Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Made the lasagna without the lasagna

866 replies

Brainfogtothemax · 05/01/2026 13:26

What to do?

Just prepped for dinner, did all the mince with tomatoes, onion etc and made the cheese sauce, boiled some potatoes and went to get the lasagna sheets and don’t have any.
Not feeling 100% so cba going to the shops, how can I make it into a proper meal? I have some pasta I could use instead, but what about the potatoes? Save them for tomorrow 🤷🏻‍♀️

OP posts:
Thread gallery
11
soupyspoon · 06/01/2026 21:10

wordler · 06/01/2026 20:21

And then the American Italian New Yorkers enter the chat and use ricotta, Parmesan AND bechamel!

You’ve got to watch part 1 and part 2 to get the full glorious picture of the final served dish

https://youtube.com/shorts/uTZRjH5_x2M?si=NcrD_sG5QgJdu9dc

https://youtube.com/shorts/1lrq9ailnXk?si=C5_pejbemfJIhqel

I think there was a court case many years ago involving the definition of 'pizza pie', Italian Americans in uproar of course

About cheese on toast....

CarterBeatsTheDevil · 06/01/2026 21:09

limetrees32 · 06/01/2026 20:21

I think the OP has had a bit of a hard time here.
Note her username and that she had said she's not feeling well.

I agree. Cooking should be fun, and as easy as you want it to be. The art of home cookery is using what you have and producing something reasonably tasty and nourishing!

@Brainfogtothemax I like to throw around the words "deconstructed", "fusion" and "pared-back" when naming my home experiments!

Whoknowshere · 06/01/2026 21:07

Brainfogtothemax · 05/01/2026 14:45

It’s honestly not a wind up 🫣 my mums lasagna since childhood was always served with boiled potatoes with butter and bechamel sauce always had grated cheese in. Flabbergasted how this is so outrageous

Every time you write lasagna with potatoes or chips on the side and beshamel with cheese an Italian nonna dies. Pls stop it. You might have eaten like that but it sounds as bad a plate of pasta with potatoes or chips on the side. It is just not done in the land where lasagna comes from.
use the ragù and besciamella on normal pasta as a pasta bake, you need to cook the short pasta (no spaghetti!) 3-4 mins less than written on the bag, then put a layer of sauce, one of besciamella, then a layer of pasta and so on and the last layer over the besciamella you put the parmisan. Bake it 4/5 mins till the grated cheese is crusty.
mash Your potatoes and freeze them and eat them another day with meat, sausages or fish where they belong.

bumchic · 06/01/2026 21:06

I’ve had a proper shit day and this thread has just made me laugh so much.

Off to tuck into my jalfrezi, pasta and roast potatoes with gherkins now.

grumpygrape · 06/01/2026 21:06

Brainfogtothemax · 05/01/2026 23:23

Maybe that ‘Was’ me 😂 or even more hopeful, I have an amazing soul somewhere who actually eats this too

We were in a restaurant in New England many years ago and the younger lady at the next table asked her mother is she was enjoying her Clam Chowder (a speciality of the area and restaurant). Mother said she was but then her daughter said her friend made Clam Chowder but used Lobster instead of Clams and whizzed it up so there were no lumps.

I managed not to turn and say to her ‘that’ll be Lobster Bisque then, not Clam Chowder’.

OP, I’ve really enjoyed you thread and I don’t care if you eat boiled potatoes with your pasta dish but there are a few issues with your terminology….

Lasagna is either the American spelling of the dish or refers to a single pasta sheet. The Italians call the dish Lasagne because is has multiple sheets.

Your ‘ragu’ isn’t a proper ragu because it only has beef mince, it should also have veal or pork mince as well. It should also have onions, carrots and celery (colours of the Italian flag) to make a sofrito. Wine is for flavour and the majority of the alcohol is cooked off so the dish is OK for children.

Bechamel is a white sauce and if you add cheese that makes it a cheese sauce. Bechamel sauce usually has nutmeg in it. Some Italians sprinkle Parmigiano-Reggiano (similar to Parmesan) on the top layer of Bechamel and finish it under the grill. Some use ricotta.

Traditionally Italian ragu doesn’t have tinned tomatoes, just tomato paste. Tinned tomatoes don’t add any value; you get veggies from the sofrito and liquid from the wine.

Where were the Bay leaves ? Thyme and/or Rosemary yes, but there certainly should have been Bay leaves in the ragu.

Maybe one day cook up a really big pot of ragu, portion it up, freeze some and see how versatile it can be with other pastas?

But, hey, as the MN saying goes, ‘you do you’. I’d prefer you didn’t liken your dish to Lasagne or even Lasagna though. It’s been a great thread though, so thanks. :-)

Isanyonereallyanonymous · 06/01/2026 21:00

Pleeeeease can this go into Classics?

OP, I feel like you had a horrible day trying to make dinner but absolutely fair play to you. If you're never taught any differently or haven't tried something before, how could you know otherwise. I am totally with you on salad being a summer side dish but my mind is boggling a bit at potatoes with lasagne (but not with pasta)
I haven't giggled this much reading a thread in a while, thankyou for sharing and keeping a sense of humour.

GrooveArmada · 06/01/2026 21:00

The photo looks like from Rate My Plate.

Isittimeformynapyet · 06/01/2026 20:57

@ihavetocookagain

We had roast chicken and veg stirfry with rice! I have leftover roasties I’ll sauté with another meal!

No way!!!!

(What is it with exclamation marks these days?)

GrooveArmada · 06/01/2026 20:52

1DinosaurAnd3Giraffes · 06/01/2026 20:15

What, in the name of Gordon Ramsay, have I just read? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I feel the same.

Sorry, boiled potatoes 100% do not belong with any pasta dishes. This of course includes a lasagne.

