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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Are you considering reducing your family’s meat intake?
We are already a mix of vegetarian and vegan

What do you think about meat-free products?
I think that there are a lot more out there and it's great to finally have a choice. One area that I do think needs working on is party food, at Christmas the shops bring out lots of party food (to go with the party food they have all year round) and there may be one token vegetarian item in the whole range

Perhaps you’re already including meat free products in your family meals?
Yes, though not all as we use vegetables/lentils/beans as well as just relying on meat replacement.

What influences your choice when it comes to meat free options
Packaging, flavours and ingredients please no more mushrooms or coriander - companies seem to think vegetarians love them both and most don't! Usability and price

Long term vegetarian and a family of coeliacs here. Fortunately Quorn and Linda McCartney have some good gluten free vegetarian products but many products still rely on wheat gluten or use breadcrumbs as an outer layer. Avoiding wheat gluten where possible would be great!

I am vegetarian but the rest of my family are meat eaters.

We are reducing the amount of meat they eat - we have meat free Monday's as a minimum.

Unfortunately lots of the 'meat substitutes' cause me digestive problems so I can't eat them. My kids like meat free sausages and nuggets though.

DH was a vegetarian for 20 years, until we had children.

Are you considering reducing your family’s meat intake?

Not reducing, but I already think carefully about the balance of our diets and try to have a couple of meat free meals, fish based meals and white meat meals. The majority of dishes are fish in our household.

What do you think about meat-free products?

I don’t really like or understand them. As a rule I don’t think that the taste-alike products taste anything like the real thing. I also don’t understand why, if you’re giving up meat for moral/values reasons, you would choose to eat something that is doing an impression of a meat product.

Perhaps you’re already including meat free products in your family meals?

No. We endured quorn many years ago in curries and chillies but I didn’t like the texture sufficiently to use it again. I wouldn’t buy vegetarian sausages either.

What influences your choice when it comes to meat free options?

If cooking a meat free metal, it is more likely to be a daal, a curry or something which relies on the goodness and flavour of vegetables and natural products. We will use paneer, feta, halloumi, nuts and pulses and have a really nice repertoire of meat free meals. Although some of these products used may not be strictly vegetarian, they work perfectly well for us.

We're a meat free family and use Quorn mince a lot. We really need to start thinking about using lentils as substitutes though...

Are you considering reducing your family’s meat intake?
I have, in the past month or so reduced our red meat consumption considerably (DH and I stopped eating red meat but the kids occasionally have mince).
Occasionally have chicken but we are having far more vegetarian meals.

What do you think about meat-free products?

I feel they are a good idea for people starting out trying to reduce meat intake. Sometimes switching your entire diet feels quite daunting and at least if there are easy substitutes it can make it feel a bit easier.
I didn't the salt content quite high sometimes though which puts me off buying them a lot.

Perhaps you’re already including meat free products in your family meals?
We have tried meat free chicken, mince, chicken nuggets and sausages. I think I'm now branching out more to include different sources of protein like beans and lentils and am reducing the meat free products we use as I find them quite salty and some aren't particularly tasty.

We are trying to reduce our meat intake as a family and we’re gradually building up our repertoire of meat free meals.
Unfortunately I’ve discovered that I have a violent allergic reaction to Quorn, so that’s not an option for me although the dcs like quorn sausages.
We have made bolognaise sauce / chilli with soya mince, but personally I prefer to make meals that use completely different ingredients rather than a meat substitute. Our current favourite is veggie chilli made with lots of different beans, peppers and sweet potatoes.

Yeah I’ve found going plant-based (since watching Earthlings-would recommend) really easy and rewarding as I feel so much healthier and food shopping is super cheap so I can treat myself to nice meat substitutes sometimes. I’m allergic to quorn so like Linda McCartney products, Fry’s chicken nuggets from Holland and Barrett, and all the vivacity things in the chiller section. I’d like to see more junk food like sausages, fish fingers, chicken nuggets etc to have as a treat, and also lunchbox things, anything which saves time!

Are you considering reducing your family’s meat intake?
Yes definitely, we have reduced red meat, processed meats and are eating more vegetarian meals every week.

What do you think about meat-free products?
I don’t generally like them, I would prefer to just eat vegetables.

