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?

Why not?

Also have chicken, tuna steak, fishfingers and so on

Definitely, we know there are many leading their best imaginary lives online, a bit of escapism from their real lives. I imagine a weekly takeaway for a busy working family is a much needed break/ treat that many people do. Not me, I'm too perfect 😉

I think too many people make a massive fuss about food these days. DH is like this, very much into his cooking and spends a bloody fortune at the weekend. I just don't get it is rather read a book. I do cook but now mine are teens and one an adult it is just so repetitive, also I seem to miss the mark a lot and my variations on dishes because I don't have certain ingredients in does not always lead to the best outcome, the other night for example was a chilli that was sweet as I didn't have chilli powder or chillis so used a Thai sauce with lime in it!

They're just not the kind of things I would have liked.

But then again, they're not the kind of thing I'd want to eat now so maybe I'm not the right person to ask.

Who's telling you they're rubbish? The 7yo?

Quite salad heavy which if dc eats is great (with afew elements not just them eating the cucumber etc). Could do with some protein with the pesto pasta, and afew veg over salad daily might be good variety. Can still be summery- cous cous and med veg, fajitas with peppers and beans. Pulses and seeds are quick and add nutritional value

These sound like decent meals to me - I would probably try and add in some extra veg - halved cherry tomatoes and some asparagus/broccoli/sweetcorn/peas in the pesto pasta, mushrooms, peppers and/or courgettes in the omelette and maybe some fruit & Greek yoghurt for puddings. But overall I think those are pretty healthy quick meals! If DH is complaining, I'd advice him to feel free to devise a healthier menu, shop for it and cook it!

there was salad with almost all of the meals.....

They sound nice to me : )

Maybe get rid of the takeaway and replace it with a simple stir-fry/ or homemade pizza / burgers and chips

Who is telling you they’re rubbish. Your dh or dc?

I always used to try and have a jar of pesto in the cupboard as a go to for dinner if I was tired after work (I’d be, yay there’s pesto, nice quick dinner tonight). My kids (adult) still have it.

Weird combinations where’s the protein? Where are the colors of the rainbow, where’s the texture?
I’ve never seen potatoes and rice served together, generally starches are not duplicated.
salad, rice and beef chilli
salad, baked potato and chicken breast.
Pesto pasta and salmon
egg, pan fried potatoes, ham steak and tomatoes.
DH grew up with two veg per supper meal of which potato doesn’t count. So potato + sweet corn+ beets
potatoe + carrots + peas
potato + salad is okay but that needs lots of veggies
a protein is mandatory each supper.
my kids were not salad fans till more mature late teens.

Not enough protein.

Pasta and pesto needs proper veg or salad plus some protein. IMO. Pasta is basically white flour.

Tinned cannellini beans or chick peas are nice in salads.

Nothing wrong with pesto. Nothing wrong with your basic menu OP. Perhaps some nuts and oily fish could be added for more nutrition. Perhaps knock up a batch of veg soup and have that as a small starter for each meal and that gets more veg in easily.

4 out of 7 dinners with salad and or veg.

It feels a bit light on protein but all sounds delicious. Batch cooking might be the way to go for nights you’re busy - I never cook less than a kg of mince (bolognese, chilli etc) at a time so can freeze leftovers, same with chicken in a sauce etc. They’re easy to warm up and add carbs and veg to for a quick diner.

They sound perfectly fine, normal dinners to me OP.

would probably add a handful of frozen peas to the water when doing the pasta pesto and add a bit of grated cheese.

I think a nutritionist could pick apart anybody's diet and tell us we're doing all sorts of things wrong. But honestly, these seem absolutely fine. Maybe you could do with adding a bit more veg but then again, maybe everyone eats tons of veg for lunch 🤷

My third DC has major food issues relating to autism and basically exists on a diet of fresh air, mini cheeses and the odd banana. The amount of protein, the variety, the salad etc that your family is eating is more than I could dream of my child ever being able to eat. I think you can be pleased that you're managing to feed them a broadly healthy and filling diet, whilst also working in the evenings. You sound very busy. t's not perfect, but who is? Whoever is complaining can always pull their weight instead.

Obviously the takeaways we eat are from the local ran deli that only uses locally sourced, vegan non UPF ingredients in an eco kitchen. We cycle there to collect it as we are very conscious of our carbon footprint. After dinner we partake in fun family activities that are extremely niche outing hobbies in our rural village, but only after we have taken all of our DC's devises away from them.

Do 7 yrs olds willingly eat nuts and seeds?

There was, I dont know how people just give the blanket statement of 'not enough veg and salad', how much veg and salad do people think there is in a dinner for a child.

My beef with salad is that overall it often contains low nutrient food, such as lettuce, cucumber, wet items that are mostly water whereas if someone puts a lot of vegetables in the salad thats more nutritious.

I think the pasta, take away, and omelette could be improved upon.
It depends what your 7 year old has for lunch.

You're not eating many pulses other than the chili.
I'd try veg curry with chick peas, maybe a vegetarian lasagne, or a veg shepherds pie (made with brown lentils) .

I'd not serve new potatoes and rice with a meal. One or the other.

Have you thought about batch cooking at a weekend?

You could easily get 3 meals in the freezer. Make your own sauce for the pasta with some veg as jars of sauce usually contain a lot of sugar. Freeze it in plastic zip bags.

Take aways are often very salty or fatty so it depends what you're having- burgers, chicken nuggets, Chinese, Indian?

'Willingly'
You make it sound like torture!
They can have a sprinkling of seeds on plain yogurt.
They can have nuts as a snack.

Why does potato and salad need lots of vegetables?
OP your dinners sound fine. Who is complaining and what do they want?

Should be 7 out of 7.

Theres very few veg and not much fat? Eg lots of salad (which is full of water mostly) but where are the things like broccoli, carrots, swede, kale, cauliflower, peas etc?
Tbh a lot of these meals seem a bit light depending on the age of the child and what other meals /food they are getting.