Meat and Two Veg?

[theclassroom]

Completely random thing to post I know, so I hope it’s in the right place. Who, in 2025, still eats ‘meat and two veg’? It’s something I haven’t heard of in a very long time and when I did hear it growing up it was always from elderly people (or a joke about men’s private parts…)

I know it was a traditional way to eat in the past but I can’t imagine ever choosing to making it. I don’t love traditionally British food of any kind, besides fish and chips and maybe mashed potatoes, so I’m probably not the target audience but I’m hearing it around again.

I don’t like a Sunday roast either but it seems much better than a dinner of meat and two veg. I don’t know, the name and the food itself depresses me. 😩

So if you still eat it, what makes you choose it over the many cuisines and dishes available I guess?

I guess different people have different tastes? I like many others love a Sunday roast. Also love a wide range of other cuisines.

Lamb chops, mash and peas is one of life’s true pleasures.

Meat and two veg is a very vague description. Steak, chips and spinach? Salmon fillet, broccoli and tomatoes? I'd say it's still very popular but what constitutes the "meat" and the "veg" has been updated.

Of course, I’m not saying they’re mutually exclusive just that I’m surprised if it’s making a resurgence.

A good Sunday roast can be nice but I find it rare.

My parents aren't even that old (mid sixties) and mum especially still firmly believes that a 'proper' meal is meat, potatoes and 2 veg 😁 nothing will convince her otherwise!!

Love a roast, do one every couple of weeks. Kids love sausage and mash and green beans so that probably counts as a 'meat and veg' meal, apart from that we don't really eat like that.

That’s very interesting, I hadn’t thought of it like that. Do chips/potatoes count as a veg?

Yes sometimes. Mixed in with lots of other types of food. We do have roast dinners every now and again, and we might do lamb chops, broccoli peas and new potatoes. Or chicken kiev, green beans and new potatoes. Usually it’s likely to be fish and two veg - some sort of baked salmon fillets with herbs/lemon/tikka paste/ etc type topping, and veg and potatoes or rice.

Its actually a good way of making sure you have lots of vegetables, as long as you cook them well and lightly.

That's actually a really good point and if you think of it like that, then loads of meals are meat and veg. Just not the traditonal offering you'd have been served in the 50s.

lots of kids don’t like sauces and casseroles. Meat (chicken) and two veggies (peas and carrots) is easy. Even casseroles/curry’s involve meat (or protein substitute) and two or more veggies. Lasagna often consists of mince (meat) with tomato sauce (which often has onion) and spinach layer.
I don’t know anyone who doesn’t offer meat and two veggies minimum at supper time.

Well i had a chicken dinner on Sunday I had broccoli and carrots of course people eat "Meat and 2 veg" 🤔

In this context I think potatoes don't count as the veg

I cook all sorts of things, risotto, curries, lasagne, various fish dishes, lots of pasta stuff but every now and then I will do a roast dinner and I really relish it. Wouldn't want it every weekend but there is a time and a place when it hits the spot.

Steak, chips and peas. Salmon, new potatoes and spinach. Chicken, parmentier potatoes and broccoli.
All meat and two veg. I prefer 3 veg, actually. Not sure what you mean.

We've had meals three times this week that could be described as meat and two veg

• Chicken wrapped in bacon with peas, sweetcorn and potato wedges
• Steamed fish with green beans, carrots, boiled potatoes and parsley sauce
• Sausages, Onions, Peas, Mash, Gravy

All quite different things

I also agree that it’s a vague description which means not pizza, not a grazing board, not soup or stew.

I think that traditional British way of eating was boring nd unfashionable now, but was probably really healthy. Eg Summer: ham or egg, lettuce, tomato, potatoes, salad cream / Winter: Chop or liver, cabbage, peas, mash, gravy. My grandparents and parents ate like that and were never overweight.

Yes I do! On Sunday I managed 4 veg!

She sounds very wholesome 😌 My mother’s idea of a ‘proper meal’ came from the M&S ready meals section.

I’m very picky with a roast but there’s definitely a way to do it, my Grandmother’s roasts were lovely. My DH’s (absolutely lovely and wonderful) family ruined them for me I think. When we lived there it was a roast every Sunday consisting of boiled vegetables and undercooked roast potatoes. I could happily never look at a tub of Bisto gravy ever again honestly so I may not be a fair judge.

Maybe not in the way you think but I think with a carb it’s a decent practical basis for a meal. So tonight it’s chicken thighs with a herby rub, rice, broccoli and carrots.

Just me that thought this thread was going to be about something completely different?

If you say meat and two veg it does somewhat conjure up a plain pork chop, boiled potatoes and carrots or similar. I don’t think many people eat like that now. But a lot of meals do consist of meat and at least one veg really, just that it’s normal to have things like pasta and rice rather than potatoes all the time now.

Not in the "traditional" sense but I do often have a "meat and two veg" meal. I could quite happily swerve a Sunday roast though, I've never seen the appeal of them.

Exactly.

I’m really into strength training and think it’s a super way to eat 5 days out of 7. Dinner will often consist of a lean meat which is seasoned with spices, any two low carbohydrate veg (broccoli, cauliflower, spinach, green beans etc) and something like rice, potato or sweet potato. So I guess you could say we’re meat and two veg people

I dont like veg and dont eat much meat.
However i do eat pies that has meat and veg in it that counts.
I live out the fridge grab and eat i cant deal with full cooked dinners.

It’s like the Aldi threads, isn’t it? And some school gate ones. A touch of “I just don’t understand how you mundanes lead your dull mundane little lives!”