To think this is far too much food?

[LemonSherbetFancies]

Made a saucepan of bolognese mince and DP gave it to my 2 grandkids aged 8 and 9. Alongside pasta. They ate the lot. Aibu to think this is far too much food for 2 kids and also annoyed as although I hadn't said, it was also meant to be for us. He knew I was late him from work so feel a bit pissed off that I know have to cook something else.

@Newusernamelalala

If they were hungry enough to eat it then it wasn’t too much food. But yanbu that he should have given them half, saved half for the adults, and given them something else. It’s way too much meat for just two people. I feel a bit sick thinking about it

I don't understand why people keep saying things like this. People do overeat sometimes. Also, there's this concept of cooking a family meal that some people don't seem to get, ie cooking a meal for the whole family, not just those people who happen to be in at the time.

@LemonSherbetFancies

I made it for me and the kids, DP just wanted the pasta which he was going to add some pesto towards.

I agree with 2 small kids eating 500g of mince between them with some pasta is shocking.

"Shocking"?

If they were hungry enough to eat it then it wasn’t too much food

I could eat an entire Black Forest Gateau but I doubt I'd be doing the right thing for myself.

This thread has made me laugh so much .

Biscoffs post made me tear up a bit - wouldn't we all love her/him as a relative ?

Op, I have many grandchildren and if this had happened in my house Id laugh about it and it would go down in the future as the day the boys ate all the dinner. In fact I’d probably even tell them they’d need bigger shoes to go home in and a pair of grandads trousers

Rejoice in the boys, fill your heart with the joy of them and know how lucky you are to have them round your table.

But,given the OP's description of the meal " a saucepan of bolognaise mince " and her recipe ,I suspect the mince was the kind that rendered down to very little .

I wonder how much pasta grandad had ,maybe he was enjoying freedom hall and went wild and had ...a lot! And the grandchildren not much ?

Yeah I agree that is a lot of food for 2 kids! You say they ate late, how late? Were they usually hungry? If it's a one off just leave it , it's done now. In future dish it up yourself rather than offering the whole pan I guess

It's a lot but they were obviously hungry enough to eat it, or perhaps it was just really delicious!

@ElizaDarcysDeeds

Can all the food purists shaming OP for her recipe bugger off? You're starting to sound like Jamie Oliver with your assumptions about what everyone will have at home as cupboard staples and what people will know how to cook.

This. I make my own version of spag bol with no carrots or celery, but with tomatoes and lots of Asian spices. Sue me!

This. I make my own version of spag bol with no carrots or celery, but with tomatoes and lots of Asian spices. Sue me!

I don’t understand why you’d call that a bolognese. It sounds lovely but bolognese means something. I’m not fussy about whether there’s celery or not but Asian spices is a pretty big departure from traditional.

@hangrylady

It's a lot but they were obviously hungry enough to eat it, or perhaps it was just really delicious!

Then you give them extra pasta or bread.

The mince is the main component and would have been more than enough for 3 people.

Meat is not cheap, I pay £7 for 500g of lamb mince made from meat with fat removed, which would feed four people.

@PurpleDaisies

This. I make my own version of spag bol with no carrots or celery, but with tomatoes and lots of Asian spices. Sue me!

I don’t understand why you’d call that a bolognese. It sounds lovely but bolognese means something. I’m not fussy about whether there’s celery or not but Asian spices is a pretty big departure from traditional.

It's made with tomatoes, mince and spaghetti. What would you call it?

You don't own the term spag bol.

I could eat an entire Black Forest Gateau but I doubt I'd be doing the right thing for myself.

Not really comparable. Spag Bol is a nutritious dinner for kids.

Presumably it would be a lot to eat on a regular basis, but as a once off I couldn’t be getting worked up about it. My kids are occasionally extra hungry and eat big portions. No biggie in the context of a good overall diet.

And holy crap who cares what people call their pasta sauce.

