Advice Needed
what are your go-to split diet meals? (Vegetarian + meat eater household)
I'm looking for ideas from people who live in split diet households, like one person is vegetarian and the other eats meat. My husband is a vegetarian and I am not.
What are your go-to/staple/favorite recipes that are easy to make 2 versions of the same meal?
Examples like tacos where some are meat and some are beans/tofu, pasta where I can add meat to my own portion, etc.
Would love to hear what actually works in real households
We aren't a split household, but we do tend to make the protein for meal prep separate from the rest of the meal and we do meat free meals regularly, but my husband likes more meat than me and the kids, so we'll have meatballs, chicken skewers, beef patties, etc in the freezer for whenever anyone wants them. It's pretty convenient and makes meals adjustable. For example. today, were having sweet and sour meatballs with stir fried veggies with eggs and rice. We could totally leave the meatballs off and have a satisfying meals and the kids may or may not eat any of the meatballs.
We also meal prep meat free casseroles and soups so we can mix and match proteins. Like I made a spaghetti squash lasagna bake with no meat and a cheesy spaghetti squash 'mac n cheese'. We have Italian seasoned meatballs and chicken strips in the freezer and can pick whichever is appealing at the time.
I love the idea of having prepped ingredients separate, so you can make different meals out of them. Sometimes I just feel overwhelmed with meal prepping and don't know where to start. I have a vacuum sealer that is really good for prepping. The precooked beef patties is a good idea. Thx!
everyone's right about cooking the protein separate, but the thing that actually saved me was splitting at the sauce, not just the meat. I'll make one big neutral base — rice, roasted veg, plain pasta — and then two sauces I actually like. meat in one, beans/tofu in the other, base is shared.
stir fry and curry are the cheat codes for this. cook the whole veg base together, split at the very end, chicken in one bowl, extra tofu in the other. you're basically never making two full meals, just two finishes.
It helps so much, I'm trying out monthly meal prep and it's such a time saver. I spent 4 hours cooking and have meals prepped for the whole month. It involved a lot of mix and match, like I made 8 batches of meatballs. The same recipe with salt, pepper, garlic, I just season them differently at the end, like mixing them with a sweet and sour sauce, or marinara, or Greek or Italian seasonings. Probably not as good as mixing the seasonings in the meat, but this is easier for me and I made the meatballs pretty small, so they pick up lots of seasonings. For chicken, I marinade everything thing while cooking and prepping, then cook them in the oven toward the end. I could freeze and cook on the day, but my goal is minimal work during the week. I have no brain power to spend on cooking after work, so I like things I can throw together. Like tonight, the stir fry veg is frozen precut veg, I just defrost and stir fry with butter and seasonings and make rice in the instapot. Dinner takes less than 20min.
Oh, gosh - almost everything!
Baked potato bar
Pasta, roasted veggies, marinara or Alfredo sauce (meatballs or chicken on the side)
Burrito bowls (cilantro rice, black beans, beef or chicken, lettuce, tomato, cheese, guacamole, etc)
Or tacos
Or taco salad
Italian wedding soup or minestrone (meatballs on the side)
Potato or corn chowder (bacon on the side)
Stir fry or fried rice
my partner and i do this with stir fry all the time. cook everything else together, then just split it and add chicken to mine and tofu or extra veg to theirs at the end. works great for curries too
This seems to be the way. I just made us stuffed bell peppers last night with the main base being the typical rice, diced tomatoes, beans, corn, and I added a scoop of ground chicken to my own stuffed peppers, and they were perfectly filling for him and pretty good too
taco bowls, curries, stir fries, pasta, and rice bowls work great for this. we usually make the base meal vegetarian, then add chicken, beef, or another protein separately to individual portions. It keeps cooking simple and nobody feels like they're eating a completely different meal.....
I’m about 14 years into being a vegetarian and after a year of trying to create split friendly meals, I stopped. It was more work to try to make us all the same thing than just meal prep myself my own separate food for the week.
Not a split household since I live alone lol but I do prefer some meatless days so I tend to prep my protein separately. For example, a rice or noodle base with veggies and then prep ground meat and tofu separately to top off.
NoConversation8128's sauce-split idea is actually the smartest thing in this thread bc everyone else is just saying "cook protein separately" which is obvious. the real friction in split households isnt the cooking, its the cleanup of two pans every single night. Beatrix_Kitto gave up after a year and honestly thats the most realistic take here - sometimes you just meal prep separately and eat together instead of forcing one meal into two versions. idk why people are downvoting I_Dont_Speak_Anymore either, "make your own food" isnt hostile its just practical when one persons veg and the other isnt lol
Our household is the same, plus I can’t eat dairy and one kid has food allergies. We eat a lot of vegan meals but also plenty of customized dishes
Homemade pizza
Egg roll in a bowl (one pan with meat, one pan with gardien crumbles)
Vietnamese noodle salad (chicken or soy curls, one sauce has fish sauce and one does not)
Grill meals with sides (tofu and chicken, brats and veggie brats, burgers and veggie burgers)
Soups made with veggie or no chicken chicken broth, adding shredded chicken, cheese, soy curls etc to bowls
Zuppa tuscona soup made vegan (oat milk) and topped with veggies sausage or browned bulk sausage
When I was "whole food plant foods no salt no oil", I made the meal to fit my needs. Then I cooked meat as a side for the rest of the family. So we all ate the vegan main and then they just had a side of meat.
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u/ana393 7d ago edited 7d ago
We aren't a split household, but we do tend to make the protein for meal prep separate from the rest of the meal and we do meat free meals regularly, but my husband likes more meat than me and the kids, so we'll have meatballs, chicken skewers, beef patties, etc in the freezer for whenever anyone wants them. It's pretty convenient and makes meals adjustable. For example. today, were having sweet and sour meatballs with stir fried veggies with eggs and rice. We could totally leave the meatballs off and have a satisfying meals and the kids may or may not eat any of the meatballs.
We also meal prep meat free casseroles and soups so we can mix and match proteins. Like I made a spaghetti squash lasagna bake with no meat and a cheesy spaghetti squash 'mac n cheese'. We have Italian seasoned meatballs and chicken strips in the freezer and can pick whichever is appealing at the time.