Any advice for going vegetarian in a meat-eating family?

[youthere]

I am ready to give up meat. I want to eat healthier and going veg. seems to be the way to go for me, besides the fact that, other than some really good chicken soup once in awhile, I just don't enjoy meat that much. I do incorporate as many vegetarian meals into my family's diet as possible, but there is some rebellion when I present them with vegetarian options too often for their liking.
My husband and kids are unlikely to ever stop eating meat all together, especially since some of our income comes from the small amount of organic pork, chicken, eggs and rabbit meat we produce on our acreage.
So my question is,how do I work around this? I am the main cook in the family, and the thought of preparing two entirely separate meals each night is not exactly attractive to me.
Also I'm wondering about do I make the groceries for both "menus" work without blowing my budget?
I know I can always just set aside a small portion of casseroles and the like before I add the meat for the family, but just omitting the meat doesn't work for every meal so I'm kind of clueless on this.
Any advice? I sure would appreciate it.

[flvegan]

1. My advice...reduce, then replace

Yeah, yeah, yeah...big time assclown flvegan animal stealing jackoff plays the welfare card.

Look, forcing anything like this won't work. Your income aside. I'd not use the v-word and just reduce your usage of animal products in your daily intake. Replace those meat-based items with analogs. Tell them, though. Don't trick them into it.

Sometimes those that like rebellion need to see true rebellion, in that not eating meat is a culinary anarchy of sorts.

Ultimately, if it tastes good, smells good and doesn't make them puke, they'll embrace it. Just don't label it. Me? I'd snicker at their newfound yet unknown vegetarianism.

I'd also write Penthouse Forum, as "I never thought this would happen to me, but..."

[CrispyQ]

3. "culinary anarchy"

I like that. :thumbsup:

[peacebuzzard]

2. Wanting to be healthier is a superb choice.

And the animals will thank you as well.

Just curious, do you also do the slaughter on your farm as well??

Many decades ago, my ex was into the organic chicken business for himself. It bothered me to a great degree to watch him kill the chickens. I was the cook, and I hated the chore of cleaning the dead chickens to prepare for the freezer. So glad to say those days for me are buried in my past. Since then, over the years and especially lately with the help on this forum, my transformation stage is still ongoing.

But back to your concerns: What I would do, is prepare the meat dish separate and on the side have your magnificent vegetarian fare. There are so many absolutely deliciously ways to prepare vegetables, grains, casseroles (if you want to get truly involved with the kitchen). There are some incredible spices that make the entrees irresistible. And, if you want to entice your family, play around with the side dishes and tempt the family. Meat eating is a trait ingrained with education and I don't know the age of your children, but you could give them your opinions on the healthy and correct choices that will be with them for their lifetime. There was a thread started here in this forum sometime ago that everyone here contributed their awesome recipes. It needs to be resurrected in your honor.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=231&topic_id=497

[youthere]

4. First, to answer your question..

we butcher the chickens and the rabbits here. We also do the pig butchering, but the pigs are taken to a locker facility that one of our friends runs and we do the butchering there. It's not my favorite task by any means, but it's just part of the work here. My kids all help with the butchering. The meat the we produce and butcher ourselves (aside from what we sell) is the only meat we consume in our home. We also have a large garden and we freeze, dry, and can most of the produce from it (which the kids also help with.)


Second:
That's good advice. My cooking is very much "meat n'potatoes" style...which is to say we have the meat, a vegetable and potatoes rice or noodles in some form. That's the formula. In fact, I'd wager that 90% of Iowa cooks use it.
I could incorporate some of the vegetarian grain dishes as side dishes. As I said in my original post, I try to prepare vegetarian meals a couple times a week, but if I do it too often, they start screaming for a roast or chicken.
We eat a LOT of soups, stews and casseroles so I can definitely cut down the amount of meat I use in them and in some cases eliminate it completely.
It's a lot easier to get the family to eat less meat in the summer when the vegetable are fresh from the garden. They never complain then.

[femmedem]

5. What about cooking the vegetarian meals you want to eat, and then

once a week roasting a chicken that the omnivores can pick at as they please?

[emmajane67]

6. Once upon a time

when i used to share food with meat-eaters I found it easy to do meals like kebabs, pizza, stir-fry, burgers etc, that you can make and then add the meat to the relevant parties food.

Or perhaps with the meat and 3 vege option you could start having lots of different types of salads (bean, potato, couscous, tabouleh, green salad) with maybe a couple of hot veges, then you could add falafel or a vegea pattie or tempeh or something whilst they have meat.