To help me go vegetarian?

[IsItMeOrThemBeingKnobs]

After an illuminating thread about leftovers recently, I’ve realised that I have a real issue with meat. The smell, texture, how well it’s cooked, all of these things can really turn my stomach and I think going vegetarian would really help my overall food aversion issues.

However, I have no idea where to start cooking the right kind of things (I don’t want to live off meat replacements) and DH is a massive meat eater too.

Does anyone have any advice for vegetarian recipes/the best things to cook to get all the protein etc I need - plus how to get DH on board or to make that part of things easier (I definitely don’t have time to cook multiple dinners every night).

Anything else I need to think about too? It’s all very new to me.

Thank you!

I can't recommend Meera Sodha enough for vegetarian cookery. Her second two books (Fresh India and East) are both amazing books. The recipes are reliable, don't require huge lists of specialty ingredients, seem well tested and are delicious. Fresh India (as the name suggests) is more focussed on Indian food, whereas East is more general Asian.

Eating well as a vegetarian for me means less of a protein, carb and vegetable thought process of meal design. I very rarely use meat substitutes as I prefer to rely on less processed food, and they are largely disappointing. There's a wealth of delicious, naturally vegetarian recipes (Indian, SE Asian, Mexican, Spanish, Italian etc.). I was vegetarian when I met DH and as I do most of the cooking he just eats what I eat. He happily eats mostly vegetarian at home - unless there are aubergines in it!

Why not just get a recipe book out of the library and work your way through? Then you can find what you like and get some nice meal ideas.

I went veggie when I was about 14 and my big sister got me a recipe book (that has dietary info in it too) and I have a leave cooked for myself since then.

The River Cottage veg book is great for beginners. It’s not very exciting if you’ve already been a veggie for a while but great to get some basic ideas. The vegetarian meals we eat regularly are soups, risottos, pasta, jacket potatoes, bean chillies, and lots of vegetable curries.

This might help :

vegsoc.org/recipes/

I'm vegetarian and the rest of my family isn't. This week we are having: Thai green curry with either tofu or chicken; butter bean goulash with or without sausages; Fajitas with chicken or feta and black beans; bolognese with either mince or lentils

I've been veggie since around age 10 and don't really eat any meat substitutes (because I'm so used to it that I'd never miss the taste of it!). Tagine, curry or caponata with chickpeas is great; we do a Mexican type meal with wraps and refried beans and different toppings; omelette or frittata is a good one (and quick); houmous and veg or bread; cheese and egg mayo or similar for sandwiches. I'm a big fan of gado gado, which is steamed veg and hardboiled eggs "salad" w peanut sauce. That's just off the top of my head! Happy to PM if you want any details or whatever 😀

I'm experimenting with vegan and the thing that's really helped me is trying new food cultures. Thuan sounds wank, but it's much easier to be vegan if you start learning some Middle Eastern, Indian subcontinent, peasantry-Italian and Mexican cooking basics. I hope that makes sense! I found it sad and hard to adapt my lifelong 'middle class English with some continental techniques' way of cooking but when you're making a whole new type of food it feels exiting rather than a paler version of what you had.

I agree with @WinterDeWinter . The traditional british meat-and-two-veg meals tend to look like something's missing without the meat, but some non-uk dishes look complete.