To give visiting child hotdogs for tea?

[EssieTregowan]

With baked beans, so that counts as healthy, right?

Just an idle ponder really as I know this particular 4yo's mum doesn't mind at all. But when ds2 starts widening his friendship group are the other mums going to judge if the fare on offer is quick stuff like pasta pesto, or nuggets, or plastic sausages?

Tuesdays are really the only day we can have his friends round, but it's also the day the shopping comes and it doesn't come until 4.30 so dinner is very often the quickest option .

Would you judge? Or would it not even cross your mind?

I wouldn't be happy.. I'm really lax on what my child eats, but draw the line at hotdogs!

I loathe pink slime type hotdogs, sorry, it's just nasty stuff - I wouldn't eat it myself and I wouldn't feed it to my own kids, so I won't feed it to visiting kids either. We serve normal 95% meat proper butchers sausages as 'hotdogs' when we do them, and if I've planned hotdogs for a playdate then I do mention that they're proper sausages to the parents. That said I'd never comment to other parents directly about what they served my child.

My DCs would LOVE to come to yours for tea OP. They both love hotdogs and I very rarely buy them. It is an absolute treat to them.

Check with the Mum if it's okay OP. I'm sure she won't mind. If she does, then beans on toast is an easy quick solution. Sorry if you've already said OP, but are they in full time school already? If they are, and they've had a meal at school they might not even want much. Can you pick up sandwich stuff and finger foods if you can at some point today until your shopping comes?

For those saying what crap is inside (admittedly) inside them. Fair cop but it's once in a very long while. Whatever you do don't google what crap you'll find in other non hotdoggy foods. You'll have an aneurysm

When they were 4 and they had friends round for dinner after school the food was way down the list of importance. I did't faff about. I may have asked the Mum what the visiting child liked but I didn't fuss about it.

Fast forward 12 years or so and now they just order a Dominoes and get it delivered.

Whatever you do don't google what crap you'll find in other non hotdoggy foods. You'll have an aneurysm

Agreed AwayWith. There's a reason I also bread my own chicken breast fillet for escaplopes and nuggets.

It wouldn't bother me one bit if mine had a hot dog at someone else's house.

I generally do pizza, corn on the cob, sliced cucumber and chips.

But if they don't like pizza I'd go for fish fingers/nuggets, chips, peas and sweet corn.

But it wouldn't bother me if my dc ate a hotdog .
to the Hotdog Haters

Thankfully, in RL and not MNiverse, people would unclench enough to know that one hot dog meal won't destroy their children and that, actually, being fed and having a play day with their pal is a lot more important...

Serve the hotdogs. And if any parent is crunchy enough to be about it, avoid that child in the future. They won't be worth the hassle!

I found that when the kids were teeny and play dates involved the mum or dad coming round as well, people vied to show how healthy and creative the snacks and meals they offered were. Now they are older and the parents don't come round anymore, it is always sausage, chips and beans, or pizza.

Teatime playdates with friends are the days you are allowed to serve crap though as there is a higher probability kids will eat it 😂 This still applies now they are 15 and Dominos is the go to friends round meal!

My DD loves hotdogs, so does DH, they are actually on our 3-week mean plan... I've never eaten one in my life, . Seeing as they take about 5 minutes to cook, can you offer an alternative, maybe one of those little supermarket pizzas (takes about 8 minutes in the oven), or a toasted sandwich instead? All could be served with veg sticks or a piece of fruit after if you're worried about the comments from the child's mum.

I am wondering though for those of you who says " use a better quality sausage" Would you be asking for the type of sausage used if the mother had said they had "hotdogs"? or would you simply assume it was tinned hotdogs?

I am partial to a hotdog (Its the Danish in me ) However we make them with Unearthed Bavarian Frankfurters they have 82% pork in them. This is because I can't stand the tinned types of sausages and the herta are N*stle (I boycot them) However I would still simply say " we had hotdogs" Never go " oh but with 82% meat in them. Some of the value or own brand sausages in some supermarkets are grim in % However would you haveany issues with say Sausages and mash or Toad in the Hole. on the menu? Yet if made with Tesco Value sausages they only have 42% meat in them. Asda 37% Sainsbury 51% Morisons 17% (yikes) Waitrose 65%

Yet would you think that the hotdog was less of a meal than Sausage and Mash or Toad in the hole. Where actually they have had a lot less meat content and a lot of other " stuff"

I only have 2 out of 4 who will touch baked beans yet they would all happily tuck into Toad in the hole.

Mine are teenagers now so this is not a issue. However I have never once asked a mother on being piked up from a play date. " did you use good quality meat for that meal?" I trust my own ability and that of my dh to ensure our children have a good balanced diet, I dont worry about the few easy meals they consume here and there.

I wouldn't give it a second thought ds has this for lunch at a friends recently

Only though that came to my mind was I must pop to ikea soon as hotdog when leaving is a must

Yy Mrsder. That's the whole point of sausages.

A proper sauasage innabun, CMOT Dibbler style is a proper treat.

Beans with hotdogs?

Don't they fall off?

Never had that as a combo before!

Hotdogs in a bun, beans in a little bowl to the side.

Food of the gods

Pleasant. Do you know how much sugar is in that of yours?

Well it's one meal it won't kill them.

However no one here likes those revolting frankfurter things.

Sausages they love though.

I wouldn't be bothered if it was my DC even if it's something I wouldn't give them it's one meal at a friends house so no big deal

I'm another one that can't get worked up about this. You can get "proper" sausages and shove them in a wholemeal bun if you prefer.

The weird thing about hotdogs in relation to MN is a child is twice as likely to choke to death on a hotdog than a grape, yet there's a MN obsession with cutting up grapes. Why aren't people as worked up about hotdogs? Just an observation.

Also, if it says "95% pork" or similar that just means it came from a pig. It doesn't specify which bits. A uni friend whose family ran an abattoir claimed it was all the bits they swept up off the floor at the end of the day. Grim.

Well it's bound to have better ingredients in it than the hotdog !

First world problem here people-parent giving my precious snowflake a hotdog

Do that thing where you stick dried spaghetti through hotdogs and then cook it - kids will love it!

I personally would have said nothing, I wouldn't mind but I would assume that's how you normally fed your kid. For the simple reason when my daughter had friends over I usually made sure to make an effort to give them something remotely healthy even if it was just beans on toast. I'd also always just ask the parent if there was any food restrictions and what the child likes to eat. I'd not have just fed them something unhealthy as some folks are a bit weird about it.