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Original poster

Are my dinners rubbish?

636 replies

Sowhatbigdeal · 10/05/2025 13:38

Been told they are

Here’s an example of an average week, more or less:

Monday (I work at 6, so do something simple)

Feta & red onion salad with new potatoes & rice

Tuesday

Pasta with jar pesto (working today)

Wednesday

Dh to do omlette/eggs on toast with salad (working today)

Thursday

Salmon, salad, new potatoes

Friday

Homemade chilli with rice, nachos & dips

Saturday

Takeaway

Sunday

Roast dinner/homemade lasagne

Are they?

OP posts:
intrepidpanda · 11/05/2025 17:02

Monday. 2 carbs, no veg, wouldn't serve cheese as a mai protein.
Tuesday. No veg, no protein, just unhealthy bridge carbs
Wednesday. This is a lunch, not a dinner. Again veg??
Rest is fine.

Why are you putting working?
It's not an excuse to just shove a jar of sauce into a bowl of pasta.

soupyspoon · 11/05/2025 16:56

faerietales · 11/05/2025 16:39

I don't cook everyday as I have so many more things I'd rather be doing.

If you genuinely think you need to spend at least 40 minutes cooking to produce "anything of substance" then I think you need to take a look at what you're doing, quite frankly.

Edited
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My dinner is only going to take 39 minutes this evening. Its going to be a pile of shite and nutritionally devoid.

If I only had picked a different recipe that perhaps took 42 minutes, it would be a culinary masterpiece, worthy of Michelin.

faerietales · 11/05/2025 16:39

WhineAndWine1 · 11/05/2025 16:30

What are you cooking every day ? It’s not ready can’t be anything of substance if it takes less than 40 mins.

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I don't cook everyday as I have so many more things I'd rather be doing.

If you genuinely think you need to spend at least 40 minutes cooking to produce "anything of substance" then I think you need to take a look at what you're doing, quite frankly.

soupyspoon · 11/05/2025 16:36

WhineAndWine1 · 11/05/2025 16:30

What are you cooking every day ? It’s not ready can’t be anything of substance if it takes less than 40 mins.

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You're being a parody arent you?

soupyspoon · 11/05/2025 16:33

Calliopespa · 11/05/2025 15:05

The full amount is quite high. I’ve tried it a couple of times and my sphincter area felt quite quivery. I think it could vary from person to person . So long as you go daily I wouldn’t worry.

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Yes but thats too sensible.

I think the right thing is to build the 'fibre score count' into any discussion about how fantastic your diet is, how rounded, how varied and how much better you are as a person if you have 30g of fibre per day, or even more, lets say 60 because you're so fabulous. .

Carbs and protein talk is so last year.

WhineAndWine1 · 11/05/2025 16:30

faerietales · 11/05/2025 13:34

And honestly for me, 40 minutes is too long to spend cooking every day. I have so many other things I'd rather be doing.

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What are you cooking every day ? It’s not ready can’t be anything of substance if it takes less than 40 mins.

WhineAndWine1 · 11/05/2025 16:29

timeforachange999 · 11/05/2025 13:26

But costs a lot more money than cooking your own food.

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You cook your own food with gousto. It’s not ready meals it just saves going to the supermarket every week

faerietales · 11/05/2025 16:19

lovegoodlovegood · 11/05/2025 16:00

Tried a new one today - toasted sourdough with cottage cheese, pesto and sun dried tomatoes

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I had similar to this for lunch, but a flatbread instead of sourdough, and goats cheese instead of cottage cheese. It was lovely!

Clownsy · 11/05/2025 16:09

My daughters friend just turned 18, the child of two doctors.
Her diet has been plain pasta or roast potatoes 5/7 a week for years.
She likes buttered toast.
No veg whatsoever.
Chicken goujons too in recent years.
Her parents aren't the type to cook so they have fed her this.
I have cooked pasta when she was here and my children had sauce, she always had it plain.

She has it sometimes with ketchup.
Unbelievable, but true.
I have never heard of such a diet.
Her 2 older brothers, both doing medicine eat normally, but have been reared on a lot of take out.

The OP's diet sounds great.

Calliopespa · 11/05/2025 16:00

lovegoodlovegood · 11/05/2025 16:00

Tried a new one today - toasted sourdough with cottage cheese, pesto and sun dried tomatoes

Show quote history

Yum!

lovegoodlovegood · 11/05/2025 16:00

Calliopespa · 11/05/2025 15:57

I’m thinking the same! I’ve got some sourdough and avocados and tomatoes but an now battling an overwhelming desire to sneak out for a naughty wodge of soft cheese to put with it!

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Tried a new one today - toasted sourdough with cottage cheese, pesto and sun dried tomatoes

Calliopespa · 11/05/2025 15:57

faerietales · 11/05/2025 15:41

Okay @Calliopespa now you’re making me hungry - toast for tea it is 🤣

I’m thinking the same! I’ve got some sourdough and avocados and tomatoes but an now battling an overwhelming desire to sneak out for a naughty wodge of soft cheese to put with it!

