Newbie

[Lily09]

Hi I am new and I am so grateful for this forum to help me transition, I have been on a spiritual awakening journey to find myself, I was brought up in a family who ate meat, but my journey has taken me in another path, and I want to become fully vegan, I started out as flexitarian, and now I feel I am ready to begin, and completely cut meat out. I feel sick even thinking about it, this is how I know I am ready.

I still have milk, eggs and cheese, but I am getting there, it’s not easy being a single parent, and struggling with options the shops have near me. I am hoping to find some inspiration here for preparing meat free meals, my daughter also wants to do this with me, she is a teen with Autism and a fussy eater, so I want to study vegan food and gain as much knowledge as I can with meal varieties, if anyone can direct me, it would be much appreciated. Thank you

 

[shyvas]

 

[beancounter]

Welcome to VF!

 

[PTree15]

Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your choice to go vegan!

 

[Emma JC]

welcome to the forum and I do so hope that you will find it helpful to be here with us

Let us know how we can help... if you let us know what foods you both prefer then maybe we can help you come up with a plan.

I would suggest keeping it very simple and expand gradually eg lots of potatoes, rice, pasta, beans, frozen fruits and veggies maybe made into soups and stews - choose the spices that you love and use them to make everything tasty...

Emma JC
Find your vegan soulmate or just a friend. www.spiritualmatchmaking.com

 

[Brian W]

Enjoy your stay.

 

[Chryssie]

 

[Col]

Hi good luck

 

[Andy_T]

@Lily09 , welcome to the forum and a more compassionate lifestyle!

I really hope you can identify some food that your daughter loves.
Maybe you can share some information what she does like to eat now, so we can make suggestions.

 

[KLS52]

Hello and welcome!

 

[Lou]

am hoping to find some inspiration here for preparing meat free meals, my daughter also wants to do this with me, she is a teen with Autism and a fussy eater, so I want to study vegan food and gain as much knowledge as I can with meal varieties, if anyone can direct me, it would be much appreciated. Thank you

I imagine its different for different people but from the little I know about autism and meals, its possible its more about textures than tastes. Maybe start with the meals she does like and then just veganize them.
If she likes pasta and sauce that is really easy to veganize. Mac and cheese is more difficult but definelly do-able. Deep fried chicken and hot dogs are way more problematic.

 

[bEt]

If you like pasta with marinara sauce, an easy vegan meal can be made by substituting the ground meat in the pasta sauce with cooked lentils.
Do you want to share some of your favorite foods, and maybe anything you prefer to avoid?
If you run into any particular challenges, it's possible others have been there and done that, so please don't hesitate to post and ask for specific suggestions!
There are tons of vegan blogs. Here is one I just discovered:

Recipes

Check out amazing vegan recipe ideas from Make It Dairy Free. There's something for everyone, no matter what you are craving.

makeitdairyfree.com

Whether you are vegan or not, a good thing to include in your diet is omega-3 fatty acids, including one called DHA, which you can find in supplement form. The vegan ones are made from algae, not fishes.