If you ask me, one of the most challenging and annoying parts of adulthood is deciding what you’re going to eat every single day of your life. Adding children to that dynamic only raises the stakes. You want to provide something of nutritional value. But the way our schedules are set up, we don’t want to necessarily spend all day in the kitchen either.
It’s a daily balance, and most moms find that between picky eaters, rising grocery prices, and lack of time and energy, it’s not always a game you can win. Enter “mom slop.” You know, those set it and forget it slow cooker meals? They come in clutch, but who knew they were actually controversial?
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One mom on Instagram made a chicken and sausage recipe in her slow cooker.
When one busy, stay-at-home mother of three documented herself preparing a meal for her children, an everyday occurrence, it sparked an entire conversation about the unnecessary pressures women face in simply feeding their children. Maja Barnes, who goes by the name “The Polish Mom” on Instagram and TikTok, recently shared a video of herself making a chicken and sausage pasta dish in her Crock-Pot. The dish, as you might have assumed, featured chicken, sausage, cheese, and noodles covered in a homemade sauce. People were quick to share their criticism.
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People were not kind in their assessment of the meal.
“She has time to do her hair and make/edit this video, but not to cook a healthy meal to her children,” one person commented.
“Looks like there are no vegetables in the United States,” someone wrote in Italian.
“At this point just give your kids couple lines of coke and few beers,” another user offered.
Yet another person on IG questioned how Barnes was using her time. “Being a stay at home mom and still feeding this kind of food to your kids is crazy behaviour,” the critic wrote.
Others came to her defense.
But when the same video was shared on X, formerly Twitter, people came to Barnes’ defense. “I’m confused,” one woman wrote. “This is a pretty great crockpot recipe that’s not fried, over-processed, and contains both a carb and LOTS of protein which can be hard to get kids to eat – AND HER KIDS EAT IT?? What’s the issue??”
Someone else mentioned how this recipe reminded them of a former mainstay in many American households. “I guess you don’t know about Hamburger Helper,” the person wrote. “We ate that a LOT as kids.This is way better. 95% of that food is real. (Kielbasa might have some questionable things in it). And if the kids like it… so what? They’re eating.”
Another mom said there's value in 'mom slop.'
Writer and working mom Marlo Slaybeck took it a step further, designating this particular type of cuisine as “mom slop.” She said mom slop is the backbone of “every civilization’s greatest culinary achievements.” She said generations of women have hastily thrown ingredients together to feed their families.
Barnes told HuffPost that she simply wanted to show how she feeds her 2-year-old twins and her 3-year-old, and she’s appalled by the critics. “It is crazy to me that people can put other people down just for trying to make a meal,” she added.
Barnes reminded people online to be kind.
She responded to the fact that there was no vegetable in the meal. “I had so much going on,” she recalled. “Did I include a vegetable? No. And that’s OK ― I offered them produce throughout the day,” she continued.
“Please let’s stop this sad trend judging other moms,” she added. “A lot of toddlers are super picky and won’t touch a lot of things. I’ve been super picky myself. Kindness doesn’t cost anything!”
