To hate Sunday roast dinners.....

[Toastandstrawberryjam]

It's not Sunday big family dinners I hate. It's specifically roast dinners.

Firstly every single time we have one (or I eat one somewhere else) I'm ill afterwards. I have no idea what it is but some part of it sets off an upset stomach followed by days of cramps. I'm ok if I just eat the meat and a few veggies but frankly that's not the most exciting of dinners.

Then there's the stipulation of "roast rules", always in the evening not at lunchtime. Invariably being everybody is tired and the DC barely eat anything. Then there's the "at least 2 types of potato" rule (but preferably 3 - roast, new, mash) and "at least 5 types of veg". It's such a palaver.

Last week I cooked roast chicken with crunchy baked potatoes, ratatouille and nice bread - that to me was perfect. Low fuss, minimal clean up. But it's not classed as a proper roast here :(

Roast meat (lamb, beef, pork, chicken), roast potatoes, salad for me and DP and steamed broccoli and carrots for me and DD... that's it. No-one else likes gravy so I don't usually bother. Easy peasy and we have it regularly (a couple of times a week) since I don't have to stir things.

DDad always does mashed and roast spuds, and makes great gravy and I enjoy that when we go there.

Your DH sounds like hard work tbh! If he wants the full faff he can do the faffing!

Potatoes set my IBS off so I either leave them off my plate, or stick a sweet potato in to bake with the roast. When it's done, I turn it out of its skin and mash it with a fork.

I quite like making a roast dinner... as long as someone else clears up afterwards!

Good god, what a palaver! I have roast dinner rules too. They are:

1. I never, ever cook a roast for Sunday lunch
2. I detest pub roast dinners
3. Yorkies with beef only
4. Stuffing with chicken, turkey, goose or occasionally pork
5. Only one kind of potato, ever. New potatoes with lamb, roasties with beef or chicken. Mash does not go with roast dinners.
6. Two or at most three kinds of veg, fresh and not overcooked
7. Nothing from a packet or pre-made - Paxo is the devil's work and Aunt Bessie can shag off.

I know others have said it but really...roast dinner rules are the least of your problems.

Pull your self together and see that!

I'd give him fucking rules, and I adore kitchen faffery, when we have a roast dinner there's always roast and mash, and yorkies, and many many veg and a MINIMUM of two puds.

No wonder so many people weigh a ton now. So much food for one meal is ridiculous.

Blimey - roast dinner aside - he sounds like too much hard work. Please tell him to fuck off x

OP what are crunchy baked potatoes and how do I make them?

Toooldforglitter - I meant baked potatoes that are oiled and rolled in salt before baking on a tray with a bit of water in. Somehow that makes them ultra crispy on the outside, but fluffy inside. Yum.

DH did most of the clearing up today. He's still sulking though.

Meat
Mashed potatoes
Roast potatoes
Roast parsnips
Broccoli
Carrots
Sweet corn
Cauliflower
Green beans
Stuffing
Yorkshire pudding
Gravy
Mint sauce

All the veg goes in one pan, potatoes in another, roast stuff in a tin with meat, stuffing in pytex thing. Washing ups fine as I do it straight after I've dished it up, so dish up veg, wash pan, dish up spuds, wash pan etc.

Roast Dinner Rules. But, I wouldn't expect anyone else to follow them, I would just be grateful that someone was cooking for me!

Let him sulk then. Make it clear to him, too, that if he wants a roast on his terms, then he shops, preps, cooks and cleans it all up.

My only rule about a proper roast is that it's all hands on deck for clearing away afterwards. I agree it takes a long time, lots of prep and lots of washing up, but on a cold winter's Sunday from about 12 onwards I am more than happy to potter for three or four hours over the roast while I listen to the radio. It's not a solid three or four hours, is it?

The only awful bit is the pile of washing up afterwards.

DP cooked us a roast yesterday; first one in months. Chicken, roast potatoes, steamed veg: green beans, cabbage and carrots. A red pepper that needed using up chucked in with the potatoes for last 15 mins (nice). And thick lumpen gravy you could slice with a knife but never mind. So meat, one potato and 4 veggies. Would normally have been another veg - onion, that we bung in with the potatoes too.

Potatoes and cabbage leftovers for bubble and squeak tonight ..mmmm.

Washing up was 1 roasting pan, 2 layers of electric steamer, 1 gravy pan.

I don't think the roast dinner is the problem here...

roast dinner often gives me a funny tummy. i think it is the roasting tin. the chicken cooking in it, then the potatoes.

If I do a roast, I do it simply. Meat, roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, broccoli, peas, gravy.

When dh does a roast he gets seriously carried away and needs my help and it ends up late and everyone stressed. Yesterday for example! We had roast chicken, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, sprouts with bacon, broccoli and cauliflower cheese, Yorkshire puddings, bread sauce, gravy. Lots of prep and stirring with the cheese sauce and bread sauce. Pain in the arse. And loads of clearing up.

No not at all. I can't stand them, meat used to upset my tum and I never much liked it so gave it up years ago. The veggie equivalent is marginally better but I don't want a heap of vegetables and gravy, I'd rather have nice normal food for my lunch. I hate that it's so bloody hard to get a non roast dinner meal in a pub on a sunday too and all the faff around the sodding sunday roast dinner too - archaic, dull, uninspiring food in my opinion. Ugh.

If I do sunday lunch as a big meal I do an asian meal - dumplings, noodles, asian greens with ginger/garlic/, chilli soy beans etc. Minutes to prep and wildly popular. Lunch guests always comment on what a lovely change it is from their sunday roast.

Update Plain roast chicken and rice didn't make me ill, so nice to start a Monday off not being in pain!

DH did do all washing up but is still not talking to me.

I am sure if I had no DC I would happily potter in the kitchen all afternoon, but they are more fun to be with than a vegetable peeler (most of the time....).

Enjoy the space without this arsehole talking to you, issuing commands.

It's all about controlling you.

Yay for you OP but grr at DH.

When I lived at home my mum's compromise for roast dinner - she disliked, my DF liked - was roast meat and veg dish like ratatouille or red cabbage and apple and potaoes dauphinoise as the only sides.

More than 1 type of potato is barmy - roast potatoes with a roast! They're the best bit! And we have 3 veg - usually 2 that are also roasted (e.g. carrot/parsnip/beetroot/squash) and 1 green (broccoli/peas/kale/cabbage etc.) I'd quite like cauliflower cheese or red cabbage too, but the DC won't eat them so can't be bothered to make them at the moment.

Nice and simple. Especially now that I've trained DH in cooking it. He washes up as he goes along too.

Why is he not talking to you?

What earth said. The roast doesn't come across as the big problem here.

He can't dictate what you eat then get the hump when you ask him to muck in.