How often do you eat meat as a main component of your meal?

[Eonwe]

I am not a vegetarian. But I often go a few days without eating any meat. Some folks like to describe themselves as carnivores and talk as though every meal must have dead animal in it or they're not happy. So, I'm curious. How often do you eat meat?

For the purposes of this question, I'm only interested in meat as part of a 'main dish'. Bacon bits on the salad don't count, nor does pepperoni on your pizza, or stock in your risotto. I want to know how often you choose meat specifically, as opposed to meat being a coincidental and secondary component of another dish.

I'm also not looking for vegetarians to respond to the poll. It's about how often meat-eaters eat meat.

[Leaffan]

Typically twice a day, but I like vegetarian meals too. It's not like I purposely go out of my way to include or exclude meat, but most meals seem to have meat as the main component, whether it be a sandwich at lunch or a BBQ, roast, fried, baked something with supper.

[don't ask]

By meat do you also mean seafood and poultry? Like flesh of creatures generally.

[Wallenstein]

If I have a ham and cheese sandwich does that count? As a percentage of the overall total the ham is minor, but it's an integral part of the meal.

Generally though I'd say we have meat four or five days as a main ingedient (i.e. chicken breast, minced beef etc). The other days will usually contain some meat, but perhaps a lesser amount (e.g. lasagne with chunks of ham, or chicken and vegetable soup which may or may not count under the OP's criteria).

Rarely we'll have a totally veggie meal, but that's perhaps once or twice a month.

The meat is always chosen for what it adds to the dish - a vegetable soup is one thing, a chicken and vegetable soup quite another.

[MsWhatsit]

Breakfast, very rarely. Lunch, sometimes. (Usually in the form of a lunchmeat sandwich or frozen dinner thing.) Dinner, almost always.

[Sattua]

For a lot of years, when I was younger and more active, I'd eat meat as rarely as once a week.

Now that I'm older and more sedentary, I find that I can't stay satisfied and within a good calorie range without having meat about once a day. Poultry and fish are just the best, lowest-calorie ways to get a big wad of protein into you. So I eat it almost every day... there's a rare day, maybe once a week, when I go all veggie.

[Jack Batty]

Once a day, I'd say. I like-a-da-chicken. But as for red meat ... hardly ever. I just prefer poultry.

[Scumpup]

I eat only one meal a day and, for that meal to satisfy me for the next 24 hours, I prefer for it to have meat in it.

[MeanOldLady]

It averages out to every other day, I think. I make a big meal, then eat leftovers til they're gone. Then I make another big meal, repeat. Somewhere around every other time, the main component of the meal is meat. I don't do a lot of snacking, and if I do, the snack is a vegetable, cheese, or meat-free junk food.

[DigitalC]

You forgot to include "every time".

[GargoyleWB]

2-3 times a week. I typically eat a lot of pasta, rice, and curry-type dishes which are easy to make with or without meat, and I generally just use veggies or tofu in "filler component" types of dishes.

If meat is a genuine feature of the meal, i.e. salmon, steak, coney-island dog, then I embrace the carnivore

[Anaamika]

I think it averages out to every other day. Most dinners we do have meat, but I almost never eat meat in breakfast or lunch unless it's leftovers. And at least 1-2 dinners per week are vegetarian.

[Eonwe]

Originally Posted by don't ask

By meat do you also mean seafood and poultry? Like flesh of creatures generally.

Yeah, and I should have stated that too in the OP. Chicken/seafood count for the purposes of this question.

[kapri]

I voted once a day, but sometimes I go a few days without meat (I like a lot of Morningstar Farms products so eat those regularly), and sometimes I eat meat twice a day. It averages out to about once a day I guess, though.

[Diogenes the Cynic]

Every meal, and even in between meals, I'll snack on things like cold hotdogs right out of the package. If I don't eat meat, I still feel hungry. I'm pretty much all about meats and starches. I detest vegetarian fare.

[Small Clanger]

I voted 1 - 2 times a week, though that isn't quite right it's closest. Just about never for breakast or lunch. Supper is chicken curry Friday and Saturday, veggie mince based stuff at least three days a week. Whether I eat meat the remaining couple of days depends on what was on offer at Waitrose, I'm not principled, just mean

[Scumpup]

Originally Posted by Diogenes the Cynic

Every meal, and even in between meals, I'll snack on things like cold hotdogs right out of the package. If I don't eat meat, I still feel hungry. I'm pretty much all about meats and starches. I detest vegetarian fare.

Vegetarian food makes nice side dishes alongside a steak.

[pulykamell]

Dinner is generally centered around meat (this includes seafood) at our house, although I will make dinners occasionally that, by happenstance, qualify as "vegetarian."

As for the rest of the day, breakfast is usually something like eggs (sometimes with meat, sometimes without) or Fibre One, yogurt, oats, that sort of thing. Lunch might be a can of tuna and some toast, or it may be sandwich, yogurt, cheese, etc. And there might be one or two other small meals like that.

I voted once per day, but it's more like 1 and a half on average.

[Oakminster]

Yup, just about every meal needs meat. Very rarely, I'll eat some form of pasta without actual meat in it...but there's usually at least a meat flavored sauce. I have no interest in doing otherwise. Meat is good.

