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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

AIBU to HATE the barbeque season?

72 replies

cyrilsneer · 10/04/2011 15:14

I think I must be the only one... Everyone gushes about how simple life is when their husband "just barbeques"...

My husband loves barbequeing (why? It is just a grill, the same as the one in the kitchen?) and here's what it involves for me:

Spend three times as much money in Waitrose as usual because you can't just do a chicken breast each or a few sausages each... No, you have to have the chicken breast, the sausages, a little steak etc etc

Spend ages stuck in the kitchen making salads, marinades and so on

Make umpteen trips, trotting in and out, to schlapp everything outside to lay the table

Get pissed off when, just as the food is being served, everyone starts sprinting around because it is too bright and they need their sunnies (then can't find their sunnies) or too cold and they need a hoodie (then can't find their hoodie).

Have to bundle the table-cloth straight into the washing machine because someone always blobs salad dressing

Feel like committing murder as I find the dirty, smelly grill in the belfast sink in my utility room where Mr Sneer has "left it to soak" and gone off to work on Monday morning, forgetting all about it.

All of this just so we can have sausages (possibly slighty overdone on the outside, possibly slightly underdone on the inside?) that split and look rough???

Am I the only one? We've just had the first of the year today and it's all come flooding back. Am I the only person that thinks "roll on September" so I can stick a casserole in the oven and make life easy for myself?

I think I must be a miserable cow. Everyone loves barbeques except me. I just don't get it...

OP posts:

transferbalance · 10/04/2011 15:17

I only ever go to other people's houses for bbq

can't be arsed otherwise

transferbalance · 10/04/2011 15:17

plus tiny garden (my excuse)

TitsalinaBumSquash · 10/04/2011 15:19

YABU, BBQs are fun, social and easy, it is the most relaxing time of year, chilling out in the fresh air and sunshine whilst the food cooks.

BecauseImWoeufIt · 10/04/2011 15:21

I love them - but agree with the amount of preparation. It amuses me that DH behaves in such a cliched, stereotypical way, insisting it's his job to man the barbecue and 'do the cooking'. He never, ever cooks normally. And I think he really thinks that the food turns out well because of his efforts, and that all the marinading and prep that I do counts for nothing!

But we don't do sausages and burgers (well we do, but amongst other things), and I love the flavour that the barbecue imparts to certain foods. Halloumi, for example, tastes wonderful.

nancy10 · 10/04/2011 15:22

And everyone compliments the dh, even though he's only cooked the meat. Where as you've done ALL the preparation!

gilbonzothesecretpsychoduck · 10/04/2011 15:26

I'm with you OP, but then I'm a miserable cow and I'd cancel summer completely except for being able to chuck the kids outside for large portions of the day.

FurCoatNoNickname · 10/04/2011 15:27

are you me?!

TitsalinaBumSquash · 10/04/2011 15:28

I do hate the 'men have to do the BBQ' attitude, I never let anyone near my BBQ, I prepare it so I cook it.

AnnoyingOrange · 10/04/2011 15:30

my dh does both the prep and the cooking, so I like BBQs

Selks · 10/04/2011 15:33

Sod doing the barbecuing...and sod doing the prep either. If my DP wants to 'cook' with the BBQ he can chuffing well do the prep as well. I treat it as a day off! The most I will do is sort the drinks for guests...and for me

scotsgirl23 · 10/04/2011 15:42

Gah don't start me on BBQs. DH has decided to have a huge one here on the 29th, has invited half the world....slight flaw is that WE DON'T HAVE A BARBEQUE (or a garden, BBQ will be in the street) so we are going to have to buy a BBQ we have no where to store.

noddyholder · 10/04/2011 15:45

I hate bbqs Our neighbours are having one today and are playing bob marley over and over

usualsuspect · 10/04/2011 15:46

I like going to them ..but they are a pita to have

5Foot5 · 10/04/2011 15:56

Oh they're not that bad!

