Offended by chicken cutlet recipes

amother

Red

Sat, Dec 31 2022, 11:47 pm

amother Pumpkin wrote:

Your family of 7 kids and 1 adult finish 3 9x13 pans of baked ziti? Each pan using (in my recipe) 1lb of pasta, 1 jar of sauce and 12 Oz cheese? (Or thereabouts)?

I usually use about 8 oz of cheese in each, but yes. Not always all finished that night, but whatever is left over is finished at breakfast. (And I don't usually eat my fill.)

amother

Lightyellow

Sat, Dec 31 2022, 11:47 pm

amother Red wrote:

Spaghetti & tuna sauce
Scrambled eggs & pasta
Fish sticks & mashed potatoes
Chicken & rice
Baked ziti
Soups
Tacos
Quiche, rice, and roasted vegetables
Chicken wings
among other dinners

We will usually finish 3/4 of the meatballs in one night, and the rest will be gone by lunch. I rarely make them because it's expensive as I said.

I make 3 pans of baked ziti, we finish most for dinner and the rest is gone by breakfast.

It may sound like a lot of food, but interestingly my kids are not overweight. (I am, but I blame it on pregnancies, I haven't changed my food intake.)

If you find you need four pounds of ground meat, how in the world are your kids ok with chicken wings??? Or fish sticks?

How is ziti so much cheaper? I use marinara sauce and shredded cheese, easily can add up to $30.

And chicken. How many pieces of chicken does your family need? We usually eat two, three pounds of chopped meat (that includes lunch for the next day), but definitely two packages of chicken. Chicken is only a few dollars cheaper, I think.

And when I make one of the suppers you listed, my kids are always complaining the rest of the night that they're still hungry.

I simply don't understand.

kenz

Sat, Dec 31 2022, 11:48 pm

amother Pumpkin wrote:

I completely agree. My family are all
Typical eaters, we are not skinny or particularly picky. We are well nourished. But we eat much less than Red’s family. I’m wondering why or how. In me experience 1lb of pasta easily feeds 8 and yet her family is eating more than 2x amount.

We are five average sized people and can definitely finish 2 trays of ziti, so 3 for almost double the amount of people absolutely makes sense.

amother

Pumpkin

Sat, Dec 31 2022, 11:50 pm

kenz wrote:

We are five average sized people and can definitely finish 2 trays of ziti, so 3 for almost double the amount of people absolutely makes sense.

I’m shocked. Do you (or others) serve anything alongside the ziti (or meatballs?) each meal I serve is one main protein, one carb and at least one veg to balance it out

amother

Red

Sat, Dec 31 2022, 11:53 pm

amother Lightyellow wrote:

Chicken wings for dinner means 2 family packs of wings, a large bowl of potato salad (2-3lb potatoes), baby carrots and dip.

Fish sticks means a big box of fish sticks, plus a pack of bigger filets, plus a large pot of homemade mashed potatoes and green beans.

I buy sauce from Walmart for under $2 a bottle, pasta for under $1 a box, and use 8 oz of cheese for $4.29 (less if I can get on sale). So baked ziti is one of my cheaper meals.

To make chicken and rice cheaper I use two family packs of drumsticks which is cheaper per pound.

For many of my dinners some kids will still look for more food. But at least I like them to have eaten their fill of what we have, I hate running out of whatever was for dinner.

kenz

Sat, Dec 31 2022, 11:54 pm

amother Pumpkin wrote:

I’m shocked. Do you (or others) serve anything alongside the ziti (or meatballs?) each meal I serve is one main protein, one carb and at least one veg to balance it out

We have salad with it. THe advantage of ziti is it's a meal on its own. Salad always, but usually not much else, unless there's a milchig soup but usually not. Meatballs aren't a favorite in our house so they go much further b/c not everyone wants them. BUt 1 box of pasta is definitely not enough for us.

amother

Red

Sat, Dec 31 2022, 11:57 pm

amother Pumpkin wrote:

I’m shocked. Do you (or others) serve anything alongside the ziti (or meatballs?) each meal I serve is one main protein, one carb and at least one veg to balance it out

With meatballs I will serve mixed vegetables along with spaghetti (often whole wheat) or rice and the meatballs.

