Seeing as Yisrael left Egypt with a lot of animals, why were they complaining about a lack of meat, and why only now
Oznayim la'Torah: In fact, Yisrael did not complain here about a lack of meat. Only when they ran out of bread and had only meat to eat, they complained that, in Egypt, when they ate meat, they had bread as well, whereas now all they had was meat, and eating meat alone is unhealthy, and will result in death. Consequently, to demonstrate that He took them out of Egypt to improve their lot and not to make it worse, Hashem sent them quails as well as bread. 1
See Oznayim la'Torah, who elaborates further.
How is it possible that the Egyptians would give them meat, when, as Moshe clearly stated in Va'eira, 8:22 "If we will dare slaughter animals ... will they not stone us"?
Oznayim la'Torah #1: Perhaps it is refrring to ythe fish that was readily available in Egypt, and which the women caught in their jars and fed their husbands. 1
Oznayim la'Torah #2: It wasn't really true. They were merely fantasizing.
Oznayim la'Torah: And this will support the Gemara in Nedarim, 54b who say that 'Basar' incorporates fish.
