Meat Free Week 2015 is upon us. Monday 23rd March marks the start of a global challenge to simply forgo meat for one week to get us all thinking about our dietary choices. As Jamie Oliver Food Revolution Ambassadors, we’re fully supporting the movement.
This isn’t a drive to promote vegetarianism, it’s an awareness event to highlight the impact that eating too much meat has on the environment, animal welfare and your health.
Initially, I was hesitant – a week without any meat at all? This really might be a challenge, but the more I think about it, our family probably only really eats meat three times a week anyway.
If it were just Monday to Friday it’d be easy, but the thought of a weekend without some form of big special meal… Hang on, there are thousands of great meat-free dishes that would fit the bill.
The excitement is building. Who doesn’t like a challenge? We’ve bought a vast array of vegetables, herbs, fruits and cheeses to eat. I’m most excited about trying new things and broadening my repertoire.
How ironic that I’m using a Donald Russell styrofoam meat delivery box to store my plethora of ingredients for the week! (I only have a small fridge).
Meat deliveries are a bit of a revolution for my family as we are making that concious choice to swap quantity for quality. It feels good, it certainly tastes good, and importantly, we’re spending the same amount of money each month.
As we want to make the most of what we have and avoid waste, I’m going to formulate a menu plan for the week.
So far it looks like this:
- Melanzane alla Parmigiana (Italian Aubergine Bake)
- Roasted Vegetable Lasagne
- Chickpea Burgers
- Beetroot and Goats Cheese Risotto
- Pissaladière (without anchovies of course)
- Portobello Mushroom and Halloumi burgers
- Squash and Chickpea Chilli
- Any combination of vegetable noodle dishes, Pad Thai, Nasi Goreng..
- Something with Jerusalem Artichokes
- Kerala Egg Curry… THE LIST GOES ON.
They’ll be plenty of blog posts, comment and updates on new dishes throughout the week via social media. I’m anticipating herby flourishes, experimentation and tips for packing-in bags of flavour to make vegetable dishes really sing.
One step at a time for some people – Meat Free Monday? Make it a weekly ritual and you’ll never look back.
For more information, tips and recipes, check out:
https://uk.meatfreeweek.org/home or https://meatfreeweek.org/home in Australia
http://www.jamieoliver.com/meat-free-week/
Give it a go, I’m confident you’ll surprise yourself.
