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?

Crikey, what a lot of aggressive responses! Clearly should have prefaced my post with the word "lighthearted". l'm not at all a snob, I adore my lovely MIL and it was nothing other than a bit of banter between DH and I that triggered my interest in how people ate in their childhood days!

My childhood diet was like your DH's and I don't look back on it fondly! We never even had pasta. It was always frozen potatoes and frozen nuggets. My mum takes every criticism so personally that as soon as one of us said "these Cornish pasties look like dead frogs I'm not eating them" she'd never, ever serve us that again. Not the politest thing to say but c'mon. That's kind of an assumption on my part based on how she behaves now and memories such as the dead frog pastie lol.

She always made a nice meal for her and my dad to eat after we'd gone to bed. Very normal things that kids could eat but we were only "allowed" that meal once we were teenagers and eating dinner at the same time as them. I don't know why she didn't make their meal a bit earlier and have us eat that or make extra and save leftovers and serve that to us after school. She was a SAHM so she did have the time...

My Mum cooked like yours - Shepherd's pie, macaroni cheese, roasts, vegetable soup etc. We all enjoyed her food. Home cooked food has always been a source of pride in my family and meals were sometimes the only time we were all together. We had the odd quick dinner of fish fingers, no shame in that. I still think frozen/convenience food for the most part isn't healthy or environmentally sound and shouldn't form the majority of meals. High salt, fat and sugar content makes some people prefer them but in countries where decent food is valued and offered from an early age there isn't the dependence on convenience food like there is in the UK.

You can follow a recipe or learn how to cook simple healthy meals even off YouTube these days, there's no excuse to never try.

We had set meals according to the day. Monday would vary depending on what meat we had for Sunday roast.

I loathed Wednesday as it was Lamb Chops which were just gristly and chewy.

As a child, I would have preferred the food your MIL cooked

I don't really like the tone of this thread, TBH. It seems a bit sneery, posting online to criticise what your MIL fed her children

In future, how would you feel if your DIL / SIL posted online about your terrible food ?

Dunno. Not sure MIL has forgiven BIL for eating my roast parsnips when he wouldn't touch hers "because they're just different*.

Mine was extremely mixed, lots of pressure cooker stews, spag bog and home made lasagne but also findus crispy pancakes , spam fritters and sausages and mash with vegetables

I am very much the same- I do use ready bought M&S fishcakes or breaded chicken escalopes etc but will put with salad and coleslaw - but will also make cottage pies and chillis etc 2 or 3 times a week

On reflection this thread will probably turn out like the Jamie Oliver one the other day, where people jumped in and criticised his attempts to introduce healthier school meals, while at the same time pretending it was all about his dubious finances.

It's fascinating how food is such a class war in this country. Even trying to suggest ultra processed junk food might not be the best diet for your children makes you to be a terrible snob.

Findus Crispy Pancakes!!!

This chat has made me want to track some down and re-live the 80s!

We had set meals on set days but always home cooked.

The problem with processed food is it always leaves me feeling lethargic and bleugh, so although it's tasty at the time, I wouldn't have liked it day in day out.

Thinking fondly of the food your mother cooked for you when you were a child is about emotion and nostalgia. It's not an objective overview of nutrients and minerals.

yabu

I grew up in the country and we had half an acre of land around our cottage so Dad grew all our veg. We also had apple and plum trees so fruit wise we only bought oranges and bananas. Mum made jam and chutneys with the surplus fruit and veg. We also kept chickens so we never bought eggs and Dad would occasionally kill a bird for the oven. We never had convenience food, not even frozen peas. Mum made everything from scratch like Irish stew, homemade faggots, roast belly of pork with homemade quince jelly, stuffed breast of lamb, steak & kidney pie, pea soup with crusty bread (a particular favourite) and for pudding we'd have apple pies, crumbles and Mum's homemade rhubarb jelly that was sensational. We always had a roast on Sunday. My uncle also used to bring us a bit of fresh caught salmon occasionally so we'd have that in the summer with salad and new potatoes from our garden or a joint of gammon cooked in cider from the local farm. We always ate together.

Subjectively - of course you both think your own Mum’s cooking was best

Objectively - of course your Mum’s was better/ more nutritious - it was proper home cooked food rather than processed crap.

My Mum always cooked from scratch but she cooked alot of Italian food as well as the things you describe (her family is Italian). Plus the odd curry.

I cook from scratch most of the time but there are a lot more curries, stir fry, fajitas etc because that’s the times we live in.

We have delicious home cooked meals from scratch but my house is not against a yummy quick brown meal of nuggets, waffles and baked beans. Given the choice though my kids will almost always opt for proper meals. Even though nuggets are tasty lil' buggers, they're nowhere near as good as a beautiful Shepherds pie or Lasagne.

Your mum cooked meals. It sounds like your husbands mum "heated up" meals.

Your initial post does come across in a fairly serious and non-light hearted way, so that's probably why the responses are matter of fact (not so much 'aggressive').

Objectively of course yours was more healthy.

But honestly as a kid I'd have much preferred potato smiley faces and fish fingers to stew.

Why does it matter if you both have fond memories of your childhood menus?

He only thinks his was more enjoyable because his palate was conditioned by pure shite.

I feel genuinely a tad sad for anyone who can't appreciate the comfort of mince & tatties with cabbage.

Yours was healthier, his more enjoyable.

YANBU to think your mums food was more nutritious and healthier because it was far less processed.

However, whether it was more enjoyable is subjective- kids get used to what they are fed.

You sound like you think you and your parents are better than others. Not a nice trait really.

Does it matter..sounds like you both had good childhood with parents who cared. It's the memories.

I mean, your OP came across as quite snobby.

I do think your childhood diet was more healthy but most children would much rather eat pizza and chips than mince and potatoes

It's not about health, it's about "better" to a kid which is what you enjoyed more. I know I preferred turkey dinosaurs and chips than brown lumpy mince etc. I think it's splitting hairs over health judging on how much salt there was in everything back then, and veg being way over cooked. I actually believe peas are really good for you too!

@StaunchMomma

I do agree with you. I think kids (generally) only prefer processed food because their palates have been atuned to it and often it is all they know. I remember going to friend's houses for tea sometimes and they would lap up crispy pancakes or something similar but I genuinely didn't like it at all (although obviously forced it down through politeness). I also thought it was strange that they didn't eat with their parents.

All you need to worry about is the present, not the past, and what your family eats now. Yes, what your mum cooked does sound healthier but not necessarily tastier. Why wouldn't you serve the dishes that your mum made if they were so good?