I was like a kid at christmas last night when new tyres, discs, brake pads, chainring bolts all turned up from multiple places in one go!
It seems like too long since I had this sensation. When is Christmas again?
I get questioned a hell of a lot on how I can be veggie but the truth is from the day I decided and until now I cannot give situation where it was tough or daunting at all. The one and only problem you have is less choice when eating out, but I cannot give a single situation where there hasn't been a veggie option that I was not satisfied with.
Cooking for yourself literally a case of swapping in Quorn chicken and mince to most dishes you do. Quorn have alternative for everything these days which makes it so simple you will not believe.
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As a meat eater and actually being brought up on a livestock farm, you can imagine the backlash when at the age of 17 my sister decided she was a vegetarian! But now (20 years on...) it's obviously much more 'acceptable'. Now myself living with a vegetarian I appreciate many of the 'bonuses' of being a vegetarian these days - huge amount of options, very affordable & very easy to get a balanced diet with only a little thought. Truth is - vegetarians are quite spoilt these days!
For us, being a very time pressured family (has got even worse with the little one along) as I mentioned previously we 'live' vegetarian most of those days. The option of cooking so many quorn things from frozen opens up a huge scope of meals. A meat eater doesn't generally have that option, quality meat products frozen, take a while to defrost. Can't rustle up a full meal in 20/40 minutes! Have to say quorn mince and those quorn chicken fillet things are incredible. Almost prefer them in things like curry and bolognese than their meat counterparts. The sausages and burgers are tasting better and better too!
I couldn't commit to full vegetarian (I respect anyone that does whether for personal or other reasons) but it definitely doesn't hurt to be mindful of meat intake. We ended up growing a lot of stuff in our garden this year and that meant cooking a lot of veggie meals in order to use it up. Since then, we probably eat vegetarian dinners 3-4 nights/wk and a lot more fish on the other nights. Our shopping bills have reduced dramatically which is a bonus, and it means when you do eat meat you actually buy something decent rather than just chucking stuff in mindlessly. I'd rather buy one really nice piece of steak or a properly reared chicken than whatever goes into the cheaper supermarket stuff.
We've done exactly the same, grown quite a few different things in the greenhouse and the meals we've generally had with them have generally been vegetarian - tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, carrots, potatoes, aubergines, radishes, gem lettuces etc etc.
Totally agree about the shopping bills too, our weekly trip is generally between £50-60. Generally from 2 supermarkets - Aldi & Sainsburys or Tesco & Asda. In that will be enough food for 2 adults, 1x 13 month old (who eats 90% of what we do) and a dog (although he's £10-20 per month total). Also between 4-8 bottles of cider per week, but very little meat in there. Maybe sandwich fillers and whatever frozen stuff is on offer, with 2-3 quorn alternatives. The majority of meat I eat will be chicken, quite lucky to have a factory shop local (who supply waitrose & asda) so get things 1/3 or less the usual price. Whole chickens for £2-3! Had 8 chicken wings I ate last night and for lunch today for £1.50...
We live in a world that is too full of people wanting quick fix, told what to do, how to act and the reality is we are all individuals and need to start thinking as such. Humans are lazy and getting lazier.
Totally agree! People are sheep - just want to be spoon fed everything and be told what to do. Tell them it's their own choice & free will and they'll lap it up!
