Mum's view of how it all began

Vegetarian! I was horrified! After all, veggies were a pain - cranks, who just liked to make things difficult for me, when they came to visit! After all, there is only one decent recipe for a veggie, isn't there? And you can't eat Macaroni Cheese for every meal! And I don't even like vegetables, apart from potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower.

But, Jacqui had been so ill and it was good to be able to talk to her about her feelings, because she had been unable to do that for such a long time, it seemed. So, with a heavy heart and a lot of trepidation, I agreed to support her in her decision. It would probably be a flash in the pan, anyway and she'd soon get bored with it all. How wrong can you be?

I am disabled, seriously overweight and cooking for the family had become a real chore. It hurt to stand for too long and Jacqueline worked some highly unsociable hours, at times, so we would often eat late. I think that it is important that we make the effort to sit down, round the table and eat together. That way, we can talk, have a laugh and share our day, but it had become no fun, whatsoever. It seemed as if we were grinding along in a bit of a rut and I was very aware that both Ray and I were putting too much pressure on Jacqueline, because we looked forward to her coming home and expected her to entertain us, almost.

At first, Jacqui started to bring home frozen veggie meals, which I would cook, whilst Ray and I ate our normal meals which, if I am honest, had become routine and boring. She would offer us a little taste and I was pleasantly surprised, because although the taste and texture was different, it was very palatable and not disgusting and tastleless, as I had assumed. Then Jacqui asked if she could cook for us, on her days off and of course, I had no problem agreeing with that! The very first thing she cooked for us was a Peanut and Apple Nut Roast. I absolutely loved it! Both Ray and Jacqui felt that there were too many peanuts and not enough apple, but for my tastes, it was perfect. Vegetarian cookbooks started to appear and suddenly, food became fun! We began to experiment more and the range of food we started to eat increased. And to my complete amazement, the food bills dropped like a stone. And the best thing for me, as a Mum, was to see clean plates after almost every meal, rather than a couple of dispirited mouthfuls being eaten and the rest thrown away.

I had alway been interested in the concept of the veggie box scheme. Good, fresh, local produce being sourced and small farmers being supported by the schemes. So, we looked into it and found a Company that delivered to our area and we put in our order. Our weekly box also includes fruit and the best thing of all, for me, was the quality of the produce. Instead of it only lasting for a few days, we found that both the vegetables and the fruit would last for weeks (that is, if we didn't eat it first, which we usually did!) It also means that the vegetables we get are in season and it is really good fun to sit down each week and plan the menus around the stuff in the box. So, it was not much of a decision for me to become a fully fledged vegetarian, as well. Ray decided that he still wanted to eat meat, on occasion and I have no problem with that, at all. So, at the beginning of each day, he will ask what we are intending to eat that night and sometimes he will eat totally vegetarian fare and at other times, he will request some meat, as well.

And, just like Jacqueline, we have seen unexpected benefits. My weight is starting to come off and to stay off. To date, I have lost 2 stone and although the weight loss is slow, it is steady and is still going down. My whole system has been slugguish all my life and I have been plagued with constipation for years. Not any more. I have so much more energy and standing and cooking each night is not a chore. And it seems that the more that I do, the more I can do. My daughter may have has some hair brained schemes in the past, but this is one of her better decisions and one which I for one, wish that we had made years ago.