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I can understand this dilemma. I decided to pursue vegetarianism when I moved out. [I'm 22, for context]
Before I moved out, my mom made a lot of my meals and I didn't want her to prepare two meals. I also wasn't very skilled at making a lot of vegetarian dishes so I figured once I moved out, I'd be forced to learn vegetarian meals, and that would be that.
I dated a meat eater and prepared meat dishes for her sometimes (and she was accommodating and cooked vegan meals for me). I didn't like cooking meat, but I liked her more than my disgust in cooking meat. If I ever have a girlfriend move in with me and she ate meat, I'd probably have her prepare the meat she eats.
I like thriftylefty's idea of making basic dishes that the meat-eaters can add meat to should they decide to.
You might even be able to make some vegetarian dishes that your family may not even realize are vegetarian. I prepared vegan chili for my former gf and I and she remarked that the mock ground beef I used resembled and tasted a lot like ground beef. It was the LightLife Gimme Lean product, if you're interested. I've tried a few ground beef imitations and this one is the best, IMO.
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.
I am a new vegetarian at the old, old age of 41. I make one dish, but add the meat ingredient last so that I can reserve my portion before adding the meat. Or if I make a casserole, one half is meat, the other half is veggie. I have introduced my husband to Meatless Mondays for our health, and as I get better at cooking meatless main dishes (so that they are tasy and filling...I am not there yet) I hope to gradually get the rest of the family on board.
This describes my situation to a "T". DW and I are temporarily separated due to work reasons. We have been living apart since July and won't reunite until this July, so one year. While on my own, I have reverted to a vegetarian diet-no meat or fish at all. I do drink milk, maybe a gallon a week. But when she gets back this will all change because she will want to buy meat, but it's never a lot.
I am a new vegetarian at the old, old age of 41. I make one dish, but add the meat ingredient last so that I can reserve my portion before adding the meat. Or if I make a casserole, one half is meat, the other half is veggie. I have introduced my husband to Meatless Mondays for our health, and as I get better at cooking meatless main dishes (so that they are tasy and filling...I am not there yet) I hope to gradually get the rest of the family on board.
So what are you fixing that is vegetarian but NOT tasty or filling? These might be easier fixes than you realize...
You can get people use to eating meals with out meat by preparing meals that traditionally don't include meat. Red beans with rice, quiche and there are a variety of Pizza ideas that don't use meat. Even the old standbys ;PBJ's, mac'n cheese have been around forever. Sometimes breakfast for dinner can be meatless
Once people become accustomed to not seeing that piece of meat on the plate three times a day they will at least only expect it on special occasions.
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!
My son became a vegan as a college freshman 5 years ago and hasn't wavered at all. He climbs "fourteeners" (14,000' mountains), and not the ones in Colorado where you start 7,000+ ft. up, but the ones in the Cascades and Sierras where you go from sea level to the top. He also has run a marathon. All on a vegan diet. There's a well-known vegan powerlifter, whose name escapes me. You don't need animal protein to complete a long bike ride. It won't hurt, of course, but it's not necessary.
My son became a vegan as a college freshman 5 years ago and hasn't wavered at all. He climbs "fourteeners" (14,000' mountains), and not the ones in Colorado where you start 7,000+ ft. up, but the ones in the Cascades and Sierras where you go from sea level to the top. He also has run a marathon. All on a vegan diet. There's a well-known vegan powerlifter, whose name escapes me. You don't need animal protein to complete a long bike ride. It won't hurt, of course, but it's not necessary.
Thanks, ukiyo-e! Your son is a youngster. MrBongo is a 60+ year old athlete who wants to have more yogurt, eggs & salmon in his diet. You are correct that it is not necessary. But for whatever is the etiology, it makes him feel better!
ps I too climbed the 14ers on a vegan/vegetarian diet! My backpacking girlfriends & I have been backpacking sections of the Colorado trail at our age, me eating vegan backpack food LOL.
The big challenge for me is to find instant, lightweight backpacking/camping food like bulgar, dehydrated apricots, polenta, instant hummus, nuts & seeds etc. that doesn't have high sodium (instant refried beans, split pea soup, corn chowder, black bean soup) but has high calorie content.
Thanks, ukiyo-e! Your son is a youngster. MrBongo is a 60+ year old athlete who wants to have more yogurt, eggs & salmon in his diet. You are correct that it is not necessary. But for whatever is the etiology, it makes him feel better!
ps I too climbed the 14ers on a vegan/vegetarian diet! My backpacking girlfriends & I have been backpacking sections of the Colorado trail at our age, me eating vegan backpack food LOL.
The big challenge for me is to find instant, lightweight backpacking/camping food like bulgar, dehydrated apricots, polenta, instant hummus, nuts & seeds etc. that doesn't have high sodium (instant refried beans, split pea soup, corn chowder, black bean soup) but has high calorie content.
Heck, make a big slab of polenta according to your own recipe, slice it into fingers, and dip it in your own salsa, chili or whatever you like. Even homemade applesauce is good on polenta. Ditto the hummus. I personally recommend the unsweetened dry pineapple rings for dessert.
We love those dehydrated pineapple rings, blueberries, apricots, MANGOS! And of course good dark chocolate!!
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I make one dish, but add the meat ingredient last so that I can reserve my portion before adding the meat. Or if I make a casserole, one half is meat, the other half is veggie. I have introduced my husband to Meatless Mondays for our health, and as I get better at cooking meatless main dishes (so that they are tasy and filling...I am not there yet) I hope to gradually get the rest of the family on board.