First, be disciplined about the amount of meat. You already know you are over-buying so don't! Just cook what you know you will eat.

Second, surely all the supermarkets sell BBQ stuff ready marinated now don't they? We usually get a BBQ box from our frozen food man at the beginning of the summer and that has lovely stuff in that we just have to defrost and cook.

Finally, I don't mind this men must barbeque attitude at all. DH is a pretty willing cook in any case, not just BBQ. But I would rather he stand over the hot grill turning stuff around while I toss a bit of salad stuff together.

Grill left to soak a bit annoying I suppose but you could just leave it there and remind him when he gets home from work.

I wish we were barbecuing now having spent the day getting the garden and patio nice and tidy, but I have bought a joint so it must be that.

AnnVeronica · 10/04/2011 16:12

I don't like going to other people's barbeques when they've bought cheap meat from a supermarket. boak.

doley · 10/04/2011 16:14

I could have written the same post .

HATE this season for that -boring ,boring boring !

ddubsgirl · 10/04/2011 16:15

must be odd one out then,dp & i take turns cooking on the bbq!

borderslass · 10/04/2011 16:17

DH doesn't do the BBQ I do he comes in for his dinner break and enjoys it though.

Want2bSupermum · 10/04/2011 16:18

You are not alone.... I am married to a man who works in the meat industry. Our summers are spent trying new cooking techniques for bbqing meat cuts that he sells into restaurant chains and supermarkets. His latest project is to develop a new bbq sauce. Last year it was a soft bone rib he was playing around with. Goodness knows what it will be next year.

I was bbq'd out about 5 years ago.

IgnoringTheChildren · 10/04/2011 16:19

Your DH is BVU to leave the grill in the sink to soak. Doesn't he realise that you don't need to wash the grill as "it gets bloody hot and burns off/kills off anything left on it before you start cooking"! The only time my DH accepted the fact that the grill was too minging to use without a wash first was the day that he decided to take it to the tip and buy a new one.

xkittyx · 10/04/2011 16:20

My joy at a barbeque comes from making a great big fire. Got dh to build a sort of concrete construction in the back garden to make huge blazes in, I'm a keen pyromaniac. I do all the fire making and actual meat cooking, he is on log splitting duty. I also love making the marinades etc.

Gingefringe · 10/04/2011 16:21

I am you!! My husband turns over a couple of sausages/steaks/burgers while he's sipping the beers whilst I do all the dashing about backwards and forwards with all the bits. THEN HE GETS ALL THE CREDIT!!

Must bribe get the kids to help with the carrying this year.

Carrotsandcelery · 10/04/2011 16:22

Has anyone encountered the bbq in public places trend? They seem to be springing up everywhere. They look lovely and sociable but I really struggle with the smoke from them. I am a veggie and find the smell of cooking meat really stomach churning. I have to leave the supermarket if they are roasting chickens and things like that. I have just had to leave the park because the smell of the steaks cooking. I know it is my problem but it does put me off bbq season a bit. I do like a slice of halloumi and a pepper kebab done on the bbq though

Want2bSupermum · 10/04/2011 16:23

You don't need to wash a gas grill but you should wash down a charcol grill as the temperature is harder to control so you never know if you have killed everything off. We are in NJ and due to the humidity I use a little bleach to rub the grates down the next day. Obv I rinse after!

dreamingbohemian · 10/04/2011 16:28

YABU, I find BBQs really easy actually. I throw together a quick salad, DH grills the meat. You don't have to do lots of prep! definitely not marinades, you can do dry rub spices really quickly or get nice sauces to put on after cooking. You don't need lots of sides, just do a quick salad and throw some corn on the cob on the grill.

If you're eating outside get a vinyl topped tablecloth, you just have to sponge it off. I don't get how a tablecloth gets any dirtier with BBQ than anything else.

Yuck to undercooked sausages though

Actually maybe you could get a BBQ cookbook? DH might pick up some useful cooking tips, would get more ideas for quick and easy prep and sides.

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