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Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

A cheese and onion pastry is not junk food

188 replies

Cheesepastymum · 08/09/2015 20:45

Mil thinks it is. However is contains three veg (potato, leek and onion) and dairy for calcium.

That surely.means it isn't junk right? It has a lot of good stuff.

OP posts:
googoodolly · 09/09/2015 09:24

Is it too early to go to Gregg's for a pasty? I'm pregnant if that makes a difference Grin

I had a Gregg's sausage roll for breakfast (frozen from Iceland) and I'm definitely not pregnant, so no - I think you should have one to make me feel better!

PinguForPresident · 09/09/2015 10:01

Absolutely junk. And now I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed one.

RiverTam · 09/09/2015 10:09

God, how dreary some people are. It's fine, just like any food is fine as long as you don't eat it all the time.

TheHouseOnTheLane · 09/09/2015 10:12

Tam but the question was "is it junk food" not "is it fine to eat all the time"...

RiverTam · 09/09/2015 10:18

It's some pastry, spuds, cheese and onion. Where's the junk? Yes, it's not especially healthy but Christ, do people really go about breaking their meals down like this?

TimeToMuskUp · 09/09/2015 10:24

I'd count it as a 'junk' sort of treat rather than a healthy supplement to a day's food intake.

But I ate an entire 6-serving M&S trifle last night by myself in one sitting, so can't be relied upon to make wise food choices at all.

BabyGanoush · 09/09/2015 10:38

It is junk food, processed and mass produced.

Mainly because it has this disappointing sludge inside, it would be lovely if it was just filled with real cheese and onion...which it never is.

Did you know that a lot of pizza/pasties etc. are made with fake cheese? I think it's about 80%. It's some kind of soft fat with artificial cheese flavour that has been chemically processed to melt just like cheese (stringy). It's called analogue cheese.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/19-20-pizzas-contain-fake-3789462

www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/07/fake-food-scandal-revealed-tests-products-mislabelled

TheHouseOnTheLane · 09/09/2015 10:40

Of course it's junk Tam It's full of saturated fat!

If I coat a sprout in sugar and deep fry it, it's no longer one of your 5 a day! Grin

LookAtAllThesePhucksIGive · 09/09/2015 10:50

Overthwmill. I need that recipe. Immediately.

RiverTam · 09/09/2015 10:52

And a recent report in the BMJ found that the case against saturated fats is no where like as strong as previously thought.

CarpetBagger · 09/09/2015 10:53

over my mouth is watering

Pengweng · 09/09/2015 10:53

Junk food - but a tasty one.

WorktoLive · 09/09/2015 11:13

God, how dreary some people are. It's fine, just like any food is fine as long as you don't eat it all the time.

^This, a thousand times over. A pasty, or other delicious greasy treat once or twice a month - absolutely fine. Once or twice a day, not good.

It's the balance of the overall diet that's important, not every single of item of food consumed.

Do the food police posters exist solely on 'good' food? No 'unhealthy' food ever?

Margiemar · 09/09/2015 12:44

If its hand finished then it isn't mass produced and I'm sure the ones from waitrose contain butter.

If it was from lidl it would be junk though.

OTheHugeManatee · 09/09/2015 12:55

This thread has forced me to make a giant cheese scone for my lunch Grin

LadylikeCough · 09/09/2015 13:13

"If its hand finished then it isn't mass produced and I'm sure the ones from waitrose contain butter."

I used to work in a factory that produced cakes for several supermarket chains. 'Hand-finished' just means 'has been prodded gently by someone wearing a glove, as it speeds past them on the conveyer belt'.

I worked an entire shift 'hand-finishing' lemon meringue roulades, and all that involved was folding them over once. Next person on line folded them over again. Voila: a hand-finished roulade. Artisan bakery at its best.

KitKat1985 · 09/09/2015 13:18

Oooh I love a cheese pasty. However there's no point kidding ourselves here - it's not healthy. If it's made with fresh ingredients though and not just rammed with e-numbers and additives I probably wouldn't classify it as 'junk' exactly, although it's high in fat, calories and only has micro amounts of veg in (not enough to class as a portion) so I'd still have to say I'm afraid that it's unhealthy. BUT I'm an 'everything in moderation' kind of person, and if you had one today and rest of your food was nutritious and had plenty of fruit and veg in, then it's fine. Can you tell I'm trying to justify to myself that Snickers I just had? Grin

Margiemar · 09/09/2015 13:18

Yum roulade!

OK maybe they are semi mass produced.

Maybe a cheese and onion pie would be better - could fit enough veg for a porton or two in there.

Theycallmemellowjello · 09/09/2015 13:18

I don't see pastry or cheese as junk food. If junk food is food with very little of nutritional value, then I actually think a decent pasty is not junk food. That doesn't mean you should have it for every meal, but it's not junk.

mightypissedoff · 09/09/2015 13:22

Another "everything in moderation" here.

Love a good pasty, especially Greggs.

BernardlookImaprostituterobotf · 09/09/2015 13:55

I fell out with Greggs after the pasty incident. It had peas in it. Dirty bastards.

So now I have piqued myself into a sausage roll and corned beef hash free zone because of my pasty protest (and the gravy? I can't talk about it, terrible). But it will be many a long year before I can get over peas and bisto in a pasty.

That's the main reason we don't Greggs any more. How do I explain that to my impressionable children? That some people think it is ok to do that, in public. No, no, no. No thank you very much. Won't anyone think of the children?! With pea filled pasties right at eye level. Disgusting I call it.

LadylikeCough · 09/09/2015 14:12

"It's the balance of the overall diet that's important, not every single of item of food consumed.

Do the food police posters exist solely on 'good' food? No 'unhealthy' food ever?"

All the stuff about balance and moderation is true, as is the conflicting data about whether saturated fats are good/bad/necessary/evil... but it totally misses the point that, if someone is asking whether a processed cheese pasty is junk food, then they're not making informed decisions about the balance of their diet. If you can't identify which food is low in nutrition and high in sugar/salt/fat, then there's no hope of striking a balance.

If I consider a processed pasty to be quite decent and healthy (three veg and calcium), then maybe I'll have one for lunch and treat myself to a McDonalds for dinner -- I know fast food is 'junk' but that's okay, because I've already eaten a decent lunch, and so a balance has been struck.

It's taboo to say this on MN, because it sounds patronising or snobby, but some people genuinely have no idea about the nutritional content of food. (I am allowed to say it, though: one of my parents has the worst diet known to Western man.) I think it's more condescending to act like this isn't a problem; as if everyone's obviously eating their cheese pasties as part of a well-balanced diet: cheese pasty for lunch, but quinoa salad and grilled tuna for dinner, of course.

If you've been brought up with no clue about nutrition, it really muddies the waters when no one's ever allowed to make a public statement about any food choice without endless, convoluted, well-meaning discussion about how no food is good or bad and everything's completely fine as part of a balanced diet. This is right -- but all the pedantry, nit-picking and snide references to 'food police' actually denies some people the basic information they need to form that balanced diet in the first place.

colley · 09/09/2015 14:33

Eat what you want. But yes it is junk food. Maybe your DM is trying to educate you about good food choices?

Margiemar · 09/09/2015 14:47

I'm going to have peas on toast. Carb heavy coma here I come.

wasonthelist · 09/09/2015 15:20

It's junk, and I should know, I eat this kind of junk far far more than I should.

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