you can't possibly call a meal junk food if it had all of your 5 a day!

[bonded]

So a few weeks ago we had a play date that went well. Friend just what's capped me asking for advice for a meal tonight. I said recently that this went down well and is super healthy:

Baked beans, one of your 5 a day
Fish fingers, good source of ohmega and protein
Frozen sweet corn and peas, frozen has more nutrients.

Pudding frozen bananas whipped up into ice cream with a little chcoclate sauce and chopped dates.

Said friend called meal a bit to junky. I thought it was really healthy...

Why on earth not insancerre?

I don't think that the carb-heavy statements are all about the evils of carbs, but that beans, peas and sweet corn (and dates and bananas) are all at the carb-dense end of the veg spectrum. I wouldn't have the slightest objection to my kids eating that meal, but I wouldn't claim it as super healthy. I'd probably offer some cherry tomatoes, cucumber and carrot sticks, but I am probably influenced by the fact that my kids loathe peas.

What constitutes a 'super healthy' meal?

Super healthy for me would be something like mackerel, brown rice, broccoli, spinach and carrots for example. My kids happily eat this, but I wouldn't serve it on a play date!

PMSL at all these posters proclaiming their children happily eat beetroot raw and kale with a side of organic salmon.

Sure they do.

Yes. This thread is hilarious wankery.

In all seriousness can some super healthy from scratch person talk me through a weeks menu? I'm planning my menu for the week and could use some inspiration!

rita - I do not confess to be super healthy. My teen DC eat their fair share of crap and we have crisps, biscuits and chocolate in the house That said, we eat reasonably well.

My menu this week will be something like -

Monday - chunky vegetable soup using a lot of root vegetables from a delivery from the local market, chunky bread.
Tuesday - I have chicken thighs, olives, tin of tomatoes, will make a spanish type 'stew' in the slow cooker. With rice
Wednesday - vegetable and chick pea curry
Thursday - wraps, with home made chilli and salad.
Friday - likely a take out.

Tonight I have beef and ale in the slow cooker, with extra butternut squash chucked in and some mushrooms. Served with jacket spuds, carrots, cauli.

Also made apple cakejack from the MN book for tonight and will make a banana cake, maybe bake some cookies/cake. There's also a really easy tomato sauce recipe that makes at least two meals, that I might make.

DC take a sandwich, fruit juice, another piece of fruit, cereal bar and a packet of crisps for lunch.

It's probably not perfect, but balanced, which is fine. The DC will buy some crap food from the shop and pretend they haven't, I will tut then ignore

I think people's idea of what is healthy varies so much.

I made a lasagne the other day. It has lots of fat - béchamel and cheese.

But it also has 2 onions, 3 carrots, celery, 400g of chopped tomatoes, 100g of mushrooms. Served with salad or peas on the side.

To me, that's a nice meal I'd enjoy with loads of veg. Do people consider that a healthy meal or not?

I am not a super-healthy from scratch person (Wednesday is always frozen pizza night), but not do the healthy meals sound ridiculous to me.

Next week's menu plan:

Monday:
Edamame beans
Stir-fried chicken and veg (probably leeks, carrots, mushrooms, and broccoli. The children will pick out the mushrooms
Rice
Green salad
Fruit

Tuesday:
Cauliflower salad
Chicken soup
Garlic bread
Green salad
Cheese

Wednesday:
Aldi frozen pizza
Carrot and cucumber sticks
Cherry tomatoes
Carton of orange juice

Thursday:
Pepper sticks
Salmon with chorizo and tomato sauce
Broccoli
Sweet potato mash
Green salad
Fruit

Friday:
Tomato and cucumber salad
Chive omelette
Veg depending on what looks good when I am shopping
Green salad
Cheese or yogurt

Saturday:
Loads of raw veg with garlic mayonnaise
Baked potatoes with tuna mayo/baked beans/cheese/yogurt
Green salad
Fruit

Sunday:
Beetroot, watercress and goats cheese salad
Beef and root veg stew
Mashed sweet potatoes
Garlicky greens
Ice cream

I have no idea what the "not do" is meant to be. The healthy meals don't sound ridiculous, though.

I like the sound of all the meals above, needa and molly.

This thread shows how messed up we have all become about food. You only need to look at the range of views on this meal to demonstrate that no one really has a clue as to what denotes a healthy meal anymore.

Very sad.

That's the kind of stuff I do needa and Molly.
I do a fair number of one pot slow cooked stews too, they're always yummy and you can hide lentils etc in them.
Rather than worrying at every meal whether it's healthy or not, I make sure I do that at point of purchase - ie the supermarket. I fill the large part of my trolley with fruit, veg or meat; pure stuff only. Then the small section of the trolley can be all the packaged stuff. That way, I don't need to think for the rest of the week about what we're eating.

Alice - yes, personally I would consider that healthy. It's a far cry from a bacon double cheese burger and fries

I would add that sometimes the DC will come in from school and head for the chocolate or crisps, sometimes they will have whatever I might have made myself, sometime they will go straight for the fruit bowl. Which is ok by me.

molly - can you let me know what garlicky greens are please as they sound lovely

arethere - I love the slow cooker, but that's a different thread!!

I take some green leafy veg (cabbage, greens, spinach, chard, sprouts, whatever is around) and stir-fry it/cook it in a bit of fat over a high heat until it wilts a bit. Then I turn the heat down and add some garlic, grated to a puree. If it needs to soften a bit, I will add some stock and cook over a low heat for a whole until the stock is absorbed/evaporated.

To me, a healthy diet involves plenty of fruit and veg and not too much fat, sugar and salt. Whether or not the food is "homemade" or "cooked from scratch" is not that big an issue.

Molly can I ask how much your average weekly food b I'll is and how many people in your family?

Your menu sounds lovely but there's a lot of different ingredients there and I can't help but think that it must cost a bit.

bill obvs....

Thais week will probably be around £80 including wine and cleaning stuff, plus bread and milk top ups.

For how many people?

For 2 adults and 2 children.