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?

The other night we had chicken breasts covered in pesto, wrapped in prosciutto and served in a white wine sauce with rice, spinach and broccoli. Technically meat and two veg, I suppose!

@theclassroom whatever you do, don't read the 'mountain of meat' thread from earlier this week. Apparently a roast dinner with vegetables 'smothered' in butter/honey/anything exciting are 'grim' or 'extravagant'

I usually do bacon wrapped parsnips, maple and cumin carrots, braised balsamic red cabbage, leeks in chilli oil, buttered kale with nutmeg, very occasionally a mustardy cauliflower cheese. I must be completely disgusting

It's a coincidence seeing this thread as I was preparing our evening meal earlier and thought "It's not often we have something you could describe as 'meat and two veg' on a week night".
We're having minted lamb steaks with Dauphinoise potatoes (DH has been fancying them for a whole), green beans and gravy.
However, looking at this thread, it's obvious that lots of things are basically meat (or protein) and two (or more) veg.
We had lemon and asparagus risotto last night and will have a vegetable curry and a kidney bean curry with chapattis tomorrow and back, sort of, to M&TV on Sunday with steak & kidney pie, mash, cheesey leeks and roast carrots.

“I never buy anything unless I know what recipe it’s going into. I never do this. I have a fridge, freezer and pantry full of food and decide what to do on the day. Also I seldom follow recipes. Perhaps you are new to cooking?”

I think that’s quite snippy. I’m a passionate (and decent!) cook, as is DH, and one of my favourite bits of the week is Sunday morning when we stick the kids in front of a film while we brainstorm recipes for the week ahead (I grocery shop Mondays on my day off). It’s one of the few things we did pre kids which we’ve kept in post kids life - chat about what’s in season, what we fancy, how to tie it together to minimise waste etc. Sounds very wanky and of course sometimes we just order a pizza! But I don’t think it’s indicative of a new/unconfident cook.

I want to eat things we enjoy, with no food waste, so menu planning (which I enjoy, many don’t and that’s fine) makes sure nothing goes to waste. I’m not saying it’s flawless, we have a tonne of kale which I think I’m going to have to bin (we only wound up using a handful on our sea bass yesterday - wish I didn’t have to buy a big bag). But buying only what fits with the meal plan doesn’t mean you’re a rookie.

Basically you’re saying you don’t really like vegetables if you can’t think of them without doing all that to all of them. And you don’t really like salad unless it’s a finely chopped and dressed meal salad. Based on your examples I can’t see how you’re getting enough vegetables in your diet if you don’t serve any alongside. I cook a roast most Sundays in winter and serve a selection of vegetables with it. I’ll usually stick baby carrots and parsnips in with the roast potatoes, but with all the accompaniments you don’t need to fancy up all the vegetables, it’s too much. I save the cauliflower cheese or creamy leeks for a gammon joint or veal escalopes and the garlicky green beans for steak or fish.

Noted, but now I’m curious what a mountain of meat is 😃

Your Sunday roast sounds amazing! If you’re disgusting I’m right there with you 😩 I need to try bacon wrapped parsnips, maple and cumin carrots and kale and nutmeg, I love a mustardy cauliflower cheese too.

I don't ever call it "meat and 2 veg" but it's basically just a balanced meal isn't it!? My ds isn't a fan of 1 pot dishes/sauces, so we do a lot of meat 2 veg type meals (Sunday roast, salmon with asparagus, green beans and mash potato, steak with spinach, mushrooms and chips, roast gammon with roasties and cauliflower...) I wouldn't describe it as "meat and 2 veg" but it's just sensible to give kids a couple of veg options, a protein source and a carb.... We do cook other things too (fajitas, pasta dishes, curries etc but theyre fundamentally a meat and some veg too)

I have been vegetarian and vegan for more of my life than I have eaten meat, I don’t struggle getting enough veggies!

What I don’t like is unseasoned or plain food in general, I love spicy food and complex flavours so boiled vegetables don’t work for me.

I don’t like plain salad, because who does? It’s just leaves! It doesn’t need to be highly calorific to be interesting but finely chopped with lots of variety and some form of dressing.

Yes we have this a lot

I actually think it's the healthiest way to eat really

We try not to have meat more than once a week, and fish once a week, so that definitely reduces the possibility for meat and two veg! I’m interested that people don’t count stew as M&TV - I grew up on incredibly boring slow cooker casseroles with potato and two veg on the side, so definitely put stew etc. in that category! Now I LOVE an occasional beautiful rich stew with buttery mash and veg.
We’re like you - we cook almost entirely from recipes, and don’t eat the same thing more than once every two/three months (unless it’s a serious kid favourite).
Each of our children has been choosing and cooking/helping to cook a meal per week since they were 2.5, and I think recipes make that much easier. Plus they learn to read the recipes, weigh/measure etc.

