Eat less meat but.......

Certainly substitute any rare or expensive ingredient for something more common and cheaper

Substitute the word 'ingredient' with 'people' and you have a recipe for a quiet life.

MOnica and tidy, the 'peasant' food I remember as 'student food' from my younger days. People would cook something filling, either vegetarian or with a tiny bit of meat in it.

pinkquartz, you said:

'The planet is also in danger from deforestation to clear land to grow crops to make veggie/vegan foods.......it is not a simple issue of stop eating meat.'

That's wrong, it's the crops grown to feed animals for meat that are the problem. We'd need less land to feed more people if they were vegan.

vegansci.com/2017/03/12/animals-account-for-85-of-uk-food-land-footprint/

It takes 15 pounds of plant-based material to make 1 pound of meat. Do not tell me that deforestation is being assisted by people going veggie!
Secondly 'it's quite hard to have a balanced vegan diet'? Really? NHS website says B12 supplement (and make sure you're getting enough iron (green veg?) And calcium)
If you don't want to give up meat and fish - fine. But putting other people iff by perpetuating myths is indefensible

Umm, this wasn’t intended as a vegan/anti vegan thread.

More about my own personal problem with beans and pulses?

I’ve got no intention of going vegan. But why the B12 supplement.? At what point in the balance of meat vs no meat would you need it?

I really don’t like the supplement industry.

Eglantine21, I'm not a fan of supplements either. I've been vegetarian for 50 odd years and have never needed them. Therefore it's not a problem for you. One of my daughters is vegan and takes B12 but that's because she doesn't have any animal products at all.

I don't think it's a for or against/anti discussion, rather a choice of options about diet. Obviously, people eating far less meat would reduce the environmental problems dramatically.

Good advice MOnica. I have problems with beans but can eat small quantities of tinned chickpeas or green lentils whic have been thoroughly rinsed. The substance that causes many of us to have problems with beans leaches out into the liquid in the tin so keeping the portion small and rinsing well generally works. I use them to bulk out meat dishes but you can also find good vegetarian recipes that don’t use beans if you Google “Low FODMAP vegetarian recipes”.

Simply add a bit of sugar(half a tsp) when cooking the beans and your problem will be sorted.

Generally, the sweeter the bean, the easier it is to digest. I've always found canned beans easier to digest than those I've cooked from dried. Start with smaller quantities e.g. in soups, and experiment with dishes that combine both meat and beans (e.g. chilli con carne; cassoulet; chicken casserole & chickpeas - you can do this with any meat casserole dish - just add in some beans) BUT if you're doing this for the planet, bear in mind that it's not meat per se that's the problem, it's the INTENSIVE rearing of animals that is doing the damage - too many animals; too many antibiotics (needed because they're reared in such intensive spaces); slurry (fouling water courses); methane. We've switched to higher welfare, higher price meat and just eat less of it (and have 4 meat-free days every week when we have beans, lentils, tofu, quorn, etc. We're experimenting with dishes. Last night it was roasted vegetables with feta cheese melted over the top; this morning for breakfast, instead of bacon we had fried slices of halloumi - delicious. It doesn't have to be beans ...

I agree red lentils as soup or as a thick sauce cooked with carrots and onions plus veg oxo cube is not too windy or loosening.

Nuts are a good veg protein source. Peanut butter on best sourdough bread is quite delicious. Not windy or loosening at all.

Thanks for the tips. I’ll definitely try rinsing the beans. I’ve bean putting the liquid in. Also the sugar to see if that helps.
Red lentils are ok-ish, chick peas the worst!

Unfortunately Alexa, I have a nut allergy which is why I’ve probably been overdoing the beans ?

There are many ways to make your own impact on climate change. Why not try to reduce single use plastics, the ubiquitous anti-bacterial wipes, chemical cleaning sprays, walk more or use public transport (some hopes where I live ?) etc. and go back to a diet that your body can cope with?

beans and pulses turn me out too. i just stick to vegetables....peas/carrots the usual stuff.....i cant eat lentils/rice/pulses/. i have IBS. dont put milk/cream in casseroles either. stock cubes is fine.. every thing these days has ONIONS/GARLIC AND PALM OIL. SO I JUST STICK TO FRESH VEG. and no beans .though i did have beans on toast sunday lunch.omg next day beans in the loo......

When I said earlier that saving the planet is about more than reducing meat I had NOT thought to include this and am upset. I eat good chocolate, usually dark and eco aware but really are we going to kill an entire forest for money?

see link
www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/oct/16/ivory-coast-law-could-see-chocolate-industry-wipe-out-protected-forests

I think the problem is Big Business. Not eating meat.
All things in moderation and as an ex-veggie my meat consumption remains low

Eating less meat doesn't have to all be about plant-based diets, although if you're aiming for veganism it probably does. I don't eat meat but I do eat cheese and a lot of quorn, which doesn't seem to have the same effect as beans do! I would try and keep the bean intake down for a while and introduce them gradually so that your body can adjust.

???

I will have to research and add later but I am told that cows are producing methane which is not carbon?

Does anyone on here know more about this?

Quorn is weird. It is a fungus that used to be grown on egg white....so if that was true it would not be vegan.
I can't go near it as am highly allergic and have been very ill form eating it back before I knew better and I was a veggie.
it is totally manufactured.

Many people are allergic to dairy. I have been allergic to cows dairy all my life. Luckily I find Goats dairy cheese tasty and am happy with that.

What a pity! I have been vegetarian for 50 years and have no problems with eating any kind of pulse. Love garlic too.

I have heard (on tv the other night) they are producing low methane cows.

(I'll have some of what they're eating)

Cows produce methane, the same way as we do, by f**ting.

Carbon is not the only greenhouse gas, methane is another one. According to the EDF site www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=affects+of+methane+on+the+climate While methane doesn't linger as long in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, it is initially far more devastating to the climate because of how effectively it absorbs heat. In the first two decades after its release, methane is 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

What we do about the methane produced by bogs and marshes, not to mention volcanoes, is a bit problematic and probably a bigger problem than cows, whose methane production can be limited by the diet they are fed, then there is human methane...........

Eglantine, can you eat peanuts? I understand these are not actually nuts.

I just stopped meat mainly because I ate so little I spent 8 years complete vegetarian then started eating turkey and chicken (Ive not been interested in any red meat for about 23 years) now this year I cut it all out again I m not strict I don’t read every label for any flavourings etc etc but I just don’t really feel the need for meat but if someone cooked my a chicken dish I d eat it I eat eggs cheese milk I m not vegan
I love pulses, lentils veggies and beans but you can eat a perfectly good meat free diet without beans in it just up your veggies and fruit ...beans don’t suit everyone