Are my dinners rubbish?

[Sowhatbigdeal]

Been told they are

Here’s an example of an average week, more or less:

Monday (I work at 6, so do something simple)

Feta & red onion salad with new potatoes & rice

Tuesday

Pasta with jar pesto (working today)

Wednesday

Dh to do omlette/eggs on toast with salad (working today)

Thursday

Salmon, salad, new potatoes

Friday

Homemade chilli with rice, nachos & dips

Saturday

Takeaway

Sunday

Roast dinner/homemade lasagne

Are they?

I think the pesto debate is a bit redundant because pesto can be lots of different things.

It can be homemade ( or a good brand) with olive oil, pine nuts, even cashew nuts which are reasonable quality proteins, quite rich in pecorino or Parmesan, and can have ingredients like spinach or roquette blitzed in. If it’s that kind of pesto it’s got a reasonable range of nutrients.

It can also be jars made with canola oil, very little or no cheese or nuts and preservatives and fillers like potato starch. That’s a different type of food.

FFS. Quantities of basil and pine nuts are not enough in a normal pesto to count as one veg serving even combined, and the sprinkling of cheese is insufficient to count as a full protein. A whole wheat pasta serving will not meet 20% of your daily fibre needs.

It's tasty, it's fine, eat it if you like it! If you want to call it healthy though then you need to add some vegetables and protein.

The most important point is, who is telling you that your meals are rubbish? If it's an adult, they can jolly well cook instead.
But anyway, I think these meals sound fine. You could add baby spinach to the pasta and pesto; just stir it in so it wilts.

PS I quite often make a curry that includes potatoes, and serve it with rice and sometimes – hang on to your hats! – naan AS WELL.
The food police haven't been round yet.

Not rubbish - but not what I'd call 'hearty' either. Other than the chilli, they seem more like lunches than dinners.

Also, takeaway once a week is probably a bit much.

Fresh peas, chopped asparagus spears and/or roquette are also yummy with pesto op.

Add extra cheese and nuts by grating over the top.

But provided it’s just one meal of the day that’s perfectly ok op.

But individual meals don't need to contain all necessary nutrients, as long as they're in the overall diet, it's fine.

That’s nice for the occasional meal but all three of naan, rice and potatoes at most meals isn’t healthy. There’s very little to commend naan from a health perspective.

The OP says Dc suddenly decided they didn’t like peas. Asparagus spears and roquette would both be lovely.

Exactly. Provided it’s adding some quality nutrients to the diet, not every meal has to be heavy-lifting.

Things like crisps, naan and donuts I have an issue with.

OP said she was working, so her kid was at school that day. Personally, I count any nutrients from school lunch as a bonus at this age, because the amount eaten and nutrient quality is an unknown. So if you have 0.5 portion with dinner plus say 1 fruit, then you're expecting the breakfast to carry 3.5 fruit/veg as well as 80% of the fibre and 99% of the protein for the day. Maybe it did, we weren't asked to look at breakfast too, but it seems unlikely. Fine as a one-off to top up on other days. It doesn't make sense though to explicitly call the meal "quality nutrients" when it isn't.

@Sowhatbigdeal who has complained? I can't see where you've said this.

I think there are potentially more nutritious meals you can cook with the same time on making salads and potatoes.

Consider getting a slow cooker and pop ingredients in and set timer before going to work? Can unlock a lot of potentials here. That or an instant pot.

What about one pot pasta recipes?

A stir fry with rice?

One tray bakes?

But that doesn’t make it unhealthy. Not every single meal you put into your body has to be perfectly balanced in order to be good for you.

@OhHellolittleone

the salad already has 5 different vegetables in it, plenty of variety

@Jumpingthruhoops

hearty meals aren’t needed in summer

Hearty meals are ALWAYS needed 😀

I think that sounds fine, maybe do spaghetti bol one day as that is easy and not long to cook

@Jumpingthruhoops

nah, who wants a stew or a casserole or whatever when it’s blazing sunshine outside?!

I never cease to be amazed by how weird some people on here are about food.

Rigid rules about what a meal must or must not contain, what time of day or year a particular food can be eaten, what combinations may or may not be eaten, the compulsion to add random salads and vegetables, limits on daily frequency of hot food, the list goes on.

Do none of you ever eat food for enjoyment's sale or think 'I really fancy eating X' and just eat it without any of this mental gymnastics?

No one said anything about stew or casserole. Hearty in my mind just means something that will satisfy an appetite/hunger, which many of those meals would not.

It must be exhausting!

I think they sound lovely add salad with the pasta on the side some crusty bread .. somwtimes we just shake it up a bit not same meals every week .. I never cook a roast in spring /summer end of .

I do but I’m fat so… l
last week I just wanted quiche and salad so I had that
if I wanted pesto pasta I would have it without changing it

DS will only eat curry (made with lots of veg and pulses 😇) if it is served with naan and lashings of mango chutney 😂😫On the plus side he's not really bothered about the rice though so at least he's not having double carbs😏