Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to say there is more to hot weather food than salads?

133 replies

Beon · 21/05/2026 10:27

It’s going to be hot next few days.
Just to let you know that there are more foods to eat than just salad and BBQs. Do people in hot countries eat salads and BBQs all the time? No they don’t.

Also you don’t need lettuce to have a salad.

Some nice bread, cooked meats, smoked salmon, jars of pickled veg, cheese, those ready made Spanish omelettes etc.

OP posts:
takealettermsjones · 21/05/2026 14:06

GethsemaneHall · 21/05/2026 13:28

Nope, I am British and this is my hill to die on! Salad must consist of lettuce, stone cold flavourless tomatoes from the fridge, cucumber and if I'm feeling fancy - a few grated carrot bits on the top 🤣

🤣🤣🤣

This was the "salad" of my childhood, along with a rolled-up piece of ham, a few slices of hard boiled egg, some red Leicester cheese, and a pickled onion or two.

Seeline · 21/05/2026 14:04

Rice salads
Pasta salads
Beans/peas/pulses salads
Lentil salad
Quinoa, bulgar wheat etc

All make fab salads with not a lettuce leaf in sight.
I do love a leafy salad to go with it sometimes though - not just iceberg though!

Gentlydoesit2 · 21/05/2026 14:03

I hope you heal

13RidgmontRoad · 21/05/2026 13:50

My favourite thing about this thread is how it segued into a discussion about the salads served in a particular pub in Leicestershire.

GethsemaneHall · 21/05/2026 13:28

Nope, I am British and this is my hill to die on! Salad must consist of lettuce, stone cold flavourless tomatoes from the fridge, cucumber and if I'm feeling fancy - a few grated carrot bits on the top 🤣

Ayarreet · 21/05/2026 12:58

SafeAndStranded · 21/05/2026 10:58

We get so few hot days in this country that theres no way I'm coming in from the garden and fucking about with a frittata.

fucking about with a frittata 😂😂

Original poster
Beon · 21/05/2026 12:49

To those who asked about the Spanish omelette here’s an example www.trolley.co.uk/product/specially-selected-potato-onion-tortilla/JDU260

OP posts:
Iwanttobeafraser · 21/05/2026 12:49

Daftypants · 21/05/2026 11:53

Ooh that sounds delicious 😋
do you use griddled aubergines?

Show quote history

yes, I usually do them on the BBQ or fry in chunks. The dressing is just garlic, chilli, sherry vinegar, olive oil and mint. And salt. You can add mozarrella to it too to make it more substantial. Pine nuts are essential though.

I did see a version of my watermelon salad recently where you bbq the watermelon which I thought was interesting but I'm not sure I can be bothered.

Pascha · 21/05/2026 12:48

Can't stand omelettes. Not a fan of salad leaves. Not keen on barbecue anything really.

I'd rather have a nice piece of fish in a Mediterranean tomatoey sauce, new potatoes in herby butter and grilled veg.
Or roast chicken and veg with sweet potato chips.
Fajitas
Chicken dopiaza and saag aloo.
Tuna and cheese sub.
Meatballs and pasta.
Chicken koftas with flatbread.
Risotto.
Crab cakes
Tomato Soup.

Anything but salad really.

vitahelp · 21/05/2026 12:47

How hot are we expecting it to be that people
are adjusting their diets?!

thinkprint · 21/05/2026 12:39

OFiddleDeeDee · 21/05/2026 11:35

Ok well I guess all my experiences are false and only yours true. Thanks for that. Was so trapped in hallucination before you came along not being passive aggressive. 🙄

Edited
Show quote history

You are 100% right. Most supermarket salads are a pathetic house salad with a few leaves and a cherry tomato.

AnnieBond · 21/05/2026 12:37

TotalBaloney · 21/05/2026 11:37

I know what a Spanish omelette is, I spent 20 years living in Valencia. As I said, I make a lovely one.
You can buy them ready made in supermarkets. I assume that’s what the OP was talking about when she said ‘a ready made omelette’. Google will show you pictures.

