Meat minimalism, a term I first heard coined by my father, is the practice of cutting out a large percentage of animal products without making one’s life miserable. It’s a practice that I adopted a few years ago and has been sustainable for me where vegetarianism and veganism weren’t. I’d like to make my case for the practice and list the benefits.
Substitute as much as possible
I avoid the animal products I don’t enjoy in a bizzare Marie Kondo dietary program way. In practice, this means that I don’t do ground beef. I’ve found that tacos are better if you just use black beans instead. For burgers, I usually only tasted the toppings anyway, so a plant based burger works just as well.
My substitutions:
Instead of ground beef, use black beans. Instead of a beef or chicken patty, use a plant-based one. Instead of dairy milk, use almond milk.
When do I cheat?
When I will truly enjoy an animal product and appreciate every moment of the meal, that’s when I’ll eat meat. A pit-roasted rack of ribs is absolutely on the table, but it happens very occasionally.
Also when I travel… ordering at a restaurant in a foreign country that doesn’t speak English natively gets tricky. So, I allow myself to just enjoy a vacation and try some new things.
The Benefits
-
My grocery bill has gone down by a lot! I’m only paying around $100/mo. on groceries.
-
Never worry about food spoiling again. When I accidentally leave the food out overnight, there’s no meat spoiling and ruining everything. Still not a good idea to leave stuff out.
-
I feel good that I’m helping sustainability and the environment.
-
I can continue to travel. I like to travel and try new foods. When you’re in a country where English isn’t the native language, ordering food can be tricky. Under this practice, I can enjoy my vacations without being problematic to other people.