I would suggest finding a few easy vegetarian recipes you like, and adding them to your regular meal rotation. They would become standard, go-to meals that you don’t even have to think about. It’s easier to gradually transition, than to panic and feel like you don’t know what to cook for dinner anymore.
Another easy way is to make your usual favourite recipes and to substitute the meat for an identical ‘plant-based’ meat. (Ground beef for Chili or shepherds pie, chicken cutlets, chicken nuggets, etc.)
If you want to have less expensive, less processed foods than the ‘fake meats’, you can substitute beans, lentils, tofu, etc. I love sloppy joes with lentils and soy protein instead of ground meat. Recipes like falafels are already naturally vegan. Vegetarian cooking really expanded my horizons and got me excited to taste new things.
Ooooh, I can help! I was a vegetarian for a year before going vegan. Are you looking for recipes, or what to buy that’s vegetarian? I would check out this website for an easy transition, and Connoisserusveg and The Stingy Vegan for recipes. Anything that is a vegan can be adapted back to be vegetarian, if you plan on consuming both eggs and dairy. Lots of vegetarian recipes can be heavy on cheese, so I would keep an eye out for that. It ends up being a lot of calories for not much nutrition.
I would keep an eye on your B12 if you don’t eat much of either, as it is found in animal products. Most multivitamins should have enough, but I’ve known vegans and vegetarians that have needed a supplement. Check with your doctor about that though. The guidelines for being a vegetarian are pretty lax. And you could always go pescatarin if you aren’t ready to give up fish. I did that as well. As long as you cut out the meat, you’re pretty much all set.
I have to agree, this is a pretty easy way to go at first, until you find a whole food alternative. I did it for a long time, getting ground soy protein and making goulash or tacos, and chick’n strips with veggies. I still eat it, just not as much, and beans are awesome! And lentils are quickly becoming my second fav.
I’m not sure what stores you have near you, but Gardein and Morningstar Farms are good for fake ‘meat’. If you’re lucky, you can get some of the Beyond Meat ground vegetable protein in either patty form, or a one pound package. It has beet juice, so when you cook it, it ‘bleeds’. I’ve tried it a few times, and it’s great. I would eat more Beyond Meat, and Impossible Foods (think the Impossible Whopper at BK) if it didn’t have coconut oil (allergy). Both are a little fatty, but better choices compared to beef. I think pescatarian would be a great option if you’re not ready to give everything up. I do miss salmon! With the pre-seasoned tuna packets available now, you could make an easy salad for lunches ahead of time with a variety of flavors.
I kept my meal prep for this week kind of easy. I received some news from my mom that has thrown me for a loop.
I made Baja Chipotle baked chicken and some sauteed veggies, a mix of zucchini, mushrooms, carrots and onions. For breakfast, I’m doing some breakfast sandwiches on whole wheat English muffins.
My daughter made strawberry scones for her breakfast. Majorly yummy! Her lunches are stir fried chicken and veggies with udon.
Actually, it was a bottled marinade that I picked up at the grocery. I marinated the chicken for a couple of hours and baked it at 350 for abut 30 minutes.
Today we’ll be caramelizing a 10 lb bag of onions, transforming a half dozen pre-roasted sweet potatoes into burger patties, making soup with the pre-roasted squash, mixing up a jar of vinaigrette, and cooking up batches of rice, millet, quinoa, pasta and sauce for lunches this week. Whew. Costco run tomorrow so another day of food prep. Weekends off from work are when we do all our other work!
Most of my life was spent as a vegetarian, vegan, or raw vegan and I worked for years in the alternative health field meeting many of the “gurus” of the movement, Gabriel Cousins, Brian Clement, David Wolfe (I do not recommend following that last one at all).
In all my years of practice, research, lectures, and serving people of all sorts of diets, my biggest take away is to use a nutrition tracker to evaluate the actual break down of any diet. This clearly indicates what you are getting enough and not enough of, no hype, drama, hyperbole, or rhetoric included.
