What I Learned After a Month of Meatless Mondays

First off, what is meatless Monday? The concept is that if a meat-eater cuts meat from their diet one day or a few meals per week, their health (and the planet’s) could improve. Why on Mondays? Alliteration. ‘Meatless Monday’ is fun to say.

Here’s the science.

Livestock production utilizes a lot of resources and emits greenhouse gases. Here is a Wikipedia article about the environmental impact of meat production.

There are also potential health benefits. I say potential because things like onion rings, three-cheese ravioli, and chocolate cake are all meatless but aren’t necessarily the healthiest choices. Everything in moderation, folks. But eating no meat with a meal ought to cause an increased vegetable intake, which is something I’m always after. As a former picky kid, I feel I have a lot of vegetable eating to catch up on.

On top of the health and environmental reasons, it’s an easy decision for the wallet. Meat costs more than vegetables and grains. I don’t know about you, but I love to spend less money. It’s my favorite amount of money to spend.

Now that you know the science and why I wanted to try meatless Mondays, here’s how it went.

First Meatless Monday

Hubby and I had our first meatless Monday in the middle of September. I made an unhealthy but meatless breakfast choice of a chocolate chip cookie and cup of earl grey tea for breakfast. What can I say, I’m an adult.

For lunch, a slightly better choice of an egg salad sandwich and a bowl of tomato soup. Hubby and his brother insist this is a classic combo, egg salad sandwich and tomato soup, but I had never heard of this combo before. What are your opinions? Is this a classic combo that everyone’s heard of, or is it a combo that’s specific to their family? In case you haven’t tried it before, I would recommend it.

For dinner I had spaghetti with homemade roasted pepper red sauce and garlic bread. Delicious and quick since I made the sauce over the weekend. I’ll share my recipe in another post, so keep your eyes open!

Next Meatless ‘Monday’

Good news! I did a meatless Sunday by surprise/accident, which worked out perfectly because my in-laws stopped over and picked up lunch for everyone from Culver’s on Monday.

Sunday was our ten year anniversary, but instead of doing anything big and fancy, we went on a nature walk with our pupper in a local state park. We decided a morning walk while the temperature was cool was best. I grabbed granola bars for our breakfast and headed out the door.

Lunch was more of a brunch for me. There was sweet cream cheese filling and berry compote in the fridge from having crepes last week, so I thought some American style pancakes would make good use of these leftovers.

Supper, which we ate around 4:30, was a little unconventional and a bit of a surprise from Hubby. He whipped up (with minor assistance) a spinach and artichoke dip for us to enjoy in individual ramekins with bread chunks.

Then I surprised Hubby with an anniversary cookie sundae for dessert around 7:30. Half a large, warm, chocolate chip cookie with french vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce for him, caramel for me. All-in-all, not a super healthy day, but meat-free nonetheless.

Third Meatless ‘Monday’

Another non-Monday meatless day. A work trip where we stayed with my sister from Sunday to Tuesday caused me to replan my meatless day. I did not wish to be a burden on anyone else’s household/diets. So for breakfast on Wednesday morning I grabbed a quick granola bar and cup of earl grey tea so I could get to writing more quickly.

For lunch I made a delightfully light lemon and thyme pasta dish with a sauce made from emulsifying some butter and pasta water together. I didn’t use a recipe, I just threw together some things we had on hand. It was very tasty!

Supper was daal made from split peas instead of red lentils, as that’s what I had on hand, cooked in the instant pot to save time. I followed Tan France’s recipe which can be found here. We ate this with jasmine rice and naan. Daal is one of my favorite new dishes I’ve tried this year! It’s warm, filling, inexpensive to make, and full of fiber.

Last Meatless Monday

Another Monday, another meatless smorgasbord. Breakfast consisted of polenta porridge with blueberries, honey, cinnamon, and ginger. I based my porridge off of a Jamacian recipe I found, but I had to make a couple of tweaks to use what I had on hand. It was creamy and delicious!

Lunch, or second breakfast as I sometimes call it, was a delightful fluffy mushroom and cheese omelette topped with chopped scallions and a hash brown patty on the side. I had a snack today and it was not a healthy choice; a small slice of chocolate bundt cake and a few Cheez Its.

For supper I whipped up some homemade roasted tomato basil soup and an egg salad sandwich. It felt nice to be ending the month where we started, with tomato soup and egg salad sandwich.

So what did I learn this month?

Personally, I didn’t feel overly impacted by consciously not eating meat for one day a week. The only thing I was concerned with was whether my choice would impact others, hence why not every meatless Monday was actually on a Monday. I do think I could have planned out my meals better. There were days where I found myself scrambling because I forgot it was Monday already and I hadn’t decided what to make yet.

I haven’t ventured much into imitation meats yet because I simply haven’t put the research into finding tasty recipes. I’ve cooked with tofu in the past, but I didn’t want to rely on it for this month. Plus, unless it’s just thrown into a soup, I’m not great with cooking tofu yet. The tofu either doesn’t get enough flavor or it will break apart when it’s not supposed to. If you have any pointers or great tofu recipes, feel free to share below.

I also learned that there are several things I will usually eat throughout the week that are already meatless meals. Breakfast, for example, is a commonly meatless affair for me. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some breakfast meats, but I don’t find them necessary to have a satisfying start to the day.

The biggest positives for me.

I loved learning more about meatless dishes from other cultures. This is something other folks have been doing for ages, so you know the recipes will be tasty! For me, it’s not about replacing meat but finding delicious recipes that just happen to be meat free.

I also thoroughly enjoy the impact, or lack thereof, this had on our food budget. Vegetables and grains are less expensive than meat. Will I still be eating meat in the future? Yes, but I will be eating less of it. When we do buy meat, I’ll be more conscious of where it comes from and the quality of life the animal had. Buying the best quality of meat you can afford but buying it less often is how I choose to live going forward.

Final Thoughts

I will still be experimenting with different meatless recipes and different ingredients. I might even write some of the recipes down and share them here on Happy Try Day. Thanks for sticking around and reading about my experience trying meatless Mondays. Now, I am not a medical professional. Only you and your doctor can determine what changes are healthy for you to make with your diet, but I encourage you to give meatless Mondays a try. Whether you like a challenge, want to do something nice for the planet, or want to do something nice for your wallet and body, meatless Mondays have got you covered.

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