Béchamel does not have cheese in it. It's not cheese sauce. Lasagne should have some cheese on top, if anything.

Personally, if the potatoes were very soft, I'd try to get rid of the skin and mashed them up with the sauce, then spread on top of meat and make that into a cottage pie with a twist.

Otherwise, I'd have sliced or crushed the potatoes and roasted them with olive oil, oregano and parmesan with a bit of sea salt, then served on the side of the meat with heated cheese sauce you made for dipping.

This is one of the most baffling threads, it is amazing what people eat and cook.

Bernardo1 · 06/01/2026 20:48

Favouritefruits · 05/01/2026 13:28

I’m sorry what are the potatoes for? Just make the lasagne into a pasta bake?

This!

If you don't have lasagne sheets, it's not lasagne.

Just use yr pasta shapes and call it bolognaise pasta.

Rubinia · 06/01/2026 20:32

Brainfogtothemax · 05/01/2026 17:59

Well, Dh just sat down with it and said ‘Ooh Shepherds pie! Haven’t had this for years

LOL! That’s very kind of him (sorry op!)

why did you put the mash at the bottom btw? Is that just how you presented it or did you cook it like that? I think I’m just very confused by all of this…

limetrees32 · 06/01/2026 20:21

I think the OP has had a bit of a hard time here.
Note her username and that she had said she's not feeling well.

wordler · 06/01/2026 20:21

Aluna · 06/01/2026 18:09

Lasagne is a fundamentally Italian dish and there isn’t actually a huge amount of variation. The north uses bechamel with parmesan and the south uses ricotta.

I was commenting on the uproar that OP didn’t know you don’t use cheese sauce in lasagne. Which is actually totally untrue.

Edited

And then the American Italian New Yorkers enter the chat and use ricotta, Parmesan AND bechamel!

You’ve got to watch part 1 and part 2 to get the full glorious picture of the final served dish

https://youtube.com/shorts/uTZRjH5_x2M?si=NcrD_sG5QgJdu9dc

https://youtube.com/shorts/1lrq9ailnXk?si=C5_pejbemfJIhqel

Before you continue to YouTube

https://youtube.com/shorts/1lrq9ailnXk?si=C5_pejbemfJIhqel

limetrees32 · 06/01/2026 20:20

I'm only half way through this thread but I can see why the OP feels lasagna is ok with boiled pots and pasta bake isn't.
Lasagna keeps it block like shape on when served and will be separate from the potatoes .
Whereas a pasta bake is wetter and will spread, encroaching on the potatoes

1DinosaurAnd3Giraffes · 06/01/2026 20:15

What, in the name of Gordon Ramsay, have I just read? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

MeliBee · 06/01/2026 20:14

soupyspoon · 05/01/2026 13:34

Potatoes or cabbage leaves

Call it what you like, it doesnt matter, its meat layered in between carbs and very nice it would be either way (or cabbage if you're not using the carbs)

People are so rigid

It would blow peoples minds to know that in parts of Spain they make paella with pasta.

Whaaaat?? I’m Spanish and I’ve never seen paella with pasta in my life, we would consider that a sin!! Or do you mean fideuá?

GameOfJones · 06/01/2026 20:09

Henbags · 05/01/2026 17:38

I have a child too and you can cook it with wine as the wine will be cooked off as it evaporates.

Look I get they can be little shits sometimes but cooking them really is beyond the pale!

Neurodiversitydoctor · 06/01/2026 20:00

Bobiverse · 05/01/2026 14:05

We live in a county which imports food, and uses hot houses. I can get broccoli and spinach no problem today - both leafy greens, along with many many others.

You need a leafy green with a heavy pasta dish!

i bought British basil this week. Would always serve a salad with lasange, not so much a pasta bake as would normally have more veg in it.

Uppabye · 06/01/2026 20:00

Another one just here to say this thread has brightened my day after a difficult evening getting my toddlers to bed 😅 literally sitting here holding one of them while silently belly laughing!!!

tommyhoundmum · 06/01/2026 19:55

Brainfogtothemax · 05/01/2026 13:26

What to do?

Just prepped for dinner, did all the mince with tomatoes, onion etc and made the cheese sauce, boiled some potatoes and went to get the lasagna sheets and don’t have any.
Not feeling 100% so cba going to the shops, how can I make it into a proper meal? I have some pasta I could use instead, but what about the potatoes? Save them for tomorrow 🤷🏻‍♀️

I would slice the potatoes over the mince in a dish and pour the sauce over.

raspberrieswithchocolate · 06/01/2026 19:55

Kisshygge · 06/01/2026 19:36

This really made me laugh!

Me too, so many of the comments here had me laughing out loud...this is one of the funniest threads I've read in a long time!

Spangers · 06/01/2026 19:38

Thank you, this thread has cheered me right up!

I love it when an OP posts something totally insane and then carries on as it’s it’s perfectly normal. See also Balnonz and the woman who was complaining there would no longer be a spare bedroom in the holiday accommodation.

TiredofLDN · 06/01/2026 19:38

Brainfogtothemax · 05/01/2026 13:38

The potatoes were to go with the lasagna, my family like some buttery boiled potatoes with it

I don’t think I can slice the potatoes-too soft 😬

Make it into bolognaise shepherds pie

Kisshygge · 06/01/2026 19:36

takealettermsjones · 05/01/2026 14:33

I'm now getting weirdly hung up on the potatoes being too soft to slice... Were your family planning on swallowing them whole?!

This really made me laugh!

SwingTheMonkey · 06/01/2026 19:34

CarterBeatsTheDevil · 06/01/2026 19:24

I'd argue that the more often you reheat some things the better they are!

Absolutely!

Swipe left for the next trending thread