[MovieMogul]

I'll have nuts, pasts, cereal, etc. enough that I can't say every meal. But if I don't have meat for at least one meal a day, I get a little out-of-sorts. I can feel the effect on my metabolism. Very rarely is it red meat, though--I eat a lot more poultry & seafood than pork & beef.

[Angel of Doubt]

Originally Posted by DigitalC

You forgot to include "every time".

Yeah, that'd be my choice, if you're including eggs.

[Oredigger77]

The only meal I may go meatless is breakfast, mainly because I don't have time to cook something up. But I will grab some leftover steak it's it's laying around from the previous night. lunch and dinner both feature meat 13/14 times a week.

[rhubarbarin]

I relish the flesh of animals or sea life for every lunch and dinner. Breakfast I usually have lots of eggs. So I picked 'twice'.

[Snowboarder Bo]

You didn't include "never" so I checked "less than once a week".

[njtt]

Actually probably more like 2-3 times per week, that is less than every other day (=3-4), and more than 1-2 (which I chose).

I am a bit shocked that there are so many twice a day, or even more, people.

[Superdude]

It's not a meal unless there's a dead animal in it somewhere. Which I know is unhealthy. To further kill myself, I prefer it fried.

[Chronos]

Usually for lunch, but not usually for supper. It's not any great tragedy if I don't get meat with lunch, either.

[Diogenes the Cynic]

Originally Posted by Snowboarder Bo

You didn't include "never" so I checked "less than once a week".

The OP specifically said he was excluding vegetarians from the poll and only asking meat eaters.

[Drain Bead]

I'm on a low-carb diet, so pretty much every meal. I don't always have three meals a day, though.

[gaffa]

Originally Posted by Drain Bead

I'm on a low-carb diet, so pretty much every meal. I don't always have three meals a day, though.

Same here.

[aceplace57]

My main meal for the day has meat. Usually breakfast is some type of cereal. So I voted once a day.

I sometimes have bacon & eggs and that brings it up to twice a day. But that is only once a week at the most.

[AClockworkMelon]

Every meal.

[Suburban Plankton]

I'd say that dinner probably involves meat 5 or 6 times a week. Lunch for me is quite often leftovers. Breakfast is generally meat-free, unless we're having sausage or bacon along with something, which occasionally happens on the weekends. So I picked 'twice per day', because that's probably how it averages out.

[Snowboarder Bo]

Originally Posted by Diogenes the Cynic

The OP specifically said he was excluding vegetarians from the poll and only asking meat eaters.

I missed that sentence. My bad. Carry on.

[faithfool]

Probably only every other day. Fortunately, I don't miss it when I don't have it, so it's all good.

[GilaB]

I eat meat at both of the main Sabbath meals (Friday night and Saturday lunch). If there are leftovers from those, or we go out to a restaurant/wedding/whatever where meat is served, I might have one other meat meal. So 2-3 meat meals/week

[fusoya]

I would say every other dinner I eat is meat-based. About the same with lunch - does a sandwich which contains ham or turkey slices along with other things count? How about cobb salad which has chicken and bacon, and about 10 other things?

[Zjestika]

I myself would eat more meat free dishes, but my husband has gotten me into the habit of a meat dinner every night. My lunch is often a sandwich, salad, or frozen meal at work, and more often than not, because I eat little cheese, it involves meat in some way. So I said twice a day.

[Superhal]

On average, I eat at least as much meat as my two fists put together every single meal. When we're splurging, I'll eat a ribeye as big as my head or a slab of ribs as long as my arm. One of my hobbies is to pick a fast food restaurant and see how many of their $1 menu burgers I can eat in one sitting. So far my record is 7. I usually eat dungoness crab 2 at a time. Shrimp/prawn I measure by the pound, not piece.

[TriPolar]

You should have included always. The only exception I can think of is pizza. Otherwise, I don't bother to eat a meal if it doesn't include meat.

Hmm, meat would have to include eggs for that to be true. Ruling?

[Postariti]

I'm another "always." I think this is what most of us mean when we say we're carnivores.

I eat a sausage link for breakfast. If I get hungry before lunch, I eat some ham. I have meat for lunch, possibly with nothing else. No bread, no veggie. Meat for supper.

If I make stir fry, I put two or more kinds of meat into it. I snack on cold bacon. I only eat pizza with meat on it.

Now, I know this is unhealthy. I absolutely hate most vegatables. I have to force myself to eat them. I "hide" vegatables by mixing them in with meat and rice, or by blending them up and putting them into meatloaf.

[Skammer]

If there's meat in my breakfast, it's incidental. Two slices of bacon on the side or bits of ham in my omelette. But lunch is often cold cuts or a chicken breast, and dinner usually features meat. So most days I'll have two meat-centered meals, on average.

[ZipperJJ]

I put less than once a week. I realized the other day that the only time I get meat is when I eat out...I never have meat in my house anymore. I try to eat out once a week but that doesn't always happen. I do get pizza once a week but I don't always get meat on it.

I'm not a vegetarian at all. I eat plenty of dairy and am trying to eat more eggs. I just am losing my taste for meat. Unless it's nicely cooked at a decent restaurant then bring it on!

[Skald the Rhymer]

I voted "less than once a week," though that's sort of misleading. Most days I have meatless breakfasts, lunches, and dinners; my dinner salad includes small chunks of turkey ham and egg whites. I don't consider those the main component.