To not feed my dc shit, just because the kid from school won't eat it?!?

[pinkclouds]

ARRRGGGHH!!! I spent the day thinking what will this child eat? So I opted for mince and Potatoes (Not a vegetarian) fairly safe option I thought.
The friend wouldn't even try it, not only that he couldn't even use a knife and fork at 7 years!!
WTF. My DC are told to least try something before dismissing it.Maybe it's me.

I should say that it was an unexpected visit or there would have been pizza.

If my dd was given mince and potatoes at someone's house she would be polite enough to try it and she would probably eat the potatoes but leave most of the mince as it is something she doesn't really like. I always tell my DD she has to at least try whatever she is given at someone's house but if she doens't like it just to tell their friends mum.

I have given children food they haven't liked when they come to tea and if they don't eat it I just tell the parents what they had and that they didn't like it just so they know their child hasn't eaten.

I wouldn't worry too much about it though.

I tend to give my children's friends something like macaroni cheese or pasta with tomato sauce now as they all like that. They all get a plate of veg with it too whether they eat it or not as that is what my girls have and if they leave the veg my 3 yea old normally finishes it for them! One fo my DD's mums wont given them pudding if they don't eat their veg! I wouldn't go that far.

If it is someone who hasn't come round before I will ask if there is anything they don't like beforehand.

I would be less than impressed at being fed mince and potatoes, it would be like being served a cowpat.

Can those of you who love mince and potatoes give us the recipe? Please tell us how you cook it.

I imagine just fried mince to be quite tasteless, yet, with the right combination of herbs and spices, onion etc, might be quite good!

DS2 is so insanely fussy that I just try to avoid him having meals at other people's houses. I just tell the mother he's insanely fussy, I'll pick him up before you eat. They're always fine with it. It's not really a long term solution to his weird food issues, but it avoids hassle/embarrasment/possible mince&potatoes refusal.

Mincemeat blanket photos on my profile now! I put it to the vote. Mincemeat or not?

Sidge - that is really rude actually, my mince and potatoes is nothing like a cowpat.

I agree with Aitch, clearly those of you recoiling in horror at mince and potatoes can't cook

Quint - my recipe is onion, mince, beef stock, tomato puree, diced carrot, black pepper, bayleaf. Method just as if you were embarking on a bolognaise. Go on, try it

when dishing out meals my standard line is "people who don't live here eat what you want, leave what you don't want. people who do live here need to clean their plates if they want anything else"

Whit's wrang wi' mince n' tatties?

FWIW, I fry the mince (Waitrose good quality, extra lean) with some chopped onion, add gravy or a stock cube and some boiled carrots and peas, a dash of Worcestershire sauce and a skoosh of tomato ketchup. Serve with mash. It's basically deconstructed cottage pie.

duchesse - no way is it bobblemeat, it's not grey enough. But it is very pretty, like cobwebs.

Brown the mince in batches, making sure to break it up as you do. Drain it on kitchen roll. Finely chop and fry onions, put the mince back in, add some beef stock and maybe a bit of ketchup, and simmer gently until rich and savoury. Add your choice of herbs and seasoning.

If I am making shepherds pie, I add finely diced carrot to the onions. If I am making spag bog, I add finely sliced celery instead, and tinned toms and oregano.

I would ask the friends mum or dad what is a safe bet for them to eat and if that was sausage, chips and ketchup then that's what I would make. DD eats healthy stuff the rest of the time so crap on the odd time a friend comes over will do her no harm - she'd probably think it was a treat! I'd have to have something else later though if it was something I didn't like as I'm more fussy than DD

My worst story about feeding other people's children comes from when we were living in Montreal and my son's 9yo friend came to stay the night.
In the morning I offered all the children bacon and pancakes. Ok! says visiting kid, in a bright and interested way.

So I make them all bacon and pancakes.

"Mmmm!!", says visiting child enthusiastically, "Bacon is GOOD!".

"Oh my goodness", I thought, "you have never eaten bacon before, have you? You are, as I suspected, Jewish. I have just fed a Jewish kid bacon". (can I just at this point that there was nothing to indicate this kid's religion, parents very secular etc)

When I finally got round to telling the parents months later, they laughed and said they always told their DS that he should eat/do what everyone else did when at other people's houses.

QS: here is how we do it in our house. Maybe it is a rather Scottish thing:

Brown the mince off (I don't add any oil - I have non stick pans and there is usually enough natural fat in the mince to stop it sticking) then remove from pan with slotted spoon; then fry off a chopped onion to get rid of the bitterness; put mince back in pot; add enough water to cover mince and stock/Oxo (I usually add some red wine too); add peas and carrots. Season and add some herbs - eg thyme/bay leaf - if you feel like it. Bring to boil and then simmer for at least an hour on the hob. I then usually leave it to cool down (preferably overnight) and then take off any grease that might have formed on top (with good mince you shouldn't have too much). Reheat and serve with boiled potatoes/mash.

I usually put HP sauce on top when serving and, as a special treat(!), you can soak up any gravy left at the end with a slice of buttered, white bread (well, that's what we did in our house!). My dad is still happy to eat a leftover mince sandwich. . .

onion GENTLY cooked in olive oil, no browning then sliced carrots, lots of, then mince in. i use a non-stick pot but i don't bust a gut to break it all up totally. brown the mince just barely and add a half teaspoon of garam masala (doesn't make it taste of curry, just adds fragrance, it's something my grandma did and it really works). then some salt or some beef stock if it's bland meat, a bit of water to cover and cook gently gently gently for a fair forty five mins or so. you don't really want it to boil, barely simmer. if it boils then it goes chewy which is bleurgh.

i like mine to cool down so that i can take any fat off the top, although there isn't much nowadays, and then i let it sit either overnight in the fridge or just for the day for the flavour, then reheat and serve with broccoli and mash. yum!

qs do my recipe. ignore the others', they sound weird. who browns mince away from an onion?

YY to HP sauce.

You are all utterly repulsive bobblemeat eating weirdoes.

Aitch - your addition of garam masala renders your recipe as POPPYCOCK I'm afraid.

Alibaba I'm sure your mince is delicious but no, I would still think I had been served a cowpat.

I think being brought up in the 70s on a never ending diet of mince in it's various permutations, usually served with orange mash (potato and swede, ugh) has broken me.

I can't eat formless food now, it leaves me cold and brings cowpats to mind.

So nothing personal!

Me I read it/heard it on some cooking programme so have done it ever since!

lol, i hear ya, shirley. it's from the war, funnily enough, marguerite patten advised it because they were all so short of salt/stock etc. it was just 'curry powder' in them days of course but ye cannae get that ony mair so garam masala is the nearest thing i think. try it, it's delicious. and i also found it in Lady Claire MacDonald's recipe book as well, so it's not just moi.

potato and swede together is lovely and is actually called Potch.

I think I like the sound of Aitc's Mince A La Poppycock.
Big Yay Yum to Garam Masala. I use that in fish dishes, too, with couscous.

I'd never heard of anyone eating "mince and potatoes" until I moved to the North East of England. It happens all the time up here!

Is it not just a deconstructed cottage pie?

And who can tell what a child is going to like? They just have to get used to politely dealing with Other People's Cooking, just like adults do (or should do).