No Meat May

StTrinians

Try the Cranks vegetarian cookbook. It has lots of ideas. My favourite is nut roast. It is very easy to make and you can serve it with peas and potatoes, or similar. Really, there are so many tasty, easy to cook meat free recipes, you won't miss meat at all. I really enjoy salads, with cheeses and avocado or humuus especially in the summer. Enjoy!

Meat is actually quite easy to cook and i love different recipes with other ingredients but they form a a widening of my eating world, not a restriction by replacing another food I also enjoy - meat. No matter how many delicious vegetraian meals I have at my command, they will never replace meat

No meat tonight - we had one of my ‘signature’ dustbin soups (as my mother used to call them), i.e. loads of whatever veg, pearl barley, grated cheese on top.
One veg and one chicken stock cube, though, so not entirely ‘pure’.

But a roast tomorrow, a FR chook.

Until he appeared all tarted up in a suit

😁

Mollygo

Allira

😁

I wonder what she was going to do with it all?!
The cartons of strawberries and other fruit together with the packs of Flower and White meringue clouds might be a hint.

Sounds good.
Oat or soya cream just taste the same!

Meat tonight I’m afraid…

Until he appeared all tarted up in a suit, I had completely forgotten that dh was eating at some do tonight. Just as well I hadn’t started on the dinner.

So I had one of our emergency Fray Bentos tinned pies (minced beef and onion) just with plenty of green beans out of the freezer.

Thoroughly lazy, and I certainly enjoyed both it, and the zero preparation factor. 🙂

Allira

😁

I wonder what she was going to do with it all?!
The cartons of strawberries and other fruit together with the packs of Flower and White meringue clouds might be a hint.

Grandmabatty

Why is eating fish more than once a week unhealthy? I've never heard that

Me neither. We eat lots of fish and sea food.

Eating fish twice a week is generally considered healthy rather than unhealthy and is actually recommended by the American Heart Association for heart health. It provides essential omega-3 fatty acids and protein while avoiding high saturated fats. However, it is important to choose low-mercury fish and avoid frying them to maximize benefits.
Source: Mayo Clinic.

Wrong thread!

😁

I wonder what she was going to do with it all?!

Toast and homemade jam
Three strawberries for lunch, but need something else now!
Quiche and salad (perhaps) for dinner

The best vv laugh I’ve had in a while, was standing behind a young woman at the checkout today as she told the cashier about how she only buys oat milk now because . . .
Very virtuous, except she had several 250ml cartons of Longley Farm double cream, because none of the other stuff tastes as good.

We had a prawn risotto tonight. Not expensive, I use half a pack of the cheap tiddlers from Asda.

Try the Cranks vegetarian cookbook. It has lots of ideas. My favourite is nut roast. It is very easy to make and you can serve it with peas and potatoes, or similar. Really, there are so many tasty, easy to cook meat free recipes, you won't miss meat at all. I really enjoy salads, with cheeses and avocado or humuus especially in the summer. Enjoy!

We have a veggie meal once a week. (or accidentally more often) .My DH doesn't like the idea, but he likes the food - I often rename recipes so they sound more traditional especially if there are lentils - he enjoys them (if he doesn't know he's going to be eating them..)
I don't do this primarily for health or animal welfare, but because eating vegetables is better for the environment (if you watch the airmiles by eating seasonally, anyway).

We're also choosing to use up mushrooms.

Chardonnay Mushrooms were a lovely starter.

I might do a cauliflower curry for my dinner
Maybe.
Or, more likely, toast.

To the question: Fried lentils and Cauliflower is very tasty.

M0nica

I have no concerns about my health. As I have always said we are omnivores. Meat forms part of our diet but not a large part,

Mote importantly, I think the health effects of eating meat depends on the type of meat you are eating. Modern cattle rearing methods reuire animals to eat fodder like soya and maize, which would not form part of their diet in the wild and can cause constant low-grade health problems. Many are reared in sheds and do not get a chance to express their natural behaviours. And when it comes to American cattle rearing methods.....

This is why I only buy organic, Pasture for Life or wild meat. Several decades ago the American food writer and academic, Michael Pollen cam up with the mantra ^ Eat well, not to much, most of it plants^. It sums up my attitude to eating to.

He has another mantra ^ If it was made from a plant eat it, if it was made in a plant don't^ ie eat from scratch not factory made foods.

