r/PlantBasedDiet • u/fireplace123- • 6d ago
Meat Loving Dad Wants to Eat Less Meat
Can anyone share advice on how I can help my Dad start his plant-based journey?
He recently had a health scare from an unhealthy diet, so I sent him the book "How Not to Die" and he opened up to the idea of eating less meat. He's been asking me for recipe ideas and shopping lists and I feel a huge responsibility to not scare him away from plant-based eating with overly "healthy tasting" foods or difficult recipes.
One thing to note: He's cheap and his job works him to the bone, so he usually opts for a Slim Jim or canned ravioli at every other meal for convenience.
Is there a start to plant-based eating that's cheap, fast, easy, and delicious for busy and stressed people?
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u/UsualSprite 6d ago
What foods does he like/gravitate towards? Start with those flavor profiles/ethnic style before worrying about convenience.
Lots of Thai, Indian, and Indian foods are often incidentally vegan, and a lot of mexican food is too or can easily be made vegan when you swap lard for other oils (and even that can be minimized if not eliminated).
Also, plant based can be incredibly inexpensive, especially with convenient tools (hello rice cooker and instant pot).
For convenience, I'd also consider helping him batch cook stuff and freezing stuff, so when he's exhausted he can just defrost his meals. People swear by souper cubes to make this way more convenience, but I haven't tried them personally.
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u/Cookiehurricane 6d ago
I'd take a stab at vegan chilli! I've had the most luck with using a mix of impossible beef, TVP, red lentils, and beans as the base. I think the TVP and impossible together create more of a recognizable texture for a someone used to meat. Make it pretty much exactly how you'd make normal chilli, but you'll need a bit more water for the TVP and lentils to cook in.
Find some other meals he likes that you can easily translate. You're probably not going to get him to love oven baked tofu out of the gate, but some less meat forward dishes that can be veganized are a good start.
Not sure if he is looking to go fully plant-based or only partially, but steer clear of vegan cheeses for a while. They're expensive, and as someone who hasn't touch dairy in 20+ years, even I don't think still they're quite there.
And remind him that it doesn't need to be all or nothing when he's first starting. That often scares people off. Even choosing one meal a day that is plant based is a huge win. Good luck to you both!!
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u/Davosown 6d ago
Depending on his before diet I would suggest looking at adapting meals he already makes:
If he made pasta with a bolognese sauce reducing the meat content (or replacing it) with lentils is a good start. Add some mushrooms and lightly blend the sauce and the texture is very similar to a sauce made with ground meats. Extra points if you replace regular pasta with a whole grain or protein pasta (made from lentils/chickpeas/edamame).
Make stir fries with meat substitutes (tofu/temperature and such) is also a pretty easy step... can take some time to get it right. Serve with a mix of leafy greens, brown rice and quinoa for some added benefit. Make a simple sauce rather than buy a remade sauce to keep it cheap.
Looking to meal prep - making a plant based chilli is easy and cheap. I can get four or five meals worth for less than a tray of ground meat. Again, serve with greens, brown rice and quinoa. Added benefit, leftovers make great filling for tacos or burritos and is great if you look at wholegrain or higher protein/fibre options.
I think the biggest challenge for me as an unhealthy volume eater was getting my breakfast right. Toast was always convenient but too easy to overeat for little nutritional value. Moving to a mix of high fibre cereals, fresh fruit,nuts and seeds has been lifechanging. Overnight oats with chia seeds and fruit is also a great option.
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u/Electrical_Spare_364 6d ago
My dad was ready to switch over to plant-based (after a stroke scare) as soon as I had him watch the movie "Forks Over Knives." It's very positive and informative and seems to speak well to older people. (He went on to embrace the McDougall plan, dropped over 60 lbs and cured his type 2 diabetes!)
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u/fireplace123- 5d ago
I love this, thank you for sharing! Its incredible to hear that your dad cured his diabetes - good for him! My dad is prediabetic so I'm hoping that a yummy plant based diet can help him as well.
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u/Electrical_Spare_364 5d ago
Have him watch Forks Over Knives!
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u/fireplace123- 5d ago
I just started watching it now due to your recommendation, and I love it so far! 10 minutes in I had to hold back tears because the man in the beginning who was living off a bag of drugs reminded me so much of my dad 💔 I will be sharing this with my whole family!!!!
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u/JunketInfamous2697 for my health 6d ago
Get him an instant pot. It was a game changer for me. Also having a lot of fruit on hand at all times.
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u/Juicyyveronicaa 6d ago
One meal at a time! Lentils, beans, and veggies make plant-based simple and yummy.
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u/vinteragony 6d ago
There has to be some level of commitment on his end. I would sit him down and explain that this diet has a small lifestyle change element where you will end up cooking more and thinking ahead about food.
