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Same meals for vegetarian and meat eater

13 replies

tigerbread20 · 16/11/2020 07:19

Since our new au pair (vegetarian) joined us 6 weeks ago all family meals have been vegetarian as I couldn't be bothered to cook twice. I wholeheartedly embraced it at first as wanted to reduce our meat consumption but me and DH are both starting to loose enthusiasm, we don't have meat substitutes too often but even they aren't cutting it.

Any suggestions for some meals which is a complete meal for a vegetarian but would also be OK as a side for some grilled chicken/steak/fish?

OP posts:
lastqueenofscotland · 16/11/2020 08:46

Fajitas
Pasta with various sauces
Curry - make a vegetable curry and whack some meat in at the end
Sausage and mash

ThatIsNotMyUsername · 16/11/2020 08:49

Depends on how much meat you want to eat - so you can make macaroni cheese and pop some chopped bacon on the top, or make a Napoli sauce for pasta and stir tuna into the pasta for the meat eaters and pour the sauce on top.

If making baked potatoes and salad then you can grill some chicken or fish and have that on the side and she can have cheese.

Make curry or chilli - veggie (which is nice) and have a meat side?

Palavah · 16/11/2020 08:49

Roast dinner - just roast veg and meat separately, maybe do a separate veg gravy

Ceasar salad - anchovies and chicken separately

Pea and asparagus risotto - add prawns or salmon at the end

Kale and butternut squash salad - add chickpeas for the vegetarians, steak for the omnivores

ThatIsNotMyUsername · 16/11/2020 08:54

Don’t forget you can make extra and freeze some of the veggie foods too so there are options. Do you eat all meals together?

Notmydaughteryoubitch · 16/11/2020 09:02

I do this a lot as I'm veggie but the rest of the family arent. We probably eat purely veggie 3 times a week and then others where I add meat/fish.
Some quick mid week meals
Stir fry noodles or veggie egg fried rice with prawns or chicken
Roasted root veg with sausages / veggie sausages
Ramen soup add prawns
Obviously jacket potatoes with whatever anyone wants on the side
Roast veg & cous cous with fish or marinated chicken
Make a nice veggie pasta sauce - meatballs, sausages, tuna, chicken - all can be cooked separately and added at serving.
Aubergine parmigiana - nice side to some meat for you & a main dish for the veggie with some salad.

AdaColeman · 16/11/2020 09:05

Aubergine parmigiana, serve as a main to the vegetarian and as a side with lamb chops/steak for the omnivores. You could offer a salad with this also.
Salade Niçoise, serve without the tuna and anchovies for the vegetarian.
Lentil stew with carrots, onions, etc, serve as the main dish for the vegetarian and as a side dish with pork chops, gammon steaks, sausages, baked ham for the omnivores.
Ratatouille, serve with rice as a main vegetarian dish, and as an accompaniment to chicken or fish for the omnivores.

inappropriateraspberry · 16/11/2020 09:08

I'm veggie, but the rest of the family eat meat. It's easy to cook up a sauce, then split it and add meat to some. Or have meat and veg but your au pair could have a veggie bake of some kind instead. There are lots of things available now - cheese & onion bakes, veggie sausages etc. Just chuck them in the oven.

AdaColeman · 16/11/2020 09:09

Cauliflower cheese or cauliflower and pasta bake, serve with sausages or slices of baked gammon, pork chops etc for the omnivores.

Fivemoreminutes1 · 17/11/2020 05:25

When it comes to cooking for vegetarians and meat-eaters at the same time, there are a few different ways you can do it. The route you choose to go down will probably depend on what sort of meal you’re making.

The first options is to cook vegetarian side dishes, then just serve a different protein for the vegetarians and meat-eaters. You’ll all be eating mostly the same, so there won’t be too many additional pans to wash. I know a lot of vegetarians aren’t fond of meat substitutes, but they’re really useful for this kind of meal. I’d do this for roast dinners, burgers, hot dogs, bangers and mash.

