Are my dinners rubbish?

But she’s serving the chilli with rice AND nachos! She’s practically a murderer!

@Emanresuunknown s list of foods is basically what we have in all the time.

We also always have frozen fruits like berries, mango, pineapple. Frozen veg, all sorts.

It sounds great for me but personally for my ds, I prefer for them to eat meat or high protein beans/lentils daily. If I make them lasagne or bolognese, I’ll bulk the minced beef up with lentils and spinach. It works out much cheaper as I batch cook and freeze it into portions for them. For pasta sauces, I roast the veggies in the oven and blend them.

If I give them salad, they’re hungry shortly after and it’s more of a snack than a main meal.

I’m not denying that they’re basic foods - I just don’t think most people buy the huge selection of stuff that you’re suggesting they do.

At the moment in our house we have carrots, broccoli, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, strawberries, grapes and lettuce, plus frozen sweetcorn and peas. Maybe two herbs in the cupboard, plus tea and coffee. That’s it.

We don’t buy anything like the huge variety of foods that people seem to buy on a regular basis on MN.

Fruit available after dinner
In winter I do vegetables like carrots, broccoli, cauliflower etc, just changed to salads etc, not sure what else I could add?

I think it's odd you only eat salad stuff in summer.

There are zillions of veg and you can easily serve them with pasta or risotto.

Each week we always have a combo of these in the fridge or freezer

Mushrooms
sweet potatoes
mixed sweet peppers (roasted in the oven or for stir fry or veg curry.)
broccoli
spinach
kale
savoy cabbage
aubergine
butternut squash
carrots
celery
leeks
onions
potatoes
frozen green beans
frozen petit pois

You can have any of these as 'sides' with the protein.

One glaring omission @Sowhatbigdeal is NO FISH.

Ideally we should eat 3 portions a week- 2 oily fish and 1 white fish.

No, I just respond in the same tone people address me.

And what are your credentials to determine that these meals contain "more than enough protein"? Seriously? You think a couple of eggs and a measly piece of salmon consumed over a WEEK is enough protein?

Exactly. Let’s stop berating other women for not subscribing to whatever current fad is currently taking over.

I have no desire to buy or cook 30 plants a week. It’s great that some people do but it doesn’t make them better people.

Yes exactly. Of course its right to have a wide variety of food stuffs and food types, that is the best way to get the most range of digestable and processable nutrients in you. But when the theory stipulates a number, 30 - well why not 32, why not 25, why not 55? It falls apart

And ascribing this or that to a point, half point, this point, that point, no point, view point, well of course its a nonsense from that perspective, that was my point!

And yes its great if you have the palate, its great if you have the money and accessibility to access this variety, its great if you have the time and inclination to access this variety. Not everyone does, not everyone wants to and so I find it tiresome that in response to a good enough food routine of example dinners, a poster is judged or berated for 'not eating 30 plants a week'.

Not on.

But it's not unrealistic for many people, I'm sorry. Those are pretty basic simple fruits and veg - generally all those are cheap, readily available. I didn't include any more exotic stuff like squash, or mango, pineapple, expensive berries like blueberries.
If you think that's wildly unrealistic then perhaps you are quite an unusually selective eater and that's your issue, it doesn't make it 'unrealistic for many'.

A typical UK family might eat meals like shepherds pie, roast dinner with veg, a tomato pasta dish with some Mediterranean veg and herbs in the sauce, maybe a stir fry with veg in. All of those are pretty normal family dinners which would easily fit the sort of ingredients I suggested.

Tim Spector and the guys from Zoe have stated that there's no scientific basis for 30, it's just a number they chose they felt would encourage people to eat a variety of foods.

@Nina1013 they have identified gut bacteria that solely feeds on coffee for example so there is at least some science there. Otherwise it's just about encouraging people to eat different plants, I agree it's gimmicky.

Plus the chilli, roast, protein in other parts of the meals and also the unmentioned breakfast and lunch foods.

Apart from dire poverty or eating disorders there's probably no-one in the UK who doesn't get enough protein.

Yes exactly. Of course its right to have a wide variety of food stuffs and food types, that is the best way to get the most range of digestable and processable nutrients in you. But when the theory stipulates a number, 30 - well why not 32, why not 25, why not 55? It falls apart

And ascribing this or that to a point, half point, this point, that point, no point, view point, well of course its a nonsense from that perspective, that was my point!

And yes its great if you have the palate, its great if you have the money and accessibility to access this variety, its great if you have the time and inclination to access this variety. Not everyone does, not everyone wants to and so I find it tiresome that in response to a good enough food routine of example dinners, a poster is judged or berated for 'not eating 30 plants a week'.

Not on.

Well you say why you think it isnt. No need for the caps either

This isnt this child's whole diet.

A measly piece of salmon, lets say its as measly as 50g of raw salmon, has 10g of protein in it. Her requirements for her age are around 19g a day. So half just in that one item, on one plate, for one meal.

One is assuming OP doesnt just serve her daughter this alone per day.

No, I just respond in the same tone people address me.

And what are your credentials to determine that these meals contain "more than enough protein"? Seriously? You think a couple of eggs and a measly piece of salmon consumed over a WEEK is enough protein?

No, I just respond in the same tone people address me.

And what are your credentials to determine that these meals contain "more than enough protein"? Seriously? You think a couple of eggs and a measly piece of salmon consumed over a WEEK is enough protein?

Goodness me so rude. There is more than enough protein in the meals listed.