Enough Food

[LaGiaconda]

Have been out at work today.

The job involves a lot of being on my feet, lifting, carrying, walking round the building. Suspect I put in several miles in an average day.

I had a not huge breakfast at 7.30 am, I had a sandwich and some fruit for lunch but arrive home tired and hungry.

Partner, who had been at home all day, announced proudly, 'It's going to be a vegetarian supper tonight.

They had got out some rice noodles and had chopped up a bit of veg - peppers, carrots, cabbage.

There was no source of protein - eg chicken, prawns, bean curd.

I said, 'It's not going to be enough.' (No dessert on offer)

They got really huffy and sulky 'I don't know what's got into you etc.'

Would you find that enough?

What is a vegetarian supper if not a meal?
Wierd

Not a couple of hundred grams at all.

We often buy raw prawns to cook in garlic and chilli oil, a pack of raw is 170g, thats over a handful. We share them together. OH has slightly more than me. Its about 8ish each from memory

Theres a slightly larger pack of nearly 300g, that would do as well and still only 150g each.

I dont eat noodles or anything like that but if I did, I would have the same amount, no one wants skimpy mean portions

I would quickly feel hungry again if I hadn't had enough protein.

Then you could make yourself a snack!

Easier to fry a couple of eggs to go with the noodles.

Do it properly, do it once!

Well yes, if YOU wanted to do that then YOU could. Still doesn't make it OK to be rude to the person cooking.

Well, it's clearly turned you into a loon. I'm glad I'm vegetarian!

I wouldn't be rude but I would be annoyed if I planned a proper meal when I did the cooking.

Ponderingwindow
It’s all about tone and expectations.

you could have said, “I appreciate you cooking. I’m really hungry tonight. I think I’ll add some X to this meal. Do you want me to make some for you too?”
As someone who was also working all day on a Saturday… op just couldn’t have said that, okay? My mouth could not form those words when hangry after a Saturday working when everyone else was home! 😉😅op yanbu, protein and carbs are necessary on a Saturday night!!!

Again, a vegetable stir fry with noodles is a proper meal. If it's not exactly to your requirements, then it's up to you to fix that, not the cook who is providing a good, healthy, hot, cooked meal.

So you don't rudely say "That's not enough!" as OP did, you politely say "Thank you very much, this looks delicious. I fancy some eggs with it - would you like me to cook you one too?"

There is protein even without a "protein element"

6g in just 100g of noodles
2 to 4 g per portion of vegetable

It looks like we will have to agree to disagree on what is a proper meal. The OP did not mention beans/lentils/nuts or anything similar as a decent protein source so to me that is not a meal.

Again, I said I would not be rude about it but would be upset at the lack of effort.

I think you were tired and hungry after a long day and just wanted to come home and eat and perhaps you were more abrupt than you would have been if you were not quite so tired and hungry. It happens, we're only human.

"That sounds great but I'm really starving, could you add some chicken to that." Might have achieved the desired result without causing an argument.

Just tell your partner you're tired and hungry and didn't intend to be quite so blunt but you would like a more substantial dinner.

Alternatively:

OP was up at sparrowfart to get to work on time and had no appetite for a big breakfast (many of us would be similar). Very busy day at work. Short break at lunchtime, only time to wolf down a sandwich. Possibly not much choice over what sandwich to have. Gets home, utterly knackered. (I'm guessing NHS, but it could have been retail. Both very tiring, physically.) Partner has had a nice day pottering around at home. Partner has not spent hours lovingly cooking a stew or ragu or prepared a lasagne. A few minutes before OP returns home, partner has chopped some peppers, cabbage and carrots - 5 minutes? - and boiled the kettle for noodles, which take a couple of minutes to prepare. Let's hope there was going to be some sort of sauce, from a jar or sachet, or just a bit of soy. Where's the protein? It's not the fact that it's vegetarian that's the problem. It's the lack of something that's going to be properly filling - tofu, nuts, prawns, chicken, shredded omelette, even a cheese course afterwards, or a yoghourt.

OP was up at sparrowfart to get to work on time and had no appetite for a big breakfast (many of us would be similar). Very busy day at work. Short break at lunchtime, only time to wolf down a sandwich. Possibly not much choice over what sandwich to have. Gets home, utterly knackered. (I'm guessing NHS, but it could have been retail.

You seem quite invested.🤣🤣🤣

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Partner has not spent hours lovingly cooking a stew or ragu or prepared a lasagne.

Why does the partner have to spend hours preparing a loving stew because OP works a Saturday? There’s nothing to suggest the partner doesn’t work full time.
Every meal doesn’t need to take hours.

What a lovely surprise to encounter you again on a thread that happens to touch on not eating meat. I always recognise your posts because of your beautiful manners and scintillating wit.

I mostly post about The Archers. I have long experience in fleshing out a few brief sentences into a 3-d world!

There is protein in the meal

But this is the problem of people assuming amounts

100g carrots = .9g of protein
100g cabbage = 1.3g protein
100g peppers = .9g of protein
100g noodles = 4.5g protein

So entire meal for OP, if the only veg she mentions are the only veg in it, could be around 5g, at a push

Of course OP might have double those amounts, still only 10g and as another poster points out, uncomfortably bloating to eat that amount of food in order to get the nutrients in

I eat noodles and vegetables regularly and it’s entirely sufficient if the portion size is reasonable. You could have added a handful of roasted cashews to add protein and make it more filling with no issues.Your response was rude op. Ungrateful even. I’d apologise.

I think if someone has been kind enough to cook me a meal, I wouldn't complain about it before I'd even eaten it.

He hasn't presented you with a cracker and a glass of water. It's a vegetable noodle stir fry. It is a meal.

I cook most nights, and because everyone here has different "I don't likes" I forget who won't eat green olives and who won't eat black etc. Several times, DH will get back and I'll have done something he's not keen on, or forgotten he's been in meetings all day and snacked on the run and is starving, and I've done a smallish meal.

He doesn't complain though. He'll leave the bit he doesn't like, or eat the small meal, then about an hour later "I'm peckish, do you want a sandwich too?" And he makes himself one. Or cheese and biscuits.

Why couldn't you have just done that OP? Eaten what you saw as a small meal, then topped up with a sandwich a little after? The instant turning your nose up followed with the "what, no pudding either?" would have definitely annoyed me.

'Just add' cashews, chicken, prawns, egg etc etc - all assume that these things were there to be added.

Partner relaxing at home all day.
Soy based sauce - with a bit of cornflour - to accompany the noodles/veg.
Main meal always in evening and would contain some form of protein - meat/fish/egg/dairy/nuts or legume/grain combination

For all we know, it might have been the straw that broke the camel's back. Partner might have a long record of not providing an adequate meal, or expecting massive praise for doing some simple and not particularly terrific dish.

🕷< the overinvested/overinfested emoji of choice on The Archers threads, from some years back - yes, it does apply to me here. I've been married for over 40 years and my husband and I do communicate quite robustly when merited. Better than sulking in silence.