So you have decided to become a flexitarian (aka a Flexible Vegetarian) and shake up your diet and eat less meat. That’s great. This will benefit both your health and the environment.
If you feel a bit daunted at the prospect of venturing into uncharted territory why not look at our 8 easy steps to eating less meat.
1) Don’t Go Cold Turkey: like with many things in life going cold turkey might not last beyond a few weeks. At first try to go without meat one day a week. Call it Meat Free Monday, Tuesday … whatever suits your lifestyle. Choose a convenient time and stick to it. If one week you get out of sync make sure you catch up the following day.
2) Get a good vegetarian cookbook: vegetarian food has evolved beyond baked beans. Find inspiration in some of our favourites vegetarian cookbooks such as Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi
3) Go Local, Go Seasonal: visit your local market or farm shop. See what vegetables are in season and plan a dish around them. If you are not sure what to do with some of them ask the vendor.
4) Try World Cuisine: some cuisines (especially the ones blending lots of flavours and spices) are particularly well suited to meatless cooking. Try Indian, Mexican, Ethiopian etc..
5) Love Your Beans and Lentils: beans and lentils are high in protein, B Vitamins and fibre. They add bulk and bite to vegetarian dishes so you feel satisfied for longer. Mix them with nuts, seeds, rice or grains and you have a complete protein containing the nine essential amino acids.
6) Know Your Grains: grains make a good source of protein and fibre. Swap white rice for brown rice and experiment with quinoa, amaranth, bulgur wheat, barley, wild rice…. All of them are great mixed with vegetables for a warm main course or drizzled with vinaigrette in a salad.
7) Buy Meat Less Often But Buy Organic Meat: if you are going to eat meat make it good meat from (once happy – roaming in the countryside) pigs, cows, sheep, chickens etc..!
8) Use Your Meat Left Overs: this is particularly easy with left over from roasts. Left over chicken, turkey, lamb, beef can go in soup, pies, curry, stir fry, risotto etc…
I think if we eat ‘happy’ meat we shiuld also eat the offal parts as these have tremendous nutritional benefits. What do flexitarians think about offal?
Rachel –
Thanks for your comment. I agree with your point. Beyond the nutritional benefits eating offal also reduces waste. A lot of people are put off by those parts/cuts, yet most of them are perfectly fine to eat.
Another really good vegetarian cookbook is “Moosewood Restaurant Cooks at Home: Fast and Easy Recipes for Any Day”. In a household with twins and two full time working parents, this cookbook has been a life saver. Meals take 30-40 minutes with (mostly) common ingredients that are easy to find. There are menu suggestions so you don’t have to think about what is needed to make a complete meal, and nutritional information is provided for each recipe.
We also try plan ahead and tend to do some of the food prep on Sundays, or cut double the amount of vegetables required for one recipe and then save half for another recipe later in the week.
Thanks for this suggestion. Most people think that vegetarian cooking takes longer so this is very helpful.