I spent the first 17 years of my life as a vegetarian, so planning meat-less meals is no big. In fact, it's much easier, as meat gets expensive on a post-college budget, and the guilt factor still gets to me once in awhile. I can't say no if the boyfriend wants to buy me a steak, and I'll eat meat occasionally going out, but my meal-planning usually centers around sautéed or roasted vegetables. Or salads. Or eggs and toast when I just can't be bothered with anything else. Of course, I'm only feeding myself, so that probably makes it easier.

I usually include some form of meat in my meals. My attitude towards meat has not shifted since I was a young girl on my grandpa's farm. I feel very lucky that since I could walk I've known that pig=pork and cattle=beef.

I'm so glad you guys wrote about this. That's what my entire blog focuses on! Smart eating for the whole family and making plant based foods the center of your meal.

Great job shedding light on this subject. Love the apartmenttherapy group!!!

http://puremamas.squarespace.com/

The USDA has been consistently underfunded and weakened by anti-regulation corporations over the past decade (at least).

Until there are more boots on the ground (certified inspectors), our family will be using less meat - or meat imported from Canada or countries where health concerns are given a higher priority.

I'm a big beans+veggies fan, but my bf/roommate is a serious carnivore. If I don't cook meat, he'll go buy the cheapest cut of whatever, microwave it, and throw it on top on the veggie dinner I made...sigh.

We've compromised by joining a meat CSA -- luckily we live in the SF Bay Area where that's available. That way we're eating high-quality, sustainable meat for a lot cheaper than if we went to a specialty butcher shop.

This is not true for me at all--most of my meals are soups and other one-dish dinners, almost always vegetarian or with meat as a "garnish" (black bean soup with a little bacon, for instance). Less meat, fewer things to juggle when cooking, and fewer dishes to wash.

However, I will say that on the rare occasions when I make the more "classic" plate with meat and sides (had meatloaf with broccoli and a salad recently), it feels a lot more like a Real Dinner somehow. Must be something deep in my psyche that is attached to that look.

Vegetarian breakfast and vegetarian lunch are easy, but for some reason, dinner seems harder. It feels like I'm serving a mess of sides, just cleaning out the fridge, a plate with no focus. I'm sure I'll develop better strategies the more meatless cooking I do but still a struggle.

No, I'm a vegetarian. Growing up though, I had a lot of meat-and-potatoes type meals so it has been nice to experiment with different kinds of foods. Food is a lot more exciting when you don't rely on meat isn't the focus.

Not anymore. A year or two ago I made the same choice: to buy my animal based poultry from sources (usually local, but not always) that are sustainably and humanely raised. And like the original poster, this means that the cost went up so as a result we eat much less of it than we used to and are very thrifty with the leftovers. I make a conscious effort to make a meatless dinner at least one day a week but oftentimes it ends up being much more than that.

Over the years my attitudes toward meat have changed. I grew up in Tyson country (Arkansas) and never thought much about the living conditions of factory farms. Especially after watching Food Inc. Now I seek out local family owned farms for my meat and dairy. Meat is precious, and I spend more money on less meat for better quality.

We used to have meat for every meal, but last year we also switched to only buying meat that is locally & humanely raised. Being more expensive means we ate it less often and then when we decided to move and stopped our meat CSA, i just didn't buy any more meat. So we've switched to an almost entirely vegetarian lifestyle, meat every now and then as we clean out the freezer. once we get settled in the new location, i plan to buy local meat again, but it certainly has not been the focus of our meals for quite a while now.

After 18 years as a vegetarian I now eat grassfed pastured beef, grassfed pastured lamb, and organic chicken, and yes, meat is the "centerpiece" for at least half of our main meals. We have many food allergies and intolerances and meat is something that we can all eat. This week we've eaten beef tacos and meat loaf (beef and lamb), and still to come will be steak, baked chicken, and roast beef. We generally have one meatless main meal each week, two to three "less meat" meals (soups, tacos), and three to four meat heavy meals.

For us the key is to know who supplies our meat, to buy in bulk for savings, and to eat smaller portions of meat (4 - 6 ounces per serving). One pound of meat is plenty for four of us most of the time (we all want a little more when we have steak).

the most my plate gets is a quarter for salmon on veggie nuggets, the rest is vegtable overload.

When cooking for myself, I eat meat only about once every two weeks.

I don't know if it's my family's northern European ancestry, Midwestern upbringing, or the fact that my dad is a meat scientists, but we still make meat the focal point of our meals.

I'm actually more scared of eating raw vegetables than I am of meat. Since February 23rd of this year there have been 40 recalls of non-meat products (mostly Salmonella and Botulism) and only 4 meat recalls (only 2 of which were actually relate to the meat).

