Vegetarian-ness.
Hey hey, my lovelies.
I know at least one person here is vegetarian, and one head is better than none, so they say.
I'm sure someone says that.
I've decided to stop eating meat. I actually do think humans are made to eat small amounts of meat, in a seasonal kind of way, but I think the way we farm animals for meat is cruel to them, degrading to us, and terribly damaging to our world.
Ideally, I would give up dairy, as well, because the dairy industry freaks me out too, maybe even slightly more than meat industries. But I have to start somewhere, and I can't do it all at once.
So. The thing is, my husband and kids love meat. Husband is the type to peer questioningly at a plate of food, asking where the meat is. He thinks me becoming vegetarian is funny and I don't think he believes I can do it. I was eating veggie patties the other night while the others had steak and he said things like "just think how many trees were cleared to grow those vegetables". My actual logical responses about how meat farming takes up way more agricultural land than vegetable farming just get laughed off. And he honestly is just trying to be funny and I'm well used to ignoring his ridiculous opinions. But yeah, my point is, no support there, and I still need to cook meat meals for him and the kids.
It's been just over a week so far, though I haven't been strict. I finished the last of the frozen fishcakes. I figured it's better to eat them seeing as they're already in my freezer and no one else eats them. And I had a ridiculous weak moment when Noel and his friend brought home KFC for dinner (regretted it after a couple of bites, it wasn't even good). I've made a few vegetarian dishes (to husband's credit, he ate lentil bolognese without complaint). Other days I've substitued the meat with supermarket veggie patties. Last night I made beef pies and a spinach & cheese version for myself.
Any better ideas, for a person who has to do the cooking, about things that can be easily substituted would be awesome. And any general recipe ideas would be great too. Lentils, for example. I quite like them but the tinned ones are gross and I don't know what type of dried ones to get. They seem to have lots of different names. I know there are plenty of vegetarian & vegan recipe websites, but a lot of them seem to assume I'm some young single carefree person with heaps of time and lots of money and access to weird ingredients.
I need easy stuff - I thought maybe I can make up a batch of home made veggie patties ( I like the shop ones but that'll get expensive and they probably have additives I don't want) and things like the cheese & spinach pastries... stuff that I can have in the freezer ready to go when I don't have the time or inclination to cook two proper dishes.
Last thing - last time I had my blood checked (trying to donate blood), my haemoglobin was down. Still within normal levels but it had gone down from quite high to only barely okay. And that was while still eating plenty of meat. So I think I'll need to be careful to get enough iron. All I know about that is to get lots of dark leafy greens, and eat it with a source of vitamin C. Anything else I should know about that?
I think that's all. Just want some support and input, really. Ta. :-)
I know at least one person here is vegetarian, and one head is better than none, so they say.
I'm sure someone says that.
I've decided to stop eating meat. I actually do think humans are made to eat small amounts of meat, in a seasonal kind of way, but I think the way we farm animals for meat is cruel to them, degrading to us, and terribly damaging to our world.
Ideally, I would give up dairy, as well, because the dairy industry freaks me out too, maybe even slightly more than meat industries. But I have to start somewhere, and I can't do it all at once.
So. The thing is, my husband and kids love meat. Husband is the type to peer questioningly at a plate of food, asking where the meat is. He thinks me becoming vegetarian is funny and I don't think he believes I can do it. I was eating veggie patties the other night while the others had steak and he said things like "just think how many trees were cleared to grow those vegetables". My actual logical responses about how meat farming takes up way more agricultural land than vegetable farming just get laughed off. And he honestly is just trying to be funny and I'm well used to ignoring his ridiculous opinions. But yeah, my point is, no support there, and I still need to cook meat meals for him and the kids.
It's been just over a week so far, though I haven't been strict. I finished the last of the frozen fishcakes. I figured it's better to eat them seeing as they're already in my freezer and no one else eats them. And I had a ridiculous weak moment when Noel and his friend brought home KFC for dinner (regretted it after a couple of bites, it wasn't even good). I've made a few vegetarian dishes (to husband's credit, he ate lentil bolognese without complaint). Other days I've substitued the meat with supermarket veggie patties. Last night I made beef pies and a spinach & cheese version for myself.
Any better ideas, for a person who has to do the cooking, about things that can be easily substituted would be awesome. And any general recipe ideas would be great too. Lentils, for example. I quite like them but the tinned ones are gross and I don't know what type of dried ones to get. They seem to have lots of different names. I know there are plenty of vegetarian & vegan recipe websites, but a lot of them seem to assume I'm some young single carefree person with heaps of time and lots of money and access to weird ingredients.
I need easy stuff - I thought maybe I can make up a batch of home made veggie patties ( I like the shop ones but that'll get expensive and they probably have additives I don't want) and things like the cheese & spinach pastries... stuff that I can have in the freezer ready to go when I don't have the time or inclination to cook two proper dishes.
Last thing - last time I had my blood checked (trying to donate blood), my haemoglobin was down. Still within normal levels but it had gone down from quite high to only barely okay. And that was while still eating plenty of meat. So I think I'll need to be careful to get enough iron. All I know about that is to get lots of dark leafy greens, and eat it with a source of vitamin C. Anything else I should know about that?
I think that's all. Just want some support and input, really. Ta. :-)