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Family of Non-Vegans & Meat Eaters
Started
by Sam M
on February 7, 2011
I am mid way through Alicia's book and love it and am super inspired. I have not eaten meat for 3 days, a first in my life. I am on board with flirting, though for me at this point going full throttle is unlikely. We'll see how the results pan out. Anyway, I'm just wondering if anyone out there is a vegan and/or vegetarian with kids & a husband NOT choosing that lifestyle? It is absolutely not an option right now for my 3 boys to eat that way...my baby has a heart defect and is way underweight, so for now, we beef him up (pardon the pun) anyway we can. But how can I realistically stick to a diet plan while feeding my family meat? Its hard enough to make one meal, much less two! Any suggestions? And again, please don't try to convince me that its healthier for my family to be vegans...I am on board 100% for more veggies, less processed food, but right now will not consider vegetarianism for them. Thanks!
I am very new to this myself and I am also about half way through the book. my husband is not on board at all and my son is already picky but he doesn't eat me so there is a win for me! What I have been doing while trying out the recipes and trying to shift to veganism, i have just cooked my food and then throw a piece of chicken on my husbands plate... I haven't had meat in about a week and i do not miss it at all, now cheese.... yea i haven't learned to give that up yet... I will but I think no meat is a pretty good start! I plan on just learning to cook the vegan recipes that i really like while continuing my cheese and then once I have enough yummy foods in my arsenal I will cut out the cheese too! good luck!
It would be a wonderful world if every veg*n's family ate the same way. Alas, that is not the case. Possibly try doing a site search for the other multiple threads on this.
I feel your pain Sam. Not only is my family carnivorous, but they are also picky and don't eat many kinds of veggies. I usually have to fix three meals. What I do to make it easier on myself though is I fix my food in bulk and freeze it. That way I can just pull mine out and heat it. Not everything can be done that way but I at least do my rice ahead because it takes a long time to cook. Hope that helps
Hang in there Sam! I'm married to an old-school Italian so I don't even use the V-word in the house. You can check out my blog for more scoop on how to be a Sneaky Vegan:
http://sneakyvegan.blogspot.com
I find the easiest way to cook for two (or more) is to seek out recipes that use "real" food rather than processed faux substitutes. If you can cook meatless entrees a few nights a week that will help to cut down on the double duty and using recipes with familiar ingredients should take care of the picky eaters! Try doing it one or two nights a week and after a while you'll build up a varied enough recipe index that you can expand it to 3-4 nights a week with everyone's favorites.
I've also found that recipes where meat is used in portions (like chunks, strips or slices vs huge hunks) are easier because you can just leave the meat out of yours. You might have to use two separate pans/pots but at least you can use all the same basic ingredients. Stir-frys are ideal because you can do all the veggies and cook the meat in a separate skillet to combine it after you take your portion out. Pastas are great too if you make and freeze your own sauce ahead of time - you'll still need two pots but it's just as easy to make two as one so you can make both versions. Again, you'll need to heat up two pots when you're ready to make the pasta dinner, but it's still easier than making two separate meals.
Worst case, compromise with a main meat course for them and hearty vegan side dishes for all of you.
Last thought is to try to get your kids involved in cooking with you. I worked with an after-school program that taught kids how to cook and they will eat just about anything they've had a hand in making. And surprisingly, the boys were even more enthusiastic than the girls! I started cooking when I was 10 because I didn't like the food my mom was making :)
Hope that helps!
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