It's fine to half-arse veganism
If you worry that animal agriculture is cruel and/or bad for the environment, but going vegan seems like a huge burden, it’s totally fine to half-arse it: go flexitarian, reducetarian, vegetarian, pescatarian, or follow some other bespoke diet. Better to half-arse it than not to arse it at all, as I always say.
I was vegetarian for 7ish years, and then flexi-vegan, before going vegan, and even now I’m not that strict, I ‘lapse’ occasionally. I don’t feel guilty about this because I’m not vegan in order to be a pure moral saint, but because I’m committed to a general principle (of not harming animals) and because I want to have a good influence on the world.
General disclaimer: please don’t stop eating things if doing so makes you very sick! My vegan advocacy, now and always, is implicitly aimed at people who have few ill effects from giving up animal products (this has been the case for me).
Ways to half-arse it
You could just make a vague commitment to eat less animal products. However, some people find that it’s easier to follow a clear rule than to have constant internal arguments about whether to buy the halloumi or whatever. If this is you, here are some possible rules:
Pescatarianism
Don’t eat land animals, do eat fish, eggs, dairy
Vegetarianism
Don’t eat fish or meat, do eat eggs and dairy
Cut out the most harmful foods
If you care about your health, stop eating the most unhealthy animal products. (I assume this is beef but I’m not sure).
If you care about the environment, stop eating the animal products with the biggest carbon footprint. (I’m pretty sure this is beef, followed by other meats).
If you care about animal suffering, stop eating the most cruelly-produced animal products (people I trust, who have researched this, claim that this is chicken and eggs).
Cut out the least tasty foods
If you think ‘i could totally go vegan, but I love cheese!’, go vegan-except-for-cheese.
Etc.
Or, give up the animal product which has the most convincing plant-based substitute. Switch dairy milk for oat milk, or meat sausages for vegan sausage, if you find that you can’t really tell the difference.
Commit to extremely high welfare products
If you’re a big foodie who loves meaty, dairy-and-egg-heavy cuisines, and you have the money and time, consider becoming a stickler for high-welfare (or low-carbon-footprint) animal products. Maybe find a local ‘traditional’ farm you trust and get all your products from there.
Some people are reluctant to follow bespoke rules like this because they worry that it’s morally inconsistent. I suspect some people are actually reluctant to admit to themselves that animal agriculture is pretty bad, or to examine thoughts about it too closely, because they think that if they came to believe that the factory farming *was* horrific, they’d have to go completely vegan - and that seems really burdensome! It’s easier to avoid thinking about the question, or just shrug and despair.
I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to pay that super-high cost! You can just pay what you can afford: that is, you can make whatever steps in the vegan direction are comfortable for you.
You might say ‘isn’t that hypocritical? Either something’s bad or it isn’t; it’s most consistent to either eat no animal products, or eat all of them.’
Well, maybe. But none of us can be morally ideal. We all have limited time and energy and money and f***s to give. We can’t give away all of our money to charity, go to every protest for a worthy cause, or spend all of our time on political advocacy. But we do the best we can. Maybe we can’t give £1000 or £100 to a charity or mutual aid network, but we can give £10. Maybe we can’t go to every protest, but we can go to some. Maybe we can’t educate ourselves deeply on every important political issue, but we can choose one or two to champion and advocate for. It’s the same for dietary change - pick a small manageable battle that’s not too costly and that fits your life and values, and just do that.