AIBU to tire of moral superiority around meals?

[Spinmerightroundbaby]

I think if women/mothers have the time to spend cooking nutritious meals and enjoy doing it, that’s a beautiful thing. I have noticed though, there’s a tendency just lately for judgement towards parents who sometimes opt for frozen foods, takeaways or less healthy options.

AIBU to think that as long as there is a balance and your family isn’t on KFC every day, people should keep snooty attitudes to themselves as the odd frozen meal or microwave dinner isn’t a big deal? Especially if it means you have more quality time with your children rather than fussing about in the kitchen? Especially for working mothers too who are generally time poor and low energy.

It just feels like it’s the whole BF versus formula feeding disagreement but it’s become a bit more prevalent (in my locality at least) and I find it a bit tiresome. To me it feels like mostly now, this isn’t even about women wanting to do right by their children, it is about perception. They want to be perceived as ‘good’ mothers when children care more about quality time with their parents.

I love salads. And if I’m going to have pizza I want to be sure I eat a fair bit of healthy stuff alongside it.

No reason to be rude. When they post something, people usually interact with the posters. And judging by all the responses, most of us definitely have life outside of MN, how else would we have time to cook proper meals for our families.

See I don't .mind an occasional salad but if I was having a ," massive" one it would be a main meal for me not a side to a pizza 🍕

Now that you’ve put it that way, guess I’m eating pizza as a side to my massive salad… 😆

I do a lot of freezer meals- it's cheap and the kids will eat it. I can't cook for shit and with my ocd it takes so long to cook some days freezer foods or pasta is the only feasible option. I've never really had any judgement for it but I wouldn't care if I did and also I probably wouldn't be speaking to people who want to judge people over dinner in the first place they sound boring.

I find it easy to cook a quick meal with fresh ingredients from scratch. . It’s just not something I find difficult or time-consuming . Even throwing some seasoning on top of a chicken breast and putting in the airfryer with a baked potatoe and serving up with peas - it’s as easy as throwing in chips and nuggets.

I know loads of people can’t cook or have other stuff going on. I would never comment on someone else’s dinners.

My kids don’t like freezer food. I’m sure that’s partly because it’s not something we’ve ever really fed them, but they’d never choose something like nuggets/fish fingers etc.
My DH does most of the cooking as he works from home so has a bit more time (and enjoys cooking), but feeding them the best quality food we can afford is important to us.
I wouldn’t comment on what anyone else feeds their children. I’m not going to say I wouldn’t have some internal thoughts about it if someone I knew was feeding their kids absolute junk on a regular basis, but I wouldn’t comment.

I am very much a cooking from scratch person .When our son was little he was allowed a MacDonald's once a month. He admitted that he didn't really like the food, he liked the toys! When he went to his first week camp with the school, he refused all the food except salad and chips and fruit. At home we had treats always homemade like pancakes. Pasta with tomato based sauces featured heavily at teatime. I don't believe in punishing or forcing children to eat proper food, but always have alternatives . Food and mealtimes are to be enjoyed, not arenas for fighting.

I don't really understand how cooking chicken thighs or pork chops is harder than cooking chicken nuggets or fish fingers? You just stick them all in the oven. And wholemeal rice or pasta is cooked the same too, just maybe a bit longer than white. Chopping fresh veggies is a bit more hassle but really not that much.

It's not hard to have unprocessed dinners every day it's not like anyone has to be making a lasagna or moussaka from scratch every day. I feel sorry for kids raised on processed crap out the freezer.

Rosesandhellebores Your list is nutritious and delicious! Similar to ours in fact.However dont forget food is now very expensive, and often children are fussy ,Parents dont always have as much money when DC are small.

I absolutely hear what you are saying. However, a couple of years ago, after a health scare, I rethought what we were eating and significantly cut out: most cheese, butter, a lot of wheat products, sugar, processed meats, cut down on red meat. I refocused on fresh white meat, fish, eggs, beans, rice, salad, veg, fruit, etc.

No more packs of cold meat, crackers, snacks stuff, shop bought curries, lasagne, pizza, deserts, etc.

I was very surprised to see the food bills go down rather than up. Also, notwithstanding ND/eating disorders, I believe that if children are offered the sme foods as the adults from day one, no reliance on beige food arises. Mine are grown up now and my ethos was always, dh wouldn't want nuggets, waffle and beans so why would I ever give it to the children.

Ooh I wish I had potato waffles now for my tea. I could easily eat them on their own.
A few of my family and friends actually prefer them in the toaster and think people like me who stick them.in the oven are OTT!