Sitting thinking tonight and I’ve just realised that I can’t remember the last time I ate any red meat. I think the last bit of any type of meat eaten was last year.
With that in mind, I’m contemplating going vegetarian (not for any particular ethical reason, I just don’t miss meat and feel quite healthy at the mo).

Any vegetarians on here with some basic pointers or plans to ensure I eat a reasonably balanced veggie diet.

Also, do any of you have kids and feed them a vegetarian diet? My kids live with their mum 60% of the time (who isn’t vegetarian) so they would be eating meat, but looking for pointers to make vegetarian food interesting for the kids (they are a pair of food machines in fairness).

From a couple of months back, have a browse through these.

vegetarian lifestyle ?

Favourite vegetarian recipes

I think the last bit of any type of meat eaten was last year.

So, two weeks ago? (-:

With that in mind, I’m contemplating going vegetarian

Sounds like you already are.

Thanks @Cougar. Will have a lookey through some recipes.

Haha, poorly worded on my part 😉

If God had wanted us to be vegetarian, he wouldn’t of made animals so tasty!

“ism”?

Erm….

Any vegetarians on here with some basic pointers

eat vegetables.

don’t eat anything that had a face.

@nickc thats a bit of a selective quote! I was asking if anyone had pointers to ensure I got a good balance of food rather than just “eat vegetables”.

If God had wanted us to be vegetarian, he wouldn’t of made animals so tasty!

Maybe a few more vegetables in your diet might help your brain come up with an original joke rather than a tediously tired one.

was asking if anyone had pointers to ensure I got a good balance of food rather than just “eat vegetables”.

It’s still about having a healthy, varied and balanced diet whether cutting eat meat or not. How good were you at your ‘5 a day’ before quitting meat?

Look up ‘balanced wholefood diet’ and compare a few articles for a decent overview then tailor it to your requirements/budget. This is good advice for meaties, veggies, vegans, all. Just from observation, one oitfall of going veggie can be quitting meat then instead mainlining butter, cheese and cream-filled dishes to somehow ‘make up’ in some way. This is properly a bad idea. Key is to cook most food yourself and freeze batches, get good at whipping together staple recipes like shepherds-type pies, ragu sauces, etc. keep raw nuts and healthier fruits around to graze upon

If you want a quick few recipes I’ve tested for taste, health and ease of prep then below are a few of the best plant-based protein-rich meal recipes I’ve found. They are IME really satisfying, tasty and now weekly staples at home
(I’m not vegetarian btw, if that makes a diff, but other half is veggan). Plant-based food

1. Roasted taters, roasted root veg, greens, and buckwheat/lentil loaf with gravy.

The loaf recipe: (I add double the garlic also some chopped nuts)

2. Bean chilli with either rice or nacho chips, salad and Oatly creme fraiche

The chilli recipe: (I also add a few teaspoons of cocoa powder and one of dark sugar or honey)

A third recipe check out Jamie Oliver’s ragu sauce recipe, then make it instead of meat use 50/50 dark green lentils and Meatless Meat Company mince. Now you can make spag bol or lasagne. Add mint to the ragu and make moussaka instead. Etc.

It’s quite refreshing to hear someone refer to themselves as a vegetarian. Which to be honest, most non meat eaters are. Everyone else feels the need to be vegan, which for the most, they probably aren’t.

Everyone else feels the need to be vegan…

Here we go…🙄

don’t eat anything that had a face.

Sounds like you already are.

Not sure you can make that leap. Poultry and fish are animals too….

Being a vegetarian is pretty bloomin easy these days – so many recipes available online and products in the shops.Whilst you don’t want to be vegan the rise of that has certainly made a vegetarian diet easier too.

Just don’t make cheese too big a thing in your diet and look out for meals with high quality plant based protein sources.

The OP said “any type of meat.” I presumed that meant, well, any type of meat.

I’m not the best at meal planning for protein and vitamins etc but just try to eat a good mix of vegetables beans and pulses, nuts and fruit each week. I take a multivitamin pill when I remember. No problems so far and it’s been 6 years

My wife and kids have always been veggie. Since I met my wife I’d been eating veg at home and the meat/fish eaten elsewhere just drifted down towards zero. Last year it was just two trips to amazing meat restaurants where I didn’t fancy the veg option and a weekend in Portugal where I’d have just been eating salad all the time.

Learn to cook good Indian veg food and you’ll do fine.

Nearly forgot – Cougar once recommended Bisto Best Caramelised Onion Gravy. Have bought it ever since. It’s ace for a quick gravy imo. I like to adulterate/lace it with a few teaspoons of mint sauce and mustard or prepared horseradish 😋

The gravy is great with roasts and easy to modify ie add less gravy powder but also add little of stock cube. Make an amaerican-style gravy by adding a little cream (or Oat-cream).

