Meatless Monday

I've been vegan for awhile now, so the idea of a meatless Monday is just every day for me. This weekend, however, I attended a Vegfest with my family, and it really brought home to me the importance of making more people aware of the benefits of eating a more plant friendly diet.

Meatless Monday is a non-profit initiative of The Monday Campaigns, in association with the Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health. Their goal is to introduce people to a healthier lifestyle that helps them to reduce their meat consumption by 15%. Their website offers several items of interest - from health and environment benefits of going meatless one day a week to many, many articles worth reading to loads of recipes to help you get started.

It was of interest to me to learn that the idea of Meatless Mondays and Wheatless Wednesdays were introduced to the American public during World War I. Other presidents promoted the idea, as well. It is now a global movement and spreading!

The reasons for going meatless are many and I could go on (and on, and on!) about it here, but I won't. However, if you need a single incentive to get you at least started, consider this. Going meatless for just ONE DAY A WEEK will save you an estimated $600 a year in groceries alone.

You needn't buy the expensive vegetarian frozen stuff. Not at all! It's as simple as making a salad. Do salads make you think of boring lettuce and some cut up tomatoes? Here's your chance to shake things up a bit. Use whatever veggies you like in your salad. Find a salad dressing you absolutely love and delight your tastebuds with it poured atop crunchy ingredients. Experiment with different lettuces if the only one you've ever had is iceberg. Throw in some nuts if it suits your fancy. I like to grind peppercorns over my salad, but you can play around with spices and seasonings.  I discovered recently how much I really like fresh chopped cilantro in a salad, and I've always loved fresh chopped dill. Instead of croutons, try melba toast. Chomp a bite of scallion with each bite of salad. Add some cut up strawberries or mandarin oranges. The possibilities are endless! You are limited only by your imagination and a little by your budget. You can make a huge salad with plenty of leftovers for not a lot of money.

So how about it? Try going meatless for just one day a week. Just one! See what a difference it makes!