Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Original poster

....or was this an unusually frugal picnic?

205 replies

GeraldineAubergine · 06/08/2011 11:50

last week my dp invited his friend over with his new girlfriend (she's 20 he's 49,unnecessary but I felt I had to add it) and his daughter who was visiting for a week. I bought beer, coke, snacks and we ordered takeaway pizzas as it was a treat for his dd's holiday. All was lovely. Anyhow to say thanks he invited us (dp, ds and myself for a picnic yesterday. I didn't eat thinking il fill up on delicious picnic food.
The picnic consisted of ( for 4 adults and 2 kids): 2 cheese sandwiches cut into 4, 1 small prepack salad, a pear and an apple plus 3 low fat yoghurts. There was a carton of oj too. And six packets of hula hoops which I'm glad I brought :). It was a bit awkward. Am I being unrealistic was this a reasonable picnic? Or do I have greedy tendencies?

OP posts:

Maiavan · 06/08/2011 12:08

I think that perhaps the fact that the new girlfriend is 20 may play a part. She has probably not catered to much before and just didnt know. You could invite them to a picnic and ask them to arrive early so the GF can help you organise the food. Then she can see for next time (but dont tell them that part!)

Original poster

GeraldineAubergine · 06/08/2011 12:09

It was a shame really, ds (18 months) spat his yoghurt on my salad quite near the start so that was it for me.

OP posts:

BalloonSlayer · 06/08/2011 12:10

I remember going to a friend's house for dinner with her and her husband and she gave us a medium size pizza (10") between the three of us, with nothing else. I think we had two slices each. IIRC the pudding was cheesecake but we only got one slice each.

I knew her pretty well, she was not one of these dainty articles that eat next to nothing, she'd an appetite as good as mine, and her husband was a fine healthy lad too.

Never quite got what all that was about.

cjbartlett · 06/08/2011 12:11

Ha ha
Maybe he thought the fridge was well stocked and it obviously wasn't!

nickelbabe · 06/08/2011 12:12

Geraldine - i'm with you. When entertaining, you should make enough food to feed an army (you can always eat leftovers the next day or so!)

If they said that they'd sorted the food, then you should expect at least a full sandwich each, enough drink for 2 cups each, a hard-boiled egg, crisps, yoghurts/cake

Original poster

GeraldineAubergine · 06/08/2011 12:13

Maviavan, he's been reticent to let us meet his gf as he's conscious of the age gap and dp and myself have a relationship where we all make fun of each other plus we are friends with his ex wife so he's keen to not let me talk to her too much. I have been really nice though :)

OP posts:

youarekidding · 06/08/2011 12:13

Jeez I thought I tried not to over estimate the food needed on a picnic. Mines due to budget but at least I would have provided food equal to no of people. EG 2 yoghurts just for kids or 6 in total. iyswim?

Easiest pinic is a bag of mini value cook yourself sausage rolls, and lots of veg sticks, cake bars, etc. I don't even bother with sandwiches as you end up making such a varity of different ones - just in case!

OP YANBU

LyingWitchInTheWardrobe2726 · 06/08/2011 12:13

Even though either may never have catered before... I'd be surprised if they never had a sandwich before in their lives. It's fairly simple to calculate a sandwich for one and multiply it by six..

HerdOfTinyElephants · 06/08/2011 12:14

I would go with the feminist analysis thing.

He said to GF "Can you sort out the food for the picnic?". He meant "...for everyone". She thought he meant "...for us as Geraldine and family will bring their own food".

He texted your DP to say that the food was "sorted" (because he'd asked a woman to do it) and the communication breakdown didn't become clear until it was too late.

zipzap · 06/08/2011 12:15

Do you think he was expecting that if he provided the venue you would be bringing along your own food? And that he was hoping to wolf down your lovely picnic food and so had only brought a token amount of food thinking it would be enough for his dc while he shared yours?

Think I would have been very tempted to say something along the lines of 'I didn't realise you were expecting us to bring our own food with us, sorry we only brought the hula hoops as an afterthought.'. Or next time he invites you out ask him directly what he is expecting you to bring after the fiasco of last time. Do you think he has been spooky by his ex who would have thrown a picnic together no problem so that when he had to do it himself (or ask his gf to do it for him?!?) he (or she) had no clue and just really didn't think about how much more food you need when there are lots more of you?

SinicalSal · 06/08/2011 12:16

Excellent point lyingWitch

SardineQueen · 06/08/2011 12:16

Maybe in these recession hit times they are taking it in turns to eat?

Did they not look mortified when they unpacked the "picnic"? How did they go about dishing it out?

Mind-boggling.

SardineQueen · 06/08/2011 12:18

I wouldn't have had a clue about preparing a picnic for a mixed group at 20. I would have made a better fist of it than her though.

Unless of course she took umbrage at making the picnic for his friends somehow being her job, and thought fuck it.

nickelbabe · 06/08/2011 12:18

I think it's more likely to be that he didn't tell his GF that they were catering for everyone.

but on the point that people have been raising about suddenly realising they've got nothing in, then a sane person would have gone to the shop on the way to picnic (having put all picnic eating utensils and a knife into the bag), and bought cobs, crisps, fruit, cheese, juice, yoghurts, hummous other random bits and pieces, and told everyone to help themselves.

SardineQueen · 06/08/2011 12:18

Sorry assumed her in post 1 there as I was thinking of my next post!

Original poster

GeraldineAubergine · 06/08/2011 12:18

Well I don't know really, when they came over last week and I was ordering pizza he was saying to his dd ' we have watercress soup at home wouldn't you rather that' I assumed it was a joke, but maybe he really does eat frugally. His ex would be more likely to take everyone to the pub for a meal as she openly hates cooking for people.

OP posts:

Original poster

GeraldineAubergine · 06/08/2011 12:20

It was quite funny as we were setting it out this group of people opened out a trestle table thingy and loaded it with food and drinks and had music etc. Me and dp looked a bit wistful :)

OP posts:

SardineQueen · 06/08/2011 12:20

Are they all extraordinarily thin?

Watercress soup doesn't sound very filling for a growing child Was she supposed to sit there and watch you all eat pizza and then go home to her watercress soup later?

I think I have the solution. They are quite mad!

TheMonster · 06/08/2011 12:21

God! I would have left in a huff! I like food.

FannyPriceless · 06/08/2011 12:22

Maybe you just had really different expectations of the picnic? What time of day was it? Do you think it was just a snack while you were playing in the park, rather than an actual meal?

My idea of picnic catering is so over the top I am much more likely to scare people away with the embarassingly vast quantity and unecessary sophistication of the food I bring.

twinklypearls · 06/08/2011 12:23

They clearly stopped mid way through preparing the picnic to have sex and then ran out of time and thought "fuck it" and packed what they had.

We have all been there.

HerdOfTinyElephants · 06/08/2011 12:23

It's the three yoghurts in particular that makes me think whoever sorted out the food thought they were catering for three people.

LineRunner · 06/08/2011 12:23

So the GF must have thought that the six packets of hula hoops were your family's picnic?

What about him, though? He must have twigged at some point that there'd been a monumental fuck up.

Original poster

GeraldineAubergine · 06/08/2011 12:24

Tbf he is quite thin, I'm not really but that's by the by. His dd lives abroad but shes just a regular 8 year old. I don't eat massive amounts just normal ones as does dp or so I thought. Gf seems to have a normal appetite, they both ate a fair amount last week.

OP posts:

Original poster

GeraldineAubergine · 06/08/2011 12:25

Tee hee twinkly!

OP posts:

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9