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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to ask what you all eat as a family?

150 replies

OhTheConfusion · 21/08/2012 20:10

We had friends over for dinner tonight and DH cooked as I was working till 5.30 and he is a lucky so and so who is still on his summer holidays!

DH made us all (4 adults and 5 children... aged, 10, 9, 7, 6 and 11mths) chickpea, roast pepper, tomato and cumin stew with sliced rump of beef. Our three tucked in (including baby as made with no salt... only adult beef seasoned) whilst the others kind of poked their food and looked at us .

DH asked if they were ok and they replied 'we don't eat healthy food'. I was so flustered I didn't know what to say.

Please tell me not everyone eats pizza and chips seven nights a week?!? (this is what I dug out the freezer for them).

OP posts:

sugarice · 22/08/2012 10:43

Nigel can I come and live with you, your restaurant food sounds fantastic.

JustSpiro · 22/08/2012 10:44

I'm just thoroughly impressed that your husband could cook that.

Ditto - my husband is a chef and whilst he could cook that, he enters the kitchen at home about twice a year and usually has to ask me where everything is every five minutes on the rare occasion he cooks at home.

OhDearNigel · 22/08/2012 10:50

We eat really adventurous food, I blog it here, but I'd never have served what you did.

Likewise - I only serve quite simple food unless I know for certain that my guests will be happy to eat something. I also wouldn't take "we eat anything" to mean "you can serve me frogs legs a la francaise". For people I'd never eaten with I would probably have done something safe that involved chicken. I generally err on the side of platters though so that people have a choice rather than thinking "yuck, this is horrible, how will I finish it ?"

KateSpade · 22/08/2012 10:51

I'm such a fussy eater I eat a plain chicken breast everyday.

My mother & father eat all sorts of similar Style food you describe.

But I too would have been poking my fork in it looking

Davsmum · 22/08/2012 10:55

I would have asked them 'WHY' they don't eat healthy food,.. and then asked them why they don't just bloody try it to see if they may like it ! Its food for goodness sake !

I think they are bloody rude.

MordionAgenos · 22/08/2012 10:58

There's nothing healthy about Beef. That's probably why they didn't want to eat it.

OhDearNigel · 22/08/2012 11:00

yes you can sugar :) As long as you put your plate in the dishwasher haha.

The food i serve sounds fancier than it is - I use a lot of shortcuts and a lot of "base" recipes that I make big batches of then divide and finish off with different bits and bobs. I also make use of stuff like frozen chopped garlic/tomatoes etc. Eg mirabelle clafoutis - make husband stone mirabelles while he watches tosh telly, tip prepared mirabelles into dish, mix up some flour, egg, melted butter and sugar in a jug and put in oven. 10 mins tops.

Thumbwitch · 22/08/2012 11:01

TBH I'd have had trouble eating your DH's stew - but we still eat "proper" food most of the time.
Tends to be more of the "meat/fish and 2 veg" variety though; although we have a lot of mince dish/stews (just not with the spicy stuff, I don't like it much, nor do I like chickpeas), risottos, stuff like that.

My sister would have reacted like your guests - she likes roast dinners as "proper" food but that's about it.

I made a seafood risotto for some guests of DH's once - they had already mentioned they don't eat onions so I had to make it without onions (blech) for them, and they STILL didn't eat it. Apparently I'd found the only 2 Aussies who don't like seafood when it's not battered. (OK, massive exaggeration/generalisation)

DS eats whatever we eat.

iseenodust · 22/08/2012 11:13

DS would have gobbled it all down and asked for seconds. It is difficult with kids you don't know. When it's an after school tea it does tend to be fish fingers.

notyummy · 22/08/2012 11:13

I'm kind of on the fence with this one. I think the family's response is rude and all three of us would have eaten up and mostly enjoyed I think. It sounds like the sort of thing I would cook for us at home.

That said, i do always ask people if there are things they particularly dislike before I cook for them - particularly when children are involved. It saves time and energy in the kitchen only for your offerings to be rejected. For a group of such mixed ages I would probably have done a roast chicken with a good range of veg and potatoes, or pasta/salad/bread.

I am slightly aghast that the adults weren't leading by example and giving a go tbh. Not sure they would be darkening my door again with that sort of response!

janey68 · 22/08/2012 18:37

I'd also like to add that the huge emphasis some people place on eating anything and everything can be misplaced.

My eldest when through a really faddy phase from about age 2 to 6 (she's eating a wider variety now). However, although her diet was very narrow, it was healthy and balanced. She ate veg, fruit, milk, cereal , chicken... It was just very repetitive. Used to drive me mad when friends whose children ate a wider diet gave me smug looks, especially when their own children were eating more sugary fruit than was probably good for them.
I don't think anyone should assume that just because some doesn't eat cumin, chickpea and beef stew on a muggy summer evening, they aren't healthy!
(I do appreciate that the friends in the op said themselves they didn't eat healthily but maybe this was embarrassment at not liking that particular meal)

janey68 · 22/08/2012 18:39

Ps when I say she ate fruit, she ate apples and bananas- nothing else. But thats ok. Overall as long as a child gets all their nutrition it really doesn't matter a jot if they eat the same thing 5 nights a week. There was an adult on this thread who said they eat chicken breast every day. That's ok- probably far healthier than someone downing lots of red meat

YingTongIddleIPo · 22/08/2012 19:59

If you have people round for dinner for the first time you cook roast chicken or something nice & simple.

