There are lots of ways to make easy meatless meals. Here are a few ways to start eating meatless meals, without pissing off your entire family.
A meal without meat is still a meal.
Making the decision to start doing meatless meals can be a big leap for a lot of us. Especially when we’re so used to planning our meals around a meat source.
It’s easy to get caught up in the IDEA that without meat, there’s no meal. But I’m going to take a guess here, and bet that there’s been a meal or two you’ve had that HASN’T had meat in it. A meal that you’ve still maybe even liked. Maybe even REALLY liked.
We’re going to dig deep here and help you remember those few meals, and then I’ll toss in a few more ideas on how to get started.
5 Tips to making meatless meals easy
Tip 1: Prime your mind with food you love
Instead of trying to find something new you’ve never made before, start by thinking about that something you had that turned out to be meat-free. It can also be a meal that was already half way to being meat-free, like something that was flavored with meat but didn’t actually HAVE meat in it. Like a chicken pot pie that was SO good, even though you never actually ended up finding a piece of chicken in it. This is our starting place.
Easy places to start are meals that use beans, cheese or whole grains are great places to start. Think about bean and cheese quesadillas. Pizza with 3 cheeses and a veg, instead of pepperoni. Three bean chili without ground meat. Baked ziti or lasagna with spinach and mushrooms instead of meat sauce.
Tip 2: Use gateway vegetarian foods
Things like frozen veggie burgers, veggie breakfast sausage patties, or chik’n patties can help ease everyone into a meat-free meal. There are a whole lot out there now, with flavors that everyone can get everyone happy. Start with a veggie burger and then just all the toppings you would for a burger (minus the bacon) like lettuce + tomato + pickles + cheese. Maybe even some avocado and dinner is done. If you’re really getting excited, bake off some sweet potato wedges in place of the packaged or deep fried French fries.
Tip 3: A few side dishes never hurt anyone
There are a lot of amazing side dishes that can hold their own as a main course. Think about mac and cheese with a veg. Or get really fancy and do a mac and cheese made with half cauliflower and half macaroni. How about cornbread with rice and beans plus a whole lot of toppings. Unconventional, yes. Delicious and filling, also yes. Maybe you need to package those beans a little bit better. Try a vegetarian chili. And then that chili can become tacos, or loaded baked sweet potato, or nachos. All vegetarian, and all good.
Tip 4: Eggs, beans, cheese and avocado
Pantry staples 101, ya’ll. These are some of the most flexible meat-free, protein-heavy, crazy filling foods we’ve got. They mix and match with each other just as much as they make friends with almost anything else they’re paired with. Breakfast for dinner? Yes! Cheesy vegetable omelettes with home fries? Done. Grilled cheese sandwiches? Oh DEFINITELY yes. And don’t underestimate huge salads made with everything on this list PLUS some fruit and roasted vegetables over a bed of greens. The salad guy by your job might get jealous.
Tip 5: Don’t underestimate the power of soup
There are lots of hearty soups that have no meat in them. And a lot of the ones that do, don’t HAVE to. Think split pea, lentil, butternut squash and tomato soups. I know making a soup can sound like a PROJECT there’s no time for. That’s where pre-made soups come in. There are a lot of really really delicious soups that don’t come in a can, are actually healthy, and can be the start of something even more amazing. Or at least give you an easy starting place to jazz it up and make it taste like your own. If the idea of soup sounds kind of incomplete, combine it with a couple slices of garlic bread, a quesadilla or a grilled cheese sandwich and you’ve got an entire meal done.
No matter what you’re looking to do, making a meatless meal doesn’t have to be miserable. Think beyond a sad salad, steamed broccoli or even the spaghetti with tomato sauce. There’s a whole delicious world out there. Enjoy it!
Looking for more info like this? Check out my post painless vegetarianism for beginners for even more tips and tricks.