Are my dinners rubbish?

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.

I put peas in it. And sweetcorn at a push. But I like this for dinner. Extra cheese too sometimes.

Aldi do a small stir in sauce with olives which is delicious.

If people have fruit and veg at lunchtime, they might not need it in the evening as well. We have half the story here.

who’s said they’re rubbish? Seem fine to me! X

I wouldn't look forward to dinner on Mondays to Wednesdays, but hey, I get it. After a long day at work you just want something simple to put together that'll fill you up. My kids love pesto too but usually we'd make it from scratch. It's easy because there's no cooking involved, just pounding and mixing of the ingredients together, and it tastes so much better than the jar versions.

To me salad veg are an accompaniment to a sandwich lunch - they are mostly water and less nutritious than more substantial veg. I'd want to be serving salad bits like cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, celery with lunch then at least 2 veg with dinner eg broccoli + carrots? Or kale + carrots.
Also it would depend on what the meal is composed of eg id add extra veg like root veg, parsnips, swede, carrots, to a shepherds pie and maybe some lentils too which makes it quite different to just mince onion and potato.

She says she's been told they're rubbish. It's right there in the title and opening line.

I think your diet sounds fine. Don’t beat yourself up!

My DD also loves pasta and pesto and won’t eat it with veg in so i might add some peas and carrots on the side and maybe a corn on the cob. But they do sometimes just have it plain. Sometimes you have to just have an easy meal.

For us adults I cook some onion, mushrooms, pine nuts and spinach then stir it in. Takes the same amount of time as cooking the pasta and makes it feel a bit more nutritious (but kids won’t eat it.)!

Pasta with pesto sauce lovely but hardly any protein so poor nutritionally. Add grated cheese or a can of beans or chick peas

It wouldnt be enough for here really. Salad isn’t a main meal in anyone’s opinion in this house. And nor is egg on toast. ( who eats salad with egg on toast?!) it does all sound a bit lazy and then a takeaway on the weekend? , but you do you.

OP has already said no one is complaining but she is worried if they are healthy for a 7 year old.

Should be 7 out of 7.

Theres very few veg and not much fat? Eg lots of salad (which is full of water mostly) but where are the things like broccoli, carrots, swede, kale, cauliflower, peas etc?
Tbh a lot of these meals seem a bit light depending on the age of the child and what other meals /food they are getting.

Why does potato and salad need lots of vegetables?
OP your dinners sound fine. Who is complaining and what do they want?

'Willingly'
You make it sound like torture!
They can have a sprinkling of seeds on plain yogurt.
They can have nuts as a snack.

I think the pasta, take away, and omelette could be improved upon.
It depends what your 7 year old has for lunch.

You're not eating many pulses other than the chili.
I'd try veg curry with chick peas, maybe a vegetarian lasagne, or a veg shepherds pie (made with brown lentils) .

I'd not serve new potatoes and rice with a meal. One or the other.

Have you thought about batch cooking at a weekend?

You could easily get 3 meals in the freezer. Make your own sauce for the pasta with some veg as jars of sauce usually contain a lot of sugar. Freeze it in plastic zip bags.

Take aways are often very salty or fatty so it depends what you're having- burgers, chicken nuggets, Chinese, Indian?

There was, I dont know how people just give the blanket statement of 'not enough veg and salad', how much veg and salad do people think there is in a dinner for a child.

My beef with salad is that overall it often contains low nutrient food, such as lettuce, cucumber, wet items that are mostly water whereas if someone puts a lot of vegetables in the salad thats more nutritious.

Do 7 yrs olds willingly eat nuts and seeds?

Obviously the takeaways we eat are from the local ran deli that only uses locally sourced, vegan non UPF ingredients in an eco kitchen. We cycle there to collect it as we are very conscious of our carbon footprint. After dinner we partake in fun family activities that are extremely niche outing hobbies in our rural village, but only after we have taken all of our DC's devises away from them.

I think a nutritionist could pick apart anybody's diet and tell us we're doing all sorts of things wrong. But honestly, these seem absolutely fine. Maybe you could do with adding a bit more veg but then again, maybe everyone eats tons of veg for lunch 🤷

My third DC has major food issues relating to autism and basically exists on a diet of fresh air, mini cheeses and the odd banana. The amount of protein, the variety, the salad etc that your family is eating is more than I could dream of my child ever being able to eat. I think you can be pleased that you're managing to feed them a broadly healthy and filling diet, whilst also working in the evenings. You sound very busy. t's not perfect, but who is? Whoever is complaining can always pull their weight instead.

They sound perfectly fine, normal dinners to me OP.

would probably add a handful of frozen peas to the water when doing the pasta pesto and add a bit of grated cheese.

It feels a bit light on protein but all sounds delicious. Batch cooking might be the way to go for nights you’re busy - I never cook less than a kg of mince (bolognese, chilli etc) at a time so can freeze leftovers, same with chicken in a sauce etc. They’re easy to warm up and add carbs and veg to for a quick diner.

4 out of 7 dinners with salad and or veg.

Nothing wrong with pesto. Nothing wrong with your basic menu OP. Perhaps some nuts and oily fish could be added for more nutrition. Perhaps knock up a batch of veg soup and have that as a small starter for each meal and that gets more veg in easily.

Not enough protein.

Pasta and pesto needs proper veg or salad plus some protein. IMO. Pasta is basically white flour.

Tinned cannellini beans or chick peas are nice in salads.