AIBU to tire of moral superiority around meals?

Ooh I wish I had potato waffles now for my tea. I could easily eat them on their own.
A few of my family and friends actually prefer them in the toaster and think people like me who stick them.in the oven are OTT!

I absolutely hear what you are saying. However, a couple of years ago, after a health scare, I rethought what we were eating and significantly cut out: most cheese, butter, a lot of wheat products, sugar, processed meats, cut down on red meat. I refocused on fresh white meat, fish, eggs, beans, rice, salad, veg, fruit, etc.

No more packs of cold meat, crackers, snacks stuff, shop bought curries, lasagne, pizza, deserts, etc.

I was very surprised to see the food bills go down rather than up. Also, notwithstanding ND/eating disorders, I believe that if children are offered the sme foods as the adults from day one, no reliance on beige food arises. Mine are grown up now and my ethos was always, dh wouldn't want nuggets, waffle and beans so why would I ever give it to the children.

Rosesandhellebores Your list is nutritious and delicious! Similar to ours in fact.However dont forget food is now very expensive, and often children are fussy ,Parents dont always have as much money when DC are small.

I don't really understand how cooking chicken thighs or pork chops is harder than cooking chicken nuggets or fish fingers? You just stick them all in the oven. And wholemeal rice or pasta is cooked the same too, just maybe a bit longer than white. Chopping fresh veggies is a bit more hassle but really not that much.

It's not hard to have unprocessed dinners every day it's not like anyone has to be making a lasagna or moussaka from scratch every day. I feel sorry for kids raised on processed crap out the freezer.

I am very much a cooking from scratch person .When our son was little he was allowed a MacDonald's once a month. He admitted that he didn't really like the food, he liked the toys! When he went to his first week camp with the school, he refused all the food except salad and chips and fruit. At home we had treats always homemade like pancakes. Pasta with tomato based sauces featured heavily at teatime. I don't believe in punishing or forcing children to eat proper food, but always have alternatives . Food and mealtimes are to be enjoyed, not arenas for fighting.

My kids don’t like freezer food. I’m sure that’s partly because it’s not something we’ve ever really fed them, but they’d never choose something like nuggets/fish fingers etc.
My DH does most of the cooking as he works from home so has a bit more time (and enjoys cooking), but feeding them the best quality food we can afford is important to us.
I wouldn’t comment on what anyone else feeds their children. I’m not going to say I wouldn’t have some internal thoughts about it if someone I knew was feeding their kids absolute junk on a regular basis, but I wouldn’t comment.

I find it easy to cook a quick meal with fresh ingredients from scratch. . It’s just not something I find difficult or time-consuming . Even throwing some seasoning on top of a chicken breast and putting in the airfryer with a baked potatoe and serving up with peas - it’s as easy as throwing in chips and nuggets.

I know loads of people can’t cook or have other stuff going on. I would never comment on someone else’s dinners.

I do a lot of freezer meals- it's cheap and the kids will eat it. I can't cook for shit and with my ocd it takes so long to cook some days freezer foods or pasta is the only feasible option. I've never really had any judgement for it but I wouldn't care if I did and also I probably wouldn't be speaking to people who want to judge people over dinner in the first place they sound boring.

Now that you’ve put it that way, guess I’m eating pizza as a side to my massive salad… 😆

See I don't .mind an occasional salad but if I was having a ," massive" one it would be a main meal for me not a side to a pizza 🍕

No reason to be rude. When they post something, people usually interact with the posters. And judging by all the responses, most of us definitely have life outside of MN, how else would we have time to cook proper meals for our families.

I love salads. And if I’m going to have pizza I want to be sure I eat a fair bit of healthy stuff alongside it.

I agree. Apart from the cost, grated cheese tends to be lower quality, and there are fewer varieties that are available in grated firm. Just compare grated ‘Parmesan’ vs the real thing. Plus it gets mouldy after a while.

It takes literally seconds to grate a chunk of cheese.

I’ve got no idea, I don’t buy it by weight. Can’t say I’ve ever noticed.

I’d imagine not; but the convenience of not turning it into the form I need is worth extra cost. I don’t churn my own butter either!

By weight? Like 400g of grated cheese costs the same as a 400g block? Interesting as it never used to be.

It’s quite often actually cheaper than a block of cheese, and I don’t buy both types. I’ve just checked and in the supermarket we use, it’s around £1 cheaper.

We only eat grated cheese, so the “why” is because I can’t be bothered grating it, and don’t see why I would need to if I’m never using it in any form other than grated anyway.

Ease, basically!

Too bloody expensive. And just why ?

I don't understand the need for" massive" salads with everything lol.

Asda Pizza counter are better than the takeaways though.

Kindly, I think you're projecting. Wish I could be bothered cooking for hours but I don't because I'm lazy. Obviously frozen food, like frozen vegetables are fine, but processed crap like fish fingers is crap so good on them of they don't feed their kids that (I do, but I admire people who make that effort).

It sounds like you're doing an amazing job.