Want to be vegetarian

foxybabe

Hi, I'm sure there will be loads of you with advice for me. .

I want to be a vegetarian but have concerns about getting the diet right. I know it can be done so that you get all the vitamins etc needed but as I have always eaten meat I have never really thought about it before. Is there a website which gives clear and easy guidlines as to what food gives what. ( hope that makes sense). Also, I have spoken to OH who says there is no way he is giving up meat, which is fine I wouldn't expect him too but does it cause problems with meal planning etc.

I have been looking at the meat substitutes and they seem very expensive, so any recipes would be welcomed.

Many thanks in advance.

Pauper1

Hi foxybabe,
I can't really help with the balancing, as I've always been a veggie and I've never really had to think about it.
However, my OH is a meat-eater and it can be difficult sometimes.
I find things like roasts are easy to manage - I have Linda McCartney Pies yummy! and the fella has chicken/pork/lamb/whatever, they are just cooked in different trays.
The same with sausage & mash (altho I don't personally like veggie sausages) and burgers & chips.
When we have things like curries, spag bol, lasagne, stews, cottage pie etc, they obviously have to be veggie as it's ridiculous to make two different dishes for two people.
I don't find Quorn mince to be very expensive, especially compared to quality beef mince.
Also, helpfully, the OH prefers Quorn mince to normal mince - and it's healthier!
What I tend to do, as we mostly have veggie evening meals, is make sure he has meat in other meals. He generally has chicken & salad pittas for lunch, or a sausage sandwich etc. This is just so he doesn't complain about 'meat withdrawal'!!
The Quorn website has a lot of very good recipes, as does the official veggie society website.
Hope this helps a bit.
Laura x

rockie4

The Vegetarian society website is a good place to start, not sure how to do links but you can Google it.

There's a recipe section on there as well.

I've been veggie most of my life and have never had a problem other than a bit of anaemia which my GP said was because I was a woman rather than a veggie:rolleyes:

sarahsarah

I'm veggie and my DH and DD aren't, but I find it quite easy to cook 2 different curries, 2 stews, 2 shepherds pies etc at the same time. All the veg, potatoes etc can be chopped and peeled altogether then you can just seperate it after that..
I don't find quorn stuff that expensive as I'm just buying it for 1, it would work out expensive to buy it for a family of 5 though I think...
For shepherds pies I use lentils rather than mince, and for my curries and stews I usually used different tinned beans and veg.. so the only quorn things I use are usually fillets, burgers, sausages, that kind of thing...

foxybabe

Do any of you still eat fish? I know some veggies do and some don't. What are you opinions?

savingforoz

foxybabe wrote: »

Do any of you still eat fish? I know some veggies do and some don't. What are you opinions?

Foxybabe, vegetarians don't eat fish - it's a common misconception that they do, but a misconception none the less. Fish is a flesh food, so it's essentially the same as meat, so not vegetarian. The Vegetarian Society website is a useful source of information, recipes and gives the definition of what a vegetarian is.

Beans and pulses are tasty and easy to cook if you find meat substitutes pricey. Hope this helps.

foxybabe

Thanks for the replies. I am on the vegataran society website now.

kianicky

Vegetarians def do not eat fish. No idea where that idea came from. in my eyes fish are still living things and vegetarians do not eat anything that was once alive. People who eat fish only are refered to as pescetarians

As someone suggested the vegetarian society website is a great place for info. And search vegetarian in the search for this forum and loads of posts will come up with loads of ideas Bst of luck with being a vegetarian. I've been one for 18 years now and have no ill effects from it. As long as you read up on stuff and make sure you have all the Good stuff in your diet and don't just end up eating pizza and pot noddles then you should be fine and dandy.

foxybabe

We eat a really healthy diet now with loads of fruit and veg. The only thing is most meals involve some kind of meat or fish. I have never used beans or pulses before so i am going to have to experiment. Curry is going to be the telling one.

Dr_DiNg_DoNg

For Indian
If you go to a decent asian supermarket, they have boxes of different spice mixs for different dishes, each is about 80p and does about 4 batches there are maybe 120 different ones in the store I go to.

I usually go and get a chick pea mix, a lentil dal mix and a veg curry one, (you just add onion garlic chilli tomato water & coriander with most of them.) then pick up the various pulses that they need.

I reckon these days I make better Indian vegetarian food that my local take away

Ladyshopper

I have been a veggie since I am 9, and no health problems to date.

The kids were veggie til they were old enough to decide for themselves, and they decided to eat meat. I don't cook meat for them (although will buy the ocasional meat pizza to whack in the oven!), but they eat meat when out, at their Dad's etc.

They absolutely love quorn stuff though, and we eat it quite a bit. I don't find it particularly expensive, and normally somewhere or other has it on offer.

Drives me mad when people describe themselves as vegetarian but then they say they eat fish. Grrrrrr. Even worse is restaurants who think a veggie option is something like tuna bake. :mad: You'd really think they know better.