To do beans on toast once a week?

[MollyAndMuck]

Doing a different work pattern soon and two nights a week will be a lot of pressure to pick up DCs (infant age) from after school, feed them and not end up putting to bed too late.

I can't cook from scratch these nights and realistically don't think I'll be organised enough to batch cook for both nights.

AIBU to give my kids beans on toast every week for one evening meal? I know it's UPF but at least it's some kind of veg and very quick. They'll be having a hot lunch at school and are pretty good at eating it.

Beans on toast is fine!! Loving “Everybody fed, nobody dead”

That's totally normal OP. Suggestion; sprinkle cheese into the beans if you are heating up on the hob.

I think we might live quite different lives if 40 mins is a super quick meal for you! Simple, maybe, quick, no.

I completely agree OP. Reading comments like how a risotto that takes 40 minutes to make is a quick dinner is crazy to me. I wonder what these people make when they’re not doing a quick dinner!

It really does show the variation that exists, and I bet a lot of people just assume their way is the norm . Like I assumed using a bottle of pasta sauce and combining it with pasta and some vegetables was cooking a meal using ingredients, until I stumbled on a mumsnet thread where everyone was adamant that unless you’d made your own pasta sauce (and pasta preferably) you were basically serving a ready meal.

Amen to all of that! They may be like TV cooks who just reach for a bowl of vegetables which have already been washed, topped, tailed, peeled and chopped. Everything already measured out. No wonder they can knock a dish up in a couple of minutes! They put something in the oven and pull out an identical dish that's already finished cooking. Not quite normal home conditions where you get a carrot out and find it's gone a bit bendy with age so takes a while to peel, the ancient pepper you wanted to use up has a bad bit that needs cutting out, the sundried tomato paste you were sure you had turns out to be sundried tomato pesto, you can't remember where the new packet of rice ended up in the cupboard, etc etc. (These are my home conditions, anyway.)

40 minutes if it's bung it in the oven and forget about it for 40 minutes....traybakes and the like.

40 minutes stirring a risotto is what I do when I want a bit of me time in the kitchen not a quick meal.

prawn curry in 30 minutes including chopping..

Stirfry in 15 including chopping.

Yes of course. We have a jacket potato plus stuff evening once a week and the favourite is beans and cheese.

None of our meals take more than half an hour to prepare usually on weekdays.

No issue at all!

I do "something on toast" at least once a week for my family! Whether that's beans, spaghetti hoops, cheese or eggs (whatever I've got in really!)

It's also a good way to keep costs down a little bit.

Fed is best regardless of food/formula!

Everyone has different circumstances, not just work related, timings etc. Fed is best if you’re able to put something, anything on the table. There’s literally no shame and long as they go to bed with a full tummy so I’m not sure what you’re getting at!

I’ve only heard that phrase used when it’s breast versus formula, because that is, for some people, a contentious issue.

But we are not talking about something as fundamental as first milk here, it’s beans on toast! Which is a perfectly healthy filling normal week night meal, and healthier than a lot of starchy carby meaty meals others are suggesting are ‘proper’ meals, like saisage and mash or bolognaise. I’d wager that beans on toast is healthier than either of those two meals.

Well I remember our home ec teacher saying that beans on toast is a nutritious meal.

My kids love beans on toast with a fried egg. We like the Crosse & Blackwell low-salt/low-sugar ones more than Heinz. We are very strongly against UPF but not to a crazy degree.

We used to have a jacket potato night. Can't remember why. But you can add salad on the side and then do different toppings. Also pasta with tomato sauce or grated cheese, with salad was also popular.

I think there's a huge difference between UPF beans on a square of white Chorleywood and some decent baked beans on a slice of sourdough or multigrain with maybe a dry-fried egg... 😋

UPF beans? I buy M&S beans from Ocado - 50p for a 400g tin. These are the ingredients:
Haricot Beans (49%), Tomatoes (33%), Water, Sugar, Cornflour, Salt, Vinegar, Dried Onions, Paprika, Paprika Extract, Flavouring, Onion Oil, Garlic Extract

Please point to the ingredients or processes that make this humble tin of beans into ultra-processed food.

Exactly exactly this.

It is nutritious meal, beans are nutrient dense and count towards your 5 a day. Good carbs, protein and other nutrients. Bread is fine, butter is even better, cheese is good protein and calcium, chuck an egg on it for more protein and more nutrients.

People are talking on here (some people) as if 'it will do', it will more than do, its a healthy balanced meal.

Oh god and fuck off with the sourdough shit.

My version of this is tinned sardines, egg & baked beans/salad with toast. Very quick to do & my DSes love it. Also relatively healthy & cheap.

Well you’ve heard it here too! It’s no big deal because there literally isn’t anything wrong with beans on toast, it’s better than nothing, hence, if it’s easier for you and they’re fed, it will do along with whatever else people choose to feed their kids.

It’s quick tea options for when you’ve not got much time after school, a couple of other options when you may not fancy beans on toast.

I still don’t get the point you’re trying to make. Yes, fed is best tends to be a term used when feeling babies but fed really is best regardless of what you choose to feed a child of any age.

I pretty much agree with you although I feel like you’re comparing beans on toast to something incredibly unhealthy like a plate or dry chicken nuggets or something. Or when you say ‘fed is best’ it kinds of sound like you don’t think beans on toast is a legitimate meal. IDK lol…

Can you get a bag of salad leaves and have a few on the side and or chopped cucumber,red pepper, carrots or celery

With beans on toast? Seriously? People don't do that do they?

This is such a great idea! We have some sort of weekly beans based meal and I'd never thought of this.

I work a late shift and when I get home I have to walk the dog so I often don't get to start cooking until 10.30 at night. Yes, sometimes I slow cook something and sometimes I shove a ping meal in the microwave, but other times I LOVE a toast dinner! Scrambled egg, beans, tinned fish, grated cheese - all delicious. Made even more delicious (in my opinion) with a veeeeery thin layer of Marmite on top of the butter before you add the topping.

And I agree that there should be more of these threads on 'how to make a dinner in less than ten minutes.'

Why though? It doesn't go with beans on toast. What is the point of randomly dumping bits of lettuce or Cucumber on meals it doesn't go with. Have that with something else. Not every meal has to be completely balanced.