It all started with the David Attenborough docufilm A Life On Our Planet

Eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully Sunday evening we sit down as a family in/with regard to’concerning’regarding what we call a living room picnic, which fundamental ally involves a pick and mix help yourself table buffet in/with regard to’concerning’regarding Sunday night tea in front of the telly. It s great because eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfullyone acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure s to pick what they want to eat, I love it because I can acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure away with putting out lots of things that need eating up, and we watch something toacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure her as a family that is educational, interesting and a little bit despite’in spite of’albeit t provoking.

I am a intense’fierce’exquisite believer in kids knowing where their food comes from. It s significant’essential’critical’vital’crucial’indispensable’imperative they realise that it doesn t just rock up at Tesco s; that there s a whole process bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e it ends up on the supermarket shelves. At 12 and 10 they both apparently’manifestly’noticeably’evidently know that beef comes from a cow, pork from a pig etc. but I claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate even as adults it s easy to brush aside what this actually means in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the animals and it s far nicer to block out despite’in spite of’albeit ts of how the animals are treated, what their living conditions are like, how they are killed. Let s face it, no one really wants to be claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate ing with regards to’concerning’with respect to that kind of stuff when they re tucking into their Sunday roast.

So picture the scene we re sat there, plates piled high with various bits and bobs, including highly processed sandwich chicken, and what should come on the screen but the scene of utter devastation that is a modern day chicken factory. It s with regards to’concerning’with respect to as far get rid of’discard d from Chicken Run as you can possibly acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure , jeez those plasticine chickens had it rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent compared to these poor featherless birds. It s horrible. And it was this that did it in/with regard to’concerning’regarding my daughter.

Turning Veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian Toacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure her

There were tears. But after having a bit of a cry, she made her announcement, I m turning veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian. I really love animals I just wish they didn t taste so nice. And then there were more tears, as the combination of what she d just seen versus the realisation that she couldn t bear the acfirm’enterprise ing guilt of eating her beloved chicken nugacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure s any more kicked in. So that s when I made the decision that if she was going to do this, she d need some maintain’sustain and so I told her that I would go veggie with her.

I d been a veggie in/with regard to’concerning’regarding with regards to’concerning’with respect to a year or so when I was a teenager yep I was that stereotypical 90s teenage girl who turned veggie, adopted a humpback whale, and bought the WWF sticker album (the animal one, not the wrestling!) and so I knew I had it in me to go meat free.  To be honest I will often pick a veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian meal when we go out in/with regard to’concerning’regarding dinner, so I didn t claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate this would be too hard on me. Aldespite’in spite of’albeit I do like my fish and seafood so when she later announced that fish lives matter too and that she wouldn t be eating that either, I must admit I did take a enormous’vast’massive’tremendous gulp and wonder what the hell we were going to eat!

But what with regards to’concerning’with respect to the men folk of the family, what did they make of all this?

Well, my husband loves his meat so he wasn t willing to utterly give it up, despite being shocked by some of the statistics he d seen in the documentary

70% of the birds on this planet are domestic birds, most of which are chickens.
90% of large fish possess’own’nurse been wiped out of our oceans due to mass fishing.
1/2 of the fertile land on Earth is used in/with regard to’concerning’regarding farming.
Since the 1950s animal populations possess’own’nurse more than halved.
60% of the animals on Earth are raised in/with regard to’concerning’regarding us to eat.
15 billion trees are cut down e grossly year in/with regard to’concerning’regarding human use.

However, he did decide to stop eating beef, as cattle farming has such a enormous’vast’massive’tremendous impact on the environment claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate it was seeing the orangutans lose their homes that did it in/with regard to’concerning’regarding him. And my son .. oh my rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent ness he literally couldn t possess’own’nurse given two hoots. He loves his meat and there was no way he was willing to give it up, which meant as the main, actually who am I kidding, the merely’barely cook in the house I was going to possess’own’nurse to acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure a little bit sneaky!

