I want to become a vegetarian, need some good recipes to convince my husband meals are fine without meat!?

Question

My entire family loves meat, but after seeing a video about KFC's slaughter houses I don't think I can ever buy meat again. I knew they where not killed with kindness but I had no idea how bad the animals where treated. I need some really good recipes because my husband is a "meat and potatoes" kind of guy and I need to convince him vegetarian meals are just as good! I am also wondering if cutting out the meat will cut down our grocery bill? We are on a tight budget and if he see's less money going towards the store I think he would be more open minded about the change.

Answer 1

Learn to cook without meat and make it seem it seem like you did. If you don't have a BBQ, buy one. People associate that smoky flavor with charred flesh, but its really all about the charcoal or wood chips you use. It WILL be cheaper without a doubt if you use bulk TVP and homemade seitan or even grilled extra firm tofu as your main meat replacements instead of pre-made frozen stuff at the store.

I'm vegan and these are some of my favorite things to eat:

Breakfast: bananas, cream of wheat with brown sugar and soy butter, cereal, pancakes or french toast with real maple syrup, vegan "sausage" patties, smoothies.

Snack: BRUSSEL SPROUTS =) no joke

Lunch: vegan "sausage" sandwiches, sandwiches with vegan deli slices(Tofurkey is the only one that's kinda funky), fruit, dinner leftovers, couscous salad, vegan sushi, potato or pasta salad.

Dinner: sloppy joes, "sausage" and gravy with homemade biscuits, Spaghetti and Trader Joe's "meatballs" or TVP, lasagna, Thai pad see ew, pad khi mao(drunkard's noodles), pad prig king, tofu+eggplant with basil sauce, yellow thai curry with tofu or vegan chikn and veggies and jasmine rice, Indian dal with homemade roti or dosai, channa masala, aloo gobi, vegetable or minestrone soup, pizza, STEAMED "PORK" BUNS with potstickers or spring rolls, sweet&sour/orange/lemon chikn, vegan pho or wonton soup, baked tofu, BBQ homemade seitan (tastes like BBQ'd ribs), kabobs

I use these sites to find recipes:
http://www.foodnetwork.com
http://vegweb.com
http://www.recipezaar.com

You can go to a veggie restaurant and steal ideas.
http://www.happycow.com/browse

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There have been vegan Olympic gold medalists and a vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Lewis
http://www.eatright.org/cps/rde/xchg/ada/hs.xsl/advocacy_933_ENU_HTML_(Draft).htm

Here are some more veg people:
http://www.mikemahler.com/index.html
http://www.vegetarianbodybuilder.com/index2.html
http://www.veganbodybuilding.com/?page=bios
http://www.andreascahling.com/andreas-about
http://www.billpearl.com/career.asp
http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-23-27/Salim-Stoudamire-Runs-on-Broccoli.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Danzig
http://www.scottjurek.com/career.php
http://www.nfl.com/players/rickywilliams/profile?id=WIL271115
http://www.brendanbrazier.com/raceresults/index.html

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If you want to become a lacto-ovo vegetarian, the transition should be quite simple. Almost all meats have widely available commercial replacements. All that you have to do is replace any flesh in your diet (beef, pork, poultry, seafood) with meat analogs or just leave it out altogether.

You should keep in mind that a journey such as this can be quite short but should just be the beginning of a longer one to a plant-based diet with no animal products. This is because of the reality of factory farming in which animals that are kept alive to produce milk, eggs, etc suffer much more and longer than animals that are raised to a certain weight and then slaughtered.http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/
http://meat.org
Some people use the word "vegan" in reference to this idea, but be aware that applying that label to yourself should always come with the inclusion of wise activism and advocacy.http://www.veganoutreach.org/advocacy/index.html
Two extremely important examples of this are that you should never speak to someone about vegetarianism/veganism without their consent and genuine interest or as a comment on what they are eating AND your dietary beliefs should never be used as an introduction or explanation of who you are as a person. Veg*ism should be something that comes up AFTER people get to know you and they offer you a situation that makes it confusing to withhold the information/discussion. Also, if you are presented something that you choose not to eat or you are
ordering food/eating together somewhere/picking the best place to eat.

