Family meal ideas

[Josie747373]

I’m a long time vegetarian but only been vegan for around 10 months. My husband is mainly vegetarian, he is on board with the ethical reasons but still likes to eat a bit of meat….he loves vegetarian food but struggled with vegan meals.

at the moment we give our baby and toddler vegetarian food (excluding egg for baby as she is allergic).

i recently went back to being veggie for a few days but felt extremely nauseous so I think dairy just doesn’t agree with my anymore. I did this because family meal ideas were becoming challenging. What was happening was that I would be cooking a meal for me and the kids and husband would be eating ham sandwiches or something! Or I would cook them all a vegetarian meal and eat something different. I’d love us to be able to all eat together. Husband also isn’t keen on quorn, tofu, risotto, mushroom, anything ‘creamy’ etc so finding it quite a challenge!

does anyone else have this issue and what do you do? Any recipe ideas would be great! The only thing we all tend to like is vegetarian curry’s. I think husband could like eating vegan food I maybe just need to get better at cooking it…

Following for ideas. I'm vegan, husband mainly veggie, 1 year old has some dairy and eggs.

I cook a chilli most weeks with lots of veg, beans and lentils instead of fake mince. Same with bolognese.
But I could do with some inspiration!

www.amazon.co.uk/Green-Roasting-Tin-Vegetarian-Dinners/dp/1910931896/ref=asc_df_1910931896/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310762441626&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4414008791248743190&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007064&hvtargid=pla-488786546040&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

The miso aubergine from this book is particularly good. We do a bit without the salty miso for toddler.

@wishing3 thanks for this, this looks perfect! Just downloaded the kindle edition there’s some great ideas in here. I ordered another vegan cookbook which had some amazing recipes but way too much faff until my kids are older / sleep more!

The roasted gnocchi is really easy to adapt. If you pour boiling water over it for 2 mins then just drain and put in a roasting tin you can add whatever you like. I pour tomato sauce over and add blobs of pesto and cook in the oven for a big til it soaks up the sauce. V easy.

Oh actually is gnocchi vegan?

Roasted veg pasta sauce with beans for protein is easy to make. We use nutritional yeast instead of cheese to sprinkle on top

We also make a vegan ‘pesto’ to have with pasta; a mix of spinach, rocket, cashews, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper to taste. Really quick to do, all blitzed in the food processor, and adding extra oil makes it as thin as you need to coat the pasta

Have you tried other meat substitutes, say soya protein or seitan? We really like the Richmond sausages and burgers and bacon

What about stir fry rice and veg meals with different sauces?

Pizza is also a good one to do.

Squeaky bean vegan steak is really nice. I put it in a pasta bake with 'cheese' sauce ( made with plant butter, oat milk and smoked vegan cheese), kale, and green beans and it was really nice. M & S vegan Kyivs are lovely too. Cheese sauce as above with cauliflower and jacket potatoes and vegan sausages also good. Pasta, tomato sauce with added roasted veg and lentils. Chickpea curry? Personally, I think vegan meat substitutes some nights and beans and lentils otherwise work really well. Oh, and Waitrose do some very nice seitan pieces/ steaks. As do Pukka with their vegan pies imo. Absolutely recommend. Hth

This vegetarian shepherds pie is delicious and easy to adapt - it's lovely even without the cheese, and the mash can of course be normal potato if you're not keen on sweet potato: www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/veggie-shepherds-pie-sweet-potato-mash/amp

Veggie mum to non-veggie familiy here. Even my dedicated meat eating teens like Jamie's vegan shepherd's pie.

I've gotten into making Mason jar noodles. I use zero salt stock cubes and less miso for the kids. I put marinated tofu in mine and chicken in for meat-eating DH and kids. I like that they are so quick to prep and mean a fresh hot meal for both the kids and DH if he gets home later.

It can be, usually the dry variety not the fresh.

Spaghetti bolognaise with lentils or soya mince
Richmond vegan sausages are good if you’ve not tried them
Bean chilli with quinoa
Hearty lentil soup with crusty bread
Black bean burgers
Courgette fritters

Tagine

1 large onion finely chopped sauté
Add 1/2 butternut squash cubed
Add 2 large cloves garlic chopped
Add I large red chilli chopped
Add 1/2 inch ginger grated
Add 1 tbsp cumin seeds
Add 1/2 can chopped tomatoes
Add 1 tsp cinnamon
Add 1 tsp sumac
Add 1/2 tsp salt
Add 6 dried apricots halved
Finish with coriander when cooked. I serve with sausages (eg Linda McCartney chorizo style)

We do half our week vegan and these meals goes down well with all ages
Vegan meatball pasta bake
Vegan mac n cheese (homemade white sauce using oil / flour / oat milk / fried leeks / garlic / vegan cheese and dash of Dijon
Spaghetti Bolognese - mince / lentils / mushroom / onion / grated carrot
Fried tofu chunks (perhaps coated in a dusting of cornflour to get extra crispy) then dressed in a satay sauce and served with veggie rice noodle stir fry
Shop bought puff pastry to make veggie / vg chicken or mince and onion pies
Sausages - mash / roasts pots veg gravy / chopped fried with peppers and pesto pasta
Tofu / microwave flavoured rice / roast Mediterranean veg / hummus and flatbreads
Lentil veg soups / stews with aunt Bessie frozen dumplings
Jacket potato and vg chilli
Sweet potato with corn / guacamole/ salsa
Flavoured lentil pouches microwaved over jacket potatoes
Veg curry w chickpeas
Lentil / bean pates for lunches

To go back to your OP... what foods do you tend to all enjoy that you can veganise? For example I've never liked burgers that much so thEH don't tend to feature on my meal plan - but what does he like to eat that you may ask for tips in veganising?