I grew up in a half vegetarian family, but my husband is a meat and potatoes kind of guy. We compromise, and have 1 meatless meal, and at least one fish meal a week, and include meat in our other dishes. I just usually eat less.
That being said, he is a meat and potatoes guy, but grew up on a farm, buying beef and cattle from the 4H and other farmers close to him, "pets" in their family, as weird as it may be, were usually eventually eaten (such as chickens and rabbits), but he knew where his food came from. Living where we do it's a bit harder, but we buy from sustainable agriculturalists and don't mind paying a bit more to have meat with no hormones, etc.

Our family is vegan, and we replace meat with appropriate beans and have never felt that anything was missing from any meal! I think it's often overlooked that you can make almost any meat dish with vegetables and beans. Lasagna, casseroles, pastas are insanely tasty with beans, soups... Meat is expensive and the new finding about health and the industries declining standards makes me wonder why anyone bothers at all!

@smoore Don't go muddying up things with facts!

I eat as much meat as I can afford! Meaning I have a salmon steak or something about twice a month. yep.

I never buy meat to cook at home. It's too expensive and more often than not, I feel guilty and disgusted about dead animals.

I try to make vegetables the main focus of all of my meals (well, except breakfast), and when we want meat we buy it from the farmers market. We're usually satisfied with small bits of meat used to flavor dishes, rather than a big hunk on our plates. My only dilemma is when we have people over for dinner, I feel a little pressure to make a big piece of meat the main attraction. I feel like some people expect that and wouldn't enjoy one of our "typical" veg-centered meals as much.

we meal plan for the week and usually dinners are based around meat. We eat some type of animal protein at dinner. Usually once a week we'll have a vegetarian dinner and eat quinoa or another type of grain.

I'm all for veggie breakfasts and lunches, but dinners for me need some meat.

About the veggie recalls.. if factory farms would learn to manage their waste properly, we probably wouldn't have those problems!

I tend to cook dishes that are mostly vegetables and whole grains, with a bit of meat in there for flavor and protein. My mother isn't much of a cook and she tends to do a particularly bad job at cooking meat (I'll probably never eat another pork chop as long as I live), so I never really developed much of a taste for it growing up. Plus, we're members of a year-round CSA, so we've always got plenty of veg to eat.

My boyfriend is a Brit and grew up having the Sunday dinner of meat, potatoes, and gravy, so we have that occasionally. The rest of the time, he's a pretty good sport about all the veg because he knows it's for his own good. :)

Sometimes I like to put meat on the side of my plate. Other times I like it in the center.

I never did plan "meals" well: I just looked for recipes I wanted to try. Sometimes I might make two things. Usually though I have 1 dish meals - a lot are soups and casseroles or salads.
But I generally only cook meat once a week if that. We are not a meatless household but it's a very small part of my cooking so I hardly ever plan a meal around meat.

I have actually gotten HEALTHIER since eating more meat (I eat almost - I hate this term too, paleo)...this is a personal decision and not for everyone, but I have gluten intolerance/celiac which severely limits what I can eat. On top of that, I don't do so well on grains in general...so yes, very veggie and meat heavy (with eggs nuts, etc thrown in).

However, I cut back in other ways so that I can afford, local/organic/grassfed/humanly raise etc meat, poultry, fish.

When I went meatless for a while I became anemic despite ensuring I was eating enough iron, protein etc....however, my body just didn't seem to absorb the nutrients (celiac might have been the culprit there), so I switched back and have been feeling a lot better.

I have friends who did the opposite: cut out meat from their diets) and they say they feel healthiest that way....do what works for you!

Also - I find there to be declining standards all around: meat re-calls, salmonella outbreaks in spinach/veggies etc. Avoiding a food group wouldn't work (even Peanut Butter is recalled, ugh) b/c something else will be recalled next week, you know? Which is why I try to figure out where my food comes from as much as possible.

I cut back in other areas so that I can afford good quality healthy food. With my health issues, I figure this will save me money on healtcare down the line. I've even cut back on my notorious sweet tooth. Live and learn

Coming from a Cantonese background, every meal we would always have a steamed fish dish, a boiled vegetables dish, and a third dish that usually is a combo of meat and veggies.

However I am only home for dinner. For lunch, it's quite hard to find lunch spots that serves vegetarian (green leafy vegetarian, not mock-meat vegetarian) in HK.

Watch the FAT HEAD documentary!
I ate mostly vegetarian for the last 10 years...recently I was made aware of the negative effects of too many carbohydrates on the body. I am currently experimenting with an unprocessed foods diet, similar to a Paleo diet. There is a large focus on quality animal protein with this diet. I am enjoying this way of eating and still count fruits and vegetables as my mainstay, but healthy, responsibly raised meats are good!

I was a pescetarian for 17 years and just started eating meat (chicken and pork) about 8 months ago. My boyfriend cooks the meat as I still have a problem touching it raw. I still eat heavy on the veggies and grains, so if it's for just me, I still make a veggie dish.

We tend to eat more chicken and fish than anything (with a side of veggies). I am more into trying new veggies and he likes his potatoes, carrots, peas. We're both trying to expand our food horizons though.