When you you hold off on the subject until it's necessary and then act like it isn't a big deal at all, people are usually surprised and WAY more interested and curious than if you were to bring it up when someone's eating or just using it as a conversation starter.

A responsible vegan ALWAYS studies the subject of their own health and how to keep their body completely provided for in every sense. http://www.veganhealth.org/sh
To neglect their body is to define a plant-based diet as unhealthy and is the opposite of helping the animals.

Just to clear things up, the vegetarian/vegan diet is not composed of salads, vegetables, fruit and fake meat. Fruits and vegetables are always important but they DO NOT make up the largest portion of any healthy diet.
A balanced plant-based diet includes grains(breads, pasta, rice,cereal), legumes(soy, beans, peas, lentils), fruit and vegetables.
http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/food_groups.html
http://www.peta.org/accidentallyVegan/
http://www.veganoutreach.org/whyvegan/eating.html
Being vegan can be an art, one whose challenge is to take things that involve the suffering of the innocent and change them into something free of cruelty.

A vegan woman can create an ENTIRELY NEW,HEALTHY HUMAN BEING INSIDE OF HER. Many of these children stay vegan and grow up to be perfectly healthy adults. So just keep yourself educated about what you eat and don't let anyone tell you that a veg diet is lacking anything essential.

Technically the term "vegetarian" does imply that you don't consume anything that comes from the body of an animal that requires killing it. Many ingredients such as gelatin and glycerin are found in many candies, Fig-Newtons, and many of other foods as well as rennet found in many cheeses.
http://www.happycow.net/health-animal-ingredients.html
The best thing to remember is to take your time so that for example: when you are comfortable not eating beef and pork you can then give up chicken when you are sure you can make the commitment permanently.
Depending on your age or reliance on parents or regional options, it may not be best to give yourself a label. The important thing is to do your best to make progress and be committed to your compassion towards animals. Never put your focus onto what you or other people use to describe yourself.

If you meet someone that talks down to people for eating meat, dairy, etc or to you because they think they are "more veg" than you, laugh in their face and tell them they are a disgrace to the entire philosophy. People like this only hurt the idea of veg*ism AND the animals. The point of all of this is to live compassionately and and as free from cruelty as you can, all the while maintaining your health and a positive attitude. People who don't maintain either, need not open their mouths and represent our beliefs.

If you actually choose to read all of this, I hope it helps. If not, feel free to e-mail me if you have questions.

Answer 2

First of all, congratulations!
It will be really nice when you just walk right on passed the meats and see how low your bill comes to! Veggie meals are more healthful, so you may try to find recipes on many of the websites. Just make sure that you start out slowly so that you feel confident about how to prepare the meals. You don't have to go overboard all at once.
You may make some meals throughout the week that are "meat free" nights/lunches, etc. Introducing a meat-eater this way is easier. Before you do too much 'ranting' about no meats, back up what you say to inspire him. He may not know that eating a cup of beans [yum! mexican food ] is pretty much all that's required for protein vs. meats, an sooo much cheaper!

Find some interesting facts such as a nice 'nutritional' list of the fruits/veggies showing how much vitamins/minerals there are in the foods. Just do a search on the web! I was suprised myself to find how much vit. C is in red bellpeppers compared to oranges! He can still be a "meat' and potatoes" man on a vegetarian diet! Good Luck!

Answer 3

I love the Moosewood cookbook by Molly Katzen. Very, very delicious!

Why don't you cut out the meat for yourself, and prepare a little meat as a sidedish for your husband? Something easy like weiners, or a little hamburger? I know you'll still be buying it, but you'll be buying less, and it may ease the transition.

You could also look into humanely killed animals, and try fish.

As to whether it will cut your grocery bills -- well, it depends on your area, and what kind of meat you were buying. Also, are you interested in growing your own stuff? Lettuce, anyway, is quite easy.

You might look in the library too to see if they carry the Vegetarian Times, which has lots of great recipes and good arguments.

I'm not a vegetarian, but I'm interested in reducing the amount of meat I eat, so I've checked out several cookbooks.

