Do people really eat a cooked meal every single night?

[JonesyAndTheSalad]

I just can't!

I have done this week as we've got guests so it seems the polite and right thing to do...to cook a meal each night.

But the endless stream of meat and potatoes is awful!

We've had pasta one night but that was also with meat...another night we had pizzas...home made...the other nights it has been curry with chicken and rice and a variety of red meat with various potatoes.

I always ask the guests "What do you fancy this evening?" and it's always meat and potatoes of some kind!

Is this usual? Tonight I just didn't fancy it so said I didn't fancy a full meal and I ate some yogurt...they were a bit

Do you eat like this every night? Or do you sometimes think "Meh I'll have a sandwich" or "The kids will be happy with egg on toast and some fruit"

Or is it only me?

Good for you then, user . Frozen veg definitely helps a lot of people cut down on waste and tends to be cheaper, so it's easier for those on a budget to increase their veg intake. But they're not eating 'proper' meals . Plenty of jarred sauces are not 'chock full of additives'.

DingDongtheWitchIsDangDiddlyDe

What a bubble you live in.

I can assure you there are many homes not big enough for a dining table.

I cook every night though about 1 in 5 of my meals would not pass user1489179512's ridiculous criteria for a "proper" meal

However I don't ever do beans on toast or egg on toast or the like and tbh I have no idea why. I think it was just drilled into me as a kid that you have to have a "proper" hot meal every day though, thinking about it, I realise that the sky won't fall in if that doesn't happen occasionally

"A proper meal is one where you do not take shortcuts so no frozen vegetables, no cook-in sauces etc."

What nonsense, @user1489179512 - and snobbish nonsense to boot.

My parents used to grow and freeze their own veg - peas, broad beans, runner beans etc - I assume you would accept that they were not taking a cheating shortcut when they used those frozen veg? I use frozen veg I buy in the supermarket - and there is no difference whatsoever between the veg I buy and the veg my parents grew and froze - theynare a completely natural product that has simply been frozen.

Or is it a 'shortcut' to buy any produce? If you buy minced beef, isn't that a short cut - even if you can't raise your own beef cattle, surely you should buy the steak and mince it yourself?

And anyhow, there is nothing wrong with the occasional short cut - for example, I use tinned tomatoes because I don't grow my own, and don't have time to preserve shop bought fresh ones.

I cook from scratch most days - but there is nothing special about being a martyr about it, and refusing to use perfectly acceptable products like frozen veg or cook in sauces.

Of course it is better not to use too many over-processed products, but using the occasionally is fine.

I think I can honestly say that I have never podded a fresh pea!

It doesn't count as a proper meal unless you've made the pasta yourself out of wheat you ground yourself on your own grindstone. And served on a plate you made yourself out of clay you dug out of your garden. You philistines.

We usually have a cooked dinner every night but I often don't eat it and would much prefer something like a bowl of cereal. Currently visiting in laws in North Africa where they have a cooked lunch and a cooked dinner and I am feeling so opting for bread and salad where I can.

These sorts of threads always have the same effect on me: I'm so disturbed at the thought o families not sitting down together to a proper home cooked evening meal that I get my cookbooks out and start menu planning in order to erase the unpleasant images of cereal packets and yoghurt pots

Such a delicate flower, Bobo . And with such a fragile imagination, so easily colonised by appalling images of cereal packets. Which I agree are the worst kind of image one is assailed by.

Frozen veg can be a lot better than vegetables that have been in fridges for months.

"I think I can honestly say that I have never podded a fresh pea!"

I wish I could say the same, @GetAHaircutCarl! When I said mum and dad used to grow and freeze their own veg, I missed out the child labour involved - they would pick a huge basketful of veg, and we would have to help pod it all. I didn't mind podding peas, but podding broad beans is horrible. We would sit round the table, almost unable to see each other over the pile of veg pods!

SDT .
We used to sometimes get veg from Harry Wi' Allotment. But it was mostly marrows IIRC ( which do not a tasty accompaniment make).

I've podded peas and broad beans, extracted pine nuts and plucked chickens and birds.
What almost made me throw up was gutting squid. But I'm fine doing it now. :)

bananafish I think we could be best friends who never go out for dinner
I just can't get excited about food, although Masterchef is my favourite programme, but I don't really like to cook and eat meals myself.
I also tell my DC that just because the clock says 6pm they don't have to eat dinner if they're not hungry if they had a late lunch or for any other reason.
I want them to actually be hungry not just eat because they've been brought up to think 'it's dinner time, I must eat dinner'

ImSexy and Bananafish, you are my people!

epoxy yay, I'm going to have a yoghurt later to celebrate

Does it count if I've frozen my own garlic and ginger purée? In little cubes?

And frozen chopped onion is THE BIZ.

What about chickpeas I've soaked and boiled, then frozen?

(You can then make a very quick curry with onion, garlic and ginger, tinned tomatoes, and chickpeas. And add frozen spinach. To be confusing, I grind my own cumin and coriander with a mortar and pestle...but chuck in frozen chopped chilli.)

'I want them to actually be hungry not just eat because they've been brought up to think 'it's dinner time, I must eat dinner' '

And it has to be hot, of course! Hot food has magical qualities, if it's not hot, it's not 'proper'.

I remember when Jeremy Clarkson punched that producer, MIL tried to justify because 'They needed something hot to eat!' 'Well, they should have thought about that whilst they spent hours getting pissed in the pub with a bloody chopper our license fee paid for waiting to take them back.'

I tend to cook a 'roper meal' (hate that expression) most nights but admit I am so bored by the whole procedure, deciding what to cook, finding something we all like, buying it, cooking and then it is wolfed down in about 5 minutes with the usualy arguments with teenage DS about putting your phone away blah blah blah. yes, we all 'sit down as a family' but it is far from my favourite time of the day. I have this lovely image of a 'Walton' family sitting down and exchangng pleasantries about how they spend their day when our reality is nagging about exam revision, DH moaning about his work, me wishing I was doing something else.

My best nights are when Dh and DS are out playing sport and i can lie on the sofa on my own with my choice of TV and a large glass of wine and plate of cheese. .

Not sure what a 'roper' meal is .

I only ever use frozen chillis and coriander. There's too much waste otherwise. Frozen peas are the holy grail of vegetables in this house. They are so good for you and because they taste sweet my dc love them. Saying that I refuse to serve them as part of a sunday roast.

I love frozen peas. But they are the only frozen veg that get eaten in this house, as the other stuff is generally reviled by the male contingent (I was brought up on it so am more used to it but do understand that it's not always the most pleasant texture!)

Wish I could grow my own peas, used to love podding them when I was little (although probably 1/3 of them got eaten before they got anywhere near the pan) - I mean, I probably could grow my own but the weather here makes it a bit hard, and the boys like to eat them off the bloody plant before they ever grow to a decent size, so a wee bit pointless. Frozen peas rock though!

Derail ahoy – cowgirls, does frozen coriander 'come up' OK, so to speak? I always throw away tons of it because I can't get through it all before it wilts; I've thought about freezing it but it's such a delicate herb.

I use frozen diced onions and garlic, frozen peas, broad beans and broccoli, as well as chestnuts.

Oh, and I freeze pineapple too. It's great for home made pizzas and it comes out well in salads too.

There is nothing wrong with frozen veg fresh would go to waste in my house, saw a thing with some chef and jack Monroe and they were using tinned, veg doesn't lose vitamins apparently however you have them.