Few more tips:

With roasts-dinners – roast (don’t boil) carrots and/or other roots. Add fresh taragon to carrots in the roasting tin. Try greek-style roast tats (after first blanching then marinading overnight in fresh garlic and lemon-juice)

Grow a herb garden. Window herbs etc. So much more economical and fresh. Obtain and cook good quality veg. Enjoy getting the best flavours out of ingredients. Choose colourful veg types, dark greens, purples, yellows, reds which are healthier in general than the pale stuff. For massive taste and variety look at authentic Indian recipes. Veggie heaven. Get into beans and pseudo-grains. Buckwheat seeds are versatile and make a great binding paste (See lentil loaf recipe above)

Also, for a very special dinner – I have to report that a good mushroom and lentil casserole (maybe with a pearl barley risotto) BUT with a side-portion of sauteed whole almonds and baby tomatoes, cooked with a pinch of smoked paprika towards the end. Oh it’s good. Very, very good. With wine. Lots.

Thanks for the replies folks. The suggestions above and the previous threads Cougar linked to have given me plenty of things to get on with.

Maybe I’ve just been overthinking things.

I’ve got a good organic farm shop two minutes from the house, so a good source of veg to begin with.

Being a vegetarian is pretty bloomin easy these days

Agree. They is very little reason not to be vegetarian. Very well catered for with labelling, restaurant menus, availability of everything you need etc,. Was a lot harder when I became vegetarian in 1984

They is very little reason not to be vegetarian

except I like meat and it’s actually healthy.

They is very little reason not to be vegetarian

Except not being able to troll these discussions any more.

Meatless Meat Company

I’ll say it again… If you want to not eat meat accept that meat alternatives do not look out resemble meat.

The soya industry is killing rainforests and the processed quorn type foods are full of salts and other crap.

GF is vegetarian and has been for over 20 years. As such I don’t cook meat at home. I do have a wild boar (cinghiale) salami in one of the cupboards, mind.

If you’re against the meat industry then consider eating animals that have been hunted such as game birds, deer, wild boar and rabbit.

The soya industry is killing rainforests…

Just to fact check that statement- only 6% of soya is turned into human food and 70% is for livestock. Meat is one of the primary drivers of ecological collapse and deforestation.

I’ll say it again… If you want to not eat meat accept that meat alternatives do not look out resemble meat.

Not quite sure what you’re saying there chap. Do veggies tend to troll your animal-recipe threads? You’re getting back at them? 😉

Out of interest, has anyone moved to a vegitarian diet for medical reasons? Am having trouble with rhumatisum(?) and have read that reducing meat intake could help.
We do meat free monday (and have done for over a year) where we mainly have a quorn chilly.

I not sure i could do it, bacon sandwhich is a unit of currency for chores in our house.

Sitting thinking tonight and I’ve just realised that I can’t remember the last time I ate any red meat. I think the last bit of any type of meat eaten was last year.
With that in mind, I’m contemplating going vegetarian (not for any particular ethical reason, I just don’t miss meat and feel quite healthy at the mo).

I’m wondering what “going vegetarian” means for someone who has no ethical reason (or similar driver to create a decision whether you should or shouldn’t eat a particular thing). E.g. some cheese is not veggie, many marshmallows, jelly baby type sweets etc contain gelatin, some wines and beers are clarified with isinglass. Worcester sauce and Caesar dressing contain anchovies (veggie alternatives are likely now available) but if to you those things taste good and you have no real reason why would you narrow your choices when out or increase your costs when shopping etc.

It sounds to me like you aren’t going vegetarian” you are just choosing to eat things you like which happen to generally not be meat.

I not sure i could do it, bacon sandwhich is a unit of currency for chores in our house.

Well, as you kinda say yourself, it’s not either 0% or 100%. You can reduce your intake of, well, anything you like without necessarily having to do it exclusively. Nothing stopping you trying to go veggie except for bacon butties if that’s what floats your boat. Though I’d suggest expanding your recipe quiver first if you’ve eaten nothing but veggie chilli every Monday for a year.

Some people seem to be of the mindset that every meal has to contain some form of meat. It’s about breaking that mindset, really. I like chip butties, but I don’t eat them every day, that’d be a bit weird.

Out of interest, has anyone moved to a vegitarian diet for medical reasons?

Possibly dubious medical reasons (the medical reasons aren’t dubious but the diet helping could be) but kind of. My diet is technically plant based whole foods plus fish (there are rules around the fish I eat n all), and I stick to it reasonably well (if I’m out and no vegan/fish options take my fancy or a meat option really does then I’ll eat meat). I think that vegetarianism is definitely easier than that, especially as sandwiches are still easy – just put cheese on them… I think that it makes sense to start on a “flexitarian” diet and seeing where that leads you.

@poly I don’t eat sweeties and no longer drink beer or wine, so none of those examples are particularly applicable to me.

I am enjoying eating a veg based diet and I feel healthier for it (albeit short term at the moment). That seems reason enough to me without having an ethical reason.
I’m still feeding my dogs a BARF diet as it’s the right thing for them. I’m not “anti meat”.

