Meatless Meals?

[MrsClaus]

In another thread, several were talking about instituting meatless meal nights due to rising costs.

Could someone share what their menu would be? I'm really drawing a blank right now on how I could do this with my family?

Thanks.

[TheRootedNomad]

Here are some I do that I can think of off the top of my head:

~ Potatoe soup with salad and crackers

~ Pasta with peas, oranges on the side, and garlic bread

~ lentils (made soup like with lots of carrots and celery) and hommade bread

~ waffles with fried apples and scrambled eggs ( I consider this meatless, others may not)

~ Baked ziti with salad

~ Plate of fresh fruit with yougurt and a sweet bread with butter

~ Baked sweet potatoe, apple/cabbage slaw, mixed veggies

Hope that helps!

[AstarB1]

I'm vegan, so I have lots of experience with cooking and eating meatless!

I'd say that the most frugal meatless meal is anything that starts with dried beans. Canned beans are more convenient, but more expensive (but less expensive than meat, I'd imagine).

My advice is to check out some basic vegetarian / vegan cookbooks from the library. If you can find it, check out "Foods That Don't Bite Back" by Sue Donaldson. I find that most everything in it is basic and frugal.

Good luck!

[suki]

Good advice.

We also incorporate fish into our weekly diet. We have at least one fish meal per week and sometimes two.

I use vegetarian cookbooks for ideas. We make felafel, beans and rice, big salads (in the summer), potato soup, carrot soup, veggie soup, lentils, pasta and sauce, stuffed shells and sauce, veggie lasagna, eggplant parmisan... I could keep going and going. But, I hope this helps.

With the fish, we make fish tacos, pan-seared fish, baked fish dishes and fried catfish.

[LexTysMommy]

Our meatless meals are very simple.

-pasta with no meat just sauce and spices. Add garlic bread and salad.

-Breakfast for dinner. Eggs, hashbrowns, fruit, veggie omlettes, biscuits and gravy.

-I make soups with no meat, lots of veggies and chicken stock. OR lots of veggies, tomato base and beef stock.

-Baked potatoes with cheese, veggies, gravy, and salad.

We try to do a meatless meal every week, or more. I tend to eat meatless meals if kids not here.

[Ceashels]

When I find portabella mushrooms for a good price I use them instead of meat in stirfry and pasta dishes.

[M55FF]

when I hear meatless I think tuna. yes tuna is meat but I still think tuna.

when going meatless you have to be careful not to get your protien from fat ( cheese).. its better for you to eat a small peice of meat or some tuna than cheese... lean protien vs. high fat protien.
Protien will also fill you up better.

There are also eggs... which are more desirable than anything with cheese or cream ( creamed soups)

[kellydoeshair]

When I find portabella mushrooms for a good price I use them instead of meat in stirfry and pasta dishes.

you can also use the whole caps grilled on burgers instead of hamburger
it's YUMMY and healthier
not to mention cheaper

[sunshine]

MEAT SUBSTITUTE

1 cup rolled oats (long cooking oatmeal)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sage
2 eggs- beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1 beef bouillon cube

Mix the oats, salt, sage and eggs; form into four flat patties. Fry in the butter until browned on both sides. In a kettle or saucepan, boil 1 qt.water and add bouillon cube. Pour mixture over patties;simmer, covered for 30 minutes.

Doubles or triples easily. I've froze them and they freeze just fine too!

[perSue]

i'm a vegan and my family eats meat.

now, i've gotta try to balance this w/out the "let's get take out!" happening.

so it's a delicate balance.

so we have a lotta soups - this can be left to your imagination & what you like. pretty much any soup you have can be made meatless. give it a meaty boost by using beef/chicken stock.

spaghetti w/homemade sauce - just no meat. add lotsa veggies (or whatever's in your fridge/freezer).

rice/beans/chips and/or veggies. make a full blown taco salad night, or just have a "finger food" night of "chips & dip" (that's relatively healthy - but kids will think it's like fast food!)

a regular dinner you'd make withOUT meat, add an extra side -like beans.
for instance, potatoes (grilled, boiled, baked), carrots, green beans (or casserole), and pinto/navy beans (no ham).

It's really using your imagination.
"How do I fell in the hole where meat used to be?"

use beans/lentils/legumes, extra side dish (wild rice, mac&cheez, casserole, leftovers!), add a side salad, or just leave the meat out entirely & make extra bread or "filler" (grains or veggies).

Every now & then the boys here require "meat" so I give in & make chicken for them.

A good example is thanksgiving dinner.
The usual turkey is gone, but we have hm mashed potatoes, lotsa green veggies, carrots (for colour), salad, hm rolls, and all the regular fixin's.

now if we have company on thxgiving, we ask that THEY bring a turkey... since so many ppl wanna "help" by doing something. That's what we do.
There's always enough food to feed at least 20 ppl. because i make so many sides!

Good Luck!

[pkellyc]

Meatless meals.

Minestrone soup and bread
Broccoli cheese soup and bread
Macaroni and cheese
Eggplant Parmesan
Rice and beans
Not all together meatless but I make homemade boston baked beans and brown bread.
Squash casserole with a salad
Cheese stuffed shells

My family loves cheese. Can you tell?

[Hannahs mom]

My meatless meals consist of spagetti or penne noodles/sauce/cheese bread, and potato soup. Even my vegetable soup has leftover hamburger/meatloaf in it and my pinto/white beans have leftover chicken and steak bits. My DH really doesn't consider it to be a meal unless there's meat, but I could live without it. I'm thinking about only making enough meat for him because I usually only have a small portion. I'd be happy eating cereal everynight