Are my dinners rubbish?

But it’s not being presented as a daily meal - as you say, it’s one meal out of 21, not including snacks and drinks.

I get a bit sick of MN slamming perfectly normal family dinners because they’ve decided that it lacks X or Y. Not every single meal has to be perfectly balanced and nutritionally complete.

I think in fairness it wouldn’t cut it as a daily or habitual meal.

But as 1/21 it’s a reasonable source of vitamin e and k - things which are often not as rich in other meat or fish based meals.

I genuinely can’t believe there are people referring to pesto pasta as “nutritionally deplete”.

I’m just putting the other side of the picture.

For a child who had baked beans and eggs for breakfast, pesto pasta is actually a very appropriate meal.

Your calculations are off

If she had 50g of dry pasta (might not eat quite that amount), thats around 5 or 6g of protein, around 30g of pesto is 2g, on the conservative side. So around 7g at the least.

Thats nearly a 3rd of her daily intake.

Lets say she has 25g of dry pasta, that 2.5g, plus the 2g, at least 4.5g of protein in that meal. Perfectly fine as part of one meal out of 3 plus snacks.

Absolutely this.

I have already said that she may well be getting enough protein from other sources throughout the day so I’m not sure why you are repeating what I had said back to me. It doesn’t change the fact that pesto pasta, itself, is fairly nutritionally deplete, so posters who have commented on that are not necessarily protein obsessives.

A 7 year old is usually suggested to have around 20 grams of protein a day. It’s easy to overestimate because their body weight is lower. As you say, it doesn’t store so it stresses the liver and kidneys to have to process extra protein all the time. A cubic inch of cheese will have about 4 grams.
A glass of milk at breakfast about 5. Add an egg for breakfast and that’s 11 before they are out the door - 2 eggs and that’s 17 already. Even low protein foods have protein that adds up. Pop the egg on a slice of wholewheat toast and - while not a complete protein - it still adds up.

It would be perfectly possible for 7 year old to have a pesto pasta meal one day and still have plenty of protein. Our paediatrician said too little protein is very rare in children in the uk or countries with similar diets, unless they don’t eat widely. Vegan can be tricky and requires management but on the whole children can get too much. There’s protein fetish atm.

Maybe add some cheese and chicken to the pesto pasta to up the protein content and some tenderstem broccoli 🥦

Protein is measured by daily intake because you cannot store it.
Pasta and pesto have very little protein about 5g/100g each - a 7yr old will probably eat a quarter of that so 2.5g. She may well get enough protein from other sources throughout the day but pesto pasta and few grams of grated cheese is not much protein at all.
She can’t eat 90g of protein one day and then 0g for the next two days and then say she has had 30g/day or 1g/kg on average, as any is used protein would be not be stored as protein or coverted back to protein at a later date.

This is not a criticism of OP - I am a fan of pesto pasta as quick meal after work on the odd occasion and my DC loved it when they were younger.

This is rubbish, what on earth are you talking about

Doesnt have enough protein and fibre for what exactly? The day, the week?

Nutrition isnt measured by individual meal, its measured by someones overall intake over the long term.

Doesnt have enough for what?

I see another poster has claimed that the potato/rice dinner and the pasta pesto dinner contains 'no protein'

Well of course it has protein in it, not as much a a chunk of chicken or the eggs but it has protein in it. I think people really dont understand how much carbs, protein and fat are in each food stuff they eat.

Children need carbs and fat, she's not a peri menopausal 7 year old.

I thought takeaway once as well was acceptable. We dont have a takeaway every week but have lunch in a cafe most weeks.

On the pesto pasta day, maybe add a fav veg and a fav protein, like chicken and peppers, or tofu and tomatoes?

Theres nothing wrong with pasta and a sauce for tea

You say 'salad, rice and potatoes' leaving out that it was a feta salad, rice and potatoes, so what is lacking here?

Egg on toast and salad, again, what is lacking here. Protein, carb, veggies

Looks very light on protein. You need to add more chicken and fish. And no - pasta and pesto sauce on its own is not a nutritious meal.

I think you could add stuff to jazz it up, pine nuts, rocket and veggies with the pesto, roasted veggies in the lasagne, roasted red peppers and pumpkin seeds with the feta salad, spring onions and freshly chopped herbs on the potato salad (although your update sounds like maybe you do this?).

They sound a bit light on protein if you're feeding children the same as you. But if everyone eats it, it's good.

For me it's a bit boring, but I love to cook. If you have freezer space you could try batch cooking so it's just taking out of the freezer the night before and popping into the oven (a pasta tray bake/moussaka/Bolognese sauce ect) and I don't think a takeaway away a week is an issue. It's a good way of trying different cultures cuisine without having to learn to cook it yourself!

I’ve just come home from work and I’m eating pasta, pesto, cheese with some peas thrown in and it’s bloody lovely and satisfying.

Blimey that sounds lovely.
I would happily eat that. Maybe they can do a bit more

Is DH only cooking 1 night a week? If so, how can that be fair to you if you both work? That seems unbalanced. Sounds like DH needs to be more involved in both menu planning AND cooking

Lots of people are on a protein push and it’s very fashionable.

Protein is important and requirements do ramp up when they hit their teens. But as my gp pointed out, protein can’t store in the body so any unused just converts to fat or has to be processed by the poor old kidneys so overdoing it isn’t good either.

Hey OP ..
What’s wrong with the crowd on this is you’re not doing meat dinners every night 🙄
And so what !!!!
Meat isn’t the best to be eating every single night anyway as smart & all as they think they are ..
I know you do lasagne , roast & chilli through the course of the week
Pay no heed to them !

What is "shit and sad" about the food OP listed, exactly?

Are you pescatarian op?

Those meals do sound a bit shit and sad.

Spag bol
Cottage pie
Fish pie
Pizza
Pasta bake
Curry and rice

All easy options if you plan ahead and far more substantial