How many hot meals do your DC have per day?

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Not including the height of summer or during a heatwave obviously when they’re lucky if they get 3 hot meals per week, mine generally have 3 per day

My Mum has made comments before about how only one is ‘necessary’ but she has a lot of weird food things so I never really gave it any mind however another family member was in our house yesterday as I was tidying up from a hot lunch and she said ‘oh amazing you’ll only have to do a sandwich for tea now’ the Dc told her we were making pizzas for tea and she said ‘oh I wouldn’t bother again after hot food at dinner time’ blew her mind when I said they’d also had a hot breakfast

So now I’m wondering - is it really that strange?

I’m not talking three course meals for breakfast lunch and dinner here just food that happens to be warm for three meals per day - porridge/eggs/pancakes for breakfast, toasties/soups/pasta/jacket potatoes/beans on toast for lunch (school dinners during the week) and normal dinner stuff at dinner

Is this really that unusual?

It is probably unusual but certainly not strange.

There is no nutritional difference between hot and cold food per se, so as long as they're eating a balanced diet, I think it's purely a matter of personal preference.

I don’t really understand why it matters if food is hot or cold… why would it be an issue?
Sometimes mine will have 3, for example if it happens to be a day they have scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast, school lunch then a normal dinner. Sometimes 2, sometimes 2, sometimes 0. I don’t track it.

I don't track it either @WaddleAway. The temperature of the food just isn't important!

Usually one or two. But agree with pp it doesn't really matter, it's just personal preference.

Don't track it either, but a sandwich wouldn't be enough for tea no matter what they'd had during the day. The 'begrudging meals' attitude from your mum is odd.

I’m not saying I think it matters at all, and I don’t do it on purpose it’s just how we eat, obviously a ham and cheese toastie is no different to a ham and cheese sandwich except the cheese is nicer when melted so I would always toast it

I’m saying other people have commented so it clearly matters to them and is something they have noticed so wondered if it was really that unusual

Egg bagel or eggy bread for breakfast and a cooked evening meal.
Ds has packed lunch.

The kids generally help themselves to breakfast and lunch. If I see someone open the fridge, look a bit lost and walk away, I help.
Lunch is generally whatever they decide to make, breakfast isn't necessarily breakfast food. -I've seen them make spaghetti carbonara for breakfast.
Pizza, bagels, pasta and sauce are all standard lunch fare.
Home made food is most nights for dinner, with proper attention given to enough protein.

I don't think it's a particularly good diet, but then, they are teenagers so I'm happy that they're getting a good meal in an evening. I would feel ill living on sandwiches.

I'm a bit lazy and often hot food creates more pans etc to wash up so I try to only cook once a day. However neither of my DC are keen on sandwiches/cold food at lunch time but they've been able to cook a jacket potato/pasta/pizza etc since they were about 10 so if we're at home they make something themselves. DS also makes porridge or bacon sandwiches for breakfast. I make pancakes for them for breakfast occassionally.

@napody my Mum is a strange one with food, she’ll eat one crumpet at breakfast and say she couldn’t possibly eat another thing all day, most of the women on that side of the family tend to be like this, it’s very odd, I get funny looks if we’re out for meals and I actually finish my plate of food!
I try not to pay too much attention to her weirdness

1 usually. She's nearly 2 and often has a few snacks rather than 3 set meals as I feel 3 meals is more suited to older children and adults. Snacks are banana, toast, natural yoghurt, babybel etc.

I still don't get how babies eat soup?! Doesn't it fall off the spoon?

Usually two although sometimes three if she chooses porridge for breakfast. I'm not particularly a fan of cold food so by default I've always done hot food for lunch and dinner. We do have the occasional sandwich for lunch but it's quite unusual. I usually have a cooked breakfast of some description but DD usually chooses cereal with her Dad (and bonus toast when she gets to nursery!)

It would usually have been two hot meals, three if they'd had porridge/toast that morning. It's the same now with the grandchildren.

I'm this country (UK) it's unusual but everywhere else I've been abroad such as Southern Europe and countries in Asia they will always have a hot lunch and dinner and sometimes a hot breakfast too. My in-laws live in Portugal and are appalled that Brits often have a sandwich for lunch. They don't see it as proper food - more something you'd for a snack.

I don't really think about it we just eat what we fancy. Today will be 3 as we've had porridge for breakfast, lunch will be leftover quiche that I'll warm up then we'll have a roast. Yesterday was only one. I care more about a varied diet than the temperature.

I'm often surprised that if we've been out for a big meal, or at Christmas for example, DC will still say what's for tea mum? When I'm thinking the big meal means we'll just eat snacks later.

blew her mind when I said they’d also had a hot breakfast

That makes it sound like there are deeper issues as no one could surely be even surprised that sometimes people have 3 hot meals a day. Did she grow up with some kind of disordered approach to food?

I don't keep a tally on the temperature of the food and can't imagine commenting on what other people do

As others have said hot isn't intrinscially better or worse than cold

None. They won't eat their hot food until it's cooled anyway

But 2-3 I guess.

I never understand this obsession with limiting hot meals and why people make such a fuss if food is hot or cold.

i don’t really keep track but typically 2 a day. They like eggs for breakfast and then we usually have a cooked meal

lunch just depends on everyone’s mood mostly cold stuff like sandwiches but the kids sometimes have school dinners or me and have at home toddler have quiche or omelette etc

Depends on the time of year. I cook a lot of protein plus salad for dinner until the weather turns properly. Not sure if that counts if just one element is hot. Hot meal for dinner all winter. Generally hot meal at school. Eldest has a panini which is probably tepid to be fair.

Im going to do porridge for breakfast from October, normally do granola with yoghurt, cereal and milk or toast but I think something warm in tummies will be a good thing as can’t afford as much heating as normal.

Never really thought about it some days they will have 3, sometimes 2 and sometimes 1
The temperature of food hasn't really crossed my mind more the content of the meal - that dictates whether it's hot or cold. We eat a good balanced diet and we generally eat together as a family.
We are lucky though as this is a pure choice not something dictated by affordability or energy.

Two, often three. They only have cold lunches out of necessity rather than choice.
At home if we have something mainly cold like salad I tend to do a warm element with it.

@qpmz i don’t have any babies anymore but when they were I just made the soup very thick and chunky so more like a stew consistency and they managed, bread to dip always helped too!

@Fizbosshoes yes this is how my family are, they’ll have a fry up for breakfast so say they only need cheese and crackers or something for dinner and that will be it all day 🤨 I need a proper dinner too!

@suzyscat ha to be fair once mine have stopped talking long enough to actually eat something they probably don’t have any of it while it’s still warm! 😄

If someone said to me they had three hot meals a day, I would be imagining 3 substantial meals, including a cooked breakfast, which I think would be quite unusual. I wouldn’t count porridge or a toastie as a hot meal, even though it is hot, iyswim!

I don’t know, sometimes all meals will be hot and sometimes no meals will be hot. It really just depends on a lot of factors really.