Perhaps you’re already including meat free products in your family meals?
I might eat a vegetarian curry or a bean chilli now and again

What influences your choice when it comes to meat free options?
Fresh veg

I am vegetarian but my husband eats meat though not often . Our children are veggie. I'm not a fan of substitutes and they don't often agree with my digestion. My children don't like subs either but that's probably because we rarely have them. So many easy meat free recipes these days. Lentils are a big staple in our house

I'm vegan and DS is vegetarian. Completely meat-free household except for the cats!

DS will eat a few of the Quorn products. Personally, I don't like the veggie products that try to look like meat and The Meatless Farm - from what i can see on this page, is another one of those. Products are even found on the meat aisle which I don't even go to - I'm obviously not their target customer. A bean burger or spinach & kale burger for example is a lot more appetising to me than a burger made up of flavourings designed to taste like meat.

What influences your choice when it comes to meat free options?

The above plus health/nutrition (although happy to have the odd 'junk' food) plus value for money. I buy from the Wicked range at Tesco as an occasional treat but that range is too expensive to buy regularly.

Not veggie but I like to have a few meat free meals each week. It might be something simple like scrambled eggs and mushrooms, or I might make a vegetable chilli with loads of different veg and red kidney beans. I also like curries and batch make one from time to time, just for me as DH doesn't like them! Chick pea, cauliflower and green bean with a mild coconut sauce is lovely.

I haven't tried any meat alternatives in recent years because I believe they are highly processed - am prepared to be convinced otherwise though!.

Meat is very much a staple of our diet but we're open to trying a few vegetarian products. I could easily give up at least pork if the vegetarian alternative tastes good but I'm skeptical.

I think we are quite balanced with our meat consumption and I have no plans to substitute with meat free. Little story about the last time I tried...Thought I would give quorn meat a go and made a lovely Shepherds Pie, thoroughly delicious but my husband was violently ill within a few hours and everyone else was fine, suggested this must of been something else he ate during the day. Roughly a week later I thought I would make another Shepherds Pie to use the rest of The Quorn up and guess what? Husband was once again violently sick. After researching this we have discovered he is allergic to Quorn and he is now convinced I’m tying to poison him! So no thank you, we will stick to meat!

we only eat meat once a week, the boys when eating out have salads and all school lunches are meat free, not veggie but we dont like processed meats and we only eat chicken and beef.

Since the mad cow scare in the 90s I refused to eat all red meat. In fact I only ate chicken as I didn't like vegetables as a young child to young adult. However since having my second baby my taste buds have completely changed and I like veggies. So I am happy to embrace cutting out meat altogether. My hubby appreciates the meat free substitutes in my cooking now also, and the children are not overly fond of meat. So it has been really easy for us to make the change.

We are already a vegetarian and vegan household, meat free food has come a long way in the past 20 years and there are even more options arriving daily in shops and restaurants as a result of recent interest.

We will with red meat and we will eat more white meat chicken etc from now on xx

Yes! We've actually cut meat right down already in 2019 and have replaced with more vegetarian meals and fish a few times. I'm finding we are now cooking more, and being more conscious about the food we buy when shopping for the week.

I have been vegetarian for 25 years, my daughter has been vegetarian since birth and my husband became vegetarian last year. We used to eat a lot of quorn and I do think meat substitutes are a great idea and definitely help meat eaters to cut their meat consumption. I’ve found over the past few years we’ve eaten fewer meat substitutes and tend to eat tofu a lot more. It’s great to see the trend towards less meat. So important from an environmental perspective and anything that helps people to do this can’t be bad.

I’m a veggie in a meat eating household. We eat meat free as a family several times a week, as it’s often easier cooking one dish for everyone.

The hardest part is finding variety, apparently they are all sick of my chickpea curry! (It’s delicious)

We have meat eaters, vegetarians and vegans so I try to prepare some meals that everyone can enjoy. I have tried soya mince, quorn, seitan., nuts and pulses. A favourite is nut rissoles which I make with leftover mas, mixed veg, ground nuts and mashed chickpeas, form into rissoles which I coat in crunchy corneal and fry. I use the liquid leftover from the cooked chickpeas (aquafaba) to roll the rissoles in before coating in cornmeal, it is a great egg substitute for vegans.

We are reducing the amount of meat eaten in our house , there are lots of meat free alternatives in the shops these days and we are trying to find ones we all like.

We only usually eat meat twice a week x

We've introduced one neat free day per week as a start after initial means the kids have adapted vegetable curries and biryanis are favourites.Not great fans of meat substitutes though