I'm finally doing it and going veggie - can I ask some questions?

[Yebbie]

I've never been a big fan of meat, I can eat it if i disassociate the fact that it's animals but anything bloody, or that resembles an animal has been a no go. I've never eaten lamb as I just loved them so much as a child I could never try it. I love fish so have never so much as tried one. I don't like big chunks of meat as they turn my stomach but was ok with chicken chopped up small and beef mince. Since signing up to gousto I always choose veggie or vegan options for those 4 meals a week and have discovered a love of so many more vegetables and some of the meat substitutes I've tried on there. I was served a Turkey steak last night at a meal and had one chewy mouthful and just decided I was done. I feel really good about it!

I used to love nduja and chorizo until I read about them having offal in and never touched them again. Are there any veggie or vegan subsistes you'd recommend?

I don't like nuts either, I love beans pulses and lentils etc but not nuts. Most Christmas dinner/Sunday roast alternatives seem to be nut roasts. Anything else?

Any tips for making the leap. I'm trying to read everything that contains meat that I may not be aware of but anything that surprised you let me know. I already take iron and B12 supplements. I am open to becoming vegan down the line but don't want to over commit to soon and fail. Meat should be easy as I don't really like it anyway! Chocolate and cheese is a different story

I am aware how hypocritical some of my points sound by the way. That's how I feel eating meat and part of the push to stop.

My recommendation would be to get some decent veggie cook books and to make sure you eat some form of protein with every meal.

If you are happy eating dairy I would stick with 'real foods' ie pulses, beans, cheese, eggs rather than fake meats . If you want to have meat substitute I think soya is better than quorn or a lot of the more modern vegan replacements which are full of additives .

Well re the chorizo, the distinctive flavour comes from the smoked paprika, which you can add to anything you like - soups, hummus, cheesy dishes. I loved smoked paprika when I first discovered it!

Honestly veggie is much easier than vegan and you sound like you're nearly there. BTW I'm an ex-veggie and ex-vegan but I don't eat much meat and I'm def in favour of people cutting down. Just wanted to give you the smoked paprika tip really. Good luck!

@Yebbie There are masses of really good veggies recipes on the Riverford website and loads without nuts. I've just been looking and thinking of doing this for Christmas dinner main www.riverford.co.uk/recipes/spiced-squash-chickpea-kale-filo-bake

Mushrooms are good eg in a pie or stroganoff as they have a deep flavour .

My veggie Christmas dinner is very much a cheat meal but I add chopped chestnuts to a stuffing mix which has apricot and cranberries in. There's only me has it so I'm not creating anything spectacular for a centre piece. One year I bought a pre-made roast from Sainsbury's and it was a horrible mush.

I was veggie for 30 years (vegan for 2), I eat meat again now for better health (being vegan/veggie made me very sick over time). but I used to love love love quorn, the quorn pepperoni slices are particularly tasty. Also try tempeh (it’s full of protein) and is great in Asian cuisine

Vegetarian Society website has some useful information about nutrition and products to watch out for for new vegetarians.

Re nut roast: I'm not the sort of cook who would make my own nut roast from scratch, but there are recipes that substitute the nuts for lentils in a nut roast.

Agree about the smoked paprika - I make a stew with onions, peppers , sweet potato and butter beans with tinned tomatoes and lots of smoked paprika. Nice with rice or mashed potato .

@heldinadream I’m the same as you, I think it’s good to reduce meat. But I need a bit in my diet for health.

@Fet2021duejuly2022 yes, me too. I'm much more robust since eating meat again. Interestingly there's an article in the Guardian today about ex-vegans, talking about why they stopped and the abuse they get as ex-vegans!
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/dec/04/abuse-intimidation-death-threats-the-vicious-backlash-facing-fomer-vegans

For Christmas we often go with a veggie borek (lentils, carrots, spices optional feta). Our recipe isn't online but there are many available. It's a nice centerpiece and you can have the usual potatoes, sprouts etc. with it if you like it to feel like Christmas.

@heldinadream yes I read that, can’t say I’m surprised.

@heldinadream yes my health has vastly improved since eating meat and fish again.