My shopping bill seems to be a bit cheaper too, and I am being a little more imaginative with my cooking, so don’t feel as if I am limiting my choices (I have bookmarked the previous veg recipe pages and look forward to trying them out).

Futureboy but you ignored the certain cheeses and sauces point, and those were only examples (all cylcist should eat jelly babies!) I’m not knocking your decision to eat more veg, eat less (virtually zero) meat but I’m just wondering what the declaration that you are now veggie would mean. Otherwise you are surely just continuing what you are doing. If you are are feeling healthier it’s likely you are doing veggie in a healthy way (and therefore probably far healthier than many people who “GO” veggie overnight rather than progressively as you have done).

Though I’d suggest expanding your recipe quiver first if you’ve eaten nothing but veggie chilli every Monday for a year.

Well yes, bit of an exageration not

Every

monday. But with work, after school music lessons and running clubs its a quick easy meal. Though somedays we go crazy and do quorn spag bol!

The soya industry is killing rainforests and the processed quorn type foods are full of salts and other crap.

as above, most soya goes to animal feed (the inefficiency of meat farming being the reason half the planet is starving), quorn mycoprotein has negligible salt and “other crap” (way healthier nutritionally than most meat); I couldn’t find any meat sausages that contain less salt than quorn sausages.

Personally I don’t generally go for the meat substitutes – although the new subway meatless meatballs are great, 99% the same taste/texture as the meat ones (probably not the highest grade of meat to start with though tbf 😀). Had the veggie breakfast option at a local cafe this morning, was (pleasantly) surprised that instead of fake sausages/bacon etc it was Avacado & spinach alongside the beans, eggs, mushrooms, hash browns etc. Much tastier & more micronutrients, etc!

Though I’d suggest expanding your recipe quiver first if you’ve eaten nothing but veggie chilli every Monday for a year.

(Thinks) used to enjoy beef chilli every Wednesday and Chinese Takeaway Curry w/chips every Saturday. Same, every week for years! I felt I was missing out if I missed one

“I’m wondering what “going vegetarian” means for someone who has no ethical reason (or similar driver to create a decision whether you should or shouldn’t eat a particular thing). E.g. some cheese is not veggie, many marshmallows, jelly baby type sweets etc contain gelatin, some wines and beers are clarified with isinglass. Worcester sauce and Caesar dressing contain anchovies (veggie alternatives are likely now available) but if to you those things taste good and you have no real reason why would you narrow your choices when out or increase your costs when shopping etc.

It sounds to me like you aren’t going vegetarian” you are just choosing to eat things you like which happen to generally not be meat.”

Don’t think you need to be holier than thou to be vegetarian. For a lot of vegetarians it’s just a personal choice no need to get into an ethical debate. I’ve been veggie for thirty years and don’t feel the need to preach. Live and let live. You do get vegetarian gelatine now you know.

most soya goes to animal feed

In the Americas, yes

In the UK, no, it’s probably more like 35-40% for animals and the rest for direct human consumption, but then UK has pretty ideal climate for grass fed livestock.

But then you can tell any story with statistics.

Personally, I just eat food. If one is eating less meat, I don’t see the real point in just saying may as well go the whole hog and properly go veggie/vegan, unless there’s some real ethical or medical reason. No need to make a declaration, or give oneself a label.  Even if I never ate meat at all I’d not be either veggie or vegan.

In the UK, no, it’s probably more like 35-40% for animals and the rest for direct human consumption, but then UK has pretty ideal climate for grass fed livestock.

Probably?

The UK mostly uses soya in the form of soya meal, which is most commonly used in animal feed
(approx. 90% of all soya is used in animal feed across Europe).
The total volume of soya consumed in the UK is estimated to be 3.8 million tonnes of soybean
equivalents. This is 3.1 million tonnes of direct imports, and at least 700,000 tonnes of soya
embedded in other imports such as meat products.

Source: http://www.efeca.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/UK-RT-on-Sustainable-Soya-baseline-report-Oct-2018.pdf

“But then you can tell any story with statistics.” Yes, you can prove anything with facts!

Meat-eaters jumping in again telling veggies that ‘I don’t feel the need to preach’ 🤣

Too much irony in the diet…

I mean, yeah, that’s so unexpected. 😀

Anyway, in the spirit of recommending recipes, I was listening to a podcast yesterday and was rudely interrupted by an ad for Knorr Stock “pots” by the Hairy Bikers. They mentioned an Aubergine Katsu Curry which sounded interesting. Not being susceptible to advertising at all, no, not me, certainly not, I googled it and here it is:

https://www.knorr.com/uk/recipe-ideas/aubergine-katsu-curry.html

It was **** delicious. I’m not normally a fan of sweet potatoes – but this “disappears” them into the sauce. The aubergines work well, just have to be careful not to burn the breadcrumbs when frying. I’ve been using those Knorr veg stock pots for ages and to be fair, they’re excellent, and nearly always on special at whatever supermarket you’re at.