playbook
One week vegetarian
Seven days without meat or fish. No philosophy, no statement, just an experiment. By the end you'll know how much of your weekly menu can be vegetarian and how much can't.
1u
duration
€ 0–30
budget
Ground
pace
Vegetarian eating carries a political charge that often obscures the practical experience. People resist the idea, people embrace the idea, and almost nobody tries it calmly without talking about it. A week of vegetarian eating without philosophy is not a statement. It's collecting data about what your weekly menu actually looks like.
What turns out to be true: for most people, three to four days are easy and the other three are hard. Not because of taste, but because of habit. The Thursday-night meatball, the Saturday barbecue, the Sunday roast. You notice those spots. In the spots that aren't structural (lunch, breakfast, a weeknight pasta) meat often turns out not to be missed at all. By the end of the week you know better than before whether a lasting change is realistic for your life, not from conviction but from experience.
Checklist
0 of 5
Weekmenu gepland
Op zaterdag
Twee tot drie recepten gekozen
Voor de moeilijke avonden
Boodschappen ingekocht
Voor de hele week
Eerste lastige avond gepasseerd
Vaak donderdag
Reflectie op dag 7
Wat blijft, wat niet
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by PlayTryBe team
Saturday before the week: plan seven days of meals. Including lunch and breakfast. Without a plan you won't make it to day 3.
0Do your grocery shopping for the whole week. Not day by day, that's how ad-hoc solutions come about.
70Two to three new recipes during the week. No 'I'll just throw something together' afternoons, those usually end with a pizza.
Days 1 and 2: usually easy. Pasta, salad, and soup are naturally vegetarian.
Day 3 or 4 is usually the hard one. A habit evening (Thursday meatballs or Friday fish) gets noticed. Don't dodge it, just acknowledge it and eat the substitute.
Over the weekend: a vegetarian barbecue or a vegetarian roast is different from the usual. Not better, not worse, just different. After the meal, write down what stood out.
How much of your weekly menu was meat out of habit, and how much out of preference? For most people the answer is 70-30. That knowledge is useful, even if you go right back to eating meat afterwards.
Day 7: look back at the week. Which days could you easily go vegetarian on permanently? Which days not? That's the outcome, not 'you need to go vegan'.
0For anyone copying this
Do as we did
Suggestions
- Plan the week's menu in advance on Saturday. No 'we'll see what happens' afternoons.
- Start with vegetarian substitutes (vega schnitzel, vega smoked sausage) first. Then move to purely plant-based.
- Have one cookbook or a few recipes ready. Improvising is harder.
- Don't explain yourself to friends or family. No statement, just do it.
Variations
- - Vegan in plaats van vegetarisch: ook geen zuivel of eieren. Veel moeilijker, andere ervaring.
- - Twee weken: na zeven dagen weet je vooral over je standaard-menu, na veertien ook over de uitzonderingen.
- - Met partner: samen werkt beter omdat het kookwerk verdeelt.
- - Eén maaltijd per dag vlees: lichtere versie, alleen avondmaaltijd vegetarisch.