A week of trying new things: Vegetarianism

Now: Feb 2013

Shopping vegetarian for the first time... and the wine i was given by a guest at work :)

Now before I send you all running for the hills with the 'V' word. Wait. Stop. I love meat too! I Promise. I decided that this week I would give being a vegetarian a go for a multitude of reasons.

1. I was tired of buying ready cooked freezer meals and knew they were making me sick, fat and unhealthy.
2. I was frustrated at how much money i was spending on said fat, unhealthy frozen meals
3. Last Friday was my first pay day after a very long holiday and I decided to use what little money i had earned to make myself feel better from the inside out
4. I came across a Vegetarian Pinterest Board and it looked so freaking delicious I had to stop and salivate
5. I wanted to prove to myself that I can cook and would survive if the economies collapsed leaving me hiding on my families properties in the mountains of Australia

So my reasoning having been explained, let me stipulate the 'rules' I set myself: The meals needed to be served hot- for no other reason than that it being winter I wanted warm food in my belly for dinner. And that was really the only rule apart from the fact that whilst at work, if the only staff meal available contained meat then I would not force myself to go hungry. I felt that because I had no choice in what is prepared for our provided meals I was not going to be all high and mighty I'm a vegetarian. This attempt was really just a way for my to cook more often and more healthily.

So how did I do?

Well I was judging myself on two outcomes- the first being easy.

Did I consume any meat products? 

Nope. Nada, yayy I am so damned proud of myself! It was actually very easy and I will explain why in a moment.

The second outcome was:

Did I enjoy my week of being a vegetarian? 

Yes!!! I was so thoroughly surprised at how much I enjoyed cooking and how easily I found myself making up dishes that tasted good. I honestly thought I would cave into cravings or I would forget I was not supposed to eat meat, but there was only one instance where something even remotely came close to resulting in me eating meat and it was the case of no vegetarian staff meal being served. But luckily the team pigged out and left me none to eat (thanks guys- no really!) and so I decided to wait 35 minutes and just go home and cook up what food I needed to consume by the use by date.

It was a wonderful week of cooking and singing in the kitchen and whilst I will not continue to be a strict vegetarian (I'm going to an all you can eat Brazilian BBQ restaurant tonight with friends) I will no longer be buying ready cooked frozen meals from the supermarket or meats from the butcher. I will instead be buying more fresh vegetables, dry and long storage foods (pasta's and rice) and I will keep experimenting with the new recipes I find on Pinterest!

Things to think about: 

I wanted to mention a few things I feel I've learnt this week. Firstly I spent less on last weeks vegetarian grocery bill than I do on an average week. Its true that my weekly shopping stretches further with frozen meals and so I might only shop once a fortnight but I was feeling full, heavy and unhealthy most of the time. So Ill be sticking to my vegetarian shopping lists. 

I feel that by choosing a mostly vegetarian lifestyle I am no longer contributing to the need for so much wasted slaughter of animals. I mean wasted in the sense that suppliers of meat throw away so much of their products each day because they cannot sell it before the expiration date. They do this with vegetables and fruit as well but i never heard of a beautiful baby watermelon that grows up in a green field and then is one day packed off to a scary slaughter house that reeks of its dead species and is then slaughtered quartered and maybe sold. If its lucky it is sold and consumed- it died to provide food. This is the circle of life here on earth. If it is not consumed, it died to make a packed shelf look enticing and then was thrown into landfill.  

You do not need meat to create a hot meal on a cold night and I have photos to prove it! I always balked at the idea of cooking vegetarian because I had no idea how to cater to my natural desire of having a warm meal for dinner. Summer is different. Summer with good weather means (to me) eating fresh and light salads on my rooftop in the sun at 10pm. Winter means scurrying home at 6pm to be under the blanket with a Tesco's Frozen Shepard's pie or something. 

But check out the meals I made myself:

Omelet with tomato mushroom and Edam cheese :)

Stir fry- most delicious thing i have ever cooked and it was 99pence pre cut and packaged at Tesco's

PASTAAAAAAHHH- a huge mountain of it- with tomato and basil sauce, capsicum, tomatoes, mushies, cheese and carrots

And the meals I had made for me:

(not my photo) Mamadee made me a vegetarian burger with portobello mushrooms, red onion and blue cheese for my meal at work- AMAZING

Eritrean with Min at 'Asmara' Brixton- buttered spinach, humus, ground lentils and chopped veggies on a bed of pancakes. finger food at its best.

Cheese Tasting at work :) My favorites were the Golden Cross Goats Cheese and a Cheddar that tastes like sea salt and nuts :) A great way to enjoy food as a vegetarian!

YUMMM

The rest of the nights I was working late and ate toast with peanut butter and honey (my favourite) or didn't eat. I had a stomach bug and was eating sparingly the last few days. But my word. Vegetarian cooking is for me indeed :) Stay tuned, Ill be sure to post some more shots as i become better at cooking!