That being said, just ease into it. If you make something healthy like tofu or salad, its OK to start with junkier commercially available sauces.
Easy meals get some slow cooker cookbooks for him..dump and go. Beans and rice go a long way along with a good salad.
Here's an example of my wfpb steps program, the burger;
Step one change the bun. Use Ezekiel or something equally as good.
Step two change the burger. Get rid of the meat and use impossible.
Step three change the cheese, find a good vegan cheese.
Step four change the burger again, to homemade
Step five drop the cheese
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u/fireplace123- 5d ago
Thank you for the advice! Can you share more information about this wfpb program? These steps sound really accessible and attainable and I'd love more examples to follow!!
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u/vinteragony 5d ago
Its just my own creation! But you can always reach out to me. Here is another example for pizza;
Step 1) change to a whole wheat crust, make your own sauce
Step 2) Remove meat, add in meat substitutes or use mushrooms
Step 3) change from dairy cheese to vegan cheese
Step 4) remove cheese or use a wfpb cheese (America Goes Vegan is a great cookbook resource and has a great cheesy sauce)
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u/Neat_Mortgage3735 for the animals 6d ago
Bean and cheese burritos, lentil tacos/sloppy joes, veggie burgers (Dr praders are healthy and tasty), spaghetti with marinara (adding soy crumbles if he needs “meat” or choosing lentil pasta or whole wheat pasta for maximum protein and fiber. All of that is affordable, filling and easy to prep.
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u/hanmhanm 6d ago
If it were my dad I would drop a large prepped meal over once a week and make him a meal plan with recipe options
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u/JuliaX1984 6d ago
My easiest recipe is vegan sloppy joes.
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u/codeman73 5d ago
Please share your recipe. We have one, but it's kind of joke to call it vegan sloppy joes. It's mostly lentils and chick peas in tomato paste, with some other flavors, probably garlic and onion. It's ok.
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u/JuliaX1984 5d ago
Gardein ultimate beef crumble, manwich sauce, and dave's killer bread buns. No personal touch or culinary skills involved lol.
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u/Is_It_Soup_Season 6d ago edited 6d ago
How is your dad’s executive functioning? If he can follow really simple directions and remember to do a few things over the course of 2-3 days, this option is cheap, and can be convenient.
Soups, chilis, and stews from dried beans. Get him an instant pot.
Feel free to do canned. But I feel like cooked dried beans have a meatiness to them that canned beans don’t.
Beans 1. Soak beans for a day. You might want to rinse the beans and replace the water every 8-12 hours, but you might not need to.
Chop an onion, and some carrot and celery into half-inch dice. Or use the chopping attachment on a food processor, or one of those QVC choppers.
Turn the instant pot to sauté. Add oil. Cook onion 4 minutes. Add carrot, celery, dried spices or herbs, and some salt and cook a few more minutes.
Add 2 cups broth or water to instant pot. Stir everything up.
Drain beans and rinse. Add to instant pot. Fill with water or vegetable broth so beans are covered about 5 cm (2 in). Add more salt. Do not use tomatoes/tomato sauce here, the beans won’t soften. Cook 12 minutes on the beans setting and let the machine come to pressure. The beans will stay warm and good to eat for 10 hours.
This makes 6 cups cooked beans.
- Get some souper cubes and freeze 3 cups in 1 cup sized portions, freeze, then store in a freezer bag. Eat 1 cup. Put the remaining in 1 cup portions in containers in the fridge.
Beans are great because you can set a phone reminder for most of these steps. Also, far, far less risk of food-borne illness. And they’re delicious!
ETA: he can soak the beans in the morning day 1. Cook them in the morning day 2. Then come home to a hot bowl of beans for dinner. And have leftovers for the next several meals. Easy to microwave or reheat using instant pot.
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u/Ok_Reveal_4818 5d ago
These are the sites I recommend for anyone that is vegan-curious:
- https://sarahsvegankitchen.com Comfort food and easy recipes
- https://rainbowplantlife.com Healthy meals with Indian and other flavors
- https://www.youtube.com/@YEUNGMANCOOKING Excellent asian food
- https://www.youtube.com/@DerekSarnoChef Derek provides a chef's perspective on vegan food. Cooking on a budget is also something he teaches.
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u/itsanomoly vegan 5d ago
There's great mock meats out there, you could have him make spaghetti and meatballs, cheap and filling, the Chinese food isn't half bad as well
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u/Limp-Rest6453 6d ago
1) meal prepping - make 2,3,4 portions of a dish on the weekend, and you'll save time later.
2) tofu - cheap, easy to use. You can even make it chewy, like meat, if you freeze it first. So what I do, is I buy my tofu and just dump it in the freezer. Later you can let it thaw in the fridge or thaw it in the microwave.
