becoming a vegetarian?

[Guest guest]

Tabby, check out Vegetarian Times, they have a section on simple dishes.

There are some great cookbooks out there, the recipes may seem complicated only

because they are different and/or use different ingredients than you are used

to now. At least for me that was the case for a while. Maybe find a few die

hard favorites (mac and cheese, cheese & bean quesadillas come to mind with

the kids) for some weeknights and experiment with a side dish. We do that a lot

and call them 'grading dishes'. Thumbs up or thumbs down.

I used to hate tofu too, but with experimentation I have found some recipes

I like. Are your kids picky? Mine love rice with anything, they will scoop it

up with noori and wrap it with some mochi (not sure I'm remembering the name

right, I haven't bought it in a while), they love Ethopian lentil dishes with

the Injera bread, California rolls, etc.)

 

Good luck!! There are a ton of good recipes in the files to play with! (I

especially love the faux crabcakes, and any soup goes over big this time of

year; potato-leek, minestrone, cabbage, lentil, split pea sans ham, miso soup,).

Amy

 

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[Guest guest]

Hi you guys, I have been on here for a while, I dont say much but

occasionaly I will write down a recipie or 2, anyhow, I wish to become

a vegetarian but I find it so hard. My kids which are 5, 3 ,and 1 and

my husband, well they have been eating meat all there lives and so

have I. How do you stop? Do you really save on money? Vegetarian meals

seem to take a lot more time preparing then meat based meals, are

there any really good fast meals? If we did become vegetarians it

would be ovo, lacto ones. I absolutly hate tofu or any of the fake

meat so I want to avoid all that. If you guys could help me it would

be so great, thanks, Tabby

[Guest guest]

How you become a vegetarian is the easy part, you just decide to stop eating

meat. The kids are yong enough to eat chat they are given, but you do need to

have your husbands concent if you are going to stop cooking meat. Personally, I

don't cook it and at home my husband doesn't get it, but when he goes out he

eats what he likes, This compromise works well for us.

There truely are some wonderful vegetarian meals. I love pasta and vegetables

and beans, so it is easy for me. Like you, I don't do tofu or fake meats, so I

have to be more creative sometimes. You are right that vegetarian foods tend to

be more labor intensive and take longer than throwing a piece of meat into a

frying pan, but the health benefits make it entirely worth while.

Don't let anyone tell you you need meat to get proper protein. There is more

useable protein in brocolli than there is in meats. The only thing that is

difficult to get it vitimin B-12, so I suggest the family take a supplement of

B complex vitimin and a good probiotic.

When I became a vegetarian I also started buying only organic foods, whole

wheat stuff and highest quality produce. Even though that stuff is double what

regular foods are, we still save significantly by not buying meat. Meat is the

most expensive part of any meat eaters meal.

Katie

 

Tabitha <kittywilbur wrote:

Hi you guys, I have been on here for a while, I dont say much but

occasionaly I will write down a recipie or 2, anyhow, I wish to become

a vegetarian but I find it so hard. My kids which are 5, 3 ,and 1 and

my husband, well they have been eating meat all there lives and so

have I. How do you stop? Do you really save on money? Vegetarian meals

seem to take a lot more time preparing then meat based meals, are

there any really good fast meals? If we did become vegetarians it

would be ovo, lacto ones. I absolutly hate tofu or any of the fake

meat so I want to avoid all that. If you guys could help me it would

be so great, thanks, Tabby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Hi Tabby,

 

You don't have to try so hard, just start making occasional meatless

meals and continue to educate yourself about the effect of animal

agriculture on the environment, and on the health benefits of a plant

based diet.

 

You will find that there are lots of delicious plant based meals, and

as you learn to prepare and eat them, you will realize that meat

doesn't have to be part of every meal. I suggest you read " The China

Study " , " Diet for a Small Planet " , " Diet for a New America " , " Fast Food

Nation " , and other great books. You will find that a plant based diet

will protect you and your family from cancer, high blood pressure,

heart disease, and lots of other diseases that are rampant (and

preventable) in our society.

 

The recipes on this group are excellent, just try to do at least one

meal a week using a recipe from this group, then do more and more

vegetarian meals per week as your family sees how good they are. It is

good to start early with your kids. My wife and I started eating vegan

(no animal products at all) a little over a year ago, and our kids (15

and 16) still resist it.

 

Bryan

Puerto Rico

 

 

, " Tabitha " <kittywilbur

wrote:

>

> Hi you guys, I have been on here for a while, I dont say much but

> occasionaly I will write down a recipie or 2, anyhow, I wish to

become

> a vegetarian but I find it so hard. My kids which are 5, 3 ,and 1 and

> my husband, well they have been eating meat all there lives and so

> have I. How do you stop? Do you really save on money? Vegetarian

meals

> seem to take a lot more time preparing then meat based meals, are

> there any really good fast meals? If we did become vegetarians it

> would be ovo, lacto ones. I absolutly hate tofu or any of the fake

> meat so I want to avoid all that. If you guys could help me it would

> be so great, thanks, Tabby

>

[Guest guest]

Taby,

 

I have a 17 year old carnivore and I have been lacto-ovo vegetarian

for the past 26 years, vegan for the past 5 months. You may not be

able to get your husband on the same page as you-when I was married

and I cooked I served only vegetarian foods at home and he would get

his meat on his own or when we went out to eat. At first it may seem

like a lot of extra work as learning a new skill is always time

consuming in the beginning. I generally make things in portions large

enough to save for later use whether for the next day or so or frozen

for use at a later time. Of course you save money as meat is very

expensive. Try not to substitute meats for dairy. When my daughter

was young we had her stables that I could always make in a pinch if

she did not like what I had made: chunks of tofu with soy sauce

(Micro-waved just to take chill off), " Special Potatoes " baked

potatoes cut in half length wise that I mashed with butter and put

back into the shell, and rice wrapped in nori (kids version of sushi)

Even at 17 she's still eat these foods f nothing else suits her. My

daughter was strictly vegetarian until she went to school where I let

her make her own choices as I didn't want her to feel strange among

her peers at school and parties. Although she eats meat regularly she

is able to eat a vegetarian meal without any complaint-if fact when

she comes home from her dads she expects to eat good non meat foods.

Get yourself a few good cookbooks-I'm sure people on this list will

be able to tell you their favorites. Good luck

Sharon

On Feb 24, 2007, at 10:04 PM, Tabitha wrote:

 

> Hi you guys, I have been on here for a while, I dont say much but

> occasionaly I will write down a recipie or 2, anyhow, I wish to become

> a vegetarian but I find it so hard. My kids which are 5, 3 ,and 1 and

> my husband, well they have been eating meat all there lives and so

> have I. How do you stop? Do you really save on money? Vegetarian meals

> seem to take a lot more time preparing then meat based meals, are

> there any really good fast meals? If we did become vegetarians it

> would be ovo, lacto ones. I absolutly hate tofu or any of the fake

> meat so I want to avoid all that. If you guys could help me it would

> be so great, thanks, Tabby

>

>

>