Meal planning and contending with different dietary needs

Jo_R_2 · 2 July 2006 at 2:52PM

Hi all!

A question to all those who have a variety of "diets" to contend with whilst doing their meal planners... How do you handle this?

I am vegan, DD is veggie and OH seasoned meat eater who will eat anything!:j I do the meal planners with a little input from him and recently he has mentioned that all of our meals seems to be veggie. Now, as I said he is happy to make and eat veggie stuff (good, yes?

) but he feels he would like a couple of meals a week that are meat/fish based.

We both agree that we don't want to be messing about with separate meals for all of us, so what we have been doing is looking for meals that we can batch make, and make separate portions, and in doing so we can all eat together, him with his meat version and me and DD with our vegan/veggie versions. Now, apart from the old favourites such as bolognaise with mince/vegemince, shepherd's pie with mince/vegemince/lentils/etc, we have also been looking at "quick" meals, and I came across a recipe in the latest Somerfield magazine for 'Mexican Empanadas' which are like pasties but made with pizza dough and had ham as an ingredient, so we have made two versions, one for him with ham and ours without. So we can have these all together and everyone's happy.

I'm not looking for recipe suggestions as such, more wanted to know how people who have such issues - not just the veggie one but other diets as well - handle the need for separate meals. Do you have separate meals (which I'm sure sure about in terms of moneysaving?) or do you make the same meals just with alternative ingredients? Or other answer - please elaborate!!!

Thanks!

Dobie · 2 July 2006 at 3:05PM

Hi
I'm vegan & my DH is a carnivore - any more than one veggie meal in a week & he isn't happy. He'll gladly eat a veggie curry but that's about it really.

I cater for us by batch cooking at the weekends so one weekend I might cook for him & the next for me. For example, today I've cooked a batch of beef mince with the usual flavourings & he's having cottage pie tonight & the rest of the mince is frozen in individual portions, I'm having a home made bean burger that I made a few weeks ago & have got out of the freezer. We have the same veggies with it, I'm going to make sweet potato wedges & spinach with it. This means that although we often eat a completely different meal, I still only cook one meal a day.

Obviously it takes a little while to build up the supplies in the freezer but once you're there it doesn't take too much time to keep it up. I think it works out well economically too because we always have a meal that's cooked in the same way so tonight I need the oven for the cottage pie & wedges but my burger will cook in there too. It might not work for everyone but it suits us & as we both work full time, not having to spend ages cooking during the week is a bonus.

I'm interested to hear anyone else's ideas - anything to make catering easier but still as yummy is fine by me.

Dobie

jenniferpa · 2 July 2006 at 3:12PM

I have a vegetarian daughter, my son and DH are meat eaters, and I'm on the fence. I go the cook one meal from scratch and take the other out of the freezer route (normally, I'll have what DD is having - cooking for 2 doesn't seem so bad as cooking for one). Alternatively, I make "side dishes" that are sound from a vegetarian point of view and just add a slab of "cooked flesh" as my DD refers to it.

wigginsmum · 2 July 2006 at 3:20PM

My stepdaughter is coeliac so can't eat gluten. I make sauces glutenfree with 2 types of pasta, 2 types of garlic bread etc. I try to make the main part of the meal something we can all have.

Dobie · 2 July 2006 at 4:22PM

I've just thought of another easy meal we often have. I make a lovely vegetable stir fry add cashews then serve up my meal & chuck in some cooked prawns, chicken, salmon or whatever I have for DH. We have this with wraps & it's a favourite with both of us.

Wizwoo · 2 July 2006 at 7:44PM

Dobie's idea is kind of what we do. I'm a veggie and my OH is a meat eater. He does do pretty well and will eat veggie most of the time. What we tend to do is have the meat / fish as part of the meal and then serve with veg / pasta / salad.

Things that are easily cooked where the meat / fish can be added later are (as Dobie suggested stir fries) - you could remove from the pan and keep warm for a few minutes in the over whilst using the same pan to quickly cook off any meat.
Fajitas are good too - again cook the veg remove from pan (keepin warm) then cook off the meat in the same spices in the pan.
We've done risotto in the past too. I'll split off a portion and keep warm and add lardons / bacon / or chicken to keep OH happy (can be done with pasta sauces too).

Good luck

Ww

Jo_R_2 · 2 July 2006 at 8:47PM

Interesting answers guys, thanks! It's not so much a problem for us at the mo as I am off on maternity leave, but I must admit I am worried a little about when I go back to work (OH is studying full-time and working.) We've been into OS since I've been off work so we haven't contended with it whilst both engaged with work so not sure how it'll work out!

I know I'm actually amazingly lucky having OH in terms of his eating preferences (ie anything!) because having been stuck with ex OH's who will only eat meals with meat, I know what a hassle it was! OH happily eats meat substitutues and other "traditionally" veggie foods without a qualm - in fact he's more open minded about trying new foods than me! He adores tofu and especially likes chilli wraps with refried beans (mmm!)

On the occasions where he does eat meat, we usually do similar to you guys Wizwoo and Dobie, where I will have a veg main meal and he will have his meat, but will serve with the same accompaniments/side dishes so it's not too much hassle in that sense.

We both love stir fry with noodles so I keep mentioning to him about buying mayeb some chicken and he could have that cooked separately then added in at the end which he likes the idea of.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Meal planning and contending with different dietary needs

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free