Maybe you have heard of Meatless Mondays, where once per week (Monday or whatever day works for you), you cook a meatless dinner entree instead of having meat in order to save money. I do not always have a meatless meal on the same day each week, but I do try to have at least one meatless meal planned for dinner each week to save money. It is key to pick an entree that still has some protein in it in order for the meal to be sustaining. So far, the meatless meals I have done for our family are Vegetarian Chili, Cajun Beans and Rice, Vegetarian Goulash, macaroni and cheese with stir fry vegetables, and breakfast for dinner, such as scrambled eggs with toast, vegetable and cheese omelettes, french toast, cheese and vegetable quiche, or pancakes. Our favorite meatless meals have been breakfast for dinner. Do you plan meatless meals for your family in order to save money on groceries? How often do you have meatless meals? What are some of your favorite meatless meals?
I have been making vegetable stir fry and vegetable soup for my meatless days. I do not have a particular day of the week that I make meatless meals, but have been making them quite a bit lately in an effort to save some money. Meat is getting very expensive and making a meatless meal is a great way ft o save about $10 per week. In a months time you can save about $40 on your grocery bill by just having one meatless meal a week. That is money worth saving to me!
We have meat-free meals around three times a week. I don't make anything particularly special, just spaghetti sauce, vegetable stir-fry or quiche. I will admit that the OH sometimes whines about not having "proper food". I just tell him that he needs to break free from the societal expectations of mealtimes. And that if he keeps moaning, he'll be wearing the darn quiche! Whilst I do enjoy meat, I'm not keen on the belief that it's not a proper meal without it.
I have meatless meals every day, it's just how I was brought up. I always like having at least one meal with meat a day to get some protein, I feel weird otherwise. I usually eat meat for breakfast and leave lunch and dinner as optional. I can't say whether or not this saves money, since I've been doing it all my life, but if it does I can't complain.
I don't regularly plan meatless meal. My husband and two boys are carnivores but sometimes I will make broccoli or cauliflower soup when they are on sale. I serve the soup with garlic bread and salad. It's hearty and nutritious. My kids love these two soups because we add a lot of cheese to it and I thicken the soup with potatoes so it's more like a baked potato soup. We top it with green onions and sometimes bacon bits. I think making meatless meals is a great money saver. I bulk of my grocery budget is spent on meat each week.
Thinking about making dinners without meat is almost taboo for me and our family. We always use meat all the time with every meal of the day, so this is a hard concept for us. It makes me think what could we possibly make without meat in it? We definitely need to venture outside the box and look up things to make because it would definitely save a lot of money. And we also need to be healthier. We shouldn't feel like we have to rely on meat to have a good meal. It's a bummer that it's that way in our household and I'd like that to change. So I'm glad I came across this thread. Thanks for the ideas also, since you shared what you made for your family! And once a week is a good start at least!
We (or just I) eat meatless periodically throughout the week, but we don't necessarily plan on it for some specific day - but rather it just happens to be what I'm in the mood for every once in a while - I would say at least twice a week. Some days I'm either out of meats, or I'm just not in the mood to thaw out some meat and/or wait several hours for it to roast in the oven. Or I just may not be in the mood for anything greasy, and want something non-meat based. This is especially true if I've just gotten home from one of our local fruit farms or farmers markets with a bunch of fresh veggies. Some of my favorites to make from time to time: Haluski - the recipe for this varies depending on who you ask, but I make a meatless version like I ate growing up. It's braised cabbage, with caramelized onions and tons of melted butter tossed with egg noodles. Most of the time I braise the cabbage separate from caramelizing the onions, but other times I will just throw it in with the onions and fry it all together over a low heat (important so the cabbage and onions don't start to blacken before they are tender and sweet), before tossing them with the egg noodles and more melted butter. It's often tossed with crumbled bacon, but I usually top it with a bunch of fresh Romano instead. Eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce, over toasted French or Italian bread from the bakery - I could eat this for breakfast, lunch or dinner. I also top this with a bunch of Romano cheese and a good amount of fresh ground black pepper for some extra kick. It's even more decadent over some buttery garlic bread that's been broiled. Fried peppers and greens sandwich - When fresh escarole is on sale, I will make a large batch of sauteed Italian Greens (blanched escarole sauteed with lots of garlic, olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper) along with some fried or roasted peppers, usually a blend of long red hot peppers, cubanelle peppers, and hot wax peppers. When I'm not eating meatless, this is fantastic with some grilled chicken too. It's also good with some smoked provolone. You can also bulk it up with some fresh lettuce and sliced tomato. Or mix the peppers and greens into some scrambled eggs and make a sandwich out of that too.
I love this suggestion! I'm just starting out on my weight loss journey and this will certainly help me save money, and also lose weight. Since I'm not a fan of eating vegetables just yet, maybe I'll revolve my meatless meals on eggs, and meat substitutes. Does fish meat count though?
We don't have a schedule for not eating meat at home. It seems we just randomly prepare or buy food, depending on the mood and available resources. I did notice that we've been eating more and more fish-based dishes these past few weeks after my uncle died of stroke. He's a meat-eater and had hypertension. What happened to him shook my parents' sensibilities. Your suggestion is worth taking. We should probably set a day or two in a week - not necessarily Monday - eating only fish, vegetables and organic brown rice. The thing is, since it's typhoon in my country, the price of fish is much higher than most meat products.
