To consider eating meat again?

[Werehalfwaythere]

Any long term vegetarians out there who started eating meat again?

Ive always enjoyed the flavour of meat but have been vegetarian for approx 20yrs. My husband and kids are vegetarian too by proxy and it’s been an easy way of life for us.

Im starting to get bored with the same protein options now though and the carb heaviness of our diet. I’m lacking inspiration and don’t have much time to cook with young children. Eating meat and fish again seems like a tasty and easy option.

But it feels incredibly weird to be considering it, even a nibble, and I’m not sure what to do!

Have you done it?

Did you regret it?

I’ve been vegetarian for nearly 25 years - I started eating fish again last year, largely for some of the reasons you said - my diet was quite carb based and I wanted more things I could eat with my husband who eats meat (we did share a lot of meals). I don’t think I could go back to eating meat again though, it’s too well, meaty. That sounds silly but I think fish is a good halfway house for me.

I feel this way too! I don’t have the same guilt or ethical concerns re: eating fish that I do with meat/poultry.

I don’t think a little bit of meat of fish here and there would make a difference to the enormous meat industry in the world. It probably would even make a dent in the leather hand bags and car seats industry.

There is something to be said for mixing things up as a way of keeping your brain active, it’s one way of experiencing variety.

I think your body would be absolutely fine, sadly I know of vegetarians who accidentally ate meat abroad and didn’t realise until much later, and they only felt ill when they found out, I think it’s maybe psychological.

maybe you will try meat or fish and think it is not as good as you remember and put the thought to rest!

Yeah and I gave up meat because of ethical reasons (as an idealistic teenager 😂). I didn’t feel guilty trying fish again, more just a bit strange but I have to say I’m really enjoying the variety it’s bringing to my diet.

Can't say I've ever seen pig sashimi, myself - don't think it would taste particularly nice, either, with or without nori.

Tuna and salmon are definitely better cooked more like steak, though. But as the OP likes the taste of meat, it's probably better and easier to get a decent bit of steak right - sea salt flakes, maybe cut into strips after cooking and then served on salad (with some thick cut chips).

I’m pescatarian but tbh I don’t love fish anymore, getting bored of it and often find the texture a bit gross. Recently I got back into eating chicken while I was pregnant but I hated it, just felt alien to me and the taste was a bit meh. I do know where you’re coming from though, I am so bored of veggie food.

I think you have identified a genuine issue - being bored of what you eat/no time to cook but jumped to the conclusion that meat is the answer. Bunging 'ready made and quick' meat options in the oven won't necessarily make your diet healthier.

I'm vegan (12 years now) and was veggie for life before that and have a really varied diet and rarely spend more than 30-45 minutes cooking unless it's a special occasion. DSC are veggie.

Just a few things that we have eaten recently:
shepherds pie (using lentils or TVP mince)
pasta bakes - with different veggies/sauces (cheesy/tomato/pesto)
baked potatoes with a range of toppings/salads
wraps with different salds/proteins inside (tofu/beans/fake chicken but rarely) - we eat this a lot as it's ready in 15 mins
tacos
quesadillas
stews
soups
sausages, airfyrer wedges and peas
homemade pitta pizzas
curries with rice/naan/chapattis
roasted veg with couscous/salad etc
mash, gravy etc
TVP/bean chilli with guac and tortillas to dip
jamaican curry and rice
noodles with veg/tofu and quick sauces (soy/chilli/ginger etc)
veggie and tofu fried rice
DIY pies (so easy with ready made puff pastry) with mash or chips

and my favourite... tea and toast after a long day!

I'm not judging you at all so if you want to eat meat do, but if you are just bored of your food then maybe try some new things! Good luck x

I turned vegetarian in my early teens .. I gave up after about 10 years - I worked next door to KFC ,

you can have a balance some meat and fish , some vegetarian meals .

I don’t feel guilty . I find a lot of vegetarian meals like you are not particularly healthy . If I was considering eating meat - I wouldn’t think food like sausages are particularly healthier. But chicken rather then quorum yes I would choose .

I think cooking from scratch as much as possible regardless of what you eat are eating .

batch cooking things with lentils , chick peas may help or canned so they are less labour intensive .