A really great book is “The Vegetarian Myth” by Lierre Keith. It dispels a lot of the erroneous beliefs about the health and eco-impacts of vegetarianism. It can be done in a healthy way but so much of the justification is flat out wrong. Agriculture depends on a system that integrates animals, it’s a function of this planet that nothing lives without everything else in balance. It’s a really good read, highly recommended. Just don’t read the reviews first as it’s so incredibly controversial, they are misleading.
Oh, and I personally don’t eat anything that’s been super processed to appear as something else. Like what lab magic has to happen to soy beans to make them into cheese and meat crumbles I don’t know but that can’t be healthy to consume and it is certainly polluting factory manufacture.
For this week’s lunch, I’m making what I call a Mexi-salad, greens, my black bean/corn salad, jicama, taco seasoned ground turkey assorted sliced veggies (whatever I have on hand) and a goodly sprinkle of cheese. I use salsa and light sour cream as my dressing.
I’ve made a batch of my peanut butter banana bread for easy breakfast for my DH.
My daughter is making slow cooker sesame chicken to eat over rice. I think she’s decided to make her milk, tea, honey bread for her breakfast.
Oh my gosh, we worked all weekend. Huge shopping trip, cleaned out the fridge & freezers, then hours of cooking. We did caramelize that 10lb bag of onions, made a big pot of mashed potatoes, blanched & froze 2 bunches of kale, cubed blanched & dehydrated carrots, potatoes, and also a tray of corn & 2 of sliced tomatoes. Made falafel, tahini dressing, pasta sauce, cooked & froze 5lbs each of chicken & ground beef, roasted sweet potatoes & carrots, and made a big pot of squash & bean soup. One of the kids made a big batch of taco filling too. My house reeks of onions & spices and I am beat!
I eat gluten free (the dreaded celiac) and am also lactose intolerant (I do take an OTC which allows me to eat it in moderation) and do some serious meal prep every weekend. I cook for 2 and we eat out every Friday night. It’s our reward for finishing a full week of work. I typically don’t add salt to my meals since I believe ingredients generally have more salt than they need or meals don’t need salt to be tasty.
This weekend I cut up all the veggies I will need for the week for different meals and put them in baggies to cut down on the week’s meals. This is for one meal, for example. I am essentially making a crunch wrap that one would get from Taco Bell, but on a larger scale.
7 Gluten Free Spinach and Herb Tortillas in the pantry
1 can of refried beans
1 cup Shredded Cheese–1/2 cup pepper jack and 1/2 cup medium cheddar this time (add more if you would like, of course)
1 lb. cubed chicken (add more if you would like, or steak works well too) not cut up until tonight when I will start cooking–for a vegetarian meal, add tofu.
1 sliced medium green pepper and 1 sliced medium red pepper
1 diced medium red onion
1 & 1/2 cup baby spinach (this will wilt down significantly)
1 cup baby bella mushrooms
1 McCormick Fajita Seasoning Packet (prep as the directions state)
Prepare chicken with fajita mix, refried beans, and veggies on the stove top. Use seasoned cast iron skillet and place down 1 tortilla in the middle and use 5 to form flower petals around the outside of the skillet each touching the middle and competing a closure on the bottom of the pan. Add chicken mixture and cheese before closing off the entire wrap with the last tortilla and pulling in the petals hanging over the skillet. Place in the oven for 40 minutes at 400°. Remove from the skillet and place on a plate to cut after cooling for 5 min. This is a large meal for us and will yield leftovers for 2 adults.
You may add sour cream, salsa or more cheese on top if you would like. I also enjoy adding avocado slices on the side.
@geekgirl Also making one of these next week for a St. Paddy’s Day party I’m attending, we have been asked to bring green food by the host and this will work and feed the crowd.
I made a Greek barley salad for lunches this week - cucumbers, tomatoes, feta, red onion, kalamata olives, chopped kale, barley, Greek seasoning, olive oil, and red wine vinegar. It looks good - we’ll see how it is tomorrow!
For the upcoming week, I’m making roasted butternut squash soup and some savory breakfast “cookies”. I’ll most likely bake a load of pumpkin spice bread for the family.
My DD is doing her version of a bento box, with fruit, cheese, nuts and crackers… and some Pocky. . For breakfast, she’s making breakfast quesadillas.
. For breakfast, she’s making breakfast quesadillas.