wife became a vegetarian

Herbie

Rendezvous Conspirator
Finally, a topic I'm qualified to answer.

My wife has been vegetarian since before we met 22 years ago. I do all the cooking, both at home and in-camp. Our daughter and I eat meat. 90% of the time it's zero problem, and honestly cooking for a 6 year old is way harder than cooking veggie. In my wife's case, she developed a strong distaste for meat after eating campus cafeteria food in college. She is not vegetarian for political, ecological, or moral reasons, nor is she a "militant vegetarian" talking about her choices with anyone else. She really just doesn't like the taste of meat. I occasionally get her to try a bite of something just in case her tastes have changed, but they haven't.

Strategies to make your life easier:

  • Make your side dishes vegetarian. Most are anyway, but leave the bacon off your brussels sprouts, or have it on the side - I get a lot of mileage out of quality "sides only" some nights, then a meat dish for myself.
  • Cook "base recipes", then add meat at the end. e.g. for morning fry-ups I saute cubed potatoes, onions, etc. in olive oil, then split the base and add sausage, corned beef, or whatever to my half.
  • As above, make meals with a lot of overlap in the preparation where you can easily offer a choice of filling (tacos) or sauce (pasta) for the meat-eaters or veggies without much more work.
  • Substitute veggie stock for meat stocks - Rice, pasta, and pan sauces made from veggie stock taste just as good or better.
  • Figure out what proteins she will eat, and lean on them whenever possible. Luckily my wife still eats fish, for example, so we have a heavy rotation of salmon, tilapia, shrimp, etc. which is healthy anyhow
  • Avoid most soy/veggie substitute-meats, unless she REALLY likes them. I think they're gross and my wife thinks most either taste like dogfood or (worse) too much like a cheap version of the meat they're emulating
  • Exception: There are a few quality substitute products that are a convenient swap:

  • El Burrito brand Soyrizo - A wonderful mix of spices, and if you fry it up it gets a good texture. Tasty enough that I've stopped eating real mexican-style pork chorizo alltogether, I actually prefer the substitute and its WAY less greasy (but you do need to add a little fat, like olive oil, to cook it)
  • Lightlife brand Mexican crumbles - They have a plain version which is really, um, plain, but the mexican version makes a quality alternative for taco filling, egg scrambles, empanadas, etc. Many a taco night in our house this is the only filling. Topped with tomatoes, cheese, and the right hot-sauce, it's hard to distinguish from taco bell's filling!
  • Morningstar Farms brand Bacon Strips - something about how they process the protein in these makes them an amazingly good analog. There's two different "textures" of the stuff, so it simulates the "crunchy bits and fatty bits" of a good bacon strip. Wife and daughter swear by them, but I still make real bacon for myself.
  • For grilling, most of the beef-patty substitutes aren't very good, but the Trader Joes Masala Patty, which is nothing like a burger, functions in the same way, in that you can grill it and slap it on a bun with condiments and its very tasty. As I mentioned above, this fits nicely into my workflow since I can just put out all the fillers on the table, grill burgers for me and the kid, and grill one of these for the wife. They come frozen, but will keep reasonably well for a few days in my camper's fridge section, if the freezer is full.

As for camping-friendly vegetarian meals:

  • Greek "Pita Pockets" - Warm pita-halves, lettuce, tomato, onion, tzatziki sauce, cucumbers, etc. I marinade some tri-tip steaks for me and the kiddo, and fry up a few falafel for wife
  • Pilaf of Doom - actually learned this from Chef Ara at OvEx '11 - a generic cook up of some sort of grain (quinoa, rice, etc.) or cous cous, with saute'd zucchini, onions, tomatoes, etc. VERY filling, and easy to make lots of variations using the same method. Make it asian, make it spanish, etc.
  • Chili - Lots of ways to cook this either all veggie, or use the cook-base-then-split-and-add-meat method. Here's my favorite all-veggie recipe.
  • Almost everything in the recipe section of DirtyGourmet.com - A quality collection of ingredients from a set of serious foodie-campers, and they divide the recipes into sections like "car camping" vs. "backpacking", etc. - Every recipe I've tried has been fantastic.

I also wrote a longer blog piece on this subject for a friend who'd recently become married to a vegetarian. You might find that useful also.
 

Hilldweller

SE Expedition Society
My wife and I are vegan ---- grocery bills are much lower...

