AIBU feeding my kid instant noodles several times a week

[cooknwithbaby]

I had dinner with my DS and my mum saw we were eating instant noodles with chicken soup and extra vegetable I added. She shamed me about feeding my DS instant noodles, saying it was unhealthy.

It's easy for me to make and everybody likes eating it. DS has loved noodles since he was 6 months old. I cook it several times a week. But I usually make it a bit healthier with broccoli. Sometimes I add a fried egg.

AIBU by feeding my kid some instant noodles for dinner?

Just as an example a cheese and ham sandwich contains a similar amount of salt, and many parents make sandwiches daily for thier kids

its true that if you use most supermarket ham - even ‘naice ham’ - and most bread, you’d be doing a lot more damage than most of us would generally realise. For eg mono- and diglyverides of fatty acids in hovis white. Nitrates and nitrites in waitrose own brand Wiltshire Ham.

Not as shite as instant noodles though.

Processed meat is worse than instant noodles.

agreed

OFGS will some of you listen to yourselves.

Yeah it would be lovely if everybody could feed their children lovely homecooked field to plate meals. But you know what that isn't going to happen for various reasons.

1. The child themselves may not eat it. My autistic child wouldn't touch a vegetable with a barge pole or most of my homecooked versions of processed foods either for that matter.

2 I'm lucky home ec was still a thing when I was at school, we were taught to cook healthy foods. I also had family that had time to involve me in cooking (I could and did cook a full roast dinner by the time I was in senior school). Home Ec is no longer a thing in schools and so many children/teens now have parents that both work meaning there was less time to teach them the cooking. (Plus less time to put a cooked from scratch meal on the table every night)

1. For lots of people money is tight at the moment, there are people literally choosing between food and heat. Thankfully I'm in a good situation now, but I've been in that position. I've been in the position where I had to choose whether to have the lights on or cook a meal, the choice of whether I eat or my child eats was always a forgone conclusion. But I had to make a stupidly small amount of money stretch for food. Luckily I had parents/grandparents who had lived through rationing and had been taught ways to make a little go a long way. Lots of people in this situation now don't have that background.

Those of you harping on about how people who are doing their best to put food in their children's bellies (even if it's ultra processed food) are damaging them, reign yourselves in. You're making people who are already feeling shitty about the choices they are having to make feel even worse.

As for the op, depending on the type of instant noodle and whether you are using the "flavouring" sachet, there is nothing wrong with feeing them to your child several times a week as part of a balanced diet. My NT child loved noodles during the baby led weaning days, I used the nests that you just add to a pan of boiling water for a few minutes along with his veggies.

Read the ingredients on the back of the packet. If you don’t know what they all are you should not be eating this regularly, let alone giving it to your children

@WinterDeWinter could you please explain how the study you’ve linked relates to the ingredient list in the noodles and what the relationship is between the two.

simply posting two random unrelated pieces of information shows nothing.

Sorry miss. There is potassium carbonate in the noodles. The study suggests a deleterious impact on the microbiome by potassium and sodium. Thanks miss.

Feeding instant noodles to children several times a week is not a balanced diet. They are simply not a healthy choice. And dry noodles and instant noodles are different things. I really think the mostly time-pressured/cash-strapped parent can manage better than regular instant noodles.

Hello, noodles may be good for an occasion item but do not feel suitable for a regular dinner on there own . Are these the ones you cook on the hob or pour water over. Some are high in salt. A source or protein and vegetables could make them a meal but otherwise feel almost more of a quick snack. What about batch cooking and freezing?

For anyone interested, this is a good app. You scan the food (& cosmetics) packet’s barcode and it tells you what harmful shit is in it. Quite an eye opener.
Don’t know if this link works but it’s on the App Store - YUKA

https://yuka.io/en/

I wasn't going comment but omg what is going on with this post?? Some ppl are responding as if she's feeding pot noodle to a baby from a crack spoon. "Noodles" are DEFINITELY NOT equivalent to crisps. Good grief. Note to self: Do not post about food where the alpha mothers hang out. Even my cheap rectangular aldi ones only say 6% fat. 6% is not "full of fat". They also say 0.43g of salt but a lot of that will be in the little sachet. Maybe we need more info but i don't think hydrating dried noodles (how is that different nutritionally to cooking shop bought dried pasta, Persephone?!), and serving with chicken soup and veggies or sometimes adding an egg is that bad! I'm picturing a ramen bowl kinda vibe. Some people are picturing Maccies and Monster Munch several times a week, I feel.

If the op is still looking (I wouldn't be) I'd suggest maybe widening the repertoire with a bit of salmon. A chunk cut from an adult portion will microwave in seconds.

I agree "it's just noodles". Who is Michael?? 🤣

To use your example, a packet of Aldi own brand instant noodles (just the noodles, not the flavour packet) contains:

Noodles (94%) [𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐅𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫, Palm Oil, Sugar, Iodised Salt (Salt, Potassium Iodate)], Maltodextrin, Flavour Enhancers: Monosodium Glutamate, Disodium 5'-ribonucleotides; Sugar, Iodised Salt (Salt, Potassium Iodate)

A packet of Aldi own brand pasta contains:

Durum 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐭 Semolina, Water.

That’s the difference. Noodles, in general, are fine and not really much different from most standard carb sources. Instant noodles are not the same thing, and have generally been fried and part of the production process. Even without the flavour packet, they are not food that should be consumed regularly - certainly not from six months onwards.

Thanks @VeronicaTimeTurner that looks really helpful.

On the subject of the cost of eating without additives, I've found that we spend about the same as we did when we were broadly 'cooking from scratch' using sauces, stock cubes, condiments etc which contained additives, plus having pizza once a week and probably another 'quality' ready meal. As I said, it's a massive PITA at the beginning while you're working it out but it gets a lot easier as you go on.

Critically, though, we were already spending more than average. What I absolutely couldn't do while also cutting out additives is to provide a very varied diet on a very low budget.

Ultimately, ultra processed food is much cheaper. And because it is sold in such huge numbers, with so little spoilage, it's incredibly profitable.

The upshot is that the NHS/the state is subsidising food industry corporations and their shareholders, who will not have to pick up the bill for the damage they are (knowingly) causing us all, and particularly poorer families.

Thank you I have downloaded this app - been after something like this for ages!

i think if you just do the noodle part without the sachet that’s almost the same as serving pasta isn’t it?! People have pasta several times a week. (Not sure why when potatoes are so flipping excellent!)

or am I wrong about the noodles on their own being not too bad?

Most instant noodles have been deep fried which is what makes them cook ‘instantly’, and the types of oil they use are often high in saturated fat. Even without the flavour packet (sodium bomb), they are pretty unhealthy.

Pasta is just flour and water (dried) or flour, water and eggs. Regular (non ‘instant’) noodles and pasta are pretty much the same, though.

@Davestwattymissus

Good one 🤣