My adult son is vegetarian and is living back home temporarily. Normally when he visits I cook vegetarian so I decided to stick with that in the main and we are probably eating meat once a week. He would be happy to take his turn at cooking but DH and I are both retired and DS works long hours so I am happy to cook.

I find it much easier to avoid fake meat or meat substitutes and just be creative with vegetables and pulses. We all like spicy food and so much Indian cookery is vegetarian.
I have found some great recipes on Jamie Oliver website and they have been easy to do and we all liked them. I thought DH might grumble a bit about no meat but he's enjoyed the variety.

Some things I have tried
Red Rice Like a baked risotto.
Dahl
Roasted tomatoes - goes well with the rice dish.
Fragrant squash curry

@lazyvegan that recipe looks lovely. I will be doing meat and veggie for Christmas as have 4 out of 8 guests vegetarian.
I love chickpeas but no-one else does. Perhaps I could use aduki beans as a substitute, what do vegetarian cooks think?

I've been veggie most of my life. Apart from veggie sausages (Cauldron are my fave) I don't really bother with meat substitutes. For protein I eat dairy, beans, lentils, quinoa, rice. I eat lots of veg, probably too much bread and potatoes, lots of international food (Indian and Mexican are good for veggies). I can tend to slightly low iron though, which might not be an issue if I ate meat, so I do try and take a good multivitamin and sometimes top it up with an iron supplement. Generally I'm very healthy and hardly ever ill. Good luck, OP!

Often make a vegetarian Wellington for Christmas as can put all our favourite things in it and it goes with all the other accompaniments. Nothing worse than having something like a risotto when everyone else has roast veggies and gravy etc . Can buy readimade ones but I haven't tried 5hem.

Last year for Christmas I did a leek pie which was actually delicious and combined it with roasties a s traditional veg. Love a veggie Wellington! Can't have risotto, pasta or grilled goats cheese for Christmas dinner!!!!

I've been veggie since 1984.

I've just moved to France and they are pretty uch where the UK was back when I first stopped eating meat.

I'm a pretty good cook anyway but oh my days I am missing extra mature cheddar cheese.

In the UK it's very very easy to not eat meat. So many options. Just make sure your plate always has fresh food and protein.

I was over the moon yesterday to find veggie cheese slices and have stocked up.

If it's only you eating veggie on Christmas day you could just go to town with all the lovely veg accompaniments, and have a sausage or something 'fake meaty' if you wanted? If there are a few of you or you want to cook yourself something special, I second a veggie wellington. I have a few recipes I like, this one is a good one:www.deliciouseveryday.com/mushroom-wellington/

Re nuts and nut roast, I don't really like nuts either but to make a nut roast I grind the nuts up finely and make a loaf with cooked rice, fried onions and mushrooms. Flavoured with stock and tomato puree I don't mind the taste of the nuts. Just thought I'd mention in case you're the same.

Shedmistress is the cheese in France not vegetarian? That sounds tough. I'm vegan now but I still miss cheese and would not have wanted to be forced to give up cheese through lack of veggie options!

@TheNarwhalBalloon

Shedmistress is the cheese in France not vegetarian? That sounds tough. I'm vegan now but I still miss cheese and would not have wanted to be forced to give up cheese through lack of veggie options!

No, very few and many don't even have the right labelling.

It's like mission impossible.

There are some that use non-animal rennet but even then hardly anything is trustworthy enough if they just say 'coagulant'.

Hence being so so happy when I found some suitable for vegetarians!

Even at the Biocoop with loads of veggie and vegan food, none were veggie that I could find. I found this in E. Leclerc which I'd rather not shop at but needs must.

OP - go to the frozen section. Linda McCartney range will give you loads of mains ie cheese and leek plaits, Pies etc. Loads of choices of veggie sausages, my favourites were the cumberland ones. I was a quorn fan, and their mini cocktail sausages were lovely, I became quite obsessed at one point.

@Yebbie Definitely sub other beans - black? Cannnellini?? Butter beans? Or maybe little chunks of fried tempeh? I was wondering the same as DH suffers with IBS and chickpeas are often a culprit!