Meatless Monday

[lead]I love a challenge and breaking away from routine once in awhile. This is especially true when it comes to food.[/lead]

However, I’ve noticed lately that our meals have become somewhat predictable. Especially when it comes to vegetables. I read an interesting article recently comparing the cuisine of countries around the world. The article showed how many other countries build their meals based around vegetables and meat/chicken/fish are a side dish. The typical diet in the U.S. tends to be the opposite and many are severely lacking vegetables. After a family pep-talk, we have decided to start “Meatless Mondays” at our house.

Meatless Mondays is a worldwide movement to skip meat just one day a week for health, budget, and environmental reasons. The idea is to create delicious plant-based meals instead. The Meatless Monday website has a lot of great information, recipes, and FAQ about the movement for anyone interested.

As a family, we decided to try out Meatless Mondays based on the following reasons:

• The Health Benefits
  • Increasing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains in your diet can help prevent against heart disease
  • Possible evidence to show that red meat can lead to increased risk of certain forms of cancer
  • A diet rich in fruits and vegetables can help reduce risks of various types of cancer
  • Focusing on plant based sources of proteins and increased vegetables can lead to increased intake of fiber, protein and decreased levels of saturated fat
• The Cost Benefits
  • Meat is expensive, especially red meat at this point in time
  • Building a meal around vegetables and legumes once a week, can help cut back our weekly grocery budget to give us a bit more “wiggle room”
  • We currently budget $200 a week for spend on groceries for our family of 4. This includes ALL groceries for the week (breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks) as well as all alcohol and kitchen essentials (paper towels, dish soap, etc)
• Expanding our Children’s Horizons
  • Our kids are pretty good eaters, but I’ve noticed lately that they eat the same vegetables over and over (carrots, peas, and broccoli)
  • I’d like to introduce them to new vegetables and I thought this would be a fun way to incorporate different vegetable based dishes into our weekly meals

We are one week in and so far, so good (I believe in celebrating small goals). I think it will be the hardest for my husband, who can just eat a steak (all by itself) for dinner and be happy. But he’s always a willing participant and always down to try new foods.

I’ll be sharing our Meatless Monday meal each week. Let me know if you decide (or already are) to join Meatless Mondays and we can check in with each other!

“Give Peas a Chance” picture courtesy of Meatless Monday

Disclosure: I did not receive any compensation or free product/services for this post. The opinions expressed are solely my own.