With baked ziti I count the tomato sauce as a vegetable (cheating, I know). My kids eat a lot of fruit and vegetables as snacks so I don't feel pressure to include in meals. (We will often go through 3lb of apples in one day.)

amother

Lightyellow

Sat, Dec 31 2022, 11:58 pm

amother Red wrote:

Curiouser and curiouser. In my neck of the woods, two family packs of chicken wings would probably cost close to $30.... and when I make potatoes, I usually need way more than two pounds. Especially if all I'm serving beside that is wings....

It sounds like your family really likes meatballs and spaghetti so they eat more of that. I guess every family is different and dynamics are different...

I don't find meatballs a lot more expensive than anything else.

happytobemom

Sun, Jan 01 2023, 12:02 am

amother Ultramarine wrote:

Honestly your many many many posts defending her and the use of “offended” by recipes is a bit over the top
Or a lot over the top

This is currently my 6th post on this thread. And a few of them were responses to those responding to me. "Many many many"??
And I didn't use the word "offended" by recipes, the OP did.
I'm sorry if my defense of someone bothers you.

amother

Red

Sun, Jan 01 2023, 12:10 am

amother Lightyellow wrote:

I get a family pack of wings for about $6. So two packs is $12.

For some reason potato salad (with carrots and pickles) gets me further than mashed potatoes. If I'm making french fries, forget it. It's almost impossible to make enough.

I agree it's very individual.

amother

Midnight

Sun, Jan 01 2023, 2:00 am

amother Red wrote:

Wow, that's a lot of food for a meal. We are also a family of 8, I try to add legume based soup to most suppers, either lentils, split peas, beans, or the like. Legumes plus loads of vegetables (6-8 carrots, 1-3 zucchini, sweet potato, butternut squash, onions) makes a great way to start a meal with loads of nutrition. Plus it minimizes the meat needed for the main course.

amother

Foxglove

Sun, Jan 01 2023, 7:58 am

amother Pumpkin wrote:

Your family of 7 kids and 1 adult finish 3 9x13 pans of baked ziti? Each pan using (in my recipe) 1lb of pasta, 1 jar of sauce and 12 Oz cheese? (Or thereabouts)?

I used to cook for a family that size+ not much more (bH most are out of the house) and we went through a second tray. Maybe some left over. I'd make three trays and the leftovers were lunch It's possible we went into the third tray, I don't remember.

amother

Hawthorn

Sun, Jan 01 2023, 12:57 pm

amother Pumpkin wrote:

I’m shocked. Do you (or others) serve anything alongside the ziti (or meatballs?) each meal I serve is one main protein, one carb and at least one veg to balance it out

Ziti is a carb, combined with cheese it's a protein, and the tomato sauce is a veg. Americans tend to consume much more protein than they need. A good portion of meat, fish or poultry is the size of a deck of cards. That's for an adult. That's it! And if you serve less, you can kick it up with nuts, seeds, peanut butter, string beans or other legumes.

amother

Seagreen

Sun, Jan 01 2023, 1:17 pm

I choose to skip the magazine subscriptions and buy boneless chicken.
This is not a judgement, I'm just pointing out that each person/family decides what to spend their money on and just because they might buy more expensive food than you doesn't mean they're not skimping somewhere else.
Life is all about choices.

Amarante

Sun, Jan 01 2023, 1:17 pm

amother Hawthorn wrote:

I am not saying that ziti is a junk food devoid of nutritional value.

However it is not the healthiest choice because it is extremely high in fat and calories and low in fiber. While tomato sauce does contain healthy elements, the dish as a whole is not particularly healthy especially when made with white pasta which has no fiber.

It should be eaten as a moderate sized portion and the meal should contain other foods to supplement like a salad of some kind. You can also hide vegetables in the pasta like spinach, kale or mushrooms.

The kind of portions people are eating are way too large in terms of a healthy diet. The largest quantity of food should be vegetables. No one needs to go hungry as Italians don’t eat the obscene portion size in which three large pans of ziti would be consumed or half a pond of meatballs.

Maybe the weight issues and other health issues would be mitigated if people fed their children more reasonable portions and healthier eating habits were taught by feeding vegetables like soups, sides etc as part of the meal. No reason to go hungry and lots of kid friendly healthy sides.