That sounds like a meat and two veg I could get behind ☺️ getting lots of great recipe recommendations to try on this thread! :)

We eat a mix of curries, pasta, noodles.
And things like salmon with brocolli and tomatoes, or roast chicken thighs with potatoes and peppers and courgettes. Sometimes steak and chips and veg if we're feeling flush 😂

I had meat and two (or more) veg often, find it an easier way to eat lower carb. Hunters chicken broccoli, carrots. Yesterday was teriyaki salmon tenderstem broccoli and green beans. Wednesday cod in cheese sauce with peas, broccoli, cauliflower.

@theclassroomI’m not a big fan of boiled veg either but the ‘2 veg’ element could be:

• honey roasted carrots or parsnips
• tenderstem broccoli roasted with olive oil and garlic
• stie fried veg with ginger, soy and lemon grass or with chilli oil
• eosemary roasted potatoes
• corn on the cob brushed with seasoned butter
• garden peas, asparagus and sugar snap peas with herb butter

We do and till dd left home we had formal (laid table, wine glasses, ‘posh’ china and cutlery) Sunday dinner. Still do when she’s home

Food is mainly ‘traditional’ meat/fish & veg or salad, fish pie, ham egg chips, sausage mash n peas, cottage pie, fish fingers with anything, scampi with anything, shepherds pie, stews, casseroles, cauliflower cheese, baked potatoes with beans and cheese, cheese on toast with baked beans, etc then non traditional stir fry’s, pasta (spag bol, chilli prawn linguine, lasagne, carbonara, Mac n cheese, etc), pizza to mix it up. DH makes pizza dough from scratch and we have a pizza oven! Everyone does their own toppings and pizza is cooked in under 2 minutes. If I have time, I’m up for making a curry especially if there’s meat leftover from a roast

sometimes we eat McDonalds 🤷‍♂️. We eat clean mainly so a fish finger happy meal with carrot sticks(instead of fries) ain’t gunna kill me! I do have Diet Coke though 😂. Hubby goes full out on whatever burger is on special (his fave so far is the Philly cheese stack!!)

I often eat meat and two veg, but it never includes potatoes. This evening I had a roasted duck leg with purple sprouting broccoli and watercress with a sort of tart blackberry dressing. There’s nothing wrong with meat and two veg but as other posters have said this is a very broad category!

I'd say most of my meals are planned that way. One of the veg is usually a starch, but I try to make the green veg a healthy portion. These are some recent meals:

Salmon, rice, peas
pork chop, perogies, green beans
breaded chicken, mash, broccoli

And 2 squares of dark chocolate for dessert!

I'm putting my hand up as preferring a "plain salad" without dressing, especially if I've grown the veg myself. Similarly for steamed veg, it doesn't have to be boiled, but nor does it always need lots of faffing with.

4 out of 7 meals in a week will be meat and two veg for my kids and me. Always gets eaten, not the most adventurous but I’m just glad my kids eat veg

My mum always says meat and 3 veg

I’m with you! I love plain salad and steamed veggies

I think it depends on your own upbringing. Me and DH were raised in very traditional family ways and our staple diet was regular meat and 2 veg - hams, beef, chicken, pork, lamb with gravy, potatoes (mash, roasted or boiled) and whatever veggies from the garden or from relatives gardens.

We make a lot of casseroles with veg for our own DC, hearty sausage and mash with peas and onion gravy, chicken dinners etc but love to cook other styles too (Indian, Italian etc).

My mates Mam still does a ‘dinner’ - meat and 2 veg EVERY DAY for her and her DH. Too much!

I don't eat meat, so it wouldn't be a thing in our house anyway. We do eat fish though and just have what we fancy, what's in or needs using up. Sometimes, it might just be potatoes and peas, other times potatoes, and a mix of peas, broccoli and carrots.

I don't think anything is set in stone any more with so many personal tastes, lifestyle choices, health awareness around medical issues, the amount of choice.

DP and I are in our late fifties and we call meat and two veg a ‘proper dinner’, as in ‘shall we have a proper dinner tonight?’🤣 DP is pescatarian, so it will be fish or some meat substitute for him. We eat loads of other stuff, but we were brought up on meat and two veg and Irish stew. I absolutely love plain food. I don’t find it ‘depressing’ at all. I can really taste the individual flavours of steamed vegetables and meat and potatoes. Sometimes it’s a welcome change from the overload of spices and flavourings in other types of cuisine. It’s really just whatever you’re used to. My mum was a very plain cook, but she made everything to perfection and seasoned it just the right amount to tip it from bland to flavoured. I could happily eat just a big plate of boiled potatoes with a little salt for my dinner. Maybe butter, but definitely not necessary. As I get older, I’m reverting back to plain food more and more.

We very rarely have meat and two veg but I do love it. Yesterday we had bangers and mash with roast cabbage wedges and a bloody delicious tomato relish I made myself. I love how varied cooking in UK has become but we have ignored the simplicity of traditional cooking. I love haggis with neeps and tatties and cabbage or roast cod with courgettes and sugar snap peas.