We seldom eat meatless meals. Somehow we figure that every meal must have some meat to go along with it. However, it is something we have done on a couple of occasions. I do agree that it would save money and have given it some thought in the past. It is something I now need to put into action. Not only will it cut back on spending, but it is a healthy option too. I think fish is also a good substitute for meats like beef, lamb, chicken, pork or turkey. Tin salmon and mackerel are healthy substitutes and we have been eating this sort of thing a lot lately, but this is mainly because they were given to us by some friends. When it comes to price, mackerel is very reasonable. However, tin salmon is a bit on the pricey side. Since it is sometimes difficult to decide what meat to buy when we go shopping, taking a break from the meat would also make the shopping a little easier.
Another way to save on your meat costs is to buy bulk from a butcher instead of the grocery store. You get a lot better service and once you have built up a rapport with the butcher you will often get discounts. A warning for meatless meals, if you use Soy to substitute meat do not feed it in excess to your children especially young girls. Soy has elevated levels of estrogen that can be very detrimental to your health and girls have been shown to reach sexual maturity sooner due to a high soy diet. Soy can also cause early menopause in middle age woman, so just something to think about.
My sister's boyfriend works with meat, and can often get us deals on bulk meat for a very generous price. But I personally have never been that big of a meat eater. I will eat it, but I don't need it, so saving money on it has never been too hard. Sometimes we get meat for free too.
Eating animals is expensive, so definitely, any meal you can go without is a great step in savings. I highly recommend Pinterest for tons of inspiration to help those out who have a hard time coming up with meatless meals. Just use the word vegan or vegetarian in your search and voila.. a lifetime supply of recipes lol. Note: fish are still living beings, so yes, still considered "meat". And people should fear dairy, not soy. It's scary to me that people fear plant foods then pack their kids lunches with such unhealthy animal products.
Why should people fear diary? Soy is proven to have negative effects on a person's health because of the high estrogen levels. A vegan lifestyle is not necessarily a less expensive lifestyle especially since it is "hip and cool" to be vegan these days. All organic foods have their prices inflated. It is still cheap to eat fish and chicken. If we are here to save money fish and chicken are still viable options and a good alternative to more expensive red meats. The same can be said for pork which is also relatively cheap.
Now that I am on a diet to lose 7 pounds more, I am amenable to a meatless diet even for 2 weeks maybe. My husband is suggesting boiled potatoes which he would whip into a salad with apple cubes and some other flavoring. But I prefer boiled sweet potatoes and plantain. I could eat them plainly, no need for making into a salad. And speaking of salad, the green salad would go well with buttered toast. And I'd say there is great savings in terms of food budget... if everyone in the house would have the same food as mine.
I don't have a specific day of the week for meatless meals, we just wing it. Almost anything can be a meatless meal, from grilled cheese to stir fried cabbage or French toast. Meatless meals are good for your health ,not just your grocery budget.
Lol.. yeah, I'm not a faddy person. Sure, there are tons of people out there doing it for weight loss (or the hopes of it), but personally, I've been a plant based eater for a long time now. I'm vegan for the animals, the planet and my health. I ate meat only because I thought it was necessary for life, I've always hated what I was contributing to.. I was extatic when science led me away from eating animals. Even if I were doing it to be cool (lmao), it saves lives. A very good thing. Vegan isn't automatically cheaper, no. If you substitute animal crap with animal free crap, of course you're not getting anywhere (still a great step for the animals though). Like I said though, I'm a plant based eater.. I spend far less than I ever have in my life now and I eat a lot more lol. I never said anything about organic food.. I don't personally buy into that sticker. The fear of soy comes from studies on it's isolates.. once you extract parts of a food from the whole, it's no longer the same thing, nor is it protected and utilized by the body in the same way. There is plenty of science out there proving the benefits (even in regards to cancer) and plenty of science showing the negatives of animal products. It's true, we will all find some sort of science somewhere to back up our own beliefs, but as I said, the science led me to my way of life, not the other way around.. meaning I was open to all sides and the path I took was because the science that paved the way outweighed the rest. To each their own
I get what you are saying and please do not think I am attacking you as my fiance is actually @Jani and as she wants to be vegetarian I would like to know more about how you say the science led you to not eat animal meat. I believe we are supposed to eat meat and make it part of our diets. Not based on science just because I like it. So what is the science you are referring to?
Oh god, I wouldn't even know where to begin! lol.. and it led me to not eat animal products, not just animals themselves, but their.. er.. bodily functions as well lol. There is massive amounts of science out there favouring a plant based diet.. for reversing and preventing countless issues/illnesses/diseases/disorders (I've seen it in myself and numerous people in my day to day life as well, it's amazing), for weight, for heart, for brain, for skin, for overall health and well being. You can't say the same for animal products. Well.. I guess you can if you want lol. We evolved because we learned to cook and meat contributed with it's calorie density, it really offers no nutritional value. It was a necessity for survival; we are now evolved, empathetic and priviledged enough to eat without harming and killing others. There are still many on the planet who need meat for survival (calories, availability), but I'm thinking those of us on a computer talking about it aren't amongst those people lol.
^ Trying to explain to someone the science of not eating meat is like hitting yourself in the foot with a nail. It just doesn't work, and if it did, they wouldn't eat meat. What I prefer to tell everyone that says "science" is that science classifies us in the primate order, our closest relatives are frugivores that subsist on fruit+varietal greens, our anatomy matches a frugivore to the T and no other species on Earth must cook its food to survive. So if we were to line up those dots, literally the only thing that makes sense, scientifically, is plant matter.
