How does one turn a house of four omnivores into a vegetarian family?

[Tien1985]

9. If you figure it out...

We ate a vegan diet for about a year, but around then my thyroid issues really kicked in and we fell off the wagon and haven't gotten back on.

My partner and son tolerated meat replacements, but for me that just didn't cut it. What worked for me was learning new meals that weren't based on animal products and playing around until I figured out what I could eat without being utterly miserable. We actually found a recipe for sloppy joes using lentils that is pretty awesome, and stuff like chili is easy to make meat-free. We still make those meals vegetarian.

It isn't easy, particularly for the kids. "Shitty tasting food" is really subjective. The first time I tried to roast a duck the result was pretty shitty, and I LOVE duck. The same is true for vegetarian recipes. It will take some time before you learn how to make new meals properly. And on the other side of things, you have get your taste buds out of their comfortable rut. I'm fine with vegetables for the most part. However, for the first 25 yrs of my life I hated onions. Hated them as a child whether I was allowed to pick them off or forced to eat them. As an adult I flat out refused to eat them at all. It got to the point where eating them made me feel kind of queasy. At that point I decided I needed to get some control on it, and began inserting them into my food intentionally. At first I felt kind of sick to my stomach, but eventually that stopped and slowly I got used to them. Now, certain foods don't taste right if they are in/on it. "Shitty tasting" is often your mouth's way of throwing a temper tantrum about changing your diet.

I wish you a lot of good luck with it and hope you find something that will work for your family.