To think bangers and mash implies veg too?

[Crowsaregreat]

My kids love sausage and mash. I always do it with at least one type of veg, preferably two. Peas, carrots, broccoli sort of thing.

We stayed with PIL a while ago and MIL did sausage and mash that was exactly that - sausage, mash, gravy. Then recently my DM did the same.

It won't do DC any harm but I thought it was odd. I don't think I'd ever give DC just meat + potato for dinner unless it was a desperate situation. AIBU to think it's weird to have a dinner with no veg?

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand

Even a Maccy Ds comes with a slice of lettuce, tomato and gherkin!

What health benefits do you imagine those add? One slice of tomato and some soggy lettuce?

A McDonald’s is not a healthy meal but it is a great occasional cheat meal (to me). Seriously, pretending the tomato changes anything is a bit silly.

I grew up WC, but my parents didn't bring me up with beige food. Plenty of carbs, yes, but also lots of veg. The thing we didn't eat that often was meat, as it's expensive.

To this day, my dad (who was a manual worker before be retired) cooks curries, stir fries etc. with loads of veg in. Being WC =/= happy to eat beige, boring food.

So sick of the stereotyping of WC people you see on here.

It just rounds it out a bit @PurpleDaisies
Not having it is something missing from the meal. Like just having a bun with lettuce would be missing something else to round it out (the burger)

I don't eat Maccy Ds, but my point was that I do not believe it is the norm to be served meals with no veg when you eat out. Not in my experience anyway.

If even Maccy Ds is able to add a slice of lettuce, I would expect any decent restaurant to do a lot better.

@FlumpyPoodle

Was it Joe Wicks that started this 'broccoli trees' thing?

My kids used to have a Little Dish ready meal when they were small that was called macaroni cheese, peas and broccoli trees. Then I started to make it myself. This predates Joe Wicks by several years.

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand

Where I live, fish and chips comes with mushy peas as standard (e.g from our local pub). It is not an example of a meal that normally comes without veg.

Nor is burger & chips.

Even steak fries usually comes with a very simple green salad.

Seriously, if I ordered burger & chips in a pub and it arrived as literally just burger and chips, I'd consider myself to have been ripped off.

To be honest, I really don't understand why restaurants and pubs put a tiny bit cold salad on a hot plate of food in the first place, lol. It's like they're trying to say "oh, it's healthy because it has some warm lettuce and half a cherry tomato with it".

My expectation is that any meal I cook either contains at least 2 servings of vegetables per person or is served with 2 portions.

When I eat out I'd expect meals to either come with with veg/salad or contain it. So a tomato based pasta dish with onions and peppers or whatever would be fine on it's own but i'd expect a side salad or side veg for a cheese or cream sauce if it didn't contain veg.

Pizza/burgers etc would generally have a salad also. If it was roast dinner or steak pie etc I'd expect a couple of veg. Steak with roast tomatoes and veg etc.

But as a PP said, eating out if you aren't doing it nightly isn't really the issue if you are eating well at home.

I guess an exception for me would be if I had a chinese or indian takeaway, there wouldn't always be veg i guess if it was chicken curry and rice type thing.

@PattyPan

It just rounds it out a bit *@PurpleDaisies* Not having it is something missing from the meal. Like just having a bun with lettuce would be missing something else to round it out (the burger)

Having a bun with lettuce and no burger is in no way comparable to having a bun with a burger but no lettuce to “round it out”. It’s bonkers to pretend otherwise.

What do people think a potato is...?

I don't like fruit, or vegetables or salad. I make an effort to eat some veg with my main meal most of the time, but that's about it. If some people want to eat veg at every meal, good for them, but it's a personal preference.

If even Maccy Ds is able to add a slice of lettuce, I would expect any decent restaurant to do a lot better.

But the addition of a tiny little salad or some lettuce in a burger bun doesn't make the meal any healthier. It's no "better" to order a burger with some lettuce than it is to order it without (from a health point of view).

A tiny bit of lettuce and a couple of slices of tomato doesn't turn it from junk into health food.

@BadNomad

What do people think a potato is...?

It was my ancestors’ staple diet.

I would put some green veg with it, but I wouldn't be surprised (or bothered) to be served it without if someone else was cooking.

I’m just trying to get across how I feel that a meal without even a token amount of veg feels incomplete @PurpleDaisies

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand

I grew up WC, but my parents didn't bring me up with beige food. Plenty of carbs, yes, but also lots of veg. The thing we didn't eat that often was meat, as it's expensive.

To this day, my dad (who was a manual worker before be retired) cooks curries, stir fries etc. with loads of veg in. Being WC =/= happy to eat beige, boring food.

So sick of the stereotyping of WC people you see on here.

I was brought up working class and we ate a lot of beige food. What vegetables we had were stewed to death or were peas or baked beans. Also had same sort of food at my friends' houses. Until we moved to a more middle class area anyway. It's not stereotyping, I'm talking about how I grew up in the 1980s, I'm not making it up.

That wasn't my point. My point was that lots of posters are claiming that it's normal to be served veg-less meals when you eat out. But that is not my experience at all. Whether it's eating in a bog-standard pub, or at a fancy restaurant, I've always seen some veg included.

No, a slice of lettuce does not transform Maccy Ds into a health food. But it's totally disingenuous to pretend that veg-less food is standard fare at restaurants etc. because it definitely isn't!

And no, there might not be veg in every single course, but in the meal - yes!

People are talking as though eating veg in all or most of your meals is an unattainable, high-falutin' goal that only the pickiest, most health-obsessed eaters could aspire to. And that WC people would never do such a thing.

It's bollocks!

Mine would be sausages, mash, peas and onion gravy

Nah, I eat veg veg veg cos am obsessed with keeping healthy (have a long term health condition) but when it's bangers & mash it's bangers & mash.

Very occasionally have a bit of broccoli on the side but I don't think it's expected or wanted by most.

It's not stereotyping, I'm talking about how I grew up in the 1980s, I'm not making it up.

Well not all WC families in the 80s ate like that.

We didn't eat a 00s diet (different foods were available, and I'd certainly never see an avocado in the house), but it wasn't beige.

Yeah I just don't get it without veg
It's like eating chicken and mash without anything else. I wouldn't serve someone meat and potatoes with nothing else if they came over

I have veg with mine OP 😁

No, a slice of lettuce does not transform Maccy Ds into a health food. But it's totally disingenuous to pretend that veg-less food is standard fare at restaurants etc. because it definitely isn't!

I suppose I don't really think that, say, a cheese burger with a slice of tomato inside is meal with vegetables, though.

I like cheese and onion flatbreads but I wouldn't say it "contained vegetables" just because it had a few bits of onion on it.

@BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand

People are talking as though eating veg in all or most of your meals is an unattainable, high-falutin' goal that only the pickiest, most health-obsessed eaters could aspire to. And that WC people would never do such a thing.

It's bollocks!

If the bar you’ve set is a piece of soggy lettuce in a McDonald’s, that’s achievable. People are questioning what’s the point if you’re eating plenty of veg generally.