In the light of the two recent meat-heavy posts, I thought it would be fitting to have a post about reducing the amount of meat we eat ;)

We’ve both actually been vegetarian for extended periods over the last decade (frustratingly not always at the same time!) so personally have an assortment of meat-free meals in our repetoire – but I thought it might be interesting to hear what other people do/have done to cut down their meat consumption.

As I’m sure everyone who is green enough to read this site knows, meat production has a huge impact on the environment before you even start to think about animal welfare. As meat has got cheaper over the years, a generation or two has forgotten that most meat used to be a luxury item, not an at-every-meal basic for everyone. At every point along the meat’s journey from field/pen to plate, it has direct and indirect environmental costs – so whatever we can do to cut down is a good thing.

Do you have meat-free days? Or the other way around, only eat meat on certain days/at certain events?

Do you avoid one particular type of meat/only eat one type of meat? Why?

On a blog recently – I can’t find the precise post, Google Reader Search is failing me – someone mentioned using meat as flavouring in a meal instead of a core ingredient: for example, a little chorizo goes a long way in an otherwise veg/bean heavy dish. I thought that was a good idea.

I remember a friend of ours who went veggie a few years ago told us one of his biggest problems was finding variety for sandwich fillings – he didn’t want to eat tuna but he felt that was his own non-cheese option. He had an “of course!” moment when we mentioned hummus and egg mayo (not together, yick!), because they both had a similar mouthfeel to tuna — but any other suggestions for sandwich fillings/packed lunch ideas?

If you have cut down/are veggie, what were the hardest challenges for you? How did you overcome them? If you haven’t overcome then yet – tell us what they are to see if we can offer any suggestions!

We had an email to our Compost This address from Mark, asking:

Can I compost bones, free from the butcher?

In the vast, vast, vast majority of cases, this would be a big no – the smell of any left over meat or marrow would probably attract unwanted vermin, they could introduce/encourage dangerous organisms which might not get broken down in the composting process and depending on the thickness of the bones, they could take an age to rot down and clog up your heap in the meantime.

But what else can be done with them? Any suggestions?

(Photo by redvisualg)

A whole load of people are going to have whole load of leftover turkey later on today. Turkey meat and bones probably; giblets and flappy neck skin maybe.

Has anyone got any recipes or other suggestions of how the great Christmas leftover turkey mountain can be used up?

(And if you’re interested: we’ve already covered greetings/Christmas cards and wrapping paper elsewhere, if you want suggestions on how to reuse that sort of thing : ) )

(Photo by LuisFico of a very cool tree made from light)