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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To want to eat at a restaurant?

106 replies

CeliaFate · 29/08/2013 11:16

We've hired a cottage with 3 other families for a long weekend. We get on well but I find their dc a little over-whelming and stressful.

They play fight, charge round, don't respect boundaries (eg will go into my bedroom when they're at my house after I've asked them not to) and my dc generally end up getting hurt. Not all the time, but in a confined setting it's too much for me.

The other 2 families have said to save money on the first night we should all make something and have a meal together in the cottage.

I don't want to cook when I'm only away for 3 nights and I don't want our first night there to be stressful with me cooking and the kids running around.

I've said Oh we'd like to go to a restaurant as we're only there for 3 nights. This hasn't gone down well and now I feel like I'm being a mardy arse and should suck it up and do as they suggested.

So AIBU?

OP posts:

Original poster

CeliaFate · 29/08/2013 13:36

I could bring some naice ham and some pom bears.

OP posts:

ivykaty44 · 29/08/2013 13:37

could you just order take away when you get there? ordering chinese as the portions are alway large and enough for two people, that way you order a range of dishes and it may cost £50 but for all the effort of cooking and taking it with you it could be the easier option.

i would think cooking 23 portions of chilli is goign to set you back £35 quid and a load of hassle for example.

Check trip advisor for chinese take aways where you are going and make sure you make the order and choices before anyone says - oh I want this or that. So you get to control the price. ideal chinese takeaways often do banquet meals for around £20 for 5-6 people so order 2 and a half banquets

Travelledtheworld · 29/08/2013 13:37

Will there be pans big enough in the cottage to cook a meal for 12 or more people?

I suggest Supermarket roast chickens, salad and oven chips or garlic bread. Get the kids to help chop peppers, cucumbers, courgettes and bring some dips too.

Did this for a hideous family reunion in Florida where MiL (who is a dreadful cook ) intended to cook for us all, and everyone arriving at different times with jet lag.

ViviPru · 29/08/2013 13:37

In fact, I'd probs be one of the snarksters casting aspersions on your choices and painting you as the awkward mare. If you were to rock up with a bag of tortilla chips I would find that absolutely hilarious and all would be forgiven (depending on how much wine I'd consumed)

I do hope you conjure some choice AIBUs to share with us resultant from this vaycay, I can't wait to hear how it all pans out!

LouiseAderyn · 29/08/2013 13:38

I think you should develop a dose of D&V, that makes you unable to go

sherbetpips · 29/08/2013 13:38

10 frozen pizzas and take up all the oven space......
Have to admit would hate both options, eating in with 23 people or eating out with 23 people but you are stuck with it so eat in, drink wine and have a laugh and know that you will never ever have to do it again

BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability · 29/08/2013 13:39

Yep, offer to take part that doesnt involve any actual cooking beforehand.

Microwave rice/ bags of salad/ garlic bread to literally just chuck in the oven/ bread rolls/ load of chilled cheesecakes for dessert...?

EldritchCleavage · 29/08/2013 13:39

On the meal contributions:

Always pick pudding, it's easy. Ice cream, Eton mess, something like that.

Salad-bags of salad and a jam jar of home-made dressing so it doesn't look too much of a token effort.

And a couple of loaves of sourdough bread. Bingo. Minimum effort, no one can complain you haven't contributed enough. Let the others do casseroles.

EldritchCleavage · 29/08/2013 13:39

Great minds, Beyond!

ViviPru · 29/08/2013 13:40

Ivy is the OP to consume all four portions herself or should she share with her family?

ivykaty44 · 29/08/2013 13:41

I think she should go for the chinese banquet option I gave and throw the chilli in the bin

ViviPru · 29/08/2013 13:42

I'm never coming on a mini-break with YOU Eldritch, that's my tactic. Super-easy yet you get all the glory. TA DAAA all behold Vivi's FAMOUS St. Clements Trifle

TempusFuckit · 29/08/2013 13:42

You don't have to cater for 23! If all four families did that, you'd have enough food for 92 people, ffs. Just cook enough food to theoretically feed however many people are in your family, but suitable to be shared more sparingly as a smorgasbord type thing.

(And sorry, but you do sound huffy to me )

Original poster

CeliaFate · 29/08/2013 13:42

Will there be pans big enough in the cottage to cook a meal for 12 or more people?
This is the thing - even though the cottage sleeps all of us (in bunks, sofa beds etc) the actual kitchen isn't an industrial sized one, it's a normal size oven.

So we'll bring cooked food then will have to reheat it in shifts, presumably, as there'll be one ordinary oven and a microwave.

The only way this could be less appealing was if we were camping.

OP posts:

EldritchCleavage · 29/08/2013 13:43

Aw, Vivi, and I was likin' your style there girlfren', and everything. Look, you use the tactic, I'll bring the booze, I'll get my sister to make a casserole. Sorted.

Original poster

CeliaFate · 29/08/2013 13:43

I could offer to bring the wine? and drink it all myself

OP posts:

BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability · 29/08/2013 13:43

me, vivi and eldritch's meal would consist of shitloads of sides and desserts and no main meal!!

nemno · 29/08/2013 13:44

If money is tight for some of the friends and they are good enough friends that they have shared this reasoning then I think YABU.

EldritchCleavage · 29/08/2013 13:44

Sounds marvellous.

Original poster

CeliaFate · 29/08/2013 13:44

Tempus I am a mardy arse aren't I? Dh is all for mucking in and doing whatever's necessary to have a jolly time. I am more control freak/introvert discerning.

OP posts:

Original poster

CeliaFate · 29/08/2013 13:45

Beyond that would be my ideal dinner.

OP posts:

ViviPru · 29/08/2013 13:45

The only way this could be less appealing was if we were camping.

Actual Lolz.

RichManPoorManBeggarmanThief · 29/08/2013 13:50

I'm kind of annoyed that I agree with your friends- going somewhere for dinner in a group of 24, 16 of whom are presumably children (you have 4 kids each???) is going to be hellish. I don't think I'd go to a restaurant the whole weekend tbh.

Also, when you say cottage, do you mean A cottage, or more like a cottage complex?

ViviPru · 29/08/2013 13:50

Seriously, OP, I'm a massive control freak too, but I go on lots of these kinds of things and I almost see them as an interesting challenge to be WON. The winner is the person who manages to enjoy themselves while remaining in favour with the most possible co-vacationers by the end. You're going to have to get into this mindset.

I'm a sucker for The Road Less Travelled and delaying gratification and all that guff and these gruelling hurdles make the end result (sitting in a comfortable chair with wine & stilton) so very much sweeter. You could sit in a comfortable chair with wine and stilton at home, granted, but there would be no sense of achievement, it doesn't feel half as satisfying, believe me

Longdistance · 29/08/2013 13:52

Has the cottage got a BBQ? That's one option.

When we hired a few cottages that were close together with some friends, we descended onto one cottage as someone in the group did a massive pasta dish. We brought the booze, and other drinks.

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