Here's a good website to join: http://www.plantpurenation.com/
Lots of good recipes shared.
Links/recipes from Dr Campbell and Cornell University: http://nutritionstudies.org/
Dr McDougall has recipes and even a line of boxed food (find at grocery store): https://www.drmcdougall.com/health/education/recipes/ https://www.rightfoods.com/
We take the McDougall things with us for quick skillet meals, usually making some fresh bread in the Dutch Oven to go with it.
Good cookbook: http://www.amazon.com/Forks-Over-KnivesThe-Cookbook-Plant-Based/dp/1615190619
Wisdom from Rip: http://engine2diet.com/recipes/

I like to cook so I usually freestyle it and make my own recipes though. I only do the "easy" stuff camping usually.

BTW, a little over 4 years ago my doctors gave me 3-4 months to live. Gave me the contact info for hospice. Wife and I went vegan and my doctors are only just now starting to recommend the lifestyle to other patients.
 

Clawhammer

Adventurer
Humans are carnivores ! How can you say eating meat is just a plain bad idea? I love meat, my daughter did the I'm a vegetarian thing for years . And being as we loved Mortons of Chicago for after kings games the gym would always make her something special.
Turns out she would have burgers on the side .
I have never met a healthy full blown vegetarian in my life. It's alway , either I quit I want a Porterhouse ! My daughters response one night at Mortons. Or they lie and eat meat on the side.

Incorrect. Humans are omnivores. As such they can eat a wide variety of things and can be choosy about those things. You've made your choice, stop disparaging people who have decided otherwise.
 

Hilldweller

SE Expedition Society
Incorrect. Humans are omnivores. As such they can eat a wide variety of things and can be choosy about those things. You've made your choice, stop disparaging people who have decided otherwise.
Meh, doesn't hurt me none.
I'm full-blown vegan (vegetarians eat stuff I'd never touch) for over 4 years, never eat any meat/cheese/eggs at all. I'm 6'5" and weigh 245, bench-press 400 on a good day. People look at me and say, "you're a vegan? I thought vegans were pale and scrawny..."
I try not to judge. Most people come to me for recipes eventually. Usually medically related ---- A1C was high, cholesterol, blood pressure, cancer, auto-immune disorder, heart attack.

If you need motivation or are just curious, watch "Forks Over Knives" on Netflix. I'd be stone-cold dead without those folks.
 

Clawhammer

Adventurer
Meh, doesn't hurt me none.
I'm full-blown vegan (vegetarians eat stuff I'd never touch) for over 4 years, never eat any meat/cheese/eggs at all. I'm 6'5" and weigh 245, bench-press 400 on a good day. People look at me and say, "you're a vegan? I thought vegans were pale and scrawny..."
I try not to judge. Most people come to me for recipes eventually. Usually medically related ---- A1C was high, cholesterol, blood pressure, cancer, auto-immune disorder, heart attack.

If you need motivation or are just curious, watch "Forks Over Knives" on Netflix. I'd be stone-cold dead without those folks.

Yeah, I'm with you. I've seen Forks Over Knives. My doctor actually recommended it to me. His doctor recommended it to him. I agree with you, I just get annoyed how people are so quick to ridicule others who aren't like them. For some, vegetarians and vegans are easy targets ("you're supposed to be a carnivore!" "never seen a healthy vegetarian!" That kinda stuff...) It's a healthier lifestyle and maybe that's the reason (some) meat-eaters get so rude about. They know others are making better lifestyle choices but don't want to change, so they insult. I quit drinking for a while and drinkers were the same way. *shrugs* Some people's kids...
 
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Christophe Noel

Expedition Leader
I have never met a healthy full blown vegetarian in my life.
I sure have. Plenty. The reality is, the vast majority of the populous eats poorly regardless of any categorization of vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, etc. How many times have you listened to some kook blather on about gluten only to chew down a slab of bacon and wash it down with a Redbull. Poor food choices make people unhealthy.

I've had six pack abs and a lean and tone physique throughout my life as a vegetarian and as a moderate meat eater. Just introducing meat into your diet doesn't make you any more or less healthy than those who do not and visa versa.

To the OP, most people struggle with vegetarian diets because they try to hard to substitute meat with some attempt at a meat facsimile. Fake anything sucks. Image what a fake carrot tastes like. Think of many things you like and just remove the meat. Spaghetti and meatballs? Try pasta primavera. Beef burritos? Try it with just beans and roasted veggies.

Over the years there has become a new trend to be less militant about these diet choices. The notion that you can't be "vegetarian" if you eat meat once every month or two is ridiculous. One of my vegan friends cried for two hours when she realized she ate a cupcake sweetened with honey. Really? Get over it.
 