It was a risk cooking that meal!

SPsFanjoSponsoredByFemFresh · 22/08/2012 20:06

I wouldn't have eaten the stew. I'm a fussy cunt tbh. Don't like beef or gravy.

My son would have tried it and would have eaten it if sprinkled cheese on it

I never cook anything like that. With it been just me and a 2 year old no point.

letsblowthistacostand · 22/08/2012 20:55

Weeeelllll, my 6yo would have given it a go, esp the beef. My 4yo, who is Difficult, would have shrieked in anguish as it was set in front of her. She likes her food to look a certain way. We eat healthy at home!

For a family visiting with children, I would cook:

Sausage & mash with baked beans and another veg
Roast chicken, veg, potatoes or rice
Pasta (with optional sauce) and salad
Stir fry with egg/prawn fried rice on the side

The trick is to separate the items and have bread or plain rice or similar so that a picky child can just eat the bread. I like cooking and trying new things, but I like it more when people eat what I cook!

wigglybeezer · 22/08/2012 21:08

mine had veggie chilli for tea (with peppers and cumin in) and would probably eat your dish, however they would be more likely to eat it if their Granny or I had cooked it, they are very good eaters at home but more cautious with other's cooking which is sometimes embarrassing (they will not eat orange cheddar as I have always bought white fir example).

NovackNGood · 22/08/2012 21:13

The orange is a an added colour.

YesIamYourSisterInLaw · 22/08/2012 21:20

I got to page 3 and was sick of all the smug comments.
OP YANDBU i can't abide fussy people, wtf is wrong with good quality food

Trazzletoes · 22/08/2012 21:23

OP your dinner sounds yum! We are more than happy to come for tea anytime! Btw, for those getting shirty about OPs query about them existing on pizza and chips... They did specifically state that they don't like healthy food so it's not an unreasonable assumption!

greenplastictrees · 22/08/2012 21:31

Stir fry, curries, stews, pastausually with salmon, chicken, sausage or just vegetable. If we are feeling lazy then beans on toast for DP. Pasta with ketchup for me.

MarianneM · 22/08/2012 21:42

Loving the passive aggressive comments and accusations of smug in this thread.

OP, nothing wrong at all with your DH's meal, sounds lovely although I don't eat meat. Beef stew is a big favourite at ours (DD1 calls is beef strude ) as is bean stew.

This week we have so far eaten:

Monday - me: salad and tuna steak, DH, DDs and my mother: chicken salad

Tuesday - Pasta and tomato sauce with anchovies, green beans and olives

Today - me: salad with sole, DH & my mother: salad & pate, DDs: yesterday's leftover pasta

"Healthy food", oh dear.

ModreB · 22/08/2012 21:51

This week

Sunday - Full roast Chicken dinner with fresh veg
Monday - Home made chicken risotto (with left overs from Sunday)
Tuesday - Home made fish pie, including home made cheese sauce and mashed King Edward spuds
Wednesday - Home made keema (minced beef) & tomato curry and rice (DH made this)
Thursday - we will have a takeaway
Friday - we will have home made (no jars) lasagne
Saturday - we will have home made spicy pork with rice

Dh and I both work full time, I do most of the cooking when I get in from work at about 5.30pm. We also take a packed lunch to work/school. It is possible to cook a healthy meal each night, esp if you meal-plan. If someone was coming round with children, I would do something plain, probably with chicken, but if we were going to someones house I would at least expect all the DC's to at least try whatever they were given.

YingTongIddleIPo · 22/08/2012 21:56

It's not 'Come Dine With Me'.

The object of th evening was presumably to enjoy a meal with some friends. It doesn't matter what they ate. OP ate the stew, they ate pizza. OP cocked up with the choice but all was well in the end.

I hope the OP enjoyed the rest of the evening, chatting & enjoying their guests' company, which is the point really.

Glittertwins · 22/08/2012 23:13

Nothing wrong with that meal OP, sounds quite nice! Both of DCs would have eaten it, no problem as would I / DH. I'm fairly confident that most of of friends' DCs would not have eaten it due to cumin, unless it was fairly mild flavouring.

acsec · 22/08/2012 23:21

This sounds lovely apart from the beef (I don't like it) but DP and DSS would eat it.

Tonight we had chicken drumsticks cooked with spices in a roasting bag, home made potato wedges cooked in oven, baked beans and brocolli.

I check what people don't eat if they are coming for dinner then make something than incorporates things they do eat. I know peoplw who 'don't eat healthy food' which I find completely bizzarre!!

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