A Few Words on Meat

This seems like a good place to start, as it says a lot about why I created this site in the first place.

I love meat. There, I said it.

It’s not fashionable, or environmentally friendly, but I do. There are precious few pleasures in life, and a well cooked steak and a few chips is definitely up there with the best of them.

However.

I care deeply about the planet and the very real impact we are having on it. I’m far from an expert, but I am aware of the huge impact of raising and feeding livestock around the world.

I know that as an individual, one of the most impactful things I can do for the environment is to reduce or eliminate my meat consumption (by far the most impactful by the way, is to not have a child), so I’ve been making a big effort this last year or so to eat less meat.

I’m not foolish enough to think that I or the rest of my family could eliminate meat entirely from our diet, at least not right away, but I have been able to make quite a few changes that have resulted in eating less.

We’ve also taken the decision to buy quality. Which means we spend more, to get less, but what we get is good quality, free range produce. We now buy the vast majority of our meat from a local butcher, so it’s also locally sourced, which further reduces the environmental impact, and supports local business.

What’s that got to do with this site?

While trying to reduce the amount of meat we eat, I’ve had trouble finding good recipes for the family. And where we had family favourites before, in many cases I’ve adjusted them to use less meat, so I’m constantly having to remember or explain how I’ve adjusted a recipe when we cook it. This doesn’t just apply to meat either, most of the recipes we follow we’ve changed in some way to suit us, and I wanted to capture and even share these with interested family and friends. I also wanted to save any great meat-free meals we find, so we have them handy and in one place.

So there you have it. I like meat, but I’m trying to eat less of it. I’ll let you know how it goes!