A Tale of Two Lists

I said I would write more about how we eat less meat.   I always think it's hard to do less of something without identifying what one will do more. Towards this end, I made up List One and List Two.

List One

beans, poultry, fish, veggie/grain, lentils, FISH

List Two

cheese, eggs, combo, nuts, liver, meat, other treats


My weekly menu includes a fish, a FISH and something from List Two with the other four days filled in with beans, poultry, lentils and vegetarian meals. I don't tend to plan any more detail than the chosen protein. For example I know that tonight I will start with some frozen cooked turkey. Nearly everything I cook starts with dicing an onion and some garlic and whilst I know we are out of tinned tomatoes, I know we have tomato paste...and some vegetables that can be steamed or stir-fried. If I get stuck I can always pull out a recipe book or two for ideas.

Regarding List One

• It might help to know that 'fish' is tinned fish; FISH is not-tinned fish... I get pretty tired of tuna and salmon out of cans and living nearly next door to a cheap source of fresh and frozen fish, it seems foolish not to use the advantage.
• I separated lentils from beans because I never remembered to choose lentils on a bean night and there are many delicious lentil recipes.
• We tend to soak dried beans a cup or two at a time and then cook them in plain water in the crockpot and freeze, but I do keep a few emergency tins in stock in case we get behind.
• In order to make a veggie night more interesting I thought I'd try to explore more grains: couscous, barley, kasha, quinoa, wild rice on veggie night. It often just ends up with regular old rice dish, but sometimes I get more adventurous.
• Veggie night might also include roast veg, but this tends to be an exception as I don't know a low fat approach to this.

Regarding List Two

• These foods aren't quite as healthy as the ones on List One and some of them are quite fattening.
• I specified liver because we found a bargain price and stocked up on it, but because it's not my first choice of meat we could find ourselves ignoring that supply if left to my own devices (then again, this is my device, isn't it?).
• Combo refers to any recipe that calls for two proteins, ie 'beans and cheese' or 'chicken and cheese' or 'beans and minced beef'.
• I do tend to treat small amounts of Parmesan cheese as a condiment rather than as a protein.
• The biggest challenge to finding new recipes is that so many call for more than one protein.
• The next biggest challenge was to find an egg dish that Bill thought suitable for dinner instead of breakfast (quiche calls for cheese and so it is a 'combo'). I found over time that ignoring his views on the matter was the best solution for this; I noticed he happily ate the dishes I produced from recipes that were largely fried egg added to stir-fried veggies. It sounds a bit weird, but it actually tastes quite nice.
• I'm aware that eggs are quite inexpensive as a source of protein and they are in themselves low fat. They might actually belong in List One, but I haven't caught up with the latest position on these re: cholesterol. Also, our most inexpensive source of eggs isn't convenient and so I buy loads when we go and eek them out. We do sometimes have an omelette for lunch instead of soup and I sometimes use an egg to bind together ingredients I want to 'pattify' (a word from The Tightwad Gazette).
• I don't tend to serve 'white stuff' (potatoes, pasta or white rice) any more than I have to. However, nut sauces work best on pasta (whether white or red pesto sauce or peanut butter sauce). Beans and potatoes or beans and rice are also quite nice occasionally.   We have toast or oatmeal / porridge most days for breakfast.
• Most nights are either something stir-fried or baked along with a large pot of steamed vegetables. These are my stock-in-trade selections. When Bill takes over the cooking he's more likely to make a casserole in the oven or to roast something, which is usually quite nice.

What are your strategies for reducing the amount of meat in your diet?