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?

OP has already said no one is complaining but she is worried if they are healthy for a 7 year old.

It wouldnt be enough for here really. Salad isn’t a main meal in anyone’s opinion in this house. And nor is egg on toast. ( who eats salad with egg on toast?!) it does all sound a bit lazy and then a takeaway on the weekend? , but you do you.

Pasta with pesto sauce lovely but hardly any protein so poor nutritionally. Add grated cheese or a can of beans or chick peas

I think your diet sounds fine. Don’t beat yourself up!

My DD also loves pasta and pesto and won’t eat it with veg in so i might add some peas and carrots on the side and maybe a corn on the cob. But they do sometimes just have it plain. Sometimes you have to just have an easy meal.

For us adults I cook some onion, mushrooms, pine nuts and spinach then stir it in. Takes the same amount of time as cooking the pasta and makes it feel a bit more nutritious (but kids won’t eat it.)!

She says she's been told they're rubbish. It's right there in the title and opening line.

To me salad veg are an accompaniment to a sandwich lunch - they are mostly water and less nutritious than more substantial veg. I'd want to be serving salad bits like cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, celery with lunch then at least 2 veg with dinner eg broccoli + carrots? Or kale + carrots.
Also it would depend on what the meal is composed of eg id add extra veg like root veg, parsnips, swede, carrots, to a shepherds pie and maybe some lentils too which makes it quite different to just mince onion and potato.

I wouldn't look forward to dinner on Mondays to Wednesdays, but hey, I get it. After a long day at work you just want something simple to put together that'll fill you up. My kids love pesto too but usually we'd make it from scratch. It's easy because there's no cooking involved, just pounding and mixing of the ingredients together, and it tastes so much better than the jar versions.

who’s said they’re rubbish? Seem fine to me! X

If people have fruit and veg at lunchtime, they might not need it in the evening as well. We have half the story here.

I put peas in it. And sweetcorn at a push. But I like this for dinner. Extra cheese too sometimes.

Aldi do a small stir in sauce with olives which is delicious.

Fruit available after dinner
In winter I do vegetables like carrots, broccoli, cauliflower etc, just changed to salads etc, not sure what else I could add?

I think it's odd you only eat salad stuff in summer.

There are zillions of veg and you can easily serve them with pasta or risotto.

Each week we always have a combo of these in the fridge or freezer

Mushrooms
sweet potatoes
mixed sweet peppers (roasted in the oven or for stir fry or veg curry.)
broccoli
spinach
kale
savoy cabbage
aubergine
butternut squash
carrots
celery
leeks
onions
potatoes
frozen green beans
frozen petit pois

You can have any of these as 'sides' with the protein.

One glaring omission @Sowhatbigdeal is NO FISH.

Ideally we should eat 3 portions a week- 2 oily fish and 1 white fish.

Sounds normal to me. I'd probably include green beans or broccoli as a side if there aren't other veg involved. Or chopped up cucumber, carrot and peppers.

No one should have a takeaway a week as they are usually cheap ingredients. The pasta and pesto sounds a bit dull it’s the sort of stuff I have as a side with a protein and veg. I’m assuming it’s not the same every week. There is nothing horrendous but it’s very safe.

I'd suggest you think again.
No pulses, except the chili, no fish, little dairy, not much variety of veg.

Sounds perfectly fine to me

For some kids it might be, that's why I was asking.

Are nuts a common snack for a 7 yr old?
I cannot imagine an average 7 yr old faced with plain yoghurt and seeds. Tell me I'm wrong by all means.

Why are people saying there’s no fish? Salmon was fish last time I checked…

@AllThatGlistensIsntCold did you miss the meal with salmon?

No shit, you're a fussy eater...

Perfectly normal range of meals for me. Pesto pasta once a week ain't gonna kill anyone.

I can only imagine my 10 year olds face if given plain yoghurt and seeds.

Only on mn would you be told it was too much salad..

It takes minutes to make a more interesting pasta sauce.
Mushrooms, jar of pesto or can chopped toms, an onion and that's it.

You can add a tin of sardines for more protein.
Or do a pasta with broccoli florets, mushrooms and a creme fraiche sauce.

@Sowhatbigdeal Maybe buy a vegetarian or vegan cook book- or look online?
You don't have to 'go vegan' but a lot of the recipes can be eaten alongside a portion of fish, chicken, etc.

Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall has 2 books 'Eat more Veg' and 'Veg daily' that may give you ideas.

Do you eat at least 30 different plants a week? You dinners seem quite limited, but if there are healthy lunches in the mix, it’s not too bad.

I think you'd be incredibly surprised by just how unhealthy your 'healthy takeaways' are tbh OP. It doesn't need to be a chinese or a curry to be incredibly unhealthy. There's a restaurant near me that offers takeaway and bills itself as 'healthy' and their chicken salad (not even chicken ceasar) is 900 calories. One of their 'light' 'healthy' pizza's is 800 calories.

Your food sounds fine, but yes it does sound rather bland. Not much variety on the veg and, I assume, the fruit. Also, nachos and rice and dip with chilli!?

why?

Only if they have been brought up on the fruit stuff filled with sugar.

Maybe you need to 'educate' their taste buds?

My daily breakfast is 5% fage Greek yoghurt, blueberries and mixed seeds. It's ace.

They are nice but several lack enough veg. For example gets and red onion salad only has red onion ( and presumably not piled of it!) . Pesto pasta isn’t really a veg portion and the salmon with salad is only salad - which could be great if loaded with cherry tomatoes and asparagus spears, or could be little more than a few leaves with dressing. Your proteins are good quality though.