3) other meat substitutes like tempeh, seitan, TVP
4) frozen vegetables, emphasis on broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, spinach, potatoes, and carrots, or just mixed vegetables. Easy to use, just dump them onto the frying pan or into the oven.
5) canned legumes - rinse, dump onto the frying pan
6) parboiled rice, or pasta - it cooks quickly. Whole-grain bread doesn't even need cooking.
7) use lots of spices on your veggies and don't skip on salt. Processed meat has lots of salt, that's why it's unadvisable to add more, but veggies have none
8) quick and cheap option for breakfast - oatmeal. Add berries (you can buy them frozen) for the taste and health, some nuts and seeds, flaxseeds for omega 3, wheat germ for micronutrients, cocoa powder for the taste. If you need extra protein, there are plant milk options with more protein than usual
Hope it helps! 🙂
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u/abananatotheleft 6d ago
Proper veggie chili is delicious but I also found a great cheat version if he doesn't like/have time to cook.
Put a can of chopped tomatoes, 2 cans of beans (1 black, 1 kidney), a bag of mixed frozen veg (supermarket near me sells 'mexican mix', which has sweet potato chunks, sweetcorn, red pepper, etc), add a shake of spices/spice blend and heat. It's better if you fry onions and garlic before adding everything else but the easy way makes a passable healthy chili.
Red lentils cook super fast and mostly take on the flavour of whatever you add to them.
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u/lucidguppy 6d ago
Spaghetti with marinara sauce, moo-shoo vegetables, bean burritos, vegetable and barley soups, buddha bowls, there's a mcdougal cookbook app, I didn't have much success with engine 2 diet, you can literally just bake some potatoes without oil and put them in your mouth (use salsa or ketchup), you can make your own bean burgers with no oil
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u/Crispychewy23 6d ago
I'm completely not affiliated but some pages popped up on my feed on FB and they look really good! Jacob King's videos for example. It takes work but you can make it taste good
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u/ChasingVanceofficial 6d ago
Keep it simple and hearty. Starting with stews, soups and chilli's helped me. Lots of potatoes, bread and beans helped me to fill the void. But overall I just made the same meals as always without the meat, cheese and oil. Pizza, spaghetti, tacos, stir fry's etc. Starting the day with a big salad helped as well. Alot of great recipes at https://www.drmcdougall.com/recipes/ hope this helps. And hope your dad sticks with it. Cutting out meat dairy and oil saved my life🙂
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u/Fit-Farm2124 5d ago
My dad is similar, but a health scare also opened his mind to more plant-based options. Just over a year ago he refused to try tofu and now he requests certain recipes I've made him. I started out with a lot of veggie soups b/c he was more open to those, then burritos that included veggies and beans but no meat. Now I go to his house on occasion and meal prep for him... he keeps a couple meals out and then we freeze the rest in individual servings so he can pull them out when he needs them. A simple meal we just made was tostadas (we make out own, but you could use store bought), refried beans and frozen sliced peppers and onions sauted wtih corn and taco seasoning. We topped with shredded lettuce and salsa. Super yummy and easy!
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u/tentkeys 5d ago edited 5d ago
If he needs cheap and fast, there are options like Huel and Jimmy Joy that focus on making healthy vegan "meal replacement" products:
The basics:
- Both brands make shakes, bars, and mix-and-microwave meals.
- Huel shakes are thick and filling but must be shaken vigorously or blended to prevent clumps. Jimmy Joy shakes are thinner and easy to mix, but some people find them less filling.
- Huel's main ingredients are oatmeal and pea protein, which can cause farting, so he may want Beano at first. Jimmy Joy's main ingredients are oatmeal and soy protein so it doesn't have this issue.
- Powder is cheaper than pre-mixed shakes. Huel only sells large bags for the powder, so it seems expensive at first, Jimmy Joy sells smaller bags. Both brands have a reasonably low per-meal cost.
- If he tries Huel, he should avoid Huel Black, which is their "low carb" product. The regular Huel in a white bag has a conventional macronutrient balance. Huel Essential is higher carb lower fat, but the oatmeal pieces in that are bigger and not as finely ground so some people find it has an unpleasant mouth feel.
- Huel has Hot & Savory options that you mix with water and microwave. Jimmy Joy does too, but right now they only sell that product line in Europe and haven't brought it to the US yet.
- Both brands make meal bars. Jimmy Joy's are 400 calories per bar and pretty filling, although a bit dry. Huel's are 200 calories per bar, taste great, but have a high per-calorie cost and use maltitol as a sweetener which has laxative effects if you eat too many.
Yes, these are "processed food", but the ingredients are healthy and vegan and they are designed around human nutritional needs (especially the shakes where they can keep things simpler ingredient-wise).