This place sometimes 🤦‍♀️

YNABU , but your DP was BU. The bolognaise shoud have been served with a pile of veg

@TheKeatingFive

And holy crap who cares what people call their pasta sauce.

This place sometimes 🤦‍♀️

I think you will find the generic term to be "Ragu" - a "sauce" is more what would go with the meat or otherwise, not the amalgamation.

I was hoping somebody else other than me was thinking this! If I understand correctly, in Italy pasta is a starter served in small portions with just a small amount of ragu or other sauce, and followed by a main course of meat or fish and vegetables or salad. I assume Italian restaurants here found that British people were unable to adapt to this so turned spag bol into a main meal dish with a vast amount of meat. Most bol/ragu recipes I see on here are more like a mince stew with veg. Tasty, I'm sure, but bearing as much resemblance to an Italian dish as old school British curries did.

Who cares what they do in Italy though? We're not in Italy. It's not Right and Correct to eat pasta that way, it's just different.

Of course, it’s the size of the entire meal that counts and not just the quantity of mince.

If I made Bolognase with 500g mince, I would add carrots, mushrooms, leeks, peppers and passatta. There would be enough for 6 adult portions to go with pasta.

In my mind, no-one needs 250g of red meat at one meal. Clearly, these boys could eat it, and if there was little else with the meat, then it will have looked a lot less food than my bolognase would.

Communicate a bit better about how much of the food is the for them….that seems the simplest answer. Plus, have a word with DS about what normal meat portions are.

@ILoveShula

YNABU , but your DP was BU. The bolognaise shoud have been served with a pile of veg

I hope you’re making a mn joke,the heaps of vegetables oft served with all meal on mn

@TheKeatingFive

I could eat an entire Black Forest Gateau but I doubt I'd be doing the right thing for myself.

Not really comparable. Spag Bol is a nutritious dinner for kids.

Presumably it would be a lot to eat on a regular basis, but as a once off I couldn’t be getting worked up about it. My kids are occasionally extra hungry and eat big portions. No biggie in the context of a good overall diet.

^This

When I cook food at home in my own kitchen I've have you know I'm following my own white English food culture of stealing ideas from around the world and bollocksing it up. Because I can't pick fresh mangos off the tree, my coriander has gone limp in the rain, and my avocadoes have been lobbed about in the Aldi warehouse.

Well, if they ate it all then it wouldn't have been enough for you as well. Or it was just too delicious!
You should have been clear that it was for you two as well, then he would have kept some back. But then, would the children have asked for more/still been hungry?

You don't own the term spag bol.

Weirdly aggressive response.

What I meant was if I said I was making spag Bol for dinner, most people would know what that meant. Asian (or Indian, or loads of chilli or whatever) would be unexpected. I’d probably call it Asian style bolognese or something.

I mean, I don't even make a "Shepherd's Pie" or "Spag Bol" with mince, I use green lentils. That would have your average nonna crowning me with a large pan, no doubt.

@HarebrightCedarmoon, italian pasta and pizza is delicious, British pasta and pizza are grim

And I agree that overeating is a thing…even in children.

One of the reasons for the obesity crisis in kids is no sense of portion control.

I’m not saying everything should be weighed and limited and joyless. Simply, some sense of what a normal range of different components of a meal are, and not encouraging eating and eating and eating.

Any people can be greedy and overeat because the food is nice. If it’s there in front of them, children might lack self control and if they regularly overeat and eat fast, their bodies lose the ability to tell them when they are full. It is a serious issue and not just a case of it’s always fine to keep eating if you feel like it. A bit of a binge every now and then does no harm, but kids or adults should be able to feel and know when they are doing it and to not consider that just eating and eating is a good regular idea or normal healthy eating.

[quote ILoveShula]@HarebrightCedarmoon, italian pasta and pizza is delicious, British pasta and pizza are grim[/quote]
Certainly not uniformly. British pizza used to be grim in the 90s, we get it right a lot of the time now. I've had disappointing meals in Italy.