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?

Agree with the foreign ladies

Well tell them it's more boring to "Eat chicken & pasta for lunch, then similar for Dinner" 😂

I don't but DS does, he always gets something hot from the school canteen.

I prefer hot food and for me it's one of the joys of being based at home that I can eat something hot for lunch.

From what I have seen, I think we are similar to the Germans. They seem to have at least one cold meal a day too but in the evening- Abendbrot.

I don't particularly like cold food so I will have usually have two hot meals a day.

Things like jacket potatoes, soup, hot rolls, omelette or pasta for lunch. I will eat sandwiches if I have to (e.g. out for the day so taking a picnic) but I'd rather not if I'm at home or work.

To be honest, it's often three hot meals as I'll have eggs or porridge or something like that for breakfast most days!

In winter, I eat all my meals hot. It feels more wholesome, nutritious and comforting.
In the summer, cold food is fine.

IMO it’s a cultural thing. I have a Chinese Singaporean sis in law who honestly thinks any meal isn’t a ‘proper’ one unless it’s hot.

Obviously it’s the content that matters, but good luck with convincing anyone who has it ingrained that a meal must be hot!

On that topic, I still remember ages ago, queueing at lunchtime next to an elderly couple in a caff that did hot and cold food. The old chap just wanted a sandwich - his wife kept saying, ‘But that’s not a proper dinner! You’ve got to have a PROPER dinner!!’

She honestly seemed to think he’d sicken and die if he didn’t have one!

I generally have hot breakfast, lunch and dinner. Always porridge in the morning, usually soup or leftovers for lunch and a cooked dinner.

I have 2 hot meals but I have one foreign parent who had the bigger influence on my upbringing.

Plus tbh I just don’t think it’s good to eat lots of bread every day.

I do hope this doesn't worry anyone who gives their children sandwiches or similar for one or even two meals a day. It's NOT lazy. Can't believe someone said that. And there is absolutely nothing "better" about hot food. It's just a preference.

In an era where we are really just starting to understand how what we eat impacts on both our mental and physical health, I think it wouldn't do any harm for people who are feeding their kids a lot of sandwiches to at least pause and think.

I think the average uk ultra processed food consumption is 57%, with up to 90% apparently not uncommon.

Assuming the bread is bought from a shop rather than home made, if you feed your child:
Toast, margarine and jam for breakfast, that's likely to be 100% ultra processed. If you go for wheatabix and milk, the cereal is still UPF. Many children will be eating higher-sugar and lower-fibre cereal than wheatabix too.

A wholemeal bread, spread and ham sandwich with a fruit yoghurt for lunch- again 100% ultra processed. In my house, while fruit would be eaten, things like carrot/cucumber batons probably wouldn't be.

So a child could easily get to dinnertime having eaten very little non-processed food, and only 1 portion of fruit.

While meals don't need necessarily need to be hot (agree that there's nothing wrong with a salad, though i wouldn't usually choose to eat one 🤣), I am interested at how little reflection goes on when it comes to whether we are really feeding our kids well.

Some studies have implied that high ultra processed diets are as bad as smoking, but I guess because a lot of us grew up eating shop bought bread, ham, crisps, a chocolate biscuit snack etc etc for our lunch, we just feed it to our kids without pausing and considering what it could be doing to them (and to us too!!!)

We're also supposed to be eating 5 portions of fruit/veg a day, and ideally 30 different plants (regardless of portion size- herbs and spices also count) per week. The trouble with lots of sandwiches is as well as usually being highly processed, it makes this pretty hard to achieve.

I currently have 3 hot meals. Porridge for breakfast, soup for lunch and hot meal at night.

Sometimes I’ll have scrambled eggs on toast for breakfast.

Years ago when I was slimmer and presumably needed more calories I’d have jacket potato with filling for lunch or hot lunches at a cafe, one was Thai, other we had toasted paninis in. Great on a cold day and more filling than soup.

I'm not British but I've lived here for half my life, and I find the obsession with "one hot meal a day" fascinating. I eat two hot meals a day in winter and one in summer. (Rarely eat breakfast, and if I do, it's hot...)

I don't think it is cold food that's depressing rather it's the standard British cereal for breakfast and sandwich for lunch that is. Even the popular hot counterparts, toast/porridge/toasties etc are pretty bland.

So while there is nothing that makes hot food more nutritious, in the standard British diet the usual hot evening meals are more likely to have a wider variety of ingredients and nutrients than the typical cold offerings.

If I'm at work, lunch is always cold. Usually sandwiches, fruit, cucumber and houmous etc. I sometimes take leftovers but never bother to go to the staffroom to reheat them in the microwave.

At weekends, I'll usually do the same sort of thing. If I do have something hot, it will be something very quick and easy like beans on toast or mushrooms on toast.

Growing up, my mum was very against two hot meals a day. She stopped giving us school dinners unless it was an emergency because she was pissed off that we would come home hungry and wanting a hot dinner.

I guess by better I mean more satisfying and healthy? Especially for kids who are unlikely to eat a cold protein with a salad and dressing. I give my kids Warburtons bread and feel guilty that it's full of additives. I do try to make my own bread but often laziness wins.

Some good points here. My kids only have butter but I'm trying to stop buying ham. The better quality stuff is really expensive and still not that great. Idk why good ham is so difficult to get hold of.

I'm going to horrify everyone by confessing that I buy spam.

DH and I love spam.

With chips.

It's a cultural British thing to have cold lunches. Historically British women have been more active in the labour market (think of all those Victorian factories) so weren't home all day to cook 2 hot meals.

Cultures that haven't been industrialised long still have the hangover from an agricultural economy where women were working 'from home' on the farm so available to cook more.

As the uk has become more culturally diverse more of the population are used to hot lunches.

I think it can be just as quick or even quicker to make a hot puch than faff about making sandwiches etc.quicl ping in thf microwave for soup or left over pasta etc. Cold lunches do leave me feeling a bit empty unless its the height of summer.

So when my dd was younger she loved dal-but she liked it cold. Should I have insisted on heating it up to make it more nutritious?

Heat won't make it more nutritious but it might make it more satisfying

@KirstenBlest "Heat won't make it more nutritious but it might make it more satisfying"

How???????