Making the slow transition to becoming a Vegetarian, any assistance welcomed!

Well I have made the decision after years of 'maybe' to bite the bullet and make the transition to a vegetarian diet.

I have made this decision based on my health, ecological and compassionate reasons.

I know that a major thing is you have to ensure that you get the correct intake of Iron, can I do this through diet or is a Iron replacement tablet required?

Is there any other factors that I need to include?

I will be making this transition a slow-ish one as I believe this is the way to success in my goal.

Is it worth buying some of the meat alternatives from the supermarket? Are these part of the 'normal' vegetarian diet? Or can I make do with recipes containing lentils, legumes etc.

If there are any long term Vegetarians that can offer any advice and/or recipes I would greatly appreciate it.

Thankyou.
Deanne.

DH is a vego & he doesn't take any extra supplements. Just maintaina healthy diet. Look into things that are hogh in iron if your concerned about then. I think strawberries are high in iron. So even though mushrooms are probably the first thing you would think of there are actually other things also. Prettys sure chocolate might be one of them too LOL.

We don't buy anything special. Although I do buy some of the vego alternatives from time to time. I think "Fry's" is one brand I like. Its in the freezer section in green boxes. There are a few different things. veg patties, shcinzle type things & Im currently liking the cottage pie. Pretty sure its "fry's" anyway.

One of the best things about being vego is not having to buy meat. You come to realise how bloody expensive it is. Even though I will eat a good steak if its cooked well. Now way I can look at one in the shops & have enough reason to actually buy it. Sausages is all the meat I buy.

Good luck with it. I think you will find it easier then you think

Long term vege who is slowly going back to meat... but I was only vege because of the taste, now I cook meat it tastes a bit better!

But for years my diet was fine, no supplements needed. (I've always eaten fish though.)

I enjoy eating meat alternatives, they taste nicer than the meat in half the cases! Lentils are yum.

Iron, I eat a lot of spinach and apricots. They taste nice and are full of iron - all dark green veggies are so take your pick.

I know there are threads of food out there. One of my favourite recipes is a brocolli bake:

Potatoes, cut into thick circles (like for mash potatoes, but a lot thicker and not boiled for as long).
Brocolli, steamed.
Cheese sauce.
Large chunks of cheese.

Pop all the above in a casserole dish and into the oven for 30 minutes. Serve with whatever you fancy - carrots, sweetcorn, veg... or beans and vege sausages if you like (I prefer the former, my mother the latter). Or eat it alone.


eta - FJ, only dark choc is high in iron. What a shame! And I agree, meat is expensive, which is why we're a vegetarian family 5 nights out of 7 and meat only once or twice.

Thankyou for your replies ladies.

I might head down the shop and see if they have any of the frys brand, sounds like a bit of buy and try to see what I like.

I like mushrooms, strawberries and dark chocolate so I am in luck :D

This may be a silly question but the meat alternatives, are these good for health/diet reasons and good to be part of your daily diet or are there more for the people that want to eat meat with eating meat? Like just that extra something to put with their meals? I'm not sure if that makes any sense.

Thanks for the recipe rosehip fairy - I am a big fan of mornay type meals.

Deanne.

I have been lacto-ovo veg for 17 years now and only take a multi-vitamin as a supplement. I have also been a blood donor (prior to being pregnant) so my iron levels are just fine. DP eats meat but we don't cook it at home and he says he doesn't miss it as we have a lot of variety.

The replacement food that I use are sanitarium ones and mainly because DP thinks they are good. I use the casserole mince for spag bol so he doesn't feel like he is missing out, sanitarium sausages which go well with mash and soy fillets (or "tricken" fillets as DP calls them) which are great to grill and use in a mega salad. Also refried beans for burritos and tacos - I have a way of cooking these to make them taste good :D

Generally though I just do a lot of recipes like lentil soups, curries with chickpeas, pasta with beans in the sauce, stir fry with marinated tofu etc. PM me if you need any basic recipes.

Hi Deanne,

I have been a vegetarian since I was 8 and DH has been since he was toddler. We both just didn't really like the taste of meat but now it's for the same reasons as you, and it makes us feel good :D

We rarely have the meat substitute, sometimes tofu though. We use a lot of lentils, kidney beans and chick peas. I quite like the schnitzel and nuggets that you get in the freezer section but DH isn't keen on them so I have them occasionally when I'm on my own.

Any recipe that you have that you really like, just try substituting the meat for a heap of extra vegies or adding some chickpeas or lentils. I've found the women's weekly website helpful for finding new vegetarian recipes.

The one thing that I find really hard to avoid is gelatine, it's in most yoghurt and lollies which I find hard to give up completely. And there are some vegetarian cheeses but I don't think they are as good, so I guess that is a choice you need to make eventually. You'll get really good at reading ingredients on packets as there are meat products in things that you wouldn't expect. I would suggest as you're going to make the transition slowly to start getting used to reading the ingredients, there are meat products in some tomato pasta sauces, curry pastes, even chocolate biscuits!

I'm not sure where you're located but here in Melbourne there is a fabulous asian restaurant that is completely vegetarian. The menu is just like a regular menu though, there is a vege section but you can also order things like lemon chicken or ribs and it does really look (and I've heard) taste like the real thing but it's all meat substitute. If you want to try the fake meat this is excellent place to do it.

I hope that helped, sorry I've rambled!

Sare