Vegetarian Week
I recently saw Jennifer of Savoring the Thyme post about her family's Meatless May and it reminded me of something I wanted to share. A couple of months ago, Laurel became very concerned about animals -- or rather, human consumption of them. She asked whether we could help the environment and the animals and start eating vegetarian one week per month. We tried it and found it surprisingly easy, and that the experiment rendered other benefits.
Though organized about lots of things, Jon and I tend to be lax when it comes to menu planning. But when we committed to Laurel's vegetarian week, we decided to create a menu for the week to help us stick to the plan. Here's a sample week:
Sunday: Vegetable lasagna (It's nice to do something on Sunday that will create leftovers for the week; I used this awesome lasagna recipe but substituted roasted eggplant, zucchini, and yellow squash for the chicken.)
Monday: Bean and cheese and/or vegetable quesadillas
Tuesday: Pan seared tofu, brown rice, scallion pancakes, and assorted veggies
Wednesday: Breakfast as dinner (eggs, pancakes, what have you...)
Thursday: Magic spinach pie
Friday: Take out or dine out (pizza, burritos, sushi, etc...just make sure it's meat free!)
Saturday: FREE CHOICE (e.g., leftovers or something easy like veggie burgers)
As I said, it was remarkably easy to make it through the week eating vegetarian. But also cool? We have found that this experiment has lead to decreased meat consumption in other (non-vegetarian week) weeks, lower grocery bills (since we're buying less meat and fish), and better menu planning overall (we now plot our weekly menus on these chalkboard circles in our kitchen). So what do you think? Would you consider trying vegetarian week?
Image credit: Michelle Meiklejohn / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Comments
Hurray, Laurel! Yes, I would love to try something like this - not sure I could get my hubby on board. Like a lot of people, he feels "full" when he eats meat. But married to me, he doesn't get it too often :-) It makes a great environmental impact too!
Posted by: Michelle (What's Cooking with Kids) | May 22, 2011 10:42 AM | Reply to this comment
I tend to find that no matter what I eat, I need at least half a serving of meat a day to stop the hunger. I have often found myself digging into my fridge again and again, but just 1 or 2 slices of deli meat will satisfy me. Plus, I am borderline anemic, so red meat at least once a week keeps me from becoming very lethargic. I tend to try to keep my meat consumption to very lean and/or organic meats, but where I live it isn't always possible.
I very much applaud you for your vegetarian week, I just know from experience that it's not for me!
Posted by: melissa | May 22, 2011 2:35 PM | Reply to this comment
We eat a lot of veggies at our house, and I try to make a solely vegetarian meal at least once a week. Here's a tasty one that I tried last night. http://tinyurl.com/3py23pr It's going to be added to our list of favorites, although I don't think many kids would love it.
Posted by: Steph | May 24, 2011 2:55 PM | Reply to this comment
Great idea! I have been trying to become a vegetarian either , but unfortunately i failed.
The idea about healthy lifestyle + animal saving is great, but after my vegetarian month, i saw, that i cant without meat. I started to imagine, that my head is spinning even, just to get some peace of meat.
Sometimes im taking some special meat off days, but its not for long.
So, dear friends, congrats for everyone who can live without meat! :)
Posted by: Una | May 25, 2011 8:29 AM | Reply to this comment
I would love to get my kids to eat vegetarian! Your plan sounds great and I think I will try it out. As a young mom Im always worried about my kids health. I am so concerned with my little 4 month old that I bought a baby movement monitor to get over my paranoia of SIDS
Posted by: Mary | June 27, 2012 5:03 PM | Reply to this comment