained (because of the new recipes that they like). So I'd say, just keep plugging away, little changes and trying new recipes, and being honest about what you like and don't like.

Not vegetarian, but to cut down on meat I split pre-packed meat into (reuseable) food bags before freezing. Still get the same pack you always do, but split it into two bags. Then when you cook, use the half size portion and make up the rest with extra veg or lentils.

Once you get use to that try splitting it into 3, then keep going until it stops been as tasty, then step back one. You'll be surprised how little meat a meal actually needs to tast meaty.

I always have Bolognase like this substituting the mince with a packet of merchant gourmet puy lentils.

Chick pea, potato, cauliflower and aubergine curry with spinach added at the end

If you’re trying to lose weight, beware replacing meat with cheese. It’s easy to accidentally gain a stone…

You could try ordering a Hello Fresh box and only order veggie meals from it to see what you liked - as they give you the recipes so you can make them again from your own ingredients. Most of their veggie meals are some sort of curry.

Before limiting your meat intake have a read through this:
www.qmscotland.co.uk/sites/default/files/cop26_toolkit_2.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0OpMT4dDnW6naANi8deNTNU4Ywy_uzuPSxTOsc21vZK3qurj86afqhA7c

@PurpleDaisies

If you’re trying to lose weight, beware replacing meat with cheese. It’s easy to accidentally gain a stone…

Excellent point! Noted, thank you

What about fish? I would struggle to go veggie, but could be pescatarian fairly easily.

[quote Mulhollandmagoo]@ladyjaye I will check that book out, thank you

At risk of sounding really daft, where do we stand on fish in terms of impact to the environment? my daughter loves fish/seafood. I know from a health perspective that its much better for you.[/quote]
If you have Netflix watch Seaspiracy ... fishing has big downsides to the environment too...

@TheKeatingFive

What about fish? I would struggle to go veggie, but could be pescatarian fairly easily.

I think me and my daughter could be pescatarian, both really enjoy fish, my husband would take some convincing, he does a good share of the cooking too so want to make sure he's on board

If you have Netflix watch Seaspiracy ... fishing has big downsides to the environment too...

More or less tackles some of the “science” in Seaspiracy

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct2dk0

There's loads of info online! Look at BBC GOOD Food recipes. Masses of veggie ones.

But make sure you don't replace meat dishes with fat-laden cheese ones!

Some of my faves that your DD might also like:

Roasted Mediterranean veg pasta with feta
Homemade sushi rolls (fish or cucumber, avocado pepper, sweet potato etc) with a big tasty stir fry
Potato traybake with mixed beans and roasted veg
Rice bowl with literally anything (sticky stir fry veg and an egg or avocado salmon for example)

We eat more eggs, cheese and olives. Also squid, hake and rainbow trout. I've switched away from beef mince to pork mince bulked out with lentils and root veggies. The meat has less taste but I'm getting better at flavouring it.

I get rabbit from the butcher, which it eco-friendly, and tastes great cooked with veggies and a glass of wine. .

People say about not using meat replacement but sometimes they are nice.

Ooh homemade flatbread and houmous with crudités is good

Sorry just noticed you said no pasta. Although roasted med veg and feta could go with anything, even a leafy salad, jacket potato, flatbread, scrambled eggs etc

[quote PurpleDaisies]If you have Netflix watch Seaspiracy ... fishing has big downsides to the environment too...

More or less tackles some of the “science” in Seaspiracy

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct2dk0[/quote]
We'll yes it controversial but it's meant to be to spark a debate... no-one really knows what will happen to the oceans much like they don't fully know what impact climate change will have. The main point is to take a long hard look at our consumption and use of the environment. Should you never eat fish... no as it's got plenty of health benefits... should you replace daily meat consumption with daily fish consumption out of concern for the environment... also no

I use less meat on the same meals ;) if you add mushrooms, aubergine or lentils, depending on the meal, you can reduce the amount of meat by half! Also doing some veggie meals as well

Fish is your friend OP - tuna/salmono sandwiches for lunch or cheese and coleslaw etc.

Dinners can be simple but filling (think protein) without the meat: beans on toast, scrambled egg on toast, fish and veg, veg and lentil soup.

We often have days with no meat - I hadn't really noticed it till I read your post.