Big meat eater!! need help reducing

Sublime_2

Men tend to eat a lot more meat than women in my experience, unless they're vegetarians. My food bill has less than halved, since I have been single, also because I don't have to make such huge meals, I eat a lot less than I did.

I used to get around the expense, by using mince a lot, and stretching dishes in my slow cooker. Using bones to make up stock, and padding dishes out with veg, pulses, and grains.

Biggles

During the 19th century, the average Irishman ate around 13 pounds of potatoes a day. At five potatoes to the pound, that's 65 a day!

Mind you, I'm not recommending this for your partner, they had nothing else, and they worked hard on the land.

Keen_Young_Learner

aliasojo wrote: »

OP what reason does he give for not wanting a meat free meal? Does he think he will be hungry? Or is it just what Mum always did? I think you need to find out his reasoning first to know which would be the best angle to come at this from.

However, he is entitled to choose how he eats you know. A vegetarian is entitled to not eat meat every single meal of their life so why should a meat eater not do the same in reverse? If your budget really cant cope with all the meat meals then he needs to understand this and agree a compromise, but if it's just that you don't want your budget to be that big, maybe you need to understand that aspect too and consider whether you're being fair wanting him to change to suit you? (Not saying that's the case, just an aspect I wondered about. )

My Dad came from a background where a meal wasn't a 'proper' meal unless there was meat in it. I wonder if your OH's upbringing was the same?

Hi! Yeah he thinks that anything without meat won't fill him up. It's not that I want him to have to change just to suit me, of course not! But we each pay half of the food bill, which is double what I expected it to be. He was with me in the supermarket this weekend when I was putting £15 worth of meat into our trolley and he did agree with me that it was quite expensive. Neither of us can afford to continue eating so much meat! The only thing that bothers me is that I can't think of a compromise, and that's why I posted my question on here. I'm just looking for a compromise that'll be kinder on (both of our) wallets and healthier for both of us, which is a bonus.
He's really into fitness and body building and he just has a weird idea of how much protein is normal to eat in a day! Plus, obviously, all of his family have been eating this way for a very long time.
Hope this helps, and I hope I didn't come across in my OP as a mean woman trying to change my OH! I just want us both to be wealthier and healthier
KYL xxx

Keen_Young_Learner

I may not have made it clear in my OP but we're both mature students who work part time jobs, so money can be quite tight! That's why we need to reduce food bills. I'm not just doing it to be mean!
KYL xxx

aliasojo

If he's into fitness and body building then his protein requirements will be higher than the average person's. :undecided

Good luck with it all, a man and his stomach are a hard combo to fight against.

Mojisola

It might be better to make some savings elsewhere and put this on hold for a while. I'm sure, with the advice on here, you could very gradually start to make changes that may not be noticed.

Couples do have to make compromises when they start to live together but many people have something that they stick at. Your OH's meals might be his.

eamon

There is nothing wrong with a meat, spuds & veg diet per se. You just need to educate his palate a little and get him accustomed to eating different foods.

As for tea. The problem in England (though not all of it) is the water supply. Perfectly healthy stuff it just lacks something. When I first came to England to live in 1984 I tried every blend of tea including home delivered tea and now I've settled on PG Tips. Though I should say that where I live all the water comes from reservoirs in the Pennines and is subject to little further processing (except fluoridation).

Just re-read the original post. I assume you have a freezer. Your next task is to find a farm shop. They can be a lot cheaper than supermarkets and with better choice. If you are lucky it may have a real live butchers section and you can get even cheaper, smaller cuts etc. You don't need to buy half a cow/lamb/pig etc. Many will do freezer packs to your specification.

nickyhutch

Keen_Young_Learner wrote: »

Mine will not even discuss the possibility of a meat free day!
KYL xxx

To be fair, why should he? He works and contributes, so he should have some say in what he eats. Just because YOU don't want to eat meat doesn't mean he should have to cut down too.

Dippypud

Keen_Young_Learner wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the ideas and tips, I will be trying all of them! Dippypud, how did you persuade your OH? Mine will not even discuss the possibility of a meat free day!
KYL xxx

Well I did spend a couple of weeks gently introducing more veg into meals. Then I stretched stews and cassaroles (sp). with lentils or oats to thicken and make more filling.

If your lucky he wont notice to start with and later you can say 'Do you like this or last whatever days, because I did it a bit different'.

Don't say it's meat-free until he's said he likes it at least twice.

Good luck. :cool:

Pink.

Hi Keen Young Learner,

You've had lots of helpful advice and this earlier thread has more ideas that may help:

Big meat eater!! need help reducing

I'll add your thread to it later to keep the ideas together.

Pink