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?

Oh I used to love the minced beef crispy pancakes!

I rarely buy stuff like that now though as they are so expensive and I am as tight as a ducks arse with food shopping. I dont know if you are old enough to remember Eddie Murphy doing stand up in the 80's but there was one story where he wanted to go to McDonalds with his friends and his mum insisted that she could make it better and cheaper at home, but wanted Maccies with his friends.......thats me

I suspect it may be on Youtube and is worth a watch!

Hi OP, yes they're not the best thing, everyone loves them, they're easy but also thry have bad additives.

Having said that new research is coming through which shows how vegetables in meals help reduce the amount of crap the body absorbs from processed foods. The prob is you've no idea if what you're doing stops it all being absorbed.

Personally, I'd limit noodles to once every 2 or 3 weeks.

Also check any tinned foods https://www.p65warnings.ca.gov/fact-sheets/bisphenol-bpa-canned-and-bottled-food-and-drinks#:~:text=BPA%20is%20a%20chemical%20used,65%20warnings%20for%20the%20chemical. These forever chemicals that bioaccumulate in our bodies may be lurking there too.

Tinned tuna may have Mercury contamination (low volumes but eating enough could be very bad for you) always peel carrots to remove pesticides etc.

Loads of crap in foods, even veggies.... we are injuring ourselves with poor farming practices :(

The above is to show we need to balance potential risks by having a varied diet.

Good luck x

Dried instant noodles without the sachet pack added are fine every now and then along with lots of veg and a protein source
The sachet has a lot of salt so better to avoid it.

Everything in moderation, as they say.

I do a stir fry with the Amoy noodles and add my own veg, beansprouts, cashews, spices, ginger, garlic, soya sauce. Some sesame seeds. It’s extremely quick and delicious.

Have a go at a stir fry if you both like noodles.

Chinese/Japanese is ethnicity as well and it is perfectly possible to be both.
I live in East Asia and noodles are a common and easy food for children and perfectly fine. Instant noodles with their high-salt seasoning sachets are cheap emergency food though and you'd want to limit them.

That’s a really interesting article and I hope MN especially those with babies read it.
Im shocked to read ( I picked up a follow on article ) that dummies contain bpa and those that now say bpa free now contain bps, which is even more toxic.

Really, really bad. This isn't even good for an adult, it probably has barely any nutritional value 😕

These threads always bring out the utterly joyless on MN. Of course some foods shouldn't be eaten all the time, but most people are sensible enough to know that. I can't help but wonder how I and my contemporaries managed to get to this age, with our white bread and rice and potatoes, not to mention mothers baking every week and us raiding the biscuit tins! Having said my piece I will now sit back and eat an Easter egg - and you can keep your dire warnings and frothing to yourselves.

Packet noodles are high in salt so I would definitely not be feeding my young child therm regularly unless you want to knacker their kidneys.

You know it’s entirely possible to buy whole grain instant noodles right?

If your husband is 59 now, he wasn’t a child in the 80s.

Except OP has specifically said her DC has them regularly, multiple times a week. It's the salt content that would concern me, really bad for a young child's liver. Carbs in general are fine of course, especially if your child is a healthy weight and active

Packs of egg noodles are just as easy and quick to make with a stock. If you are adding veg with then these can be healthy.
Quite often the instant noodles with sachets contain MSG.

I do agree with your mother.

Little to no nutritional value, no veg at all which is essential.

Lovely, all the people with orthorexia out on this thread - how the fuck do they think millions of very healthy and long lived Asian people survive

The noodle is the same as our UK potato - it's the carb so you then add the protein and the vegetable.What makes Asian dishes so healthy is the broth part - usually a really good chicken stock with all the marrow etc

So you're doing everything right.

Noodles (plain or the lentil ones from M and S are nice)
Vegetables
Protein (the egg or any meat/plain tofu)

There is a huge difference between different brands of noodles. The cheap ones tend to be full of ingredients I don’t recognise (therefore ultra processed), more expensive instant brands (you can find these at Asian supermarkets) and Amoy etc tend to only have a few ingredients in the actual noodles (wheat, egg, water etc).

Hi OP, nah its not good to eat them too often sorry. Have you tried dried noodles? They work in a similar way you just need to put them in a pan of boiling water.

Dont stress a noodle meal when you need to have one. I just wouldn’t make it as often in a week, make a habit of overly processed meals.

instant noodles with chicken soup and extra vegetable

OP needs to explain what this really is. Soup with plain noodles & vegetables = fine (but check the salt in the soup). Pot Noodle or Super Noodles including flavour sachet = not great, even with the extra vegetables.

Ah yeah. There is a big difference

Did you really not understand how a person could identify as being Chinese/Japanese?

As an example it’s like me saying when asked why I can cook both Middle Eastern and East African foods - my mother in law taught me, she had one parent from the Middle East and another one from coastal Kenya.

I suspect you knew very well what the poster meant and that you were just looking for something to pick on.

Anyone else craving a pot noodle for breakfast after reading this thread?

UABU

Totally unsuitable for a 6 month old, now your DC is older (how old?) but you haven’t been back and specified what type of instant noodles or if this is homemade chicken soup.

Flavoured instant noodles and tinned soup would be far too much salt and unsuitable, even once a year.

I gave the benefit of the doubt for plain instant noodles with homemade chicken soup, veg, egg etc YANBU for an older child.

OP, you aren't doing anything wrong. In fact, well done getting chicken, veggies and soup down your DC.

However, take this and make it healthier to turn it into something highly nutritious. If your DC will eat noodles and twirly goey stuff, then you are onto a winner. Replace it with wholewheat spaghetti, soba noodles and buy a spiraliser and see if they will eat veg trimmed into noodles. Buy a chicken, onion, carrot and some bay leaves and make your own stock, freeze it, and strip the chicken down to make loads of meals.

I used to live in Asia and what you have given your DC is very similar to how they eat. Just make it healthier. Add pak choi, boil the egg, then cut it in half and put it on top. You have the basics there, just clean it all up.