To become the only vegetarian of my family of 4? Help!

[marykitty]

So, after considering it for a long time, I have decided 2022 is the year and I want to give up meat products.
I am the main only cook of our family of 4 (DH, a toddler and a baby).
I am the only one giving up meat and this is creating more organization issues than i considered. I basically have to cook 2 different meals every single time...

AIBU to think I can manage to be vegetarian even if I am the only one in my family? Do you have any tips how to do it - meal prepping, recipes of else? I have a very busy lifestyle between kids, work and family chores.

Thanks a lot!

Why do you need to cook two different meals every single time?

Cook vegetarian meals say 4 or 5 days a week and your DH can join you to cook a second meal with meat for the remaining days (or if he wants meat every day then he can do that too).

Can you batch cook....so batch cook a bolognaise and freeze it in individual portions, then do a lentil one and you can have bolognaise at the same time but DH and toddler have meat and you vege. If you do that will lots of diff meals you will build up a stock. Might be a pain to start with. And definitely they can eat vege with you several times a week.

What @Lockheart said. Your DC don't need meat, so just cook vegetarian food that everyone can eat. If DH doesn't like it, he can cook some meat for himself.

We're a family of 8. Our eldest decided she was becoming a vegetarian last year.
A real pain initially as I would be cooking 2-3 meal options each evening. Now I batch cook a lot of meals for her and freeze in portions so I can just reheat (like curry or chilli). Now it's just the norm for me and doesn't bother me that much.

DH was vegan for a few years and if he cooked he Cooked vegan and if I cooked I would occasionally chuck in some meat. We all are a lot healthier so was a good thing.

You don't have to cook separately. The only time you'll notice extra work is when you prepare a family meat casserole and you have something different. I make a lasagne, chilli and cottage pie with quorn mince, which everyone enjoys (2 veggies, 2 meat eaters). You can use lentils, nuts, mixed beans or soya protein as easy meat substitutes if you don't like quorn. Minced mushroom is good for adding depth of flavour in casseroles.
If the family are that bothered they can have a couple of proper pigs in blankets alongside a family vegi Wellington or nut roast. When you do meat with sides and veg, just have a bean burger or quorn fillet instead with yours. These are just handy easy starters, but once you get into it you'll start to make your own substitutes.

I am a vegetarian and have a meat eating husband and 2 small children. It’s a bit annoying particularly as Ds1 is a very fussy eater but manageable.
I’d say about 5 dinners a week are vegetarian ones. DH likes vegetarian food and doesn’t need meat with every meal so he is happy with this. Sometimes I cook a separate meat one for them and a veggie one (usually frozen leftovers) for me. Some days I cook 2 variations of the same meal at the same time, say veggie spaghetti bolognaise / meat bolognaise in 2 separate pans.

If you're the cook, cook vegetarian meals! If your husband wants meat, he can cook :)

I supplement her protein intake with my vegan protein shakes and give her vegan omega and multivitamins too. Do be mindful of the children meeting their macros if you swap them to more veggi options.

My mum's a vegetarian, when we were growing up my sister, Dad and I all ate meat, she would just make meals we would all eat that were veggie or make meals and add the meat at the end for us after it had been cooked separately

If I'm cooking, we're all eating the same, end of. No way would I cook meat if I didn't eat it either.
Your dh is an adult who will have to eat what you cook or cook for himself surely! Kids don't need meat and it'll be healthier for them in the long run

My DD has been mostly vegetarian most of her life (less so now a teenager) and I either batch cook and defrost something for her that goes along with ours or make her something different. She also likes extremely plain food which the rest of us find pretty boring! Staples for her are pasta, omelettes, oven cooked Quorn things, plain veg and basic carbs.

One option for you would be to make veggie meals and offer your DH/DC some meat grilled alongside? You can get easy sprinkle on seasonings to make it more interesting.

