Meatless Friday: Pre-Lenten Planning Edition

We’re talking about Lent already? It seems like I just put away the Christmas decorations! But Lent is just around the corner, beginning on Ash Wednesday, February 18.

That means it’s time to make the meal plan.

Here at CatholicMom.com, we feature a meatless recipe or two every Friday, all year ’round. You can find all our Meatless Friday featured recipes here. During Lent, all Catholics (ages 14 and up) are bound to abstain from meat on Fridays as we keep in mind the sacrifice of Christ during his crucifixion.

If you need a refresher course on Lenten fasting and abstinence, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has you covered. They’ve also set up a page of FAQs about Lent that’s very helpful.

Lent is a penitential time, but we need to strike a balance between serving a simple meatless meal and serving a meatless meal our family members will actually eat. There’s nothing penitential about wasted food and bad attitudes. Our friends at CRS Rice Bowl encourage us to prepare simple and inexpensive Friday meals during Lent, and donate the money we save to their efforts to feed the hungry around the world as well as in our own dioceses, as 25% of your contributions will stay in your local diocese! Right now, Lisa Hendey is wrapping up a CRS trip to Tanzania, and she’s been sharing everything she’s learned about how CRS works to alleviate poverty in that country.

Now it’s your turn to share your favorite meatless Lenten meals! Does your family have Friday-dinner traditions during Lent? And what do you serve for lunches?

Share your favorite meatless recipes in our linkup, or comment below to contribute recipes, menu plans and traditions.

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Photo copyright 2015 Barb Szyszkiewicz. All rights reserved.