Are my dinners rubbish?

Well it is derived from a plant so it ticks a box. Cocaine all round!

Not all of them successfully healthwise

To the posters suggesting fruit. Please cease and desist. My Dh has had to resuscitate me twice now. Fruit is laden with sugar. Educate yourselves. You didn't even specify it should be home grown organic . Why don't you just suggest op sprinkles some cocaine over her children's dinner while she's at it 🙄

Op you neglect to mention what you have to drink with your god awful dinners. Unless there's a massive drip feed coming, I assume it's organic cucumber infused moon water? Which does in fact count towards your 311 plants a day.

I add a handful of frozen spinach into green pesto pasta… my 2 year old can’t find it when it’s all mixed in and doesn’t need any additional cooking effort

Wholewheat pasta that is :)

There are plenty of cultures around the world that serve two different starches with their meals or as a meal. Only here do we seem to have a problem with it.

There is protein in the pasta and pesto (pine nuts) & lots of vitamin K in basil. For kids at that age, about one third of their diet should be fat. Could maybe increase fibre levels by using pasta. But it’s really not a bad meal for an active, growing child

Or massaman curry with rice :)

Your dinners sound absolutely fine and better than a lot of people's I'm sure. I chuck frozen green beans or peas in with the pesto, but conscious that kids may prefer veg separately or be fussy about having it in there at all - I see from your posts they have fruit so nobody is going to get scurvy. Maybe a bit more protein if it's just pasta, like chicken or yoghurt, but again, one night a week is fine. The key thing is that there's variety. Whoever has said they're rubbish needs to get some serious perspective.

I’m sympathetic op to the idea that cooking lots of meal components in the evening can be tiring.

I think your carbs and proteins seem fine on the whole. Could you give them berries with their breakfast and another piece of fruit when they come home plus some chopped raw veg with hummus or similar? Together with the salads that’s getting plenty into them without having to complicate the meals themselves. One of our Dc likes avocado or tomatoes or banana on toast for breakfast, which is another way of getting an extra portion in early in the day.

Exactly!!! This is why its such a load of rubbish. I forgot to say I dont feel well today so have eaten nothing but some dates, drank tea and coffee. So theres 3 plants right there!!!! Big wow

Its a load of rubbish anyway because it includes spices and herbs in things rather than 30 different full sized portions of fruit and veg (which of course would be almost impossible over 21 meals when you also need to include protein and carbs)

So I could say last night for example, I had chickepeas, tomatoes, red peppers, green peppers, lemon (juice and zest), walnuts, pine nuts, spinach, rocket, watercress, cucumber, avocado, onions, carrot, sultanas, spring onions (not sure whether to double count the onion family), coriander, basil, chives, parsley, ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander seed (again not sure whether to double count that), chillis, sesame seeds, olives, cashew nuts, dates, beetroot, orange, cherries, blackcurrants.

That was all in my 3 course dinner, 34 plants based foods.

But what does that mean, its meaningless.

Feta & red onion salad with new potatoes & rice

This is more like a side dish. The rest is ok, though I would add more protein and vegetables.

I love threads like this - the comments are always so entertaining, & Lolz at the once a week take-out comments. I swear some view ordering food means a tub of lard is delivered.

your food looks fine and way ahead of the majority of the population for whom the majority of the veg they consume will be due to ketchup on their chips, baked beans, or tomato on their pepperoni pizza

Clearly this shows that being way ahead of the majority of the population is not a great barometer to set your healthy eating habits by. You can still fall way short of what is required.

I agree, it tastes so good and totally fine as an occasional thing but as part of a regular weekly meal plan, not so sure. Not in OP’s case, though, her meals otherwise sound super healthy and delicious.
Those from the Indian subcontinent have major health issues because of their diet - low protein (if vegetarian), high carb and fried. And before I I get a pile on about pulses and lentils - the quantity that is eaten is minimal, probably do not reach even half their daily requirements (I know from personal experience).
Loss of muscle mass is a major problem in the elderly and leads to falls, which with it comes a high risk of death. So keep your protein uptake up and do strength exercises!

This would not be a very nutritious meal. It’s basically just a load of carbs with fat /salt.

If the salads as you have have now described ( with tomatoes, sweetcorn etc) I can’t see how anyone has said they are rubbish meals op. I’d just ignore.

Calories are not the barometer of what is 'healthy'. And there is no such thing as a healthy food as such, but we should be measuring a healthy diet, looking at intake overall.

OP has only posted a selection of dinners, hasnt said whats for breakfast, lunch and snacks but people are acting like they're dietitians and nutritionists (and even they all disagree amongst themselves about what constitutes healthy or good enough).

Not bad, but I'd definitely be adding to it, especially for a 7 year old. If I make jarred pesto pasta for me and my 8 year old, I stir through spinach and/or mushrooms and onions, and serve with either tofu or vegan chicken, topped with nutritional yeast and pine nuts.

are you eating vegetarian most days? You might need to watch your protein intake. Personally I would find them low in veg, but they do sound like tasty meals for someone who’s busy working /cooking in a rush.

Most salad stuff in the UK is not home grown, it's from Spain or Holland.

It's too early for most salad stuff here at the moment.

Agree and
c)….. you can always have a warm salad in the summer by just heating up or roasting a few of the veg.

These are more like light meals to me. Are the lunches filling?

The '30 plants' thing is different to the 5 portions of fruit and veg a day. It's about variety and you just need some, not a portion.

There will be onion, tomato, turmeric, chilli and coriander in just about anything from an Indian takeaway, so that's 5 right there. Could be one or two more spices (cumin, paprika).

If you eat the salad and sauce garnish, you've also got lettuce and cucumber (onion and tomato already counted), plus mint in the yogurt. so probably up to 10.

Get a dhal for the lentils and something with spinach in so you're up to 12, which is good going for one meal.

But yes OP, your mistake was to ask MN for an opinion on food, which predictably brought out the 'protein and massive salad' crew. Like a PP says, your food looks fine and way ahead of the majority of the population for whom the majority of the veg they consume will be due to ketchup on their chips, baked beans, or tomato on their pepperoni pizza.

Who's saying 'your dinners are rubbish'? If it's your partner, are they doing their share of cooking? If it's your MIL, ignore her.

Your dinners sound delicious.
If i was breing picky, i would say add some spinich or another leafy green but other than that .....yum!