Another option is to cook a vegetarian meal, and then scatter some kind of meat or fish on top for those who want it. I sometimes find it helpful to do a roast/pulled chicken or roast/pulled pork once a week so that we have some cooked meat on hand for adding in at the end. You can add pulled chicken right at the end to: enchiladas, fajitas and stuffed peppers. Roast chicken can be added at the end to a chickpea and couscous salad or tagine. I add cooked pork at the end to dishes like curries and stir fries. It's also useful to have bacon lardons for frying and adding right at the end to egg fried rice, carbonara, risotto and lentil casserole.

Make a bunch of beef meatballs and keep them in the freezer, so that a veggie tomato sauce for pasta can get a beefy boost when needed. Also, lamb meatballs are great to throw into a chickpea and vegetable tagine over some couscous, or can be part of a tapas or mezze dinner.
You can add grilled chicken to a mushroom or leek risotto and add sausages to a lentil stew/casserole.

Another option is to use two separate pans, which might sound like the equivalent of making two separate meals, but it’s not! If you’re making a stew or casserole, you can make the exact same thing in two different pans, with barely any extra effort, with meat added to one, and some kind of veggie protein added to the other. Sure, you’ll have two pans to wash instead of one, but there’s otherwise the same amount of prep work and cooking time. It's easy to make two small toad in the holes from one batter mix and just use different sausages. This oven-baked frittata is a good veggie dish if you fry the bacon separately and use two separate oven dishes, leaving the bacon out of one of them www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/3077673/bacon-and-ricotta-ovenbaked-frittata It’s worth making a big batch of these kinds of meals. By the time you’ve started prepping, it’s not really any extra effort to make a larger amount. Stews and soups freeze really well, so you can freeze any leftovers in portions, to make for a quick and easy dinner another night.
Fajitas are another good option as you can cook the peppers and onions in with the spices and can then add chicken which can be cooked separately either plain or with extra spice depending upon taste.
I make these pitta pizzas a lot and you can easily leave off the ham www.bbc.com/food/recipes/pitta_pizzas_20075

ThatIsNotMyUsername · 17/11/2020 08:20

Making things like pizza is easy enough for mixed diets - or make a base sauce like a veggie tomato that can be split (meat added to part) for lasagnes or pasta bakes.

And as the poster above said - food you ‘build’ like tacos and wraps are great because you can make different versions (have some chilli in the freezer).

tigerbread20 · 17/11/2020 11:04

Thank you for all suggestions.
I think we are happy to still eat meat free a lot but some of these will be really helpful for when we fancy it like Fajitas, really like the tgaine and lamb meatballs suggestion too!

OP posts:
Titsinknicks · 17/11/2020 11:13

Have a look at the Flexible vegetarian recipe book.

DP is veggie and we often have the same meal but I add meat or fish.

Last night I cooked curry - exact ingredients in two pots one with chicken one with soya. Enough for leftovers and the freezer so don't need to make that two pot effort another two times.

Tonight it's a lentil dish from The Green Roasting tin. He'll have a bigger portion than me and I'll have pan fried cod with mine.

We'll often do meat and two veg. I'll have steak and he'll have a Quorn escalope.

It gets easier as you get into the swing of it!

maxelly · 17/11/2020 12:13

In addition to the excellent post by Fivemoreminutes1 a lot of which I do, I have a pretty good system going for meat eater DH and me (mainly veggie). I use batch cooking and the freezer, so for instance I will make up a big pan of a veggie meal, say 4-6 portions, we'll eat 2 and freeze the rest. Then the next time we have that meal, I'll make a big pan of a meat version, and I will defrost and eat one of the veggie portions of the same - little extra effort involved (just some extra veg chopping really to increase quantities) and we have the exact same sides so it doesn't feel like cooking twice. Examples of this are:

-Chilli con carne/three bean chilli
-Lentil bolognese/beef bolognese
-Veggie lasagna/beef lasagna
-Curries of all kinds (veggie and not)
-Stews and casseroles - beef and ale, lamb hotpot, chicken casserole for DH, lentil, root veg and/or bean based stews for me.
-Shepherds/cottage pie (lentil version for me)
-Soups - minestrone with beans and pasta for me, chicken noodle soup/minestrone for DH, or a Thai style broth with tofu for me, thai chicken or beef for DH. We will eat these as they come with some crusty bread for a light meal or a toastie if extra calories are needed!

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