Food & Recipes

[Laurenthenerd5]

I realized recently that I eat a LOT of meat. I don't want to go compleatly vegetarian, but I would like to eat less meat...It's just really hard to do. How can I eat less meat?

[scuzz]

First off I think it is great that you want to cut back on meat just cutting back on meat can be great for your health, animals, and the environment (which in turn helps other people). I myself am a full vegetarian and have been for over 7 years or something like that and I went vegetarian cold turkey but I'll try to give you some tips.

Look up recipes for meals where the main base of the meal isn't meat
- a lot of veg*n's easily replace the meat gap with foods like tofu, seitan, or tempeh

- you could also use mock meat though that might be a little redundant (I didn't eat mock meat for the first four years or so when I went vegetarian and I still  only rarely eat it)

- though you can also just fill the meat gap by having more of the other portions of the meal (so just add more vegetables, fruits, grains etc)

Try cutting back in places where you don't need the meat in the meal
 - for example don't put meat in a salad, don't get meat on a pizza as the lack of meat can easily be replaced by other popular toppings or additions

If you are going out to eat  try picking a place with hearty meatless options

- I'd suggest places like sub places (Subway), burrito or taco places (Taco Bell, Chipotle), pizza places (Domino's, Pizza Hut), soup/noodle/salad/bread places (Panera, Olive Garden)
- Find and try a local vegetarian/vegan restaurant and you may be surprised with the food they have
- I personally like breakfast food places because normally you only get meat as a side which can easily be replaced with other popular breakfast side dishes or buffet style restaurants as you can pick what you want and as much as you want but that is also because I am a picky eater on top of being vegetarian

Try picking a certain meal or day(s) of the week to give up meat

- trying to cut back on meat by paying attention to every meal you eat can be overwhelming so I'd suggest to either pick a certain meal or a certain day of the week or day of the weeks or maybe a different meal for different days etc make some kind of schedule to help you remember when to go meatless

- this doesn't have to be a complicated schedule there are many people now who are participating in meatless monday

Encourage someone else to do it with you

- It can be helpful to have someone right there cutting down their meat in take with you so try encouraging a family member or friend to do it with you
- but don't be too discouraged if you can't get anyone else too there are plenty of people on the internet to help encourage and support you and you never know you might encourage someone by showing them how easy it

 Once you start doing it you will likely see that it becomes easier and soon you will be picking options with less meat without even thinking about it! Good luck. If you have any questions, need any more ideas or help finding resources and things I will be glad to help.

[apple-tart]

I used to be a vegetarian but now I just eat meat once in awhile. One of things I do is when I eat out and there are meatless options on the menu I'll order those.

[Laurenthenerd5]

Thanks so much! Those are great ideas. The only part that doesn't work well is that I'm 13 so I have to eat whatever my parents make...But I'll try to use those tips! I really like Panera and Chipotle, but there aren't any that are really close to my house. Any favorite vegitarian recipies?

[apple-tart]

I like potato tacos, eggplant pizza and sandwiches just full of veggies. There are actually a lot of good recipes out there if you just google you will find veggie options for your favorite meals.

[scuzz]

Ahh I understand
I would still mostly try to stick with just subtracting the meat from the meal (or just a very tiny portion of meat) and eating the other parts in larger portions on different days. That is if your parent's are fine with that. I know many parents aren't okay with stuff like that. I know on the peta2 boards there are always many young teens asking how to be vegetarian without there parent's knowing or how to convince their parent's to let them go vegetarian. Even if you  aren't going fully vegetarian some parent's worry that you aren't getting the proper nutrients etc. 

Luckily my parent's didn't care because I have been vegetarian since I was 13. I'm 20 now and still live at home so I still often eat whatever my mom cooks. So I am used to just eating the meatless parts of the meal and then sometimes eating more stuff right out of the cupboard or making my own food.

Honestly I am an extremely picky eater. Not only do I not eat any meat I don't eat any fruit, or any vegetables besides some potatoes, no nuts, beans, legumes, besides peanuts. So that basically leaves me with sweets, dairy, eggs, and grains. Which is fine with me but it annoys everyone else and probably isn't the healthiest haha. I would go vegan but that isn't really an option until I become less of a picky eater. Even the foods I do eat out of those categories have to be really plain and basic. So really plain and basic breads, cheeses, pasta, milk, eggs, butter, and various junk food is all I eat now a long with the occasional potato or mock meat.

My favorite foods are like mac n cheese, plain buttered pasta, alfredo noodles, pancakes, waffles, scrambled eggs, fried eggs, peanut butter sandwiches, cheesy bread, etc. So I'm probably not the best person to ask for actual vegetarian recipes but you can find plenty if you just search it on google.