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...

For me it's not snobbery I just haven't found a frozen veg which doesn't taste horrible/go soggy. I have no issue with it in principle just don't like it

This thread is brilliant.

Op I rather like you

And if you don't eat sweet potatoes, scallop them, toss them with olive oil, paprika, black pepper, chilli and a pinch of sea salt and bang them in the oven for 35 minutes

ROFL @ serving sweet potatoes with paprika, black pepper and chilli at a playdate

This thread shows how many different views there are of healthy /non-healthy food. No wonder schools can't win with their lunch menus! Most people would agree this is not a super-healthy meal but it's not junk either. Nothing wrong with it at all and completely serves its purpose. Love the way the poor old fish-finger is dissected on here. It's a convenience food fgs! Great for once a week children's teas! (Or, in this house, dd3's perfect running-for-the-train breakfast)
What we as parents should aim for is a balanced diet and not get hung up too much on individual components.

Why on earth is battered cod better than fish fingers

Very odd responses on this thread.

To me it would be a bit junky as fish fingers and beans are processed foods. They are treats in my house but perhaps I'm ott

Bonded - we get out fish from the harbour straight off the boat, and freeze at home as necessary.
And yes we make own pesto, we make as freeze excess into ice cube portions for when only small bit needed.

Where are all the working mums on this thread who have precisely 15 minutes between coming in from work and having to get dinner on the table? Just me?

Fuck self made battered cod, assorted fresh veg and fruit salad.

It's whatever I can chuck on the table over here, and no I don't think fish fingers, beans, chips and a yoghurt is unhealthy.

Well I hope you make your own olive oil for the pesto out of home grown olives that are stone ground and milk your own cow to make cheese for the pesto and adhere to the strict parmasan protected product rules so it is the right cheese.

None of this is fresh so it wouldn't be something we would have. I bulk make my own passata so would make my own baked beans, I would count fish fingers as junk food as its out of a packet and you could make your own. I would have veg that's in season rather than frozen (ugh!).

Making ice cream from fresh bananas you have frozen is really nice, I blend ours with almond milk and a little honey. The almond milk adds protein and good fats.

The sugar content in the main meal is too high but if it was a better main I would defiantly have the ice cream.

If my DC had this at someone else house though it would be totally fine just not something I would cook for us

Socially - I work full time. The above takes 15-20 mins each evening max. Most things we do in batches so can freeze some for another day also

Bonded - don't be ridiculous. Myself and dh cook standard healthy food. I didn't say we are farmers!

This thread is hilarious! OP, I see nothing wring with your meal - sounds nice and child friendly.

Quite aside from the fresh/frozen debate (and frozen peas are almost always tastier & more nutritious than fresh, unless you're literally picking them from your back garden to serve right away), there's nothing inherently wrong with a food being 'processed'.

All cultures have foods that are sold prepared in some way. For example, olives are 'processed', as is pesto, hummus, pickles etc. Tinned tomatoes increasingly have stuff added to them. Even dairy has been messed around with if it's been pasteurised.

Being processed doesn't make it junky. Look to the ingredients and make your own decision. If you look at the back of a tin of beans there's very little to object to, apart from being a bit sugary.

peas and corn as veg is just as good as broccoli and carrots frozen veg are just as good nutritionally as fresh but some don't taste so good as go mushy like broccoli and cauliflower

fish fingers not as good as fresh fish with no batter/crumbs but just as good as battered fish some fish fingers are 100% fish fillet with crumbs
substituting one of veg for mash does not make it healthier

icecream well having ready her recipe as 100% bananas actually quite healthy but if she had called it frozen banana the food police would have reacted better

not super healthy as in lentill soup with quinoa but not mcdonalds either

Oh I see. Your pesto is full of processed foods then.

I'm still laughing at "Fish fingers are really easy to makes from scratch"

Oh I'm pmsl now

Artandco so it's takes you 15 mins to nip down to the harbour and get your own locally caught fish? Is that what you mean?

Well bully for you but most of us don't live on Old Jacks Boat.

Incidentally, why does it make a difference whether I freeze my fish or whether Tescos freezes it?

I have never, ever heard such utter tripe about fresh vs frozen or processed food as on this thread...

OP what do you eat the rest of the week? More processed stuff?

That's the way bonded, you show the food Police on here. Actually frozen veg is fresher as it is frozen straight away. You don't think tge fresh veg in tge supermarket is fresher? It's probably been lying around for a week before it gets to you!

So called "fresh" veg in uk supermarkets is usually forced, out of season stuff or flown in from halfway across the globe.

I dread to think what that does to its nutritional content.

Where I live we don't get non seasonal veg in supermarkets, so we eat frozen veg.

Much healthier.

Still trying to imagine a house where fish fingers and beans are seen as a treat. Treats in our house are tasty,expensive,unusual foods. Beans and fish fingers are bog standard foods. And there is nothing wrong with them at all.

We have a harbour about half an hour drive away but I can't imaging popping down there at rush hour on the way home from work in order to put something 'healthy' on the table.

We live in the middle of Buckingham, our harbour us about a couple of hours away.

It is socially, it usually has travelled miles or even been flown in.

Well if you want super healthy fish it has to be either wild caught or 'catch straight from the boat' fish. Farmed fish is not as healthy as wild caught fish because unless you know the fish farmer you cannot be sure they are not using antibiotics or pesticides to keep the fish alive until they are big enough.