Answer 4

www.vegweb.com for recipes.

Also try "The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook" by Robin Robertson for hearty animal-friendly recipes.

I've listed in my profile tips for preparing tofu. At the Whole Foods near my home, a pound of their store-brand tofu is about $1.59, and even the Nasoya is less than $2. At Trader Joe's, they have tofu for even less than that. I usually get three meals out of a pound of tofu.

Tempeh is a little more expensive, but it's good as chops, in stir fries, and crumbled into chili or pasta sauce

You can buy veggie crumbles to put into tacos, pasta sauce, and chili.

Check out the following companies: Amy's (www. amys.com), Lightlife (www.lightlife.com), and Yves (www.yvesveggie.com) for vegetarian convenience foods. Tofurkey (www.tofurkey.com) makes hearty vegan sausages and deli slices.

Does your husband like stir-frys? You can use tofu, tempeh, seitan (wheat gluten), or many of the veggie strips that Lightlife or Morningstar Farms makes in place of meat.

Some of the convenience items are a little expensive, but they're also not as bad for you as meat items.

Good luck!

Answer 5

I am not a vegetarian, nor know of any good V. recipes. But I must admit that Stouffer's Vegetarian lasagna is AWESOME!! And Papa Murphy's Gourmet Vegetarian pizza is loved by everyone I know who eats meat...it has fresh spinach, fresh zucchini, fresh mushrooms, artichoke hearts, Roma tomatoes, and onion mix..

Answer 6

http://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/apr/dairy.htm
This article is on Veggie sources of protien.
Dr. John McDougall's newsletter is a start for you. Sign up it's free.
2nd. Try doing Veggie for yourself, & just add his meat portion (4 or 5 oz. no more) to the meal. Do not force your wants or needs on to him. He may surprise you my own husband eats more Veggie than not now days ~ Happily. That has always been my apparoch.

Answer 7

W/o telling him substitute the fake ground beef in your meatball and spagatti recipe, sloppy joe, etc. Don't tell him what you are up to until he has had a half-dozen meals. If all goes well you can spring it on him, by saying, "remember how you really liked the sloppy joes on Tuesday and was wondering what I did differently, well there was no meat it was soy."

Answer 8

Thick potato soup
you need: mashing potatoes, onions, leeks, carrots, kidney beans (I always use tinned) and vegetable stock.
boil potatoes n onions for about 1/2 hour then pour off some of the water. Add vegetable stock(in powder form directly into the water you have got poatoes in), carrots and leeks and simmer for another 20 -30 mins. Take off more of the water (if you want) to get it to the consistency you like. Just add rinsed kidney beans 5 mins before the end (they don't have to be cooked, just warmed up) hope you can convince them :))

Chunky pasta sauce:
you need: tin of chopped tomatoes, 1 courgette, 1 onion, 1 red pepper.
gently fry onion, courgette n red pepper gently in a normal pan for 5/10 min. to soften (don't let them burn)then add tin of chopped tomatoes and a little mild chilli powder and simmer for 10/15 min. serve with pasta of your choice!(and grated cheese is nice with this too but be careful it doesnt contain animal rennet!!)you can also add fresh tomatoes too if you have some that need using up - just whack them in with the onion, courgette and pepper so they soften up.

Answer 9

Well aren't you the selfish one. Just because YOU can't ever buy meat again, you are going to shove your ideas and beliefs down your entire families throat.

You can share your beliefs with him and the rest of the family and leave it up to him if the entire family wants to go along with the idea. It's their choice. You can try some veggie head recipes, but it best not be the ONLY thing on the table for those who still want meat.

If some still want to eat meat, what are you going to do? Leave the family and join some vegan commune?

And NO to those who like meat, chicken, fish, etc. . . meals are not "just as good". It not always about YOU.

Answer 10

GoVeg.com has lots of great ides-You can even subscribe to weekly e-mails with vegetarian recipes :)

Answer 11

Try using substitute meats and making a sheapherds pie, veggie tocos, chili with brown rice, and stir fry with soy chicken strips.