9 hours ago, Smithy said:14 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:I use eggs, cheeses, including cottage cheese, which I like, yogurt, beans, and some nuts to make up for the lack of nutrients I miss by my unwillingness to deal with cooking meat. I also like seafood, which often doesn't suffer the degradation that meat does by boiling or gently sauteeing it.
Does anyone have any suggestions to get protein and B12 without dealing with meat every day? I appreciate any input.
It sounds to me as though you're doing what you need to do already. This article about Vitamin B-12 sources and needs indicates that cheese, yogurt, milk and eggs all are sources. They also mention fortified cereals, nutritional yeast and fortified plant-based milk. (I assume that means soy milk, but I could be wrong.) I've never tried nutritional yeast, but the article makes it sound as though it would provide the umami kick that meat does, as well as providing the extra missing nutrients. According to this article, you only need about 2.4 micrograms of B-12 per day. Here's an excerpt from the article about quantities:
I use nutritional yeast quite often, like one would use MSG. Getting enough protein is challenging for a vegetarian, being willing to cook obviously helps by making sure you have high quality food with sufficient protein of various sources. Cottage cheese in Israel is different than the one I sampled in the US, it is richer and the grains larger and more tender. It's my go to snack when I feel my daily diet might be lacking in protein.
You can also consider making use of cured meats as a flavoring and nutritional enrichment to otherwise mostly vegetarian dishes, the Italians are masters of this.
