Meatless threes: Week #1

We’re doing OK with the resolution to eat veggie at least three times a week. The Spouse says he’s OK with eating even less meat, so we may explore becoming weekday vegetarians. The Kiddo has never been that much of a meat eater anyway, so I already have to make sure she gets dairy, beans or eggs to keep her in protein.

Brief summary of our meatless meals last week: 1) spaghetti with basic marinara sauce, actually a backup meal because I forgot to soak the beans for 2) black bean soup and rice; 3) our only standout veggie meal was this yummy dried mushroom risotto.* Risotto is definitely going to happen a lot more in our house now that I don’t have to stand over the pot and stir.

It also gives me more opportunities to sneak some green veggies into The Kiddo since rice in all its forms is one of the foods she rarely refuses.

*If you have a rice cooker, you should definitely get Beth Hensberger and Julie Kaufmann’s Ultimate Rice Cooker Cookbook. The recipes are easy and awesome.

‘Greening’ our diet

Though negotiations continue, the Spouse and I were able to agree on some of the changes we want to make in the new year.

The easiest being a reduction in the amount of meat we consume. Raising animals for food on a large scale consumes huge amounts of natural resources—arable land and water—and yields disproportionately higher amounts of waste compared to plant-based agriculture. Approximately four pounds of grain must be consumed for every one pound of beef produced. Roughly 70 percent of the grain grown in the United States goes toward animal feed. Eating more vegetables and less meat is a healthier diet both for us and for the environment.

We usually eat several vegetarian meals a week, and while it would be best for the environment to eliminate it completely, we don’t feel able to do it yet.

However, I do think it will be pretty easy to eat at least three meatless dinners a week and that’s what our commitment is for 2010. Breakfast at our house is usually vegetarian anyway (sometimes containing eggs) and lunch is most often leftovers for myself and better half and a peanut butter sandwich for the Kiddo. So cutting out meat from dinner three times a week should effectively mean three meatless days.’

To track our progress, I plan to do some mini-posts each week logging our meat-free days and what we ate. It’s not perfect, but it’s a start.