Planning To Go Veggie

Now in reality you d claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate the convert’transform from meat eater to veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian would be relatively straightin/with regard to’concerning’regarding ward. I mean things possess’own’nurse transform’alter d since I was a teenage veggie, products possess’own’nurse transform’alter d (in/with regard to’concerning’regarding the better!) and the variety of what s out there is much more substantial. Without doubt veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arians are much better catered in/with regard to’concerning’regarding these days. However, when you ve got a daughter who doesn t like cheese, beans, and mushrooms to name but a few token ificant veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian ingredients it is definitely more of a challenge.

I knew that if we were going to do this properly it would take some planning and that we couldn t rush straight into it. We spoke with regards to’concerning’with respect to it toacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure her and decided that we d need a couple of days to acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ourselves prepared namely in/with regard to’concerning’regarding me to make sure the house was stocked with the right ingredients and that while we were doing so it was perfectly fine to eat meat that we already had in the house. After all it would be just as criminal to waste meat, because then an animal would possess’own’nurse died in/with regard to’concerning’regarding absolutely no reason at all. To make it a little easier I made sure the meals we had during these couple of days were as meat free as I could make them I fished out the leftover roast chicken from the paella so that us girls had a veggie version and then we had meat free omelette and salad on the other day, so it worked out fine.

Upon the veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian revelation I knew that I d need to do a lot more cooking from scratch and so I straight away’in a flash’promptly’instantaneous’in a trice ordered a couple of veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian cookreserve s that had been recommended to me by some of my lovely followers on my Facereserve page. One of the most significant’essential’critical’vital’crucial’indispensable’imperative things to me was to make sure we didn t miss out on any nutrients by omitting meat from our diets. Plus we had also fallen into a bit of a trap of having the same meals week in week out so I saw this as a rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent opportunity to shake things up a bit. I spent ages going through my new cookreserve s, meticulously sticking coloured post it notes on the pages that I despite’in spite of’albeit t might be goers and then spent time working out a weekly meal plan in/with regard to’concerning’regarding us all bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e tackling an online food deliintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully.

How Did We Get On With Veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian Meals?

Some of the meals I cooked were a huge success, to the point that a) the boys didn t even notice it was meat free and b) the plates were virtually licked clean, always a rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent token . However, there were also a lot of mealtimes that were absolute torture. Bearing in mind I d spent a lot of my time making fresh, home cooked meals, that in some instances needed to be tweaked so that they could be a meat version as well as a meat free version, merely’barely to possess’own’nurse moans of eurgh I don t like that or yuck what s that and to possess’own’nurse to watch as food got painfully moved with regards to’concerning’with respect to the plate until it was stone cold, attempted to be hidden under the cutlery (yes that old trick!) and then eventually tipped in the bin. Well, I m sure you can imagine that it began to wear a bit thin and my motivation levels began to dip somewhat.

I tried to do a balance of making meals from recipe reserve s or that I d found online (I tended to save these as our treat meals at the weekend in/with regard to’concerning’regarding when I had a bit more time) as well as I guess what you d call convenience meals, the weekday after school dinners, using veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian products such as Quorn or meat alternatives. I ve written another blogpost with regards to’concerning’with respect to the different products we tried out some were keepers and some most definitely weren t. It s worth having a look if you re claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate ing of changing to a veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian diet, or even if you re already a veggie, as you may not possess’own’nurse tried them yet and in my opinion some definitely aren t worth spending your money on.

READ THIS Help My Daughter s Gone Veggie 14 Tried Tested Veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian Products

It was really merely’barely dinners that were the sticking point, as my daughter has a packed lunch in/with regard to’concerning’regarding school and ever a creature of habit she has Marmite sandwiches eintensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully day, which of course are fine. And at first it was all a bit of novelty, things seemed to be going well and we were enjoying the new meals and flavours. Things like cauliflower cheese, home made pizzas, pasta dishes, and curries went really well, but trying to replace the meat in a roast was tricky and anything that contained too many veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ables was a huge issue and that s when the moans and pickiness would occur and when my anger levels would bubble over. My son got intensely’extremely’extraordinarily’enormously’awfully rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent at recognising when I d snuck a veggie product into his dinner and it was almost a case of once he knew it was there that was it decision made, he didn t like it purely because it was veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian .

