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It is much easier when everyone in the house eats the same kinds of foods....my husband and I are retired and eat a plant-based diet....this would have been very difficult when we had children but I know some people do it.
This.
I've always had an interest in being "meat free" but it's always been difficult to make the transition with a house full of meat eaters.
I'm not all that fond of cooking in the first place so I've just always just gone with the family flow of cooking with and eating meat and trying to slip a meatless meal in once in a while - such as homemade mac and cheese or vegetarian lasagna - rather than cooking separately for them and myself.
I'm down to one kid at home - and he graduates high school in June - and I look forward to when I can cook what I want without having to listen to anyone complain about how he's not a vegetarian.
I told him the other day that I was planning on fixing a meal of homemade veggie burgers, vegetarian baked beans, and potato salad, and he acted like I was going to try to poison him.
I do use less meat in recipes than I used to. For instance, I put a lot of shredded zucchini in the freezer last summer and now, when I'm cooking something with ground beef, instead of a full pound of meat, I use a half to three quarters of a pound and make up the difference with shredded zucchini. Tonight I'm fixing a chicken stir fry - heavy on the veggies and light on the chicken.
Besides having had a forty year interest in vegetarianism, there are other reasons that I'm going to head in that direction - the fact that I am in a position to produce much of my own food, including my protein requirements - I have chickens and ducks for eggs and a milk goat for milk. I've been working on making my own cheese and yogurt, and in fact, used my own homemade cottage cheese (first attempt) for the vegetarian lasagna I made a couple of weeks ago. Now to get to work on mozzarella!
Anyway, I have been collecting vegetarian cookbooks for years and have tons of recipes bookmarked and saved and I will probably be spending more and more time on this forum for help and support.
I have always been the one who prepares meals in my family, and my husband does clean-up. I became a vegetarian in 1995-6 (gradual process). I told my husband that I would no longer feel comfortable cooking meat. He understood and decided that he would eat meat at lunch and at other times when he was out of the house rather than preparing meat for himself. After six months or so, he told me that he had lost interest in meat and didn't feel as good when he ate it for lunch. Then he went vegetarian. I went vegan in 1999, and I stopped preparing non-vegan food. We went through the same drill, and he went vegan about two-three years later. Through the process he became informed about animal and health issues and is every bit as passionate about veganism as I am.
My kids were born in 1995 and 1997. They have never eaten meat. They went vegan very young because we are raising them with our values. I know it would have been harder if they had been older when we made the switch. For me, it would have been extremely difficult to continue to participate in something that I had come to feel was morally wrong. I am fortunate that I am married to someone who didn't want me to have to go through that.
I am fortunate that I am married to someone who didn't want me to have to go through that.
I think having the support of your partner can make all the difference.
And while I have been a single parent for over seventeen years, by the time my meat eating husband left the family, the two older boys were old enough to have been pretty well indoctrinated as meat eaters and the transition would have been difficult.
My husband has been incredibly supportive all these years with our whole foods, grains, legumes, veggie diet. Now, however, we are seniors and he is a senior athlete trying to train for a 800 mile bike ride. So for him, we have added salmon, eggs & yogurt into the diet for their nutritional value. It will be interesting to see how it impacts our athletic prowess, although our diet is 95% vegetarian. So family cooperation in diet works both ways!
When I had all the kids at home I cooked meals which had meat as a side dish. They were free to eat it or not. When we had burgers mine had everything on it but the meat. You can cook chili by having a separate pot with seasoned meat and one with seasoned vegetables. This allows you to "add" meat to each individuals bowl as they desire. You can also gauge the portion of meat children are eating.
It is tricky when some one else cooks. I don't expect them to make special allowances for me while at the same time I don't like to insult another person efforts by not eating something like lasagne.
You can cook chili by having a separate pot with seasoned meat and one with seasoned vegetables. This allows you to "add" meat to each individuals bowl as they desire.
Why not just make chili with beans instead of meat? Would someone kick about it?
Why not just make chili with beans instead of meat? Would someone kick about it?
I have close relatives, who I love to death , but they have been known to go out and buy fast food chicken or Big Mac's to eat with a dinner I cooked. They can't shake their dependence on meat not even for a singe meal.
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