Is this an adequate meal?

[Zarabell]

I'm talking in relation to portion size. I know it's technically not a healthy meal but I'm literally thinking size.

Family of 4, an 18 month old, 8 year old, dh and me.

Fish fingers, 3 for dh and 2 each for the rest of us.

Cheese and potato pie made with 5 medium to large potatoes.

1 tin of beans between us.

Of course the toddler had slightly less mash and beans than everyone else.

Fruit and yoghurt for pudding.

What do you think?

Seems tiny to me. My dh would be horrified at 3 fish fingers. I'd give my 6 year old 3 or 4. I'd give half a tin of beans to each person. .less for the 18month old.

What about salads and vegetables? I think of fish fingers as food for children, as has been already said.

Fishfingers are about 50% crumb too, even the better ones.

Cheese and potato pie is basically cheesy mash. We never really have cheesy mash but as I say I wanted to make it tasty for the baby and he loved it. It was really nice with cheese baked on top.

My logic is if you were having a baked potato, you'd have 1 large potato per adult, so 5 potatoes between 4 seemed enough.

It is difficult in my house because dh is really large,

My dh would have 6 fish fingers and me and two ds's (16 and 13) would have 5 each - I have salad with everything and some crackerbreads but that's me - I'm not keen on potatoey stuff (rather it's not keen on me), but even if your dh is on the large side, 6 fish fingers wouldn't harm him - they're not fattening - he could have those with plenty of beans and less of the potato pie and still not have a high cal meal

Not enough fish fingers for DH, the rest sounds ok imo. (We only use a pack of ten fingers between me, DP and DD), one tin of beans and 2 waffles (although DP has 3 sometimes).
That said, I still remember the "6 fish fingers for a toddler" thread a few months ago.

Haha, dh loves fish fingers he just wants more of them. I guess they're not very substantial.

If I was making breaded fish myself we'd have a bigger piece of fish I suppose.

I guess what I made is normal size to me. My logic was dh and his family are all overweight, mine aren't so my portions are correct, but then I don't know what other people do.

3 fish fingers is about 190 cals
1/2 of a large tin of baked beans is about 200cals (assuming he had half the tin which he probably didn't if it was shared between 4)
Say 1.5 large potato mashed about another 300cals
Then maybe 40g of cheese (his portion of the cheese added to) is about 150cals

So assuming he ate a third of what was served up total maybe 850 cal meal. Reasonable maybe but only if he ate a similar amount for lunch and had breakfast of about 400-500 cals

Men need about 2,200- 2,600 calories a day (depending on age/activity)

So the answer can only depend on what else he has eaten that day.

Its more than fine and im 5 stone overweight!!!

I would be stuffed with cheesy mash, beans and 4 fish fingers

Oh OK. Cheese and potato pie is usually cheese, onions, potatoes in a shortcrust pastry which, although a very odd combination with fish fingers, would have been enough. 2 fish fingers, a bit of mash and a fifth of a tin of beans is not enough for a main meal IMO. Also always do 2 big or 3 normal sized potatoes per person for mash. Baked potatoes are much bigger and usually eaten as a light meal or with a filling so its not comparable to number of pots needed for mash for dinner

have just seen there was fruit and yoghurt for pudding as well. Given that I'd say it was a reasonable amount of food

Sound like plenty. 2 fish fingers would be fine for me. My DH would be ok with 3 or 4, and he's plays high level rugby. When I cook potatoes I usually allocate one medium-large per person. I might have bulked out the meal with a shed-load of broccoli or similar, but there's more than enough calories on the plate.

If dh is obese that is very carb heavy - breadcrumbs, mash, beans. 3 ff is relatively little protein for an adult in comparison. Tbh it isnt the portion size as much as the balance.

Seems fine to me. Perhaps if DH ate like that more often, he might lose a bit of weight.

Amazed at all the people saying it's not enough! Sounds fairly normal to me unless very little is being eaten at the other two meals that day.

Also, my 8 year old ate toast straight after school, then swimming lesson, then an apple and a banana before his meal.

Yesterday I ate a bowl of porridge for breakfast, 2 boiled eggs and two slices of toast for lunch and the mash and fish fingers for my dinner and I felt that was enough.

OK, if your 'cheese and potato pie' is actually mash with cheese in, no the quantities don't really sound right, especially without veg.

My logic was dh and his family are all overweight, mine aren't so my portions are correct

"he's fat so I'm right about anything food related" is not the logical way to think.

Not going to comment on the healthiness because you appear to be aware of that.

Are you trying to reduce portion sizes to help DH lose weight? Because, I would say that a larger meal is actually better than a smaller meal that may lead to snacking afterwards. I'd say we would eat that between two of us easily (but we are both doing two hours of exercise at least a day, plus a cycle commute, plus walking a dog).

Also, exercise (sorry I know that's not the point of the thread). It's not all about nutrition.

Are you actually trying to adjust his diet so that he eats less? I think you'll have more success with that if you get him on board first.

My DH and grown up son are constantly moaning they don't get enough dinner. They actually both eat masses but train a lot and are really slim. I get least complaints when they get plenty of meat and veg. Pasta or something ricey and they're souring the cupboard for snacks an hour later.

If I'd made a similar meal for DP and I it would have been:

4 (or maybe 5) fish fingers (I can't actually eat fish fingers so this is from memory from when I could)
One large jacket potato with cheese on top
1/2 tin of beans each
1/2 cup of peas each
Another 1/2 cup of greens or a side salad.

So we'd add a full cup of extra greens in and an extra fish finger.

To go against the grain, I think it sounds fine. I'd maybe do a second tin of beans if I had one (as usually one tin does me and my 2 kids for lunch), and I'd probably take a fishfinger from the 18mo to give to DH, but other than that it sounds about right to me for a lunch, and I'd do that with extra veg for a dinner.

I would agree that 5 medium to large potatoes between 2 adults & 2 small children is plenty of potato.

With regards to fish fingers - only DS1 & DD eat them in our house, but DS1 is an adult (19) and would probably have 4. DD is 5 and would have 2 or maybe 3 depending on how big they were.

I love beans, but wouldn't put them with this meal - except maybe for the toddler who has been poorly if he loves them & you want to encourage him to eat. I would have done two types of veg - probably peas & carrots here but could be whatever you & your family prefer. Plenty of veg will be more filling than 1/4 tin of baked beans.

Is your DH trying to lose weight, or is he happy as he is? I'm only asking because if he is looking to lose some he should maybe try to get used to either smaller portions or larger amounts of veg/salad and less of the potato.

I'm vegetarian, but apart from the fact that I'd double the BB ratio that sounds HUGE to me (I'd have vegetarian sausages instead of FF). I'd also not be able to eat the dessert. I work out for an 90 minutes 3 times/week. Why am I gaining weight? :(

No I am not trying to adjust dhs portion sizes so he loses weight. This is the portion sizes that I've been bought up with, this is what my mum would have made for us.

The only thing I have tried to encourage him to do is to take exercise which he's reluctant to do. I don't care about his weight only that he's now started snoring very loudly, he's falling asleep on the sofa at 9pm snoring his head off then snoring in bed and keeping me awake.

Dh is not on a diet though yes I could have done half a plate of broccoli instead but the dcs and I enjoyed our meal.

Tonight we've got chicken curry made with 4-5 chicken breasts, tomorrow probably stir fry and Sunday will be roast dinner.