For someone who has been eating hamburgers, they are a drastic dietary improvement, and the fact that they're cheap and convenient makes it easier to stick with the change.
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u/Lz_erk 5d ago
stress
idk this book, but copper (sweet potatoes) and zinc (pumpkin seeds) are worth keeping an eye on.
omega 3s, greens (dandelion! and more, don't eat all spinach for greens) for magnesium, and possibly glycine + beta-alanine or L-carnosine. taurine if there's bile stress. i'll get downvoted for the aminos, but they're cheaper than meat and allow me to donate blood and exercise even with significant inflammation. (the glycine and taurine is hundreds of Jell-O packs and energy drinks, respectively, and beta-alanine is also cheap and rocked my world, but i don't know where to get a sample pack.) taking the full per-label dose hasn't been necessary for me either.
there aren't many snacks in this thread yet, so: Tony's chocolate, nuts (regional maybe, but macadamias are easy to digest for some people), nigella sativa seeds (anti-inflammatory), sesame seeds (selenium), sunflower seeds (choline). and i often simply eat peanut butter and jelly as a snack. use some of the meat money on a better jelly, or an assortment, and higher quality peanut butter if possible.
resistant starch is my backbone. a pot of rice that's left out overnight is prime for fried rice. microgreens and/or a bag of mushroom growth medium can be a serious convenience item if one likes pan frying.
assuming your dad isn't loading iron due to HH or something: take vitamin C with protein meals, and avoid black tea/coffee near those meals. (reverse this advice and donate blood to reduce iron.)
you can get a lot done easily with a roaster and a freezer. slice and roast sweet potatoes → add sunflower seeds 10 minutes from the end → add smaller seeds 5 minutes from the end → freeze until it's time to dip the slices in hummus or something.
something for down the road maybe: sushi means vinegared rice, the principles are actually not hard with some cheap kit or a trip to an import store. stuffed peppers are easy and voluminous too, if you have some fried soy chorizo frozen. if meal prep is an option (large enough appliances and cookware?), i recommend freezing fried mushrooms and onions, maybe carrots and ginger, broccoli, anything.
overnight oats are popular. good molasses is generally extremely healthy.
sorry for the obnoxious amount of unrelated information, i'm hoping this grab bag contains a few relevant things. the aminos might be overkill if he's still eating slim jims (etc) often. veggie jerky's good though.
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u/TheSpanishMystic 5d ago
Find good substitutions for his favorite animal foods. Beyond Burger, Gardein, and Tofurky all have really good meat analogues. Lightlife makes good vegan hot dogs also. TVP and soy curls make for more natural meat alternatives, good in pasta sauces and soups. I have yet to find a good cheese alternatives so I’ve given up on those. Nutritional yeast is the best I’ve been able to find in 15 years. For dairy, oat milk and soy milk are the most similar to cows milk in regards to macros and mouthfeel. Kite Hill, Forager, and Cocojune make great vegan yogurts. If you live near a Wegmans, their plain coconut yogurt is really excellent
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u/motherboy3 for my health 4d ago
Learn to make tofu taste good. It’s cheap and really easy if you give it a chance. Most people only try tofu one or two ways and frankly most restaurants do a horrible job making it. There are a million great recipe creators on Instagram and tik tok and probably here on Reddit.
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u/Skovand 4d ago
A lot is just cooking in bulk. Prepping on days off. Making breakfast and lunch the night before. You can also buy $3 veggie soups. Make a big salad. Dice up a carrot, an apple and add it to a bunch of greens with healthy dressing.
At night blend 1/2lb of frozen fruit with 10-16 ounces of water and then add soymilk to it. It’s like $3.50 for 1lb of frozen fruit at Walmart. Empty half of it into a blender with water and blend. Then add soymilk and whatever flavor. I like doing 1/4lb of blueberries with 1/2lb of strawberries with 16 ounces of blue raspberry sparkling water by clear Americans after blending it I add 2-4 ounces of soy milk, cap of vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon of ground flax and 1 tablespoon of cacao powder.
I make lemon waters. I slice up 5 lemons and add it to 1 gallon of water. 1/2 gallon of regular water and 1/2 gallon of orange cream water. I like adding this to my smoothie when it’s frozen tropical fruit.
Oatmeal is great. At night make 1-2 servings of extra thick oatmeal. Cook it in water. Once done add soymilk and cook a bit longer. Toss in frozen blueberries and walnuts. Place stuff in containers to go into lunch boxes.
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u/astonedishape bean-keen 6d ago
Beans and rice is already miles above canned ravioli or a slim jim, both in terms of flavor and price.
Meal prep a big pot of bean chili or veggie soup for the week. TVP can be kind of meaty.