Can you help us eat less meat?

[ilovetosleep]

We are DH and I, Ds1 who is 4 and Ds2 is 18mo. I think we have a really good repertiore of meals and the kids are great eaters (the 4 year old less so but thats a very recent thing. His appetite just isn't huge and he is a little distrustful of new things) I really want to eat less meat for numerous reasons.

The problem I have with cutting back meat is that DS2 and I are dairy and egg and gluten free, so protein is a real issue. I really want to continue cooking one meal for the whole family rather than separate dishes.

At the moment our meals consist of (all homemade):

Spag bol
Lamb or chicken tagine
Roast dinners
Chilli
Curries
Shep pie
casseroles and stews
Various chicken tray bakes
Sausage and mash
sausage casserole
Risottos
various pastas eg tomato veg & bacon, pesto etc
Teryaki salmon
Prawn stirfry

etc. That sort of thing anyway.

Lunches we always have soup or bits and pieces - cold meat, avocado, salad, crackers, etc etc.

I have managed to get away with lentil curry, I've been making that for years and they love it. I tried subbing lamb mince for puy lentils in a shepherds pie and the 4yr old didn't like the 'seeds' (they were a bit al dente but I know he was a bit suspicious of the whole thing). Other than that, any vegetarian adaptations of the above meals lack any sort of protein. We can't afford to eat fish every day.

Any ideas?
Thanks in advance!

We use canned puy (or bijoux verts lentils) as a mince substitute, you need to book them in the sauce for around 40 mins and at the end you can give them a bit of a whizz with a handheld whizzer to make them more 'mincey'.

I really see this as a non-problem. You can't drink milk or eat eggs and want less meat? They are different, you know?
In any case, you don't need that much protein in your diet. Only 100 g of meat per day. That's tiny.

Most of the meals I cook are based around either stir-fried or roasted veg with some kind of protein. So stir-fried veg with curry spices, chickpeas and rice (I usually use the microwaveable sachets because they stir-fry better than normal cooked rice) becomes a quick curry. Add smoked paprika, cumin and chilli and a tin of kidney or black-eyed beans and it's a quick chilli. Add soy sauce, tofu (it really is good when you know what to do with it) and edemame beans and it's Chinese-style fried rice. Or use noodles (you can even get wheat-free brown rice noodles I think).

With roasted veg you can leave it dry-ish and add pulses and rice for a biryani type thing (but with whatever spices you want), or add ras-el-hangout, a tin of tomatoes and a tin of chickpeas and it's a tagine. Or sausages (we use veggie, but you wouldn't have to), borlotti beans and a tin of tomatoes and it's sausage casserole.

Great thread!

I’m vegan with a blog with lots of vegan recipes – including egg/dairy free cakes and pancakes. There’s also a gluten free post on there with lots of recipes and links that might be useful.

Check out Pig in the Kitchen food and recipe blog - vegetarian and for allergies, lovely recipes and a really good read as well. She's having a break from the blog at the moment, but all the recipes are there

You could always do what they used to do in Yorkshire back in the day, eat a massive slab of Yorkshire pud and gravy before the main meal, that way you'll eat a lot less meat!

Or, make a batch of lentil and veg soup at the weekend, have a bowl as a starter before your main meal, you'll definitely eat less (and therefore less meat).