To not understand the obsession with ‘hot meals’?

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As in “kids need to have a hot meal”, “They haven’t had a hot meal today” etc

Is it just short-hand for a more substantial meal or do people think there is some magic about food being hot that makes it more nutritious?

Is, for instance, a tuna pasta bake superior to a tuna sandwich? Or sausage and mash better than ham salad?

Well, I dunno, but im pretty certain science has a more accurate grasp on these things than Help The Aged.

Surely they use it in the same way many people have discussed in this very thread, its an idea, a concept that a 'hot meal' is a good thing, a necessary thing.

@WiddlinDiddlin

Well, I dunno, but im pretty certain science has a more accurate grasp on these things than Help The Aged.

Surely they use it in the same way many people have discussed in this very thread, its an idea, a concept that a 'hot meal' is a good thing, a necessary thing.

A hot meal for the elderly is a good thing. The issue is that many elderly people who live alone dont bother or are unable to cook and so dont get nutritious food or meet their basic nutritional requirements. I cant believe how stupid this thread is. Its not rocket science that hot cooked food is more palatable than the raw ingredients. Ridiculous!

I don't really like salad even in summer! We live in the northern hemisphere and a cold climate. Children need hot food as it warms them up and is more filling generally. The whole point of marcus rashford meal campaign was to feed children whose parents struggle to have food and enough gas or electricity to cook a hot meal. Sandwiches or salad would be very boring very quickly!

Definitely needed a hot dinner last night!!
It's cozy food season!

I bought a tin of hot chocolate yesterday thoroughly enjoyed it mug of it last night. Haven't done that for years

Crikey OP, I have three hot meals per day, every day.

I suppose it depends on how you have defined a hot meal. Theres a world if difference between chicken fajitas and chips and a beef stew with dumplings. I wouldn't want a beef stew on the hottest day of the year but I can always manage chips!

@Sunflowerfieldsofgold - yes, but NOT because it actually warms you up.

Lots of older people won't cook for themselves and as a result will eat less nutritious cold meals, less calorific meals etc. Encouraging or providing hot meals helps them to eat more calories which will help them stay warm.

I think you get energy from the heat and the body doesn’t need to work so hard/expend so many calories on maintaining body temperature, so you end up with a net gain of more calories than if you consumed a cold meal of the same caloric value.

"so you end up with a net gain of more calories than if you consumed a cold meal of the same caloric value."

If that was true, slimmers would have caught on a long time ago.

I don't get it either. My DH is one of the people that just can't end the day without a hot meal, and thinks it would be some cruel method of torture to have cold food. Whereas I think it's just food, and I have what I feel like.

I think it's leads to him/us eating more that we don't need, as even nights when we aren't really hungry or don't feel like cooking, he ends up making something anyway or ordering take away because "we need a cooked meal!".

It drives me mad, frankly.
I'm happy with a sarnie.

@OhGiveUp not being snarky but how do you achieve this? How do you manage with time etc? Do you mean soup/scrambled egg/cheese toastie is a hot meal or 3 actual cooked from scratch meals with several components ?

@Gwenhwyfar

"so you end up with a net gain of more calories than if you consumed a cold meal of the same caloric value."

If that was true, slimmers would have caught on a long time ago.

Really? Slimmers believe all sorts of nonsense that isn’t true.

For example, that everyone extracts the same amount of calories from food.

It’s just an idiom in the English language.

Next up: the obsession with square meals. Is a sandwich more nutritious than a pizza? What about if I cut the curved bits off?

It's just a saying. It's nothing to do with the heat of the food. It just means a proper big meal, as opposed to a sandwich etc.