Ditching Meat - Vegetarian Meal Ideas from You

Last month, I asked for vegetarian meal suggestions because I would love to cut back my family’s consumption of meat for environmental reasons.

I thought instead of trying to dig up that Facebook posts every time I needed an idea, I’d create a post rounding up the meal ideas you shared, the recipes you linked, and the recipes I proceeded to curate to plan my meals over the next month.

I don’t meal plan in the way the internet says people should. I usually list out 4-5 recipes for the week and go from there. I try to have one recipe that doesn’t require food that expires easily and can be cooked on day 6/7 post-grocery store shop. I keep it to 4-5 recipes, because often if my husband isn’t home, I’ll just have eggs for dinner, or reheat yesterdays dinner. It’s hard to cook for one adult, and two toddlers.

I didn’t ask for kid-friendly meals because I just feed my kids whatever we eat. My kids already love beans and I imagine this transition/shift won’t be hard for them. Getting them to eat meat is already a struggle and I imagine they might just eat better.

I got a lot of soup and chilli recommendations. Is that the only food vegetarians eat? I would love your favourite vegetarian meal. Bonus points if it’s gluten-free, and tree nut free.

A few other suggestions included replacing half ground meat with lentils. Another suggested the Thug Kitchen for some great cookbook ideas.