Mumsnet users share their thoughts on meat free options

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Whether you’re thinking of reducing your meat consumption for environmental or health reasons, or if you or a member of your family is vegetarian or vegan, the use of meat free options is on the rise. With this in mind, The Meatless Farm would like to hear your thoughts on reducing meat intake and meat-free options.

Here’s what The Meatless Farm has to say: “With an estimated 22m flexitarians in the UK seeking to reduce their meat consumption, there is an increased appetite for healthy, protein-rich alternatives. After years of research, the team behind Meatless Farm have created a range of products that not only deliver on nutrition, they also taste delicious.”

Are you considering reducing your family’s meat intake? What do you think about meat-free products? Perhaps you’re already including meat free products in your family meals? What influences your choice when it comes to meat free options?

All who post on the thread below will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

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I've been reducing our meat intake for a few months now, not for any health reasons, but because it's just so expensive now. I can't remember the last time I bought lamb. I've always quite liked Quorn and tofu, but DH won't entertain the idea, which is rather annoying as I hate having to prepare separate meals. Being gluten-free, it's often hard to find some products which don't have wheat in - I quite like the look of some of the M&S 'Plant Kitchen' items, but can't eat them. I think the worst thing I did, was allowed myself to be conned into eating 'Facon' - it was utterly disgusting and just tasted of chemicals. I don't need products which pretend to be meat, I'm happy with veg that is veg.

Not keen on quorn, would rather just eat lentils, beans and chickpeas.

two of my daughters have recently become vegetarian, I thought this would have been a nightmare for cooking family meals. But after looking into it and tasting it, Quorn is my number one option - Both my husaband and I are gluten free too so we are limited on what quorn prouducts we can use - We still eat meat too but we've greatly reduced the ammount due to our two daughters. Quorn mince makes a tasty chilli, cottage pie and bollagnaise and the quorn pieces make great curries and stir fries. I don't think we're missing out on protein at all here and we are all feeling healthier for it. It's great for slimming world too :D I think it's a good thing to reduce the ammount of meat, if it helps the planet and by swapping at least 3 meals a week I feel we're doing our part to help.

I will use anything that tastes nice and is good for you so it will be good to try these

We are a family of six, although 3DC are over 18 and the youngest DC is 12. None of us are vegetarians and DD2 is allergic to nuts.

In the past 12 months, we have been eating more meat-free meals, partly as I am part of Slimming World and am watching what I eat and partly because DD1 is living at home again after 4 years at uni. As a student, she could not afford to eat meat every day so learned to cook a number of meat-free recipes.

We don't tend to use meat substitutes - I am not keen on many of the pulses available and we are replacing meat for health and cost reasons, not ethical reasons.

Most of the meat-free meals I cook are either pasta dishes, curries or stews. Instead of meat, I use an assortment of vegetables to bulk up the meals. I buy a much wider range of vegetables nowadays and bulk up meals with veg such as aubergine, celeriac, butternut squash and sweet potatoes.

My teen daughter has been vegetarian, well more precisely pescatarian but just the odd bit of fish, for about 10 years. Added to that, she's very fussy and fickle! I can quite happily not eat meat for days and although my daughter doesn't like milk or butter, we love cheese too much to go vegan. My DH is strictly a meat, potato and two veg kind of guy though. I'm always trying to find new things to try with her but I've not heard of The Meatless Farm Co before, Quorn and Linda McCartney are the ones I buy most at the moment

I have so much respect for vegetarians and wish I could do it, but bacon. However, I do have a couple of meat free days a week for environmental reasons. I haven't tried any meat replacements, but I keep meaning too, as they sound healthy and I have friends who love Quorn

We have reduced out meat consumption massively but not gone completely vegetarian. We've tried a few meat-free products, some have been nicer than others. I am concerned about the content of some of them.

We try to eat meat only 2 or 3 times a week anyway, with lots of fish meals and maybe vegetarian once a week, simply for health reasons

I love indian curries for vegetarian meals, lots of daals with lentils and spices

I am consciously trying to reduce our red meat intake and replacing with meat free alternatives, which we find tastier, and easier to chew and digest, and with an array of sauces, herbs and accompaniments, our favourite is quorn 'chicken' korma, and meat free lasagne and bolognaise which always goes down a treat, (I make double often and freeze for a quick meal).

