vegetarians please help!

my ten years old daughter has expressed the will to be vegetarian because she doesn't like animals being killed - in short.

This comes as a devastating piece of news for me for several reasons.

But reality is that she refused to eat a turkey sandwich which has never happened before.

Could this be a phase?

How would I solve meal times - everybody else having meat and her in a corner eating salad (or something along those lines) but still feeling bad because we are having meat?

How can I adequately replace meat so that she doesn't miss out on nutrients?

Please help!

 

Hi Mira,

No, thats about the age kids make these decisions. Willow rebeled and started eating meat about then, but has recently decided to go veggy again.

Its not impossible in the kitchen, i've just cooked a Mussel curry. Willow doesn't like curry, onions or Mussels, so I fried up those and cooked the veg separate, pouring my half on to finish and leaving a veggy option for Willow later.

Will probably cook up some quorn or veggie sosages to go with Willows.

There are a whole load of veggie protein products on the market, you'll probably find that you like them too.

Have a go at Morrisons own brand sosages, £1.59 for 6 or 12 for £3.

 

You can't do better than get the vegetarain student cookbook, isbn 978-0-600-61241-4.

As long term vegetarians, we have a heap of cookbooks but this one is easy, with great ideas and generally simple ingredients.

Good on your daughter!

 

We are not vegetarians, we eat a little meat, fish and poultry. We do however eat lots of vegetarian meals which are well balanced nutritionally, fairly straightforward to prepare and generally reasonably inexpensive.

One of the cookbooks that Jane (Mrs a-a) uses regularly is GOOD HOUSEKEEPING Step-by-Step Vegetarian Cookbook - Suggest you get a copy from the library and browse (no pun intended) - I bet you will be eating a good number of veggie meals too.

a-a

(Probably pick up a copy on Amazon or Ebay quite cheaply too)

Addendum - Just had a look at Amazon - Its really worth reading the Customer Reviews 5 Stars !!

 

my daughter went through that phase aswell .... at one stage, she refused to eat meat, not because she wanted to be a vegetarian, but because we eat meat at least 5 times a week in my home, and the other 2 nights, we eat fish .... so suppose she wanted a change

she is a bit older now, but does eat meat again, but is very fussy and only eats white meat of the chicken, refuses pork, does not enjoy lamb, but does enjoy a sandwich of wholemeal brown bread with roast beef, iceburg lettuce, heinz picallili and sliced gherkin etc

she enjoys fish such as Tuna and fresh fish such as sea bass, as long as all the bones are removed and she refuses to eat fish in batter from the chippie shop

when she refused to eat meat, we substituted the meat with mushrooms, nuts (hazelnuts, almonds, cashews etc .... but not peanuts)

never tried the soya stuff (Quorn etc) ....

she also enjoyed avocado, eggs (hard boiled), cheese, greek yoghurt, etc

so, she was not a true vegetarian, but we had the problem of feeding her a balanced meal

we have noted that when she eats, she will first eat the veg and salad before eating the fish or chicken

 

Well, the whole family could go more vegetarian by having meatless lasagnes etc which you could all eat. If you are a meat and two veg sort of family you could all eat the veg but replace your daughter's meat portion with veggie sausages, something cheesy, a veg pie, eggs or something of that sort.

As a mostly-veggie its stuff like gravy that i miss most so boiled veg without it tends to lack a certain something so for years I rarely ate that sort of meal.

 

Cook best quality mince and tell her it is Quorn

Girls need meat giving lots of IRON if they are not to have health problems later
Has she become a six stone GOTH yet ?

Cook the family meal, then tell her where the kitchen is, if she does not wish to eat it

If we do not eat meat then there will be no cattle,pigs, sheep, goats,chickens, etc as why Farm them if they are of no use to us humans
If she wants no animals in the world then let her continue Veggie just cook her own meals

Jack McH

 

Simple vegetarian gravy: Sautee finely chopped onion and/or chopped mushrooms until soft. Stir in a little flour and cook for a couple of minutes. Add stock made from vegetable stock cubes (I usually add a teaspoon of marmite). Then, either leave chunky or whizz smooth in a blender.

Serve with veggie sausages, Quorn steaks or mashed potato. Yum.

 

A bit harsh on a 10 year old Jack!

 

Veggie omlette, veg pizza, mac n cheese, meatless veg spaghetti, cheesy broccoli pasta bake, jacket spud with beans, there's loads of stuff you can fix either as a main meal or as a side dish for you and a main for her. No reason you should have to fix 2 different things!

 

I make some great gravys out of veg stock. I save all the water that i'm boiling veg for pickling etc & freeze it in the ice cube trays.

Add that to a few spoons of veg gravy powder & its smashing

 

I'm coming round yours for tea

 

CYO pizzas are fun. Use a pita as a base and put containers of different bits out separately and let everyone do their own. I use spag sauce as the base and add a bit of oregano and garlic granules and a bit of salt. Finely chopped veg, peppers, onions, mushrooms, olives, etc. Salami, ham, pepperoni, pineapple, whatever. Fun AND tasty!