As an omnivore, I really don’t understand this question.

Either you are opposed to eating dead animals on principle or you’re not. If you are, you don’t ever eat meat because doing so would make you a liar, a hypocrite, or both. Wouldn’t it?

It does sound like you maybe could just do with finding some new recipes- hopefully won't take many new dishes added to what you already have to make the variety of stuff you're after. Quick and tasty certainly exists. I get what you're saying about the meat substitute/UPF side of things- but they're not all the same in that regard. Tempe and seitan for example.
Good luck!

Every now and then I consider it as low carbing suits me and it's quite hard to do in a varied way if vegetarian. However I can't bring myself to actually buy and cook meat after being veggie, and occasionally pescatrian, for 37 years.

Eat what you want! Meat just doesn't register as a foodstuff with me anymore so I'd no more eat a steak than a flipflop but I'm not you.

I was vegetarian for 20 years then one day decided to eat meat. This was back when vegetarian options were few and far between and I wanted to have more choice. I’m not very adventurous with the meat I eat and still lean towards vegetarian food as I’m more comfortable cooking it but enjoy having the option of both

I was veggie for about 25 years. Didn't like the texture growing up. Husband absolutely not veggie, but happy for me to eat whatever. Kids arriving on the scene and then a coeliac diagnosis made me decide that more variety and the ability for us to often eat the same things was a better option. There are meats I still don't generally eat, but I love the variety and choice it gives you. Dare I suggest that you start with a sausage?! A lovely sausage sandwich was what got me ...

Perhaps try venison, surely that has the kindest death and best life?

Yes I agree. I'm vegetarian for ethical reasons and will never go back to eating meat but if I did, beef cows probably have the best life. Having rescue ex-battery hens I would avoid chicken, and swerve lambs because they barely get a chance to live.

But if you actually look into the Blue Zone diets, they're not predominantly protein- based, the opposite in fact.

You're not vegetarian if you eat meat and fish. You're a meat eater who doesn't eat much meat.

I did. Was veggie for 15 years. My favourite food now is beef burnt ends. No regrets.

Try Quorn pieces or fillets. Endless chicken recipes which I just use Quorn instead of the chicken. Quorn is not a UPF or soya-based, unlike a lot of fake meat.
I’ve been a healthy veggie for over 50 years.

A lot of dhs family were vegetarian when I met them decades ago. Quite a few of them now eat fish and the same number again also eat meat. I think only one remains a vegetarian.
Ive always eaten meat but when I cook for myself I cook veggie because it’s so quick!
All you can do is try if you want to op. If you don’t like it then up to you if you want to try a different type of meat cooked in a different way or just stop completely. What I will say is buy the best you can afford and cook it well (or ask someone else to if you’re not confident with the cooking of meat!) to give yourself the best chance of enjoying it.

I started eating meat again this January after 8 years meat free and wow I have not looked back. I stopped eating it for ethical reasons and liked you, toyed with the idea of eating it again for quite a while. I just went for it and I’ve been enjoying all meat since. Feel a lot better in myself too

Supermarket freezers are full of 'meatfree' products but they're largely unimaginative, full of crap and made to look/taste like meat (which is kinda missing the point). I really miss Goodlife nut burgers - they were so handy when you CBA cooking and they went with everything from a roast to a BBQ

I started back eating meat and fish about 20 years ago after 20+ years as a vegetarian with spells of being vegan. It was fine, I don't tend to have large portions of meat, and anything mince-based or stews/sauces are always heavy on veg/pulses, in large part because I was vegetarian throughout all my formative learning to cook for myself years, so it's an ingrained habit.

I was very much like this, but 20 years in I started eating fish again. It has meant that there are a lot more options both at home or out. I can’t imagine eating meat again though but it was the texture that I didn’t like. I still don’t eat the meaty fish or that bleeds, such as swordfish and monkfish though.

Longtime vegetarian here. Can't imagine eating meat, to me it would be like eating another human to someone else (same repulsion). But I chose to be vegetarian myself when I was very young so it was really my choice (noone else in the family). Were you coerced into being a vegetarian? Anyway, your life, your choice.