Where We re At Now

All along I was quite content to remain veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian in/with regard to’concerning’regarding as long as my daughter did, so that she had at least one other person in the house who was eating the same meals as her. However, I had said to her that I would probably start introducing a bit of meat back into my diet around with regards to’concerning’with respect to my birthday at the end of November and that I would definitely be having turkey and pigs in blankets on my plate at Christmas. The decision all along was entirely hers and so it was almost 2 months to the day that we d gone meat free, she decided it was OK to eat meat again.

We possess’own’nurse however learnt a few lessons and picked up some rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent habits along the way that we ll be keeping. For example, we all prefer the taste of Quorn mince over beef mince OK that might be going a bit far most of us prefer the taste of Quorn mince over beef mince and those that don t do at least like it, so that is a permanent transform’alter in/with regard to’concerning’regarding us. We are also making a conscious exertion to possess’own’nurse more veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian meals throughout the week. Plus I am making sure that any meat we do buy is ethical, rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent quality and as local as we can acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure it. So in/with regard to’concerning’regarding example, this year we chosee our turkey from a free range turkey farm that is a cover’budge away from our house it just feels right knowing the birds possess’own’nurse been looked after and that we re helping a small local business when times possess’own’nurse been peculiar ly tough this year.

Realistically, trying to be veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian 100% all of the time became too much of a chore in/with regard to’concerning’regarding us. I was acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ting frustrated at meals being thrown back at me and the whole eating out and takeaway thing, certainly in terms of what was available in/with regard to’concerning’regarding my daughter was just plain miserable. It was no wonder she caved in to sausages and mash when we were out at a pub as there was literally no veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian option available on the kids menu. It was interesting despite’in spite of’albeit , because despite feeling OK at having ordered sausages and I claim’insist’maintain’hold’argue’consider’contemplate’speculate really it was a relief to her to know we weren t going to judge her if she ate meat, she merely’barely had one mouthful of the three sausages on her plate, choosing to eat the mash and peas instead.

Ultimately, one person turning veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian isn t going to transform’alter the world, but then again if we all despite’in spite of’albeit t like that of course it won t. Lots of small transform’alter s do eventually make enormous’vast’massive’tremendous transform’alter s after all. We can merely’barely control our own actions and in/with regard to’concerning’regarding us as a family it feels right to strike the balance between eating more plant based meals, as both an environmental thing as well as a health thing, but also to continue to eat meat and fish too. For me personally, the type of food we were eating as veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arians was so heavily carb based that actually I felt as despite’in spite of’albeit I wasn t eating as healthily as I was expecting too. It made me feel sluggish and heavy a lot of the time and I did at times feel more tired and lacking in energy, which I am certain is as a result of not acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ting some of the nutrients I was acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure ting from meat. Meat is generally the main event on the plate right? But in/with regard to’concerning’regarding me as a veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian it felt as despite’in spite of’albeit I was always eating a side dish and it just always ended up feeling as despite’in spite of’albeit something was missing.

I m certain this won t be the merely’barely time my daughter becomes veacquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure arian, I predict she ll dabble again in her teens just like I did. I m hoping that by then her tastebuds will possess’own’nurse expanded a little so that we can at least acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure some beans, mushrooms and onion in there. For now despite’in spite of’albeit this is where we re at and as a parent I feel super proud that she felt passionate abundant’ample’plentiful with regards to’concerning’with respect to something to make a transform’alter even despite’in spite of’albeit it was a challenge in/with regard to’concerning’regarding her.