I've recommended this before but a vegetarian blog I follow had a great post on ways to not cook twice if you live with meat eaters

www.easycheesyvegetarian.com/vegetarians-and-meat-eaters/

My mum is a vegetarian, we all ate same food but sometimes we'd have chicken or sausages etc alongside the main vegetarian dish. I've never consciously planned my families weekly meals as meat or vegetarian, we have a mixture over the week. Even when we go to a restaurant, some of us will pick a vegetarian dish and some a meat, never a conscious decision just what we fancy. I never cook with 'fake meat' none of us like, I use lots of beans, pulses and nuts for protein.

That's a great post thank you @Nookable. We have a veggie DS and have learned all of those techniques through years of trial and error.

As PP, have said, make what you want, and if your DH says anything, he can cook his own meals!
However, a good way to make things easier (whoever is cooking) might be to use the same base ingredients, and make half and half, eg if making bolognaise from scratch, divide the sauce between pans, adding normal mince to his, Quorn mince to yours, for example.
As a family, we’ve started eating much more plant based products in this way, and have found the transition really easy.

Cook a vegetarian meal - occasionally cook meat (sausage, chicken, chorizo) to add at last minute or have on the side.
I did this for a long time, but decided last year I wasn't buying or cooking meat anymore.
The meat eaters in our house are welcome to do so if they wish.
DH and DS cook chicken about twice a month, but otherwise are happy to be vegetarian at home.

I'm the only veggie in my family and the only cook. I just cook veggie food. DC and DH have meat for lunch at work/school. Sometimes I do easy meat like fish fingers for the DC but not proper cooking.

Luckily noobdy complaains, I can see you might meet resistance (is there a good reason why they can't cook for themselves if so?)

Try to plan meals better so that there is an easy switch to vegetarian option for you.

For example, if you're doing burgers, the only bit you can't have is the burger. But you can get imitation burger and just put that on a different baking tray. Same when you do sausages, just stick a couple of Quorn ones on the baking tray. The potato and beans you can eat.

It's just a matter of substituting the part of the meal you can't eat for one you can. Say you're doing roast chicken, most of the meal is just vegetables anyway so you could just skip the chicken part and have extra stuffing.

DD is the only veggie in our family and I cook 1 meal.
I tend to make all food vegetarian and then add meat for people who want it rather than the other way around. I don’t use Quorn as DD is allergic to it so apart from Tofu I don’t really use subs either
We have found that the only one still bothered about eating meat really is DS (and he prefers fish) so as a family we eat much less meat.

YANBU! good luck being veggie, it's really easy and lots of my friends have swapped to veggie (or mainly so) in recent years.

I'd suggest mainly cooking veggie and outsourcing the cooking of meat (if wanted) to your husband. My meat eater partner will often quickly cook up some bacon or sausage for example to have on the side of an otherwise veggie meal like pasta or roasted veggies/pitta.

If you want the kids to keep eating meat at home it's probably easier to include it in things like lunches (ham sandwich, bits of chicken, sausage roll etc) and then have a veggie main meal together in the evening.

I cook everything vegetarian and do a separate chop or a couple of sausages for meat eaters. If they don't like it they can cook their own.

Bulk cook enough meat for the week or how long you need it for and keep it in the freezer. Every day, just cook your vegan meals and add meat as a side for those who are not vegans.

I'm veggie - have been since childhood - and DP isn't.

Most of the time we eat veggie stuff, but DP is free to cook meat for himself if he wants (I use the excuse that I never learned how to cook it so I'd only mess it up... which is convenient and true). He had a bacon butty on Saturday morning, for instance, and will often pick a meat option when we're out. The kids are too young to notice any real difference.

Lots of the 'fake meat' options are pretty good. I gave some Quorn nuggets to friends the other day and they said they couldn't tell the difference. Some of it can be a bit hit and miss (e.g. Finnebrogues fake bacon is crap, but the Vivera version is nice) so you can incorporate that as appropriate.