Is this diet normal?

Growing up, my mum never actually really cooked us anything, it was always frozen food just put in the oven and heated up. Like she never actually bought fresh ingredients and made anything from scratch. Once a week she'd cook us a roast dinner alright, but apart from that it was just frozen food. Also for breakfast it was always cereal and for lunch it was always toast (although I never really understood why people would bother cooking anything for breakfast/lunch anyway). She didn't have a job btw, so that isn't the reason that she didn't have time.

But now at work I often hear people talk about what they're going to have for dinner that night, and they always talk about what they're going to make (for them and their kids). I feel like I'm listening to a cooking show, they're all sharing recipes and giving each other advice about what they could add to this or that to make it taste better. They also bring in fancy food they've previously prepared for lunch, I always just bring in a sandwich.

So was it normal for me to have grown up with just stuff put in the oven, and never to have had any fresh food prepared and cooked? I had a great upbringing so I hate to sound ungrateful, but I do feel a little like I was given a bad start in that way. All that processed food presumbably wasn't the best diet for a kid, and I'm not experienced in the culinary world now at all.

Voting Results
50% Normal
Based on 12 votes (6 yes)
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Comments ( 12 )
  • kelili

    I understand but now you're old enough to correct that and do better.

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  • RoseIsabella

    My mom makes lots of stuff from scratch, and she's a good cook just like her two sisters. I want her to make me some empanadas for my birthday, but we'll probably just get pizza.

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    • donteatstuffoffthesidewalk

      i love it when frank sinatra sings the girl from empanada

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    • Somenormie

      Never heard of empanada but when I did a quick Google search it looks delicious. I could probably make that.

      My parents makes things from scratch and they're too delicious to the point everyone in my house just demolishes it in under seconds ( not in the sense of Matt Stonie how that guy eats. )

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      • RoseIsabella

        I ate too much at my birthday party last night! My sister, and her little, newly diabetic, and blind poodle went to the veterinarian before my pizza, and cake party. The veterinarian broke the news to my sister that her dog is not a candidate for cataract surgery, and it's probably not safe for him to have the growth on his toe removed, or get his teeth cleaned. The doctor told her that he has a heart murmur, and might need medication, but the medication might be bad for his kidneys.

        As soon as they got back my sister drank a bunch of vodka, and went to lie down after eating pizza. When I went in to check to on her she just told me to close the door, because the light was bothering her, and said, "there's nothing I can do for him."

        She eventually got up, and we did the cake thing, and then she went back to bed. This ordeal has been very heartbreaking for my whole family.

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      • RoseIsabella

        All those competitive eaters must be able to stretch their stomachs, or something. I have to eat really slowly, because I have a hiatus hernia, and sometimes I have trouble swallowing. It's kinda gnarly. It seems to have gotten worse in the past couple of years. 😣

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        • SwickDinging

          Can they do surgery?

          I have one from my second pregnancy and they said surgery might be an option, but they wanted to wait until I'd definitely finished having babies before they did anything about it.

          Definitely don't want to push anymore kids out so I'm going to revisit this. It's so annoying not being able to eat properly.

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          • RoseIsabella

            I really hate gagging, choking and barfing. Yeah, there's a surgery for it.

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  • Rayyded

    It’s probably that your mother didn’t like cooking

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  • Meowypowers

    Yeah American, and had crap. I think I learned to cook well because of my shit upbringing though.

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  • SwickDinging

    Your mother fed you. That's a good thing. I am assuming that your dad wasn't around, since you express no expectation of him making you fresh food from scratch. So perhaps your mother was just really busy raising you by herself and didn't have much time to prepare meals from scratch?

    Personally I think it's really important to teach your kids all about food - where it comes from, how to prepare it, store it, how to avoid wasting it. My husband and I are really passionate about this and as such we produce almost everything that we eat ourselves on our land - we keep chickens, goats, quail, and we grow veggies and fruit trees. Then we harvest everything and preserve it all. So our kids learn all about this.

    But no one can do everything. Not everyone has a big plot of land to play "Good Life" with their kids. Not everyone has the physical health to chase chickens, sow seeds, haul wheelbarrows about etc. Some people could do it but don't want to. That's fine too. People are just doing things their own way. So as long as your mum loved you and fed you, I think you need to let go of this idea that she deprived you of something, just because she didn't cook from scratch. It sounds a bit spoilt. If you want to learn to cook then just do it. You're a grown up - no one is stopping you.

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  • ibrokemyds

    Sounds like what I ate when my mum was going through a rough spot financially, it’s sadly a pretty normal diet for lower income kids.

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