What’s the deal with being flexitarian?

They say variety is the ‘spice of life’ and our recipe team has been working hard to bring delicious discoveries to your kitchen and dinner table every week! You told us you wanted more vegetarian options in our Classic Box, and boy, did we listen. With two veggie meals on the Classic menu each week, you can jump aboard the flexitarian bandwagon with ease! Not only this but our flexible plans means you can be extra flexi and swap between the Classic and Veggie box each week, all at the touch of a button!

But wait, let’s go back a few steps…for those of you who are new to the term ‘flexitarian’ let us explain! Essentially, a flexitarian or a planetary health diet is a largely plant-based diet that can optionally include modest amounts of fish, meat and dairy foods.

So what does this look (and taste) like for your dinnertime routine and what’s the point? Let’s explore some of the questions you might have about the diet, and discuss some of the potential benefits for you, your health and some benefits that go way beyond the kitchen:

Be super flexi with no lock-in contracts

The name says it all! A flexitarian diet is much easier to commit to than being a full-time vegetarian. It means you can don’t have to worry about filling in those dietary requirement forms for flights or events and when you turn up at the in-law’s place and they serve you meat, you won’t be trying to feed the dog under the dinner table! Or, more to the point – you might just want to eat more plant-based foods, but you’re not quite ready to give up your pub steak, and we totally get that too! Really, a flexitarian diet is the best of both worlds with no strict commitment. Think of it as a pledge to eat less meat, not give it up entirely.

Ease yourself into a healthier diet

Turns out you don’t have to eliminate meat completely to reap the benefits of being a vegetarian. In fact, a detailed study carried out by the EAT Lancet Commission has revealed that adopting a flexitarian diet would greatly improve the nutrition and health status of most people. This would be through an increase in healthy fats, and reduced consumption of unhealthy saturated fats. And would also boost essential micronutrient intake, such as iron, zinc, folate and vitamin A through an increased intake of fruits, veggies and whole grains. The only exception is vitamin B12 which predominantly comes from animal-sourced foods, and supplements might be needed for some people.

Help decrease our environmental footprint

The diet really is a “win-win” for our health and for our environment. Animal-sourced foods, particularly red meat have quite high environmental footprints as they are produced using a lot of resources including fossil fuels, land and water. It’s been estimated that with an increase in people switching to a more plant-based diet, global greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by 30% and freshwater use by 70%. These benefits, however, require food wastage to be halved to 15% and the amount of food being produced on farmland increased significantly.

It can be easier to cook and eat meals together

The more the merrier, as we always say. But this can mean more dietary preferences around your dinner table. Have no fear, our Classic Plan has plenty of variety to better cater to the taste buds of the whole family. By adding more vegetarian options to the Classic plan, and more meals now available on our Veggie plan, you can choose your household’s perfect menu and cook up flexitarian friendly meals for 3-4 nights a week. Check out our upcoming menus to get flexin’!