AIBU to think this dinner was not junk food?

[FluffyUnionSocks]

My youngest sister is 15 weeks pregnant with her PFB and I find myself having to bite my tongue constantly with the nonsense she is spouting. All of a sudden she is a child rearing goddess after read half a parenting book, I really wish I could tell her to shut the fuck up and that I’ve managed to get my eldest child to 16 years old without her helpful hints. Her comments about how she would never feed her PFB junk food like I was preparing when I was cooking a quick dinner after activities last night nearly saw me commit murder with a spatula.

The meal in question was tacos, quick easy and nutritious I thought but the way she went on and on about junk and frozen/tinned vegetables being highly processed who knows maybe I am wrong and they are seen as junk? So Mumsnet was my quick Monday night dinner as unhealthy as she made out? We don’t get home until just gone 7:30pm on Mondays and I can get this to the table in 20ish minutes and it’s eaten without complaint by all 3 dc.

250g 5% mince beef
1 tin of kidney beans
1 tin of mixed beans
2 tins of tomatoes
frozen sweetcorn
frozen peppers
frozen sweet potato chunks
2 red onions
1 chilli
1 packet of taco seasoning
taco shells
Each plate had a side salad on consisting of bistro salad leaves out a bag, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, peppers, radishes, celery, grated carrot and spring onion.

I should add she managed 3 taco shells of the highly processed mix without complaint.

Magic thank you!

That sounds a great dinner.

Totally off point - I never knew you could get frozen sweet potato chunks. Game changer. I hate prepping sweet potatoes but veggie DD loves them.

total junk… might as well just feed your child micro chips with a side of marg screenshots recipe to add to menu rotation

Unfortunately the new breed of first time mums are absolutely batshit I would have used the spatula as a weapon definitely 😎😆

Oh that is hilarious!!!

I would seriously tell her you have 16 years of parenting experience and to shut her trap.

Or you can wait and just get overt digs in each and every time one of her golden halo ideas gets shot down by reality.

I was once roundly critcised by a friend of DHs who was staying with us. I have a child with autism and sensory issues around food and a restricted diet. he said that his child (by then only a few months old) would never be permitted to be fussy. Ever and i was being weak and setting a rod for my own back. TBH murder with a spatula would have been too good for him.

Now he has a 3 year old who only eats cheesy chips.....

Yeah everyone is a perfect parent until they actually have children! 🤣 you could either tell your sister to STFU, or just stay silent and bide your time, until the day you see her giving her child chicken nuggets etc (it WILL happen!) and give her absolute hell about feeding her child processed food etc.

Some people are uber-perfect parents before they have children! Reality may well make her change her tune.

@aNewYorkerInLondon very easy and quick to make.

Extra large deep sided sauté pan, on high heat to warm the base up, oven on gas mark 3 to warm up for the shells.

• Add beef and break up with the spatula turn the heat down to medium after a minute or so.
• Peel and chop both onions and the chilli add to the mince.
• Empty beans into colander to drain and rinse out a tin.
• Fill the tin frozen sweet potato and empty in then repeat with 1 tin of peppers and sweetcorn.
• Stir in 2 tins of chopped tomatoes plus 3/4 of a tin of water and the seasoning mix. Turn the heat up bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer leaving the lid off. Mix every so often.
• Prepare Salad
• Add the beans for the last few minutes.
• Taco shells in the oven for 2-3 minutes and serve.
.

I would just smile and say in a nice way "oh bless you young child, you are so innocent, it is really sweet, but lets reflect back on this conversation in 16 years, (if im still alive from all this junk food that is)"

The food is fine OP

Elements of it are definitely junk food

250g 5% mince beef - not junk
1 tin of kidney beans - junk
1 tin of mixed beans - junk
2 tins of tomatoes - junk
frozen sweetcorn - junk
frozen peppers - junk
frozen sweet potato chunks - junk
2 red onions -not junk
1 chilli - junk
1 packet of taco seasoning -junk
taco shells -junk
Each plate had a side salad on consisting of bistro salad leaves out a bag junk, cucumber not junk, cherry tomatoes not junk, peppers not junk, radishes junk, celery junk, grated carrot not junk and spring onion. not junk

The question therefore depends on your definition of "junk" food. Is a burger junk it it has salad in (mix of junk/non-junk elements) or do you consider it partly healthy? Likewise a pizza, is a cheese and tomato pizza junk because there's nothing healthy but a pepperoni one mixed?

At the end of the day, who cares though, if you like it, eat it.

you are nutritionally illiterate.

they are obviously on a wind-up.

Meal is fine.....just wait for the day her toddler won't eat anything and she gives a jam sandwich and get your revenge

Clearly this isn’t junk food. You know that. However, I am very impressed you can do that in 20 minutes! Don’t let her wind you up-just ignore it.

She's being an idiot.

Frozen veg has as much nutrients as fresh - fact

plus it sounds like everybody had all or a good whack of their 5 a day.

Are you sure she saw what you were cooking and didn't assume a Tex Mex meal that was mainly cheese?

Oh, hopefully!

I've been reading so many bonkers food threads recently I can no longer tell what's in earnest and what's taking the piss.

How can a chilli pepper be junk food?

Everyone's the best mum in the world until their child is actually born. I think she will probably retract her statement in a year or so

Hahaha, I was also a perfect parent before I had kids.
I have fussy eaters and would jump for joy if they are that sort of meal.

Tell her to jog on and come back in 5 years and tell you how it's working out and if her kids have also read and agreed to the parenting advice.

That’s your ‘in a rush meal?! Mine is something like frozen pizza or fish fingers and chips.
I think you’re doing just fine.

You are being unreasonable shaming all the other mums who serve up true junk food. 😁

I remember being a little silently judgemental seeing pregnant women eating junk before I was pregnant then I experienced morning all-day-long sickness and suddenly couldn’t stomach vegetables so got my first taste of parenting humble pie fairly early. I always remembered this when I was about to judge while pregnant.

It’s a parenting rite of passage and hearing about everyone’s moment of realisation would make a great thread.

@Dotjones on what planet are tinned kidney beans/mixed beans/tinned tomatoes/salad from a bag….and pretty much everything you have labeled as junk, actually junk? The OP wasn’t asking about fresh food, just junk food. If you want to be completely pucky and don’t like pre made food then by all means classify the tacos and mix as ‘junk’ ….although when compared to actual junk food I don’t think it is. But the rest? What healthy food do you eat??

I'm curious what she means by junkfood and would have asked her just that out of interest.

I was particularly worried about the lack of sour cream. 😁

Don't worry OP - but the time your niece/nephew is 4 your sister will be glad enough to stick them down in front of Peppa Pig with a plate full of Turkey Twizzlers.

Your dinner sounds healthy and delicious, BTW.

I am crying at this every time I cook dinner now I am going to announce to myself that random vegetables are either JUNK or NOT JUNK