Do you want to eat less meat and could use a few helpful tips for your project? Then you've come to the right place! There are certainly one or two reasons that have brought you to this blog post. Your health, environmental protection or animal welfare, for example. But do you currently think that you will find it difficult to eat less beef and pork, less chicken and less fish? Then I can reassure you: it has never been easier to replace meat on your plate.
In this article, I'd like to introduce you to the best, easy-to-implement tips for reducing your meat consumption in a simple and stress-free way. Let's go!
In advance you can find here already a short Overview about the advice:
- Know your reasons & advantages
- Make people aware of their own actual meat consumption
- Get inspired by magazines and blogs
- Cook and eat with vegans and vegetarians
- Use plant substitutes to help
- Prefer meat-like, plant-based foods
- Working with herbs and spices
- Make a short meal plan before shopping for the week
- Tell others about your project
- Switch from thinking about renunciation to anticipation
1. know your reasons & advantages
It is incredibly difficult to successfully master a change in your life without knowing the basic motivation for it. So if you want to minimize your meat consumption, you should know what the benefits are for you and others. Say goodbye to old beliefs, reduce prejudices, allow new things to happen and have your personal reasons for giving up meat - from the End of factory farmingto protecting the planet and our own health - always in mind.
The following tips and further articles will help you a lot from my own experience:
- Documentaries about factory farming view (e.g. Dominion)
- Psychology of meat consumption know (e.g. Carnism)
- Vegan books read (e.g. Cooking for the climate)
2. make people aware of their own actual meat consumption
Most people reflexively claim that they are "eat very little meat anyway". But what is "less meat" - and what does "less meat" mean? These are vague statements that no one - including yourself - can control. Instead of trying to get out of the affair in this way, you should rather stand up for observe and note for one weekhow often you actually eat schnitzel, sausage and kebab with lamb. This will make it all the easier for you to curb this actual state.
Depending on the status quo, define goals such as "eat meat only 2 days this week". or "only one meal with meat a day". - and reduce them step by step so that your meat consumption steadily decreases.
3. GET INSPIRED BY MAGAZINES & BLOGS
As a non-vegan, I hardly knew any purely plant-based dishes that I could cook. For a long time, this also prevented me from eating a vegetarian or vegan diet. But at some point I realized, how diverse plant-based, climate- and animal-friendly cuisine is. For this aha moment, you should definitely read cooking magazines and books, but also use the countless recipes and cooking tips on the internet. Let yourself be inspired and slowly get to know the vegetarian and vegan alternatives to meat.
4. cook and eat with vegans & vegetarians
In addition to the recipes and the swarm knowledge from the net, it helps especially to organize a cooking evening with vegan or vegetarian friends or to go out to eat together. Why? You see what others are eating or cooking and automatically get more inspirationto eat less meat.
Tip: Indian, Israeli, Italian or Thai cuisine offers a particularly large number of meat-free dishes. However, experience has shown that it is somewhat more difficult to avoid meat in Greek cuisine. Below "Vegan in the restaurant" you can now find out how you can eat meat-free and animal-free basically anywhere.
5. use plant replacement products to help.
Many meat eaters wonder, Why vegans always eat meat substitutes. This is mainly due to the fact that they are not giving up meat because it tastes bad, but for ethical, ecological or health reasons. However, vegan substitute products are actually more of a Change from meat eater to vegan - I personally hardly eat them any more.
But if you want to eat less meat, they are ideally suited to keep your inner pig in check. After all, the alternatives made from soy, peas and other plant-based ingredients not only smell and taste like real meat, they often look like it too.
6. prefer meat-like, plant-based foods
You may find it difficult to simply eat a salad. What's missing is usually just an ingredient with a meaty texture. To make a less meat-heavy diet easier for you, you should therefore focus your meals on foods that are naturally similar to the sinewy, toothy flesh are.
In addition to the meat substitutes just mentioned, you can also use, for example Mushrooms, dried tomatoes, eggplant, chickpeas, tofu, lentils, seitan, falafel and the jackfruit. - but also countless other foods.
7. working with herbs & spices
The so beloved, full-bodied and hearty meat flavor Fortunately, even without real meat, it can be combined very well with spices, herbs and other foods. imitate. Meat actually tastes quite neutral by nature - it's the seasoning that makes eating it a taste sensation.
Therefore use for example Soy sauce, miso, oregano, pepper, thyme, rosemary, marjoram and onions to make your meat-free meals (e.g. with tofu) even more exciting and even easier to do without meat.
8. Make a short meal plan before shopping for the week
In the early days of your reduced meat consumption, the support of a quick weekly meal plan is extremely helpful. Just write down the day before your weekly shop what exactly is on your menu and what you need to get for it. This way, you won't deviate from your old habits and will automatically increase the likelihood of your project's success.
Tip: It's also best to cook slightly more generous portions so that you can still eat some of it during your lunch break the next day.
9. tell others about your project
A personal commitment is important if you are serious about achieving your goals. If you have your Friends or family members that you will be eating less meat from now on, you will be under observation - and will be better able to withstand certain tempting situations.
In the best case you also try together with othersto master the transition to a meat-free or less meat-heavy diet. Because with the help of fellow campaigners, fun and perseverance automatically grow.
10. Change from the idea of renunciation to anticipation.
Whether you manage to eat less meat ultimately depends on your mindset! Know the benefits, realize that plant-based cuisine has so much more to offer - but don't stress.
You automatically eat a more animal-friendly and generally healthier diet if you eat less meat. Of course, I can only speak for myself and a few vegan friends: But in the end, the "meat renunciation" is not a renunciationbut probably the best decision of life.
Eat less meat - easier than ever!
Now you have countless tips at your fingertips to make meat something special and unusual again or even to stop eating meat products altogether. Today, there are countless plant-based alternatives that will bring you much closer to your goal of "eating less meat".
Do you have questions or more tips to eat less meat? Then I look forward to your comment under this post.
Stay sustainable,
PS.: You want to know why I live vegan? At Reasons for veganism I'll introduce them to you. Have fun!
