My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

AIBU?

To think that we don't actually need to eat "a hot meal" every day?

133 replies

Machli · 01/05/2013 12:43

Dd and I both prefer cold food, salads, fruit, sandwiches. Most days dd eats 8 plus portions of fruit and veg a day. I am not so well nourished Blush.

It seems that many don't feel it's a proper meal unless its a big cooked, hot one. I quite often see "kids need a hot meal" or "I always make sure there's one hot meal a day, cooked from scratch" on here.

A lot of food that needs to be cooked, pasta, rice etc hold minimal nutrients and usually cooking processes destroy or diminish nutrients also. Understand that meat and fish need to be cooked to make it safe and palatable to eat, but I just don't understand why it's so necessary to provide a hot meal daily.

What is the reasoning behind The Hot Meal?

OP posts:
Report
BettySwollocksandaCrustyRack · 01/05/2013 12:46

YANBU - I never have a cooked meal.

Always cook for DH and DS though.

Report
Justforlaughs · 01/05/2013 12:46

No idea, salads and such like sound perfectly fine to me. I think the idea is to not live on sandwiches/ beans on toast (although I don't have a massive problem with the occassional beans on toast meal anyway)

Report
littleducks · 01/05/2013 12:50

I think there is a lot if comfort in a hot meal, especially if you are really hungry. In summer I am happy with salads and a bit if grilled meat/fish but I definitely get comfort from soup in winter.

Report
erowid · 01/05/2013 12:50

I see no harm in it and during the summer we don't eat as many hot dinners either. But during the winter a hot meal is an easy way of keeping your core body temperature up.

Report
cozietoesie · 01/05/2013 12:52

Are you sure that people actually mean 'hot' though ? I've always seen that as shorthand for one .......'formal' is the wrong word - but anyway a sit down family meal, whether hot or otherwise.

Report
noblegiraffe · 01/05/2013 12:53

Hot food feels nice in your tummy in a way a salad doesn't, I find.

Report
choceyes · 01/05/2013 12:53

It's nice having a hot meal though. But if you like cold meals YANBU, and hot meals aren't inherently healthier. I'd really miss hot meals if I had to have just cold meals, that's just me.

Report
ElizaDoLots · 01/05/2013 12:54

YANBU. Hate cooking and wish my children would live on salad and cold meat!

Report
StealthOfficialCrispTester · 01/05/2013 12:56

I agree op, never understood this. also never really found that a hot meal warms me up particularly - maybe if I was trekking ti the arctic but in my life I don't need warming food. Also don't really understand the concept of a "light lunch" vs "proper dinner" vs "a sandwich". A sandwich can be equally as fiddly and faffy to prepare as a "hot dinner". It's all just food!

Report
ouryve · 01/05/2013 12:57

YANBU, but I do find warm food in cold weather more warming than cold food.

Report
TanteRose · 01/05/2013 13:00

Cooking veggies does not destroy their nutrients Hmm

www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=raw-veggies-are-healthier

And cooking stuff makes it easier to chew and digest

That said, you don't need a hot meal everyday

Report
WilsonFrickett · 01/05/2013 13:00

I think it's shorthand for 'a meal which is not a bag of crisps and a ham sandwich'. As in a 'proper' meal, which I suppose does not have to be cooked if it's not including meat or fish.

Report
Aniseeda · 01/05/2013 13:04

YANBU, I would happily live on sarnies and salads (with the odd takeaway thrown in!) - perfectly nutritious and so much less faffing around.

Report
StealthOfficialCrispTester · 01/05/2013 13:07

But why is a sandwich not a "proper" meal? It usually contains carbs, protein, vegetables...often a significant no of cals

Report
MansView · 01/05/2013 13:07

I don't always have a cooked meal - I eat when I'm hungry basically...tho, I don't have children so that makes it easier... :)

but normally have a hot meal at work, and a snack when I get home...need to keep my slim waistline slim...

Report
Machli · 01/05/2013 13:08

Doesn't it depend on the method of cooking though? How many of us lightly steam our veg when cooking in the recommended fashion. My Mum used to and probably still does boil all veg at maximum temperature for considerable lengths of time. I'm spite of the linked article I refuse to believe much could have survived.

OP posts:
Report
Machli · 01/05/2013 13:10

Exactly stealth. Boring as it may be be I ponder this question pretty much every time I eat a substantial sandwich usually accompanied by a big salad as I love salad.

OP posts:
Report
SolidGoldBrass · 01/05/2013 13:14

The idea of a notable difference between 'a sandwich' and 'a proper meal' probably dates back to when the concept of a 'proper meal' involved two if not three separate courses eg soup or salad/meat and veg/pudding.

I think if people are consuming enough calories and enough varieties of food (ie veg/protein/carb) then it really doesn't matter what shape it comes in.

Report
natwebb79 · 01/05/2013 13:19

I don't think you need a hot meal as such but in our house we both love cooking and in the winter I think if anybody tried to take away my bangers and mash/roasts/stews I would actually cry. Or turn a bit violent. Grin

Report
worsestershiresauce · 01/05/2013 13:20

Salad is such a faff. All that washing, chopping, grating, arranging.... As for cold meat, well that needs to be cooked originally (buying ready cooked cold meat is ridiculously expensive, and it's mostly packed full of salt and nitrates).

Often a hot meal is less hassle.

Report
ifancyashandy · 01/05/2013 13:20

I've not had a hot meal since Sunday - and someone else cooked that!

Salad twice a day for me throughout the spring / summer.

Report
StealthOfficialCrispTester · 01/05/2013 13:22

Just don't wash it! I don't and am still alive *

*nb this may not be the best advice

I put salad in my sandwiches. Which I am starting to think is not normal, as everyone else seems to think making a sandwich is so much easier than making "a dinner".

Report

Don’t want to miss threads like this?

Weekly

Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!

Log in to update your newsletter preferences.

You've subscribed!

StealthOfficialCrispTester · 01/05/2013 13:22

Ps I wash salad when other people are eating it too, its only when its just mine that I'm so cavalier

Report
Pootles2010 · 01/05/2013 13:23

I think the problem is whats in your sandwich, particularly if its meat - more likely to be processed, which is quite unhealthy.

Report
WilsonFrickett · 01/05/2013 13:25

A 'bad' sandwich is not a proper meal, as in two slice of white with plastic cheese or reconstituted meat. Yes, it contains calories and fat and a little bit of protein, but it's not a proper meal. So that's what I think people mean when they talk about a sandwich not being a 'proper dinner'.

However, I don't think that's what the OP is talking about... I am now imagining a smorgasbord of loveliness

Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.