[Molly]

I have been vegetarian for nearly five years, it was the best decision I ever made - I did it for the moral reasons too, and I don't think I could ever go back. I love cooking and coming up with new ideas for meals, but I rarely use any of the stereotypical "veggie" foods like tofu or soya - I get by just fine with plenty of fresh fruit, potatoes, rice and pasta. It certainly is about a hundred times cheaper to go vegetarian - when I lived with my dad I was spending 1/3 of what he spent, and he doesn't even eat that much meat.

Good luck with the switchover - there's loads of good sites around for encouragement and facts etc about vegetarianism - just do a google search and there's bucket loads.

One thing I would say though, as mentioned earlier, is that it is a lot harder to go vegan than you'd think, and requires lots of planning. I was vegan for a year but got very ill as I hadn't really taken enough care of what I was putting into my body - counter to popular belief, it's not a lack of protein (most people actually have too much in their diets) but I was suffering from a lack of iron. I am trying to go vegan again this year, but I'm going to plan it a lot better. Also I'm finding that it's helped by going one step at a time - I am no longer using eggs, milk or cheese in my own recipes, or eating them on their own, but I have not yet cut them out of ready made things ie readymeals, cakes, meals out etc.