Help! DH wants us to go vegan!

[SparePartz]

I'm not a good cook and tend to stick with what I know. I'm panicking slightly! He's watched the Netflix show and has decided we should try to eat vegan during the week.

I have some issues:
first and foremost my tea. I drink milk in my tea. We tried oat milk a while back and even he decided it wasn't great. Is there a better option?

Mushy food makes me gag. He's talking eating lentils, peas and beans. Is there any way to prepare them so they're not mushy?

We, especially DS, eat a lot of cheese and yoghurt. How do you keep a growing teenager full without cereal/milk/cheese on toast? We're not looking to try out highly processed vegan copies of non- vegan food.

I cannot eat mushrooms. Well, I can eat them but then get horrific stomach cramps a few hours later. Lots of recipes seem to be mushroom based.

How do I make sure the DC are getting all the nutrients they need as they come into and through puberty?

Nuts - hazelnuts make DC2's mouth blister, walnuts make my mouth itch and I don't like any other nuts.

Is there an idiots guide to being a vegan somewhere?

Why are you even considering it?! If DH wants to go vegan, he can go vegan. It's not a decision one person makes for the entire family, and certainly not for the person who does most of the catering.

If your dh wants to cook for himself and go vegan am sure he can.
The arrogance of him to expect you all will and you'll cater for it astounds me!

Tell your dh you're more than happy to go vegan, then hand him a pen and paper so he can meal plan, buy and cook the foods.

Why do you and your ds have to be vegan? Dh can do it....you can maybe enjoy meals with him but I don't see why you have to give up things you like.

Firstly you don't have to agree.

If you agree to do it then let him do the work.

Alternatives are, go veggie instead as a compromise.

Go vegan but avoid the mush by eating normal vegan food

Veggie stirfrys
Beans on toast
Pasta an tomato sauce
Hummous and bread
Falafel
Currys can be made vegan easily often.

Only people who want or need to restrict their foods should be doing it. Doing it because someone else is telling you to is madness.

DH can figure out all these constraints, devise the menu, shop and cook meals. Put your feet up OP!

He's watched the Netflix show and has decided we he should try to eat vegan during the week.

Fixed it for you. If you want to go vegan then great but it needs to be an individual choice rather than him telling you. Whoever is cooking decides what they are cooking if the other person doesn't want it then they cook their own.

Agree with the PP above.
However, you could just try doing the odd vegan meal rather than all or nothing?
If your DH wants to go whole hog let him, but you & the rest of the family surely can make your own decision about what you eat?
Try incorporating vegan meals, accidentally vegan things or trying new things rather than going the whole way to start.
(I'm a committed omnivore btw but have vegan friends).

‘We’ should do it?!

er no.

he can do as he pleases with his body and time! You can do likewise.

Alpro My cuppa is the most realistic milk in my opinion. Makes a proper cup of tea.

You can buy vegan yogurt-and desserts I can’t tell the difference and neither can DH.

Are you cooking the lentils for too long? What about stew- just put all the usual stuff in apart from the beef.

You may need to take a supplement (but are you having dairy, eggs, fish and meat at the weekend?) be careful you don’t overdose as I broke out in acne! Vegans aren’t always deficient as milks etc are fortified.

Im not a fan of vegan cheese, the spreads are fine, and the violife slices on burgers are fine. Blocks of cheese no!

Beans are mushy though. And hummus is a mushy paste!

does DH currently do 50% or more of the meal planning, shopping and cooking for the DC?

@SparePartz Uouve posted on the vegan board- so if it’s more aibu which posters seem to think it is hence the responses I would get your post moved…. Or you’ll get a bunch of anti vegan, triggered, ltb responses lol.

DD is vegan so cook a lot of vegan food, that adapt to veggie when I want to!

Firstly though oat milk and nut milks are great in coffee find them awful in tea so I still have dairy

ditto cheese cathedral city is good melting but that is it - anything cheese sauce based just do a veg and a vegan

mushrooms and nuts are as big part that part you will struggle

fir beans abd chickpeas like peas don’t overlook just heat through at the end

DD takes B12 and vit D supplements

Erm if my husband announced he wanted to go vegan I'd say great and turn the cooking over to him OP. He certainly wouldn't dictate the rest of the house had to though.

'no thanks, dh, though happy to try eating less meat. Can you make some meal plans and a shopping list to get us started?'

Black beans are not mushy (I guess Kidney are) also find a set of spices and herbs that suit you will need them

He can be vegan, you and your DC don't need to do this. Tell him you are happy for him to be vegan and that he will have to shop and cook his own meals. I'm guessing he might change his mind quickly.

Give it a go, whats the worst that can happen :-) agree mushrooms and nuts get force fed bit too much.

Some tasty non-mushies with protein:
Dried red lentils added to a casserole style dish
Edamame beans (available frozen)
Quinoa

Good luck 👍

That's a list of queries that DH would need to find out the answer to, should he wish to convert the family to veganism. Tell him to go ahead and work it out, you'll be prepared to do a trial run of a month and look forward to eating his nutritionally balanced meals.

Otherwise, you and the DC will carry on as you are, and he can do his own trial run. Either way, this is not something you need to cater for, he can't just send the message to the kitchen that it's Vegan Year and expect you to drop everything and pivot.

I would just start by cutting down on meat & dairy rather than making a blanket decision to go vegan. It’s rarely successful when you take something to extremes.

@Missingmyusername I'm interested to know why you quoted my post in particular, given that a) nothing in it is "anti-vegan", b) nothing in in indicates that I am "triggered", and c) at no point do I recommend that OP "ltb"

I suspect your username isn't the only thing you're missing.

Oh he has decided has he ?
Why are you going along with it ?

I recently got some great suggestions on here, and on tiktok.

I don't understand why his choice is being imposed on you and your children, but that is for another thread.