to think a sandwich lunch is a "proper meal"

[SelfconfessedSpoonyFucker]

Teenagers are arguing that it isn't and they should have two hot meals a day.

We have bread and sandwich fixings (lettuce, tomatoes, meat, cheese, peanut butter etc) and fruit. Also beans and eggs that they can have on toast instead if they want. They can have as much sandwich stuff as they want so long as it is fairly balanced... i.e. no just eating five eggs and no veggies or half the fruit in the bowl.

They say it isn't a 'proper meal'.

My argument is that

1. please save the other food for family dinners
2. too expensive to eat two big hot meals a day. Two teen boys at home all summer can get very expensive.
3. it has the same nutrition... carbs, protein, vitamins, calories etc as a full meal.

Mrs mook, I've said that I'm happy if they make four sandwiches which by your reckoning would be 2000 calories. Plus there are beans, nuts, eggs, fruit, carrots and tuna always available.

Why don't I give them a budget and let them choose? Sometimes they do that for a family meal. For lunch I want something that is balanced, nutritious and easy to plan a week ahead. I don't want to have to meal plan for lunches, I just want to buy sandwich stuff and be done.

If ds#2 chose his meal would be as follows. Either something expensive like sushi which would fill up his little finger and leave him ravenous. Or something starchy and meaty. There would most likely never be vegetables involved. It would probably be white bread, a hunk of meat and some crisps and a fizzy drink.

For those who don't think sandwiches and fruit are a meal why? If they contains all the nutrients and calories needed? Maybe you should tell my husband that he works all day with just a snack to eat. He makes his own lunch so I'm not sure if he would agree.

Sometimes there are leftovers and they have those. They had something with rice yesterday because it was leftover.

Oh yes, it can be a meal. A while back, I used to cook a lot more than I do now. I'd get my organic and hopefully better welfare for the animals meat from a local butchers. I'd prepare a joint of beef or lovely gammon or chicken/ lamb. Sometimes cold salmon, I'd cook earlier. I'd use slices from this. It ended up better and not so costly considering the cost of decent ham. I made my own bread, less additives and so fresh. Freshly made dressed salad and homemade coleslaw and maybe some relish. Sometimes cheese. I would of course add crisps as a garnish (maybe bit more).

I had never had a better club sandwich at a hotel. Might have had a slice of homemade cake or bun too after.

Think about it. Dinner of meat, veg and potatoes. Protein, salad and carbohydrate. You could use wholewheat or wholemeal bread with seeds or nuts for extra.

This had put in mind freshly made bread with butter and homemade strawberry jam (or any good fruit jam). They could have that for dessert too. It will fill them up. Food of the gods.

Bread is the staff of life, isn't it?

Also those who have a ploughmans at a pub, is that just a snack? It is a deconstructed sandwich on a plate.

Your last post sounds perfect for lunch. You know beans on buttery toast is tasty and filling and full of protein. Easy to prepare and wash up from.

I'd much prefer beans on toast or poached eggs on toast to say something like a mcDonalds or a takeaway. yoghourt and fruit for dessert.

Toasties with ham, cheese and tomato. Or any other filling. They can add onions. This is a dinner really.

IN my experience. It's false economy to buy a load of sandwich stuff....you can make a hot meal for next to nothing.,...baked potatoes not bread, chickpeas in Stews, pastas.....and it teaches them to cook at the same time.

I never make sandwiches.

In terms of economy, I can also make cheaper hot meals than I can make filling sandwiches.

I guess it would involve the teenagers bothering to cook though.

1. it would involve more planning on my part, yes it may be cheaper, but sarnies are reasonably priced and low effort and easy to plan for a week in advance.
2. they are both proficient cooks. They cook an evening meal at least once a week
3. we ran out of bread so today we are having a microwaved sweet potato :)

I don't regard a Sarnie as a proper meal! I'd be starving if I only had a sandwich from lunch til dinner and I'm not a teenage boy.

You have a bread maker? Get them to make pizza dough. Lidl do cheap bags of grated mozzarella and they could use passata as sauce.

A sandwich isn't lunch

I have a sandwich most days for lunch. Marks and Pret make millions of pounds a year because sandwiches are lunch. In which universe is a sandwich not lunch??

Jesus in the hot weather mine are lucky to get 1 hot meal let alone 2. Yanbu
(I don't get hot meal obsession , nutrients are the same )

Goodness I just had soup for dinner (minestrone with beans,potatoes, carrots, tomartoes and pasta in it) and I didn't even have lunch today I am perfectly satisfied. A soup like that is plenty of food (we had bread too obvs)

No way, a sandwich is not s proper meal. When mine are on holiday I (usually) make something that can be reheated for the afternoon meal, so they get the same meal twice but that's tough!

In which universe is a sandwich not lunch - obviously mumsnet, aka the twilight zone. Only this place demands all meals be hot, made from scratch, and to every whim of a hungry teen (who are obviously incapable of feeding themselves). Some people in the world would be grateful for just one meal a day, not wondering how on earth a cheese and ham sanrie will see them through to dindins .

Were having club sandwiches for dinner tonight. Maybe I should just put sliced chicken on the plate, with several rashers of bacon and some cheese, surrounded by lettuce and tomato and dab some mayo on the salad part, add some bread as a side item and then it would be a "proper" meal.

A sandwich is only lunch in the uk. Very few other country's would have a sandwich for lunch.

In the US, sandwiches are lunch. And sometimes dinner, as in my house tonight.

Sure, but there's approx 196 countries in the world. Saying people in 2 or 3 or 4 countries eat them does not mean 'everyone', it means 'minority'.

I see loads of people having sandwiches for lunch in Chile. They always use a knife and fork just as with anynother food. They never ever, ever pick up the sandwich and take a bite. That could be because of hygiene concerns, cultural norms or because they are eating a meal, I have no idea which it is.

We often make more of dinner the night before and eat left overs for lunch.

Or as others have said a baked potato with beans or tuna is good if they want something hot.

I wish I lived in California OP

As I am a UK national living in the US I'm not sure why it matters what lunch consists of in Senegal.

Radio, is it any consolation if I tell you that we have had humid grey days with next to no breeze for the past few days?

A sandwich is only lunch in the uk. Very few other country's would have a sandwich for lunch.

OK, but in the UK it's extremely common to have a sandwich for lunch. Millions of us have a sandwich for lunch. A sandwich is lunch!

Try telling my italian mother you're having a sandwich for lunch. You'll only do it once.
A sandwich is not lunch. It's breakfast