this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2024
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Environment
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What is holding you back from going vegan or at least vegetarian? I'm not trying to judge, I'm just interested. If you care about the environment it would seem a logical choice, that's why I'm asking.
Vegetarian with ADHD (among other things) here! I started the same way many years ago, by cutting out red meat and pork, and then reducing meat consumption until I realized I had been eating like a vegetarian for a week and then committing.
For me it was about what was and wasn't doable. I struggle with motivation a lot, and bothering to cook a proper meal everyday or sit down and do proper research into what constitutes a healthy diet isn't something I can just make myself do.
Honestly if this is about CO2 emissions, which it originally was for me, then cutting meat by 90% or whatever is almost as good as going vegetarian and will be way easier in terms of nutrition.
Yeah, I see your point. If it's just about emissions full plant based of course would still be the best outcome, because even diary products have a huge environmental impact. Not as bad as meat, but still considerably higher than any plant based choice. I found it fascinating that an avocado that has been shipped across the ocean to Europe still is a better choice than local diary products, enviormentaly speaking.
In regards to research etc. I get your point. I tranaiended from vegetarian to vegan about 10 years ago and the first half year was a lot of research what I could buy and couldn't and how I should make meals in order to not run into any problems. After that it just became my new normal. It takes zero effort these days, minus the occasional struggle to find a good place of go out.
I live in a very small town so if I want vegetarian here we're talking a margarita pizza or eggs on toast :P
That said I've mostly cut dairy out of my diet, but I don't remember to check the ingredients of everything I eat so who knows how plant based I am these days. Probably some dairy based butter in some of the things I buy.
I have a lot of stomach issues and unfortunately react somewhat to oat milk, but almond milk (which has other climate issues to my knowledge) and coconut based milk is working very well for me.
That's great and I am happy for you how well your lifestyle seems to be going. Rural is always a challenge when avoiding meat, I know how much effort it can mean. Good on you for hanging in there.
Almonds have their issues, but that said are still ahead of the curve in regards to envirmental impact in comparison to animal products.
To give a direct answer, familiarity honestly. While I would want to move towards even having poultry less, it's just a thing of acquainting myself with recipes and whatnot and finding ones that work for me.
Attempted making bean burgers for example, and they turned out becoming more like sloppy joes, so trying to get things to work out without having to make them each day ha. Trying to challenge myself to use a binding ingredient that isn't eggs. I got flax seeds since it was recommended before in a convo, but kinda lost on how to properly use them as a binder.
Also idk how much it helps, but being lactose intolerant has greatly reduced the amount of dairy I have, so I tend to go with products based on plant-based alternatives with the only exception being cheese the few times I have it since the texture and mouth feel of vegan cheese just doesn't match what I'm comfortable with.
Oh no! Just buy them! My better half is vegetarian, which means I started mostly cook meat-free because it is easier than making two meals, but now I'm just in the habit of not eating much meat. Our bean-burger experiments were never worth effort. We use fake-beef veggie crumbles for casserole-type recipes and big frozen packs of Beyond Burgers (Impossible is also good) if we want an actual burger. For chicken, we'll buy some unbreaded seitan/TVP substitutes, like these examples.
I have the same problem with egg substitutes, so we're still eating eggs -- but from happy-seeming chickens we can visit. The hard part for me is cheese. I'm waiting for lab-grown cheese, but for now I can't match the flavors of actual cheese.
I've bought them premade before, but it's also just a thing about diet and questions on if making them at home are any cheaper than buying them premade.
I've noticed the premade frozen ones at the store have a lot of sodium in them, and while I'm not specifically on a low-sodium diet, I also want to make sure I'm keeping things balanced. Making the burgers from scratch at home allows for me to theoretically control how much sodium is in the burgers.
But yeah, in terms of cost, assuming I find a recipe that holds together well, I think it'd be worth finding how the costs compare between the individual ingredients to make them at home, vs the cost of them premade, especially if I can then substitute the black beans for other beans that happen to be on sale like Red Kidney beans or Navy beans.