I had the mince this evening. With the sauce you couldn't really tell apart from the texture is softer. The family all enjoyed it.

I was vegetarian for a good few years before being very anemic during pregancy and encouraged by the midwives to eat meat again. I still try and have a mixed menu and we as a family have a few nights a week meat free.
I have used meat free soya products before such as Quorn, I don't mind the taste of the sausages or chicken fillets or chicken pieces but they do taste different. Also as someone who has Thyroid issues too much soya is a problem so I prefer to try and eat vegetable based alternatives such a vegetable lasagna or stuffed peppers and mushrooms.
The rest of the family aren't quite as open to the meat free products..my daughter doesn't eat much meat but doesnt like the meat substitutes.
For me I think it would depend on price and whether I had some good tasty recipes up my sleeve to encourage me to buy more meatless 'meat' products.

While I can't stomach the idea of Quorn, I have started having one night per week that's meat free, I'm considering making in 2 nights a week soon, but I can't help that I love my meat, so does the rest of the family :D

We are not a Vegan family but I am more conscious about the amount of 'meat' my family consumes, which is why we try to have two days a week where we do not eat meat. I have tried the meatless farm mince and much prefer it to Quorn. However there are products within the Quorn Vegan range that I find taste much better than 'original' Quorn. I am always looking at meat free alternatives and feel the market has much more choice than it did 18 months ago. You can virtually buy almost any meat product as a 'meat free' version. Some of the meat free products we have tried as a family we may not try again such as quorn mince and we much prefer the meatless style of minces that you can now easily buy.
The only thing with these alternative options are that they can be quite expensive and when feeding a family of four on a budget it can sometimes be more cost effective to buy a meat product.

I don't think I could ever go completely vegetarian, but already don't eat much red meat. DH and I will use Quorn for bolognese etc, but I do buy beef mince if we're eating similar food with our young DC (not more than once a week). We occasionally use sausages or bacon, but not on a regular basis, and mostly eat chicken or fish. I would like to maybe have at least 2 veggie meals a weak, partly to be healthier but also to keep food costs down.

I do eat meat but I’m actually not that bothered by it - my favourite part of all dishes is the veggies and other carbs. So I’ve decided to just start cooking more meat free meals of things we already love - so things like vegetable curries and bean burritos. Everyone seems to love them and we don’t tend to miss the meat at all.

We are trying to reduce the amount of meat we eat on a weekly basis but are not keen on the usual meat substitutes; they seem to be full of a lot of additives and the kids aren't keen on the taste. We generally just go for a veg curry or been chilli rather than using pretend meat. Would definitely be interested in a better option though.

No one in our house is veggie or vegan but I would like to reduce our meat consumption for health and environmental reasons. I've slowly introduced more meat free options like falafel and halloumi wraps for dinner but it's hard to find convincing products for my meat loving hubby. He also had IBS so he couldn't have loads of beans or lentils for example.

I was a teenage vegetarian but my parents were not particularly supportive of it! We’re not a vegetarian family, but don’t eat lots of meat either. I quite often make vegetarian chillis and pasta with a vegetable sauce is a regular meal. When we do eat meat it tends to be white meat as the children prefer chicken to all other meats. If they were to choose to be vegetarian I would support them as I think it is a healthy lifestyle, but my husband would eat meat at every meal if he made the meals.

I know it won’t make a huge amount of difference but we always do meat free Mondays and try and limit how much meat we eat as a household.

I do not want to totally cut meat out of my diet - I love the taste, versatility and the protein it provides, I have however cut right down on red meats, only eating them if we go out for a meal.

I have also recently started to have a meat free day once a week and I am thinking of increasing this to two days but during these days, I do not feel the need to substitute meat with products that look like or taste (in theory) like meat.

Instead I choose meat free options like soups, omelettes, pizzas, salads, vegetable curries, pasta dishes etc.

I just don't see the need for products that imitate meat, just like I would not drink non-alcoholic beer or wine - something disguised as something it is not just does not appeal to me!

Recently vegan, family still carnivores. I find they will eat meat alternatives happily most of them time not keen on the ham slices. However it an be a struggle to find vegan mince etc which makes it harder

We have been trying to cut down on our meat consumption over the last couple of years. We probably use quorn the most in things like curries and chillies and find that we can’t really taste the difference.