I was inarticulate.

I should've typed 'Anyone could care about their health'. It seems to me promoting fruit and veg, any month is good for health.

I have no concerns about my health. As I have always said we are omnivores. Meat forms part of our diet but not a large part,

Mote importantly, I think the health effects of eating meat depends on the type of meat you are eating. Modern cattle rearing methods reuire animals to eat fodder like soya and maize, which would not form part of their diet in the wild and can cause constant low-grade health problems. Many are reared in sheds and do not get a chance to express their natural behaviours. And when it comes to American cattle rearing methods.....

This is why I only buy organic, Pasture for Life or wild meat. Several decades ago the American food writer and academic, Michael Pollen cam up with the mantra ^ Eat well, not to much, most of it plants^. It sums up my attitude to eating to.

He has another mantra ^ If it was made from a plant eat it, if it was made in a plant don't^ ie eat from scratch not factory made foods.

M0nica, You do not need to be a vagetarian to care about the welfare of animals. You're Correct Correct Correct

You also could perhaps care about your health. We're vegans for our health, additionally animal welfare is a grave concern.

Apart from health and animal welfare, I'm not keen on meat.

Tonight we’re having a substantial minestrone, with a tin of butter beans and a lot of veg as well as pasta. With garlic bread and probably some grated cheese if I can be bothered.

Well I enjoyed my kedgeree tonight. Going to have it more often I think.

You do not need to be a vagetarian to care about the welfare of animals. This has always been a concern of mine which is why all the meat I buy is Pasture for Life and all the chicken I eat is organic. All salmon is wild not farmed and so on.

I agree that my ideas on animal welfare may not accord with a vegetarians, but that does not make it less valid.

Titian1948

If you're going to eat poultry and fish, it defeats the point really. A dead animal is still a dead animal. The Roman Gladiators were primarily vegetarian and I can imagine their appetite surpassed yours. Betty Driver (born 1920) who played Betty Turpin in Coronation Street was a lifelong vegetarian and actually hates having to serve Lancashire HotPot on the set of the Rovers Return. I have been vegetarian for 36 years and have a huge appetite too. I don't see my meals as side dishes. I think you're looking at the prospect of going without meat for month with the idea that you'll be disappointed, so therefore nothing non meat you eat during May will not be good enough for you. If you're not committed to cutting down or cutting out meat on a long term basis, then please don't bother. People who partake in events like this solely as virtue signalling damage the reputation of the people who genuinely care about the welfare of animals. If you wouldn't eat your pet, the please treat all animals with the same compassion and don't eat meat/poultry or fish either.

I think this is a little harsh.

Anyone trying a vegetarian day, week or month is giving some thought to the farming, treatment and slaughter of animals.

Trying different recipes and embracing vegetarian food is all for the good, even if it makes you more aware of what you are eating or if you eat less ,eat then this is surely a positive thing.

I had a mother who was a poor and resentful cook, the only vegetarian meal she could produce was egg and chips, a lot of were brought up with meat and two veg so we are perhaps less knowledgeable about vegetarian food than our children.

We eat lots of imaginative vegetarian food but my husband still pulls a face when there is no meat, it’s habit.

Homemade nut loaf: cook it, cool it, slice it & freeze; we have the slices where we might otherwise have a chop or chicken breast, with new potatoes & veg; the slices are also very nice in a sandwich.
Similarly, homemade burgers: black bean are our favourite.
Whatever we cook, we always do a large batch so there's plenty of future meals in the freezer.
Tinned pulses make a vegetable casserole more filling; we also make liberal use of nuts (walnuts darken the colour & make it taste richer, cashews are just a lovely addition).
Quinoa is considered to be the most complete form of meat-free protein; again, we add it to stews & casseroles, or sometimes just cook it plain as a side dish/salad extra.

We eat chicken once a week at most, & red meat once a month; most fish makes me ill, so apart from an occasional tin of tuna, I don't eat it at all - and there are numerous vegetarian alternatives that also make me ill (tofu especially)

ferry23

Thanks so much to those of you who posted all these recipes and ideas, I shall be giving lots of them a go!

Those who came along and judged, moralised, patronised, preached and denigrated - your opinions were neither requested or valid so I have ignored them.

Well said ferry23.

You now have plenty of lovely recipes to try. Bon appetit!