Inspiration for meat free weekdays
Are you one of the many people eschewing meat in favour of a healthier day to day lifestyle? It’s not always realistic to give up meat entirely and it does provide us with some essential B Vitamins and amino acids we can’t find elsewhere, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try and explore the alternatives. Meat Free Monday is a tradition well established for many families, but going meat free all through the working week is becoming increasingly popular too, provided you can think of five meal ideas. Read on for some inspiration to meat free weeks that are never boring.
Egg-cellent news!
It’s perfectly fine to get half of your daily protein from eggs for one day a week. Eggs come and go in terms of food health fashion but according to the British Heart Foundation, it’s more about how you cook them than how many you eat. Those who are dieting might want to stick to the egg whites to help build muscles while cutting out some of the fat rich calories of the yolk. Simple baked omelettes (without cheese) served with a few homemade wedges and salad is a filling mid-week meal, and if you leave out the yolks it’s even lower in calories too.
Pulse it out
Pulses are one of the cheapest and easiest ways to include protein into a meat free diet. Vegetarians and vegans have been extolling the virtue of lentils, beans and peas for years and its time the rest of us listened. But knowing what to make them it into is the real challenge. A hearty bean stew can enable you to use more than one bean such as haricot, kidney and butter beans. Replacing beef mince with red lentils in a Bolognese sauce or lasagne is another cheap and healthy way to create a filling meal. Using pulses to make vegetable burgers is yet another simple way to bring extra protein to your meat free plates.
Fishing for compliments
Provided you are not giving up fish during the week as well then two of your weekday meals could easily consists of this rich source of nutrients and protein. One fillet of salmon or tuna has around 20 grams of protein per fillet. Keep fish healthy by baking it in its own skin or poaching it and serving with salad, green vegetables and new potatoes or brown rice.
If you are going meat free throughout the week then add protein here and there during breakfast and lunch to make sure you’re getting enough. Preparing porridge for breakfast rather than a sugary wheat cereal will get you off to a great start while protein rich and healthy sandwich fillings for lunch include peanut butter, yeast or lentil pate or eggs. Throughout the day you can also opt for protein based snacks such as the ones sold by www.proteinfoodsdirect.com.
Cutting out meat Monday to Friday will cut down your intake of saturated fats and reduce your exposure to some of the harmful additions found in our supermarket meat. When you do eat meat, choose high grade options where possible. If you are only eating it at weekends, you can afford to make it a bit more special!
Image : FreeDigitalPhotos.net / Apolonia
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About Author
Emilia
Cooking up a storm in the kitchen and making a mess wherever I go. I bake things, I write things, I do things. Raised in the countryside and a farm girl at heart, my passion is my food and my food is my passion.
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