Are two hot meals a day better?

[Coldmealsadness]

Two foreign ladies (from different countries) in a month complained to me that British people are depressing because they eat cold lunches. They both like a hot lunch and a hot dinner.

So some boring questions.
Are hot meals better?
I feel that two hot meals a day would be nice but I often don't have time. I'd always be cooking! I do like a hot meal in the evening. I have seen some mothers on here complain that their children aren't getting hot meals at nurseries so obviously it's really important to some people!

Are British people famous for cold food?

Do you eat two hot meals a day?

What do you eat?

What did you cook them? My kids are won't eat soup unless it's chicken noodle.

And they're not keen on eggs- sometimes they have boiled eggs or French toast. They don't like jacket potatoes. They tend to have either a ham or cheese sandwich and veg sticks for lunch. I think I could definitely pack more nutrition in to a hot meal for them.

It's not even just the hassle of cooking a "proper" meal at lunchtime, it's the thinking of yet ANOTHER meal! I only have a repertoire of 7 meals. And there's the washing up 😴😴

I'm lucky though, at my work we get a (free) hot meal cooked for us every lunchtime, and it's the absolute best perk of the job - a proper treat every day (and I make sure I tell our amazing catering staff every day as well!) So basically, if someone else is magicking it up for me, I would never chose a sandwich, but if I'm providing for myself, it's defo gonna be bread based.

I've travelled a lot and the norm in Europe these days is a bread based lunch - the days of the cooked lunch, 2 hours off work have ended for all but a few at least. Also it's normal to have a light evening meal if you do have a larger lunch.

The only place I've been where even locals predominantly eat hot lunches is India ... but even there there's growing numbers of sandwich shops!

I am a foreigner and I have two hot meals a day, esp in winter.
And if it’s not got, it is, at the very least a proper meal. Ajax not a sandwich plus crisp or a bowl of vegetable soup with a bit of bread.

It’s not that it’s depressing. It’s the fact it’s not filling and I’m hangry ay 3.00pm (and we’re my dcs when they were little).
the hot food keeps me warm too,

Interestingly, very quickly DH joined me and decided a nice hot lunch was much better….

I very much feel that the ‘you dint need two hot meals in the day’ is laziness. A ‘can’t be bothered to think and cook yet another meal’ and seems to be often used as an excuse to eg not prepare a properly cooked meal for the dcs in the evening (because they’ve had a hot school lunch already).

A hot cooked lunch isn’t hard tbh.
Many things can be I related in 15 mins in the am. Or you can use leftovers etc…

You stick your lunch in the microwave. Tada hot lunch

@Coldmealsadness usually poached eggs or scrambled eggs on toast

lunch would be some form of pasta or a jacket, leftovers from the night before

dinner as usual, bolognese, curry etc.

I have a hot breakfast pretty much every day. I alternate with porridge made half & half with low fat milk & water. With a v small sprinkle of brown sugar.
Or 2 x weetabix with hot low fat milk
Coffee

Lunch is soup most days with brown bread. I get it in the canteen in work & they have a different flavour each day. If it's one I don't like such as leek & potato I might have the hot vegetarian dish or a brown sliced bread sandwich with egg mayo, lettuce, tomato & cucumber.

At the weekend I usually make something hot. Often a more complex soup like River Cafe winter minestrone. Or sometimes an omelette & salad. Scrambled eggs & bacon. Home made Belgian waffles with crispy bacon & maple syrup. A cooked breakfast. French toast etc

And unless we're getting a takeaway / eating out I cook a hot dinner every evening. In summer we eat salads more
In winter I still eat salad quite frequently but it may have a hot component such as cooked chicken or baked salmon or poached egg etc

Dh & dd love my cooking & are always v appreciative of the meals I make.

Usually 3 hot meals per day - I simply prefer hot food.

I, too, have 3 hot meals a day (if I eat lunch).

Mornings are miso soup and eggs, sometimes with rice.

Lunches are soups or stews.

Evenings, anything goes.

Especially in winter.

No, don't be ridiculous.
Food is food, it doesn't need to be hot.

I can't be arsed making a hot lunch every day and I bet some people are too busy to. Sometimes I might have a jacket potato or a tin of soup but usually I have a late breakfast and won't eat lunch so I'll just snack.

3 hot meals here through the winter

Eggs, porridge or ... on toast at breakfast
Soups, stirfries, left overs or ... on toast for lunch (depending on what was for breakfast)
Main meal in the evening.

I always worked in places where there were canteens, microwaves or hot food to buy nearby.

I need hot food to warm me through.
A toasted sandwich will fill me more than its sad, raw version.

Im not from the UK and always had 3 hot meals a day growing up and each meal usually consisted with quite a big range of varieties of different foods / ingredients. We only ate cold food on really hot days or as entrees brfore hot meals.

Even though I have lived away from home for over 20 years I still do hot lunch and dinner each day. I dont usually eat breakie due to intermittent fasting, but if I did it would mostly be hot meals too.

I dont like cold food and can not eat like a British😂

YES! I want to nourish my children better but would I just be cooking another meal they wouldn't eat? My just turned 4 year old has barely eaten any dinner this week.

DH ( who was nodding solemnly in agreement with these women) and I had an omelette and salad yesterday and we really enjoyed it. Though the kids would never eat a simple hot lunch like an omelette.

I usually have a hot dinner and then either a big salad for lunch or have leftovers from dinner or make an omelette which take about 3 minutes.

Agree that salads are very sad in winter unless they are an accompanied by a hot meal. I'm outside quite a lot and would feel sad opening a tupperware box to an unfriendly salad.

One usually.
Ideally I'd have a cooked breakfast and either a cold or hot lunch.
Rarely eat in the evening.

Do you come from a cold or hot country? The women I know come from hot countries with mild winters.

My kids always got hot evening meal but I do feel lazy for just giving them sandwiches for lunch.

My country is really big with different climates but all have similar food cultures. My hometown has clear 4 seasons, very hot summer (30 degress plus) and a couple of snows in winter. Even on hot days we still wouldnt eat cold meals everyday.

Cold breakfast: natural Yoghurt, spoon of bran, spoon of nuts and seeds, fruit.

Lunch: salad and fruit with some protein, occasionally soup.

Dinner: almost always something hot, sometimes with a side salad. Cold salads with cold protein usually in heatwaves. Hot food is varied: stir fries, pasta, fish meat, chilli, bol, shepherd's pie, etc.

Judging from the thread, it seem we have a lot of Cold food

Usually repurposed leftovers, to be honest! I always baked extra potatoes . The flesh could top a 'pie' and provide stuffed skins another day. We ate a lot of soup for lunch, which deals with a lot of leftovers and trimmings too. My overnight chicken stock can make the best chicken noodle soup ever if you have a slow cooker 🤞

Good idea regarding the potatoes. I was thinking fish cakes or something. We also used to do chicken stock in the slow cooker until it broke. Now we just do on hob.