To think my mum's food was better than his mum's?

[Flauralaura]

So, my mum was a very traditional, old school cook. We grew up on stews, roasts, vegetable soups, mince and potatoes, lots of basic fresh veg like cabbage and carrots, cheap/quick tea nights were scrambled egg or toasted cheese sandwiches, rice pudding, apple crumble for deserts, all fairly stodgy and hardly any of which I would make for my family now, although I have fond memories. MIL apparently never cooked anything from scratch, it was all beige food out of the freezer, nuggets, fish fingers, chips, waffles, frozen pizza and lasagne , and the only veg hubby ever encountered as a child was frozen peas. We don't eat like that now either, but hubby is convinced his childhood diet was much more enjoyable! What sort of meals did your parents make for you back in the day, and am I being unreasonable to think my childhood diet was healthier and more enjoyable?

Enjoyable is subjective. YABU.

My childhood diet was more like yours in my earlier years (meat and two veg, lamp/pork chops, liver and bacon, boiled potatoes etc) and then more like your husband’s when I was a bit older/teens. Mum was working more hours by then and Dad had a long day commuting and wasn’t home in time to cook for the family. Also, it was the early 90s and we’d just got our first microwave which was very exciting 😂 So that time period involved more beige food- Findus crispy pancakes, microwave curries, potato waffles etc. Mum still cooked at the weekends though.

I had school dinners and didn’t like eating a cooked tea so I used to have sandwiches, salads, jacket potato or tinned soup and the like.

Saturday cooked meal tended to be the beige food with beans and Sunday was always a roast.

Everyone's mum does the best. Obviously.

Why are you comparing? Is it related to what you are feeding your DC? It feels like a bit of an attack on a MIL if you're insisting your mum was better at cooking, even if it's nutritionally better. If it's just taste - who cares, you like what you had, he likes what he had - everyone's a winner!

Sounds like your stealth boasting your mum was better than his 🤷. Who cares, as long as he was loved and happy!

Does it matter? If you both grew up happy with how you ate and have a healthy attitude to food now then that’s the important thing.

A child's appreciation of their diet is not usual based on nutrition though is it, if he loved his childhood food, he loved it, pleasure is subjective, you can't compare how much you enjoyed your food before you two even met!!

Well I'd much prefer your childhood meals to your MIL's, and they were no doubt healthier than processed junk, even if they were a bit heavy
But enjoyment of food is subjective, so there's no 'who's right / wrong' here.

We had meat, potatoes, & veg on Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday. Roast on Sunday. Monday the bone from roast got stewed up. Friday it was pay day so we had fish & chips, & Saturday it was a mixed grill.

Food is emotive. To be honest yours sounds nicer but he clearly has happy memories of his, so there is no comparison. That said, when my Mum was dishing up mince and tatties I’d have bitten her hand off for crispy pancakes and potato waffles.

My mum always cooked from scratch and I remember being so excited to go to a friend's where we got fish fingers and baked beans! I thought it was heaven!

Yabu op. Why compare?

Convenience food is enjoyable - especially to kids - high salt, fat and sugar. That’s why we’ve got an obesity crisis. Your mum’s food was probably healthier but it doesn’t make it more ‘enjoyable’ to the palate of a child. Your snobbishness toward your husband’s family is probably the unreasonable bit.

Why do you care? He doesn't agree with you. Why is it such an issue about nothing.

Everyone's mum does the best food. My mum and my husband's made very similar meals growing up but we'd still say our mums were the best! I think you're just being a snob about "beige" food. Let it go!

I think to a kid, chicken nuggets might be more appealing than stew or mince and potatoes.

Anyway, I am not really sure why you're giving this headspace.

Not everyone's mum, mine could burn water. I learned to cook at a very young age 😂. We used to have packet noodles, hotdogs and beans mixed together in a bowl as a regular as a small kid, the thought still makes me want to vom.

YABU to even compare - it's irrelevant really, just do the best to feed yourselves (and any children) going forward.

YABU to think that its a competition and to think that you've somehow won.

My childhood diet was much more like yours. My Dad was a keen gardener with a biggish vegetable plot so there was always plenty of fresh, seasonal veg in our diet and Mum cooked very traditional meals.

She had to really as I think my Dad was probably the most conservative eater I have ever known. I don't believe he ever ventured anywhere near a pizza and I could probably count on one hand the number of times we were served fish fingers. Once when I was home from University I had some dried spaghetti I had brought back with me so offered to cook it for tea. Dad had only ever had spaghetti out of a tin so was horrified when I served. "But it's white!"

After I left home I was able to get more adventurous with food and cooking and these days we eat a wide variety of things. However I do still enjoy traditional meat and two veg type meals. I think my diet as a child was pretty healthy.

Just nope.

The only skill my mother had was the ability to mess up whatever food she tried to cook (when she could be bothered to try and cook at all, that was)

My MIL on the other hand was a great cook. She managed to frighten the crap out of me when she fed me the first time. My portion was what I assumed was to share with everybody!

So no, not everyone's mum is the best.

No my mums cooking was and still is atrocious.

This is not most people’s experience but we would be sick and have diarrhoea all the time and now I see why!

@Tdcp yeah good point! That does sound grim😂

It isn't about the foods its the memories ! don't piss on someone's' chips! Your Mum was your favourite, his mum was his.

When I was a kid I'd have much preferred nuggets & chips over mince and potatoes