Sharptonguedwoman · 11/05/2025 15:56

AllThatGlistensIsntCold · 11/05/2025 14:13

You're not the OP.

She said she didn't live in the UK.

I asked where she lives.

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Yeah sorry.

Sharptonguedwoman · 11/05/2025 15:53

AllThatGlistensIsntCold · 11/05/2025 14:13

You're not the OP.

She said she didn't live in the UK.

I asked where she lives.

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Yes, of course I'm not the OP but I was just giving an example of how, despite living quite rurally, the nearest available fruit and veg by miles is the supermarket in the nearest town.
Back in my box now.

faerietales · 11/05/2025 15:41

Okay @Calliopespa now you’re making me hungry - toast for tea it is 🤣

Calliopespa · 11/05/2025 15:41

faerietales · 11/05/2025 15:35

No worries @Grammarnut- toast is mostly my extremely lazy option when there’s either nothing else in or I’ve had an overly “on” day and just need something quick!

I love toast.

I especially love darker rye sourdough type toast. You can put do many things on it to make a great meal: eggs, avocado, smoked salmon, tomato, hummus. Even beans - and it’s really easy to make your own with tinned beans and tinned tomatoes to dodge the salt etc of ready made beans in sauce.Yum!

faerietales · 11/05/2025 15:35

No worries @Grammarnut- toast is mostly my extremely lazy option when there’s either nothing else in or I’ve had an overly “on” day and just need something quick!

Grammarnut · 11/05/2025 15:26

faerietales · 11/05/2025 14:46

I'm autistic so my diet is pretty limited, but mostly things like soup (the chilled supermarket ones), toast with various toppings, sandwiches, pizzas or basic salads and things like that, or oven food basically.

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Sounds fine to me. I eat those things sometimes - not toast, though - as it's simple and easy esp after a frantic day or I am hurrying out. Thanks for curing my curiosity.

Calliopespa · 11/05/2025 15:05

soupyspoon · 11/05/2025 14:54

Well talking of fibre, does everyone get their full amount of fibre. This can be another shaming device and thing to worry over.

I might start bringing it up on multiple threads.

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The full amount is quite high. I’ve tried it a couple of times and my sphincter area felt quite quivery. I think it could vary from person to person . So long as you go daily I wouldn’t worry.

DelphiniumBlue · 11/05/2025 14:56

Over the course of the week, there's a variety, but on a daily basis, it needs more. Pesto pasta has very little nutritional value, no veg, no protein. If you were to add grated cheese or feta and serve with eg tomato salad, it's not much more effort.

soupyspoon · 11/05/2025 14:54

Calliopespa · 11/05/2025 14:25

Oh I didn’t know that. I know juice is only one count as much of the fibre doesn’t make it in. But I thought so long as the whole veg/fruit went into the food item it still counted. My understanding was that fibre is slightly more molecular than we think of it; ie; it doesn’t need to be in a bulky form as if we have swallowed a scrubbing brush ( even though we tend to think of something scratchy and bulky being what “ cleans us out.”

The reason I thought this was that I had a cousin who when aged about two or three declined to open their bowels. There used to be ( memorable) chases round the house get them to eat their prune bar, which was made more entertaining by the fact we all thought my aunt was shouting “poo bar.” But there was also a sprinkly bran which was like a powder but apparently contained all the fibre needed to start the action.

Show quote history

Well talking of fibre, does everyone get their full amount of fibre. This can be another shaming device and thing to worry over.

I might start bringing it up on multiple threads.

faerietales · 11/05/2025 14:46

Grammarnut · 11/05/2025 14:40

Just nosy. What do you eat, then?

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I'm autistic so my diet is pretty limited, but mostly things like soup (the chilled supermarket ones), toast with various toppings, sandwiches, pizzas or basic salads and things like that, or oven food basically.

Grammarnut · 11/05/2025 14:40

faerietales · 11/05/2025 14:34

Each to their own, but honestly, I couldn't be bothered to spend that much time cooking every single day.

I know I'm a real anomaly on MN though as everyone seems to spend hours cooking and/or baking constantly, lol.

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Just nosy. What do you eat, then?

faerietales · 11/05/2025 14:34

Grammarnut · 11/05/2025 14:31

Forty minutes isn't long but most of what I cook from scratch takes twenty to thirty minutes.

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Each to their own, but honestly, I couldn't be bothered to spend that much time cooking every single day.

I know I'm a real anomaly on MN though as everyone seems to spend hours cooking and/or baking constantly, lol.

Grammarnut · 11/05/2025 14:31

faerietales · 11/05/2025 13:34

And honestly for me, 40 minutes is too long to spend cooking every day. I have so many other things I'd rather be doing.

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Forty minutes isn't long but most of what I cook from scratch takes twenty to thirty minutes.