Show quote history

I lived in Valencia for a short while. Half the time in the Old Town, half down practically on the beach. I LOVED it. I don't eat eggs though so no Spanish Omlettes! Lots of BBQ corn from the vendors down at the beach... good times!

OFiddleDeeDee · 21/05/2026 12:36

BunnyLake · 21/05/2026 12:26

You don’t need to find them, you can make them. 🙃

Show quote history

I know but I'm talking about at restaurants anyway I've derailed OP thread sorry OP!!

Deadleaves77 · 21/05/2026 12:35

I like the way OP has advised against salad and bbq only to come up with the most British hot weather dinner of all time Picky Bits! 🤣

I think most people having nbbbq are doing it because it's enjoyable!

Abracadabra12 · 21/05/2026 12:30

Mithral · 21/05/2026 10:55

My house for a start. Most restaurants? Are you posting from 1979? Although even then you would have had a boiled egg and some bright pink ham.

Show quote history

Surely a slice of pickled beetroot too?

BunnyLake · 21/05/2026 12:28

I like a ploughman’s in the hot weather, put together by me, as I find a lot of them in pubs disappointing and sparse.

InterestedDad37 · 21/05/2026 12:28

AgnesX · 21/05/2026 12:23

I love this. Although without industrial quantities of garlic!

Show quote history

Thank you. It's one of my "quick summer standby" meals. I tend to use too much garlic 🧄

BunnyLake · 21/05/2026 12:26

OFiddleDeeDee · 21/05/2026 10:32

If anyone can tell me where to actually find a salad in the UK that actually consists of more than one salad leaf and half of a tomato, I would be impressed.

You don’t need to find them, you can make them. 🙃

BunnyLake · 21/05/2026 12:24

WhistPie · 21/05/2026 10:30

Ready-made omelette? Dear god, what has this site become?

The remains of last Sunday's roast chicken, cold, should suffice.

I think they mean those frittata things that look a bit like a quiche without any pastry.

AgnesX · 21/05/2026 12:23

InterestedDad37 · 21/05/2026 10:51

I offer, for the table, drained tuna (brine, not oil) mixed with tinned white beans, sliced red pepper, splash of olive oil, squeeze of lemon juice, ground black pepper over the top, lots of fresh coriander. Fresh bread to accompany/mop it up with.
(I also bung raw garlic and ginger in too, but you need an asbestos-lined mouth and access to toothbrushes and mouthwash.)

I love this. Although without industrial quantities of garlic!

PuppyMonkey · 21/05/2026 12:20

I can remember in that really hot summer a few years ago (when we all had to close the windows and draw the curtains or put foil on the windows or something), our family lived on Tesco Meal Deals for a lot of the time because nobody could be arsed to prepare anything else in the awful heat. Plus Tesco air conditioning was really nice. Grin

Wouldcou · 21/05/2026 12:18

Tesco do 2 tortillas for a fiver. They are drier than a normal one though.

My in-laws are Moroccan, they cook tortillas as well and they are really nice softer and with onions. But also in Morocco they don’t have a big dinner they tend to have a big lunch and a smaller dinner.
I’m not sure if this is true for other hot countries.

muddyford · 21/05/2026 12:15

I use 'Summer Food' by Elizabeth David. Delicious and simple recipes. And 'Picnic ' by Claudia Roden.

Mumandcarer80 · 21/05/2026 12:08

Eating something like a roast dinner during a heatwave is the best way to cool down. I questioned why hospital were serving dd a roast dinner during a heatwave. They said it warms us up but then we perspire which releases heat from our body. Then our skin absorbs the perspiration and cools us down. Eating salads and ice cream might cool us down temporarily. But doesn’t last very long.

InveterateWineDrinker · 21/05/2026 12:03

We're adopting the Brazilian approach and doing a massive steaming feijoada with boiled rice, farofa, vinagrete, sautéed kale, and sliced orange.