You want to eat less meat and could still use some helpful tips for your plan? Then you are absolutely right here! For sure there is one or the other reason that has just brought you to this blog post. Your health, the environment or the welfare of animals, for example. But currently you think that it will be difficult for you to eat less beef and pork, less chicken and also less fish? Then I can reassure you: it has never been easier than today to replace meat on your plate.
In this article, I would like to introduce you to the best, directly applicable tips to reduce your meat consumption easily and stress-free. 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
- Work 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 manage a change in your life without knowing the basic motivation behind it. So if you want to minimize your meat consumption, 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 the meat renunciation - from the End of factory farmingfrom the protection of the planet to our own health - always in front of our eyes.
From my own experience, the following tips and related articles will help you a lot:
- 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 "little meat" - and then what does "less meat" mean? These are woolly statements that no one - including yourself - can control. Instead of letting yourself off the hook 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. The easier it will be 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. This also kept me from going vegetarian or now vegan for a long time. But at some point it became clear to me, How more diverse plant-based, climate- and animal-friendly cuisine is. For that AHA moment, be sure to read cooking magazines and books, but also take advantage of the countless recipes and cooking tips available on the Internet. Get inspired and slowly get to know the vegetarian-vegan alternatives for 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 do without meat at Greek restaurants. At "Vegan in the restaurant" you will now learn how you can eat meat- and animal-free basically everywhere.
5. use plant replacement products to help.
Many meat eaters wonder, Why vegans always eat meat substitutes. This is mainly because they do not give up meat because of the bad taste, but out of ethical, ecological or health motivation. But in fact, the vegan substitutes serve more to the Change from meat eater to vegan - I personally hardly ever eat them now.
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.
Maybe you find it hard to just eat a salad. What's missing is usually an ingredient with a meaty consistency. To make it easier for you to eat less meat, you should therefore choose foods that are less meaty for your meals. similar to the sinewy, toothy flesh by nature are.
For this purpose, in addition to the meat substitutes just mentioned, the following are available, for example Mushrooms, dried tomatoes, eggplant, chickpeas, tofu, lentils, seitan, falafel and the jackfruit. - but also countless other food products.
7. working with herbs & spices
The so beloved, full-bodied and hearty meat flavor fortunately, can be very well with spices, herbs and other foods, even without real meat. imitate. Because by nature, meat actually tastes quite neutral - only the seasoning makes its consumption a taste experience.
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 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-create, weekly meal plan is extremely helpful. Just write down exactly what's on your menu and what you need to get for it a day before your weekly grocery shopping. This way you won't deviate from it out of old habit and automatically increase the probability of success of your plan.
Tip: It's best to cook more generous portions, too, so you can still eat some of it at lunch the next day.
9. tell others about your project
A personal commitment is important if you are serious about achieving the goals you set. If you are serious about your Friends or family members that you're going to eat less meat from now on, you'll be under scrutiny - and better able to withstand certain tempting situations.
In the best case you also try together with othersThe aim is to master the changeover to a meat-free or less meat-intensive diet. Because with the help of fellow campaigners, fun and stamina also grow automatically.
10. Change from the idea of renunciation to anticipation.
In the end, whether you manage to eat less meat also depends on your mindset! Know the benefits, internalize that plant-based cooking has so incredibly much more to offer - but don't stress about it.
Automatically you eat more animal-friendly and usually also healthier if you eat less meat. Of course, I can only speak for myself and some 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 again and not an everyday occurrence, or even to stop eating meat products altogether. Today, there are countless plant-based alternatives that 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 present them to you. Have fun!