Clymber

Adventurer
Thanks for all the info guys. The wife eats fish and eggs still she isn't vegan. I'm just trying to figure out how to work it on a trip. Before she went vegetarian what we used to do was crock pot for a bunch before we went on the trip and freeze it then have that on the trips. Now with her not eating meat makes some things difficult. Beef stew isn't the same with the beef missing.
I love curry her not as much and taking fish out on a trip is a little scary for me. Think I would trust road kill more then a chunk of salmon that was in the fridge/freezer for 3 or 4 day.
 

Christophe Noel

Expedition Leader
It could be worse. As fit and healthy as anyone I know, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes last fall. I have to radically moderate carbs, and those suckers are in EVERYTHING. I wish it was just as easy as being a vegetarian.
 

Black Dog

Makin' Beer.
I like the Mike Dolce Living Lean Cookbook, there are still meatie recipes but lots of veg only. My favorite is:

Warm Quinoa Chickpea Veggie bowl
1c quinoa
1T grapeseed oil (I use olive oil)
1 red bell pepper
1 green bell pepper (you can actually use any color bell peppers)
3/4c chickpeas (1 can drained)
14 cherry tomatoes (I go with a few more and cut them in half lengthwise)
1/4 red onion (I go about half an onion any color)

Cook quinoa according to the instructions
Begin stir frying the onion and peppers in oil for a few minutes
Add tomatoes and cook until they're good and hot
Add the chickpeas and cook until hot
Serve on top of prepared quinoa

I usually press a few heads of garlic and toss them in with the chickpeas but that's not part of the original recipe. The cookbook is written for MMA fighters and athletes so all the recipes are performance minded. There is a PDF version floating around the internet if you want to try before you buy.

I haven't read this whole thread so this may have been mentioned already, but the Moosewood Cookbook is great for veg heads too.
 

kojackJKU

Autism Family Travellers!
Thanks for all the info guys. The wife eats fish and eggs still she isn't vegan. I'm just trying to figure out how to work it on a trip. Before she went vegetarian what we used to do was crock pot for a bunch before we went on the trip and freeze it then have that on the trips. Now with her not eating meat makes some things difficult. Beef stew isn't the same with the beef missing.
I love curry her not as much and taking fish out on a trip is a little scary for me. Think I would trust road kill more then a chunk of salmon that was in the fridge/freezer for 3 or 4 day.

If she eats fish and eggs, she's not vegetarian. Just saying. but hey....thank god she is not gone full hippy on you. My cousin and his wife are gone full vegan, and they look sick all the time.
 

Shamus13

New member
I have been a meat eater, vegetarian, vegan, and raw food only. All can be healthy. All can be unhealthy. Don't judge the meal plan it comes down to what they put in their body. If you don't get the basic nutrients by avoiding variety or only eating processed / greasy foods all will fail.

I treat my body like a temple. You treat yours like a tent.
 
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chet6.7

Explorer
Cooking quinoa,somewhere I got this tip,before washing heat the quinoa in a pan,you will hear it start to pop.The first video shows what I mean,I haven't tried it as shown in the second video.



 

Happykamper

Explorer
Chris Noel as an avid gym rat ex football player and bodybuilder . I digest great foods and meats. Meat proteins are fantastic for the body. Any skinny runt can have abs . Even us bulked up sensible weight pounders . My abs , since that's how I guess you qualify health lol, are ripped to the core. 6'4" and 265lb . Yep down from the days where I carried 290lb plus.
And at 57 im still ripped. No gut . I eat sensible but I will contend a veg or vegan are no where as healthy as people who eat meats. I guess if you were knocking down 5-10 Big Macs lol. But everything in moderation.
No knock on your health issue , as I hope you control it well. But no high blood pressure no diabeties , just one big ole health carnivor .
As you said earlier most folks fail at becoming vegetarians but not because they are substituting veg burgers lol. Because there body craves meats.
I think most folks try for good reasons ,at least in there minds, but I also think they try a quick fix for being to lazy to be active . Hiking rowing lifting walking swimming etc..... There just to darn lazy . So they try silly diets and things like veg and vegan.
I have really never met a healthy looking or acting veg.
People just try the easiest thing ...at least in there minds because there unwilling to get up on a daily basis and put the work in.
I love expo west and the rest. Here are all these outdoor types . Most of whom could use a great personal trainer and a great dietitian .
If they would only pay as much attention to there bodies as they do to the next mod they can buy or what desert they can make next with a million calories in there Dutch oven.
It's hilarious .
Again Chris I hope you can control your issue. Seems like you have a lifestyle that will help .
This is just my opinion and 100's of hours reading .

May god make smooth the path you follow.
 

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