Do people really not know what to eat?

[WilderHawthorn]

Watching ‘what not to eat’, and the family they’ve found are just hopeless. Four small children all shovelled full of UPF junk, parents both obese, freely admit to eating crap constantly.

How adults choose to feed themselves is their choice, but to feed four small kids that much junk? It’s bordering on abuse. An apple/banana costs the same as a packet of crisps, jacket potato is one of the cheapest meals you can make, basic porridge oats and milk for breakfast, it’s not difficult to eat whole foods, so why rely on packaged things?

Freely admit I judge those who feed their children this way and truly despair over childhood obesity stats. I work full time, have 4 DC, DH works full time and I volunteer. I’m very time poor and partially disabled, I still feed my kids well and it doesn’t cost me a fortune. Taught myself to cook. There’s no excuse!

On my way to work I see babies in pushchairs eating a Greggs sausage roll for breakfast 🤣

I've voted YABU because the OP's so smug

Bimley, you think disingenuous is an insult! lol

Bleating you say!

Yes there is. KFC popcorn chicken.

Of course there is… 🙄

“Although why people think they need stock cubes or sachets of spice mixes is another whole thread.“

But @soupyspoon doesn’t home made stock take hours to make from scratch? I’ve only done it a handful of times.

I get dissonance from reading how microwave meals are Total Shit, and yet the local supermarket has hundreds of them on the shelves everyday: pasta, Indian, Chinese.

Yes, I know I should cook from scratch everyday, but I’m a single mum, and it’s still food, so it’s micro-ping meals twice a week or so here. And looking at the shelves, that’s the norm.

Agree. It’s just laziness … and the usual excuse of “my kids won’t eat anything that’s not beige” 🙄

Not if you are obese!

And prepping food from scratch for a family of 6 does often take time. Chopping and peeling decent amounts of veg takes time.
I cook from scratch all the time and am a decently experienced cook, but all recipes take me loads longer than they say.

its knowing that you can buy stuff like this to cut time Soffritto https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/321837850?sc_cmp=ppcGHS+-+Grocery+-+NewMPX_PMAX_ALL_OT_Laggards_Tesco+Products_Online+Budget_1012764**321837850*&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22774213849&gbraid=0AAAAADiyNasJL86XBQ_UD6C9eTlK-NTl0&gclid=CjwKCAiAmp3LBhAkEiwAJM2JUNMfeM0TR1pk_mdG4wtogfcrWuRfUpCWTGE5loqnNw19lrIuQApVnxoCQ0kQAvD_BwE

Yes, IMO a good many children - and adults - who’ve always been used to fast/junk food, simply don’t like the taste of ‘proper’ food and won’t eat it.

Yeah it's nonsense. Like that secret eaters show, and super size v super skinny.

They coach these poor unfortunates who call the show to look absolutely clueless. Or they edit them to look that way. Then you've got a storyline with a meaningful ending.

Like 'wow, I had no clue that eating 900 calories worth of pot noodle as a small snack could possibly lead to weight gain and unhealthiness.'

So then these 'experts' can say they're helping the nation stay healthy.

I do wonder why on earth anyone would participate in such a pointless load of rubbish. If you want to be on telly for the fun of it then at best go on a gameshow or something. At least then you're not shamed for being both fat and thick. And you might win a prize.

I think I eat reasonably well and my DD who has left home recently is thoroughly enjoying cooking for herself and her partner so hopefully I did something right. But fresh/home-cooked isn't always cheaper even if it's better for you.

I made soup today. 2 packs of decent tomatoes (yellow sticker so about £3 for both) plus an onion, garlic (used about 3/4 segments so some left) plus stock, oil and seasoning which I already had. That made 3 portions so £1 per portion yet I can buy a tin for less or even a nice carton of fresh soup for around the same with no chopping or blending or washing up. As it happens I quite enjoyed making it and it tasted lovely but where am I going wrong? I hear all the time on here that cooking from scratch is cheaper and I usually agree but this has baffled me a bit.

After dealing with type 2 diabetics for 26 years can confirm people have no idea what to eat.

But at the same time don’t want to go blind, have heart attacks, kidneys fail or lose legs.

Sometimes I wonder if there’s a hidden camera in clinics and the patients are paid actors from a longitudinal study into HCP burnout.

I think it's a confidence thing. I certainly know someone who doesn't cook much and I think she would genuinely find it stressful to try anything complicated. She can probably roast a chicken or something, but that would be about her limit.

From what I see... Feeding UPFs to kids, and more generally, is deeply ingrained in the culture in the UK.

For example, school/uni meals. Something like a UPF burger with UPF bread and sauces, and factory-made chips is considered a normal meal served once a week, and nobody questions their child eating it. If someone made my child eat it regularly, I'd raise a very serious complaint, it's not something a child or anyone should be eating frequently. BUT everyone else would look at me as if I'm crazy if I said this.

My friends' fridges are full of things like chicken nuggets, fish fingers, oven chips etc, to feed their kids. Kids eat chocolate daily. I believe that's also pretty normal, whereas I don't see nuggets and fish fingers in adult fridges.

The 'meal deal' that nearly every shop offers... Started out as a UPF sandwich, pack of crisps or a choc bar, and a bottle of soda. Meaning this is/was considered a normal meal for millions of people to have once a day.

As far as I understand, a child eating a pack of crisps with their lunch daily is still considered super normal and expected.

You can't change a culture that's ingrained in people from early childhood and passed down generations.

My mum thinks flavoured fat free yoghurts were good to eat. Heck, I used to think that not long ago, and I am fairly nutrition savvy.

So no, people, no matter how educated, really don't know what to eat.

Even those containing known carcinogens? Or those deliberately and cynically engineered to be addictive?

Of course it’s an insult, it implies deliberate dishonesty. But you seem to want a confrontation for some reason, so I’ll leave you to it.

Yep. Similar here.

My son has a limited diet. Him eating at all is my priority and most of the time, it does include UPF's.

You can use tinned tomatoes… so long as nothing is added and it’s just tomato in the tin it should be less £. Throw in herbs and spices. Tins don’t always mean UPF. That should get you 3 portions for about 20p a portion if not less.

this really needs to go on the bingo card

along with

everything in moderation

I was thinking if you were really struggling, to make it go further. Trying to show that it can be an incredibly cheap but healthy breakfast.

It is.

I can kind of see what you mean, but surely some UPF with absolutely no nutritional value is bad 'food'?

I'm sure you mean, it's awful to feed your child junk unless they will eat nothing else. My son is extremely autistic and has LDs and doesn't give a shiny one about healthy foods. He likes things that go 'crunch' and everything salt'n'vinegar flavoured. He favours beige and white food. He won't eat meat or hard cheese. There are two vegetables and one fruit he'll reliably eat, and maybe one or two more that he might eat once in a blue moon. He doesn't eat bread, or potatoes in any form other than crisps, or egg yolks. Frankly, if he developed a taste for Big Macs overnight I'd be over the moon!

I have no idea how he exists.

The lesson content was appalling when my 2 were at school so unless there’s been a significant change in the last few years you would not be able to cook a meal based on those lessons.