This isn't sexist at all.

[PiperIsTerrysChoclateOrange]

In my DH works on night shifts each of the wives/partners cook for all the men on shift.

I'm happy with it and so are all the other women, we have been doing this for years. It means they all get a hot home made meal.

The 1 partner of a new man who has started has pulled a strop and said it sexiest and very 1950.

The reason we all enjoy cooking them as we can step away from cooking 'kids' meals and kick up the heat on curries and jerk chicken ect.
While I accept that children do eat these kind of meals within our friendship group all these are always done mild.

IABU to think it is not sexiest.

In able to do this many years ago with the Christmas bonus they brought a George foreman, slow cooker, pressure cooker and a rice cooker. Due to H&S the only thing they haven't got is a deep fat fryer. But all the others have been PACT tested.

My guess is the new DH forwarded text to new wife. She then texted back the "Like Fuck..." Text and he forwarded it to OP.

OP, did it say "sexist twats THEY all sound" or "YOU all sound". It's the sort of text I'd send DH, but I'd never be rude enough to send it to a stranger.

Although DH wouldn't have shown me the first text, as he'd know my reaction if I was asked to cook for 20 unknown men, purely by virtue of owning a vagina.

Brilliant thread

It is a really unusual set up. I work nights and I eat whatever I can be arsed to make. Dh has not once offered to cook for me. I've worked nights for 12 years

It absolutely is sexist. The team members should sort it all out themselves and make their own arrangements for who cooks the meal.

I am still chuckling at the poor single chap who can't cook a stew I'm a long time married woman and I reckon stews are easier than fry ups.

I'm still here, just woke up.

The food is already cooked so taken in and put on the setting that keep hot.

There is 2 6.5 litre slow cookers. Which gets taken home by who ever needs it next.

Several people have mentioned the unlikely probability of having large enough pots or indeed enough cooking space to cater for 20. Not to mention the time involved. Are all these women working full time? In which case they are truly remarkable to be able to manage their time so well and I admire them.

However, it seems unlikely that the women are as delighted with this arrangement as their men. In most households where both partners work there is at least an attempt at a fair division of labour. Which in this case would involve the men coking for themselves.

I am also perplexed as to why they can't just have sandwiches which is the norm for the long break meal in all the places I've worked.

God the thought of it just feels so grim.

If I was presented with 2 x 6.5 litre slow cookers I would have no idea how to proceed and no inclination to find out.

It's just all incredibly specialised isn't it. Just the fact that out of 20 men 19 have wives who are happy and able to cook on this industrial scale is just really weird to me.

I've never used a slow cooker and I don't think DH has either. Is it the same as a pressure cooker? Those scare me, my mum had one and she was always telling me it might explode

I think you need to understand that this is an extraordinarily uncommon situation you have there OP and it's not at all surprising the "new wife" was utterly WTAF when presented with this "opportunity".

Cooking a one-pot wonder once in three months (or even every three weeks) for 20 people would be much less time consuming than having to think of something to make and pack every day.

The rota is coordinated between the people who do the cooking.

why they can't just have sandwiches

Because getting a hot home made meal is so much nicer!

I think that OPs DH and his work-colleagues are really lucky to have had this arrangement set up for them.

I really like the idea of communal meals and only cooking once every three months. A slowcooker can take a huge volume of fluid and that would probably be enough for 20?

This thread has got me thinking -what I would cook for a large group of people?

Two slow cooker I think would be manageable as it's only once every few months. Just a case of having a basic recipe and multiplying the ingredients five times .

I thought this was a wind up or a reverse, but the detail with the size of the slow cookers and their volume convinces me it's real.

I'm glad I'm sinngle when I read threads like this. So many women have a man in their life who gives them nothing but extra work. NOt YOU necessarily OP but men create about 7 hours of extra housework on average (i read that recently) and in some cases it's clearly more.

I get to chill out, work out, do diy (to my taste) watch netflix (programmes I like).

Less time consuming for the man.
More time consuming for the woman who still has to cook for herself and the children who don't eat spicy food as well as 20 men.

And more time because obviously the men take responsibility for their meals at work on the weeks they are on days.

And if a hot meal is so much nicer, why do they not have hot meals at meal breaks all the time? Most people do not have a hot meal during their working hours. One cooked meal a day is the norm for working adults and the men could easily prepare a family meal when they are on nights, eat it before going to work and then have a lighter meal of sandwiches etc later on.

By devolving the responsibility to the women they are quids in. It's fine as long as all the women have the time and inclination, but it does seem unusual that none of the other women find it an imposition and struggle to work a full day and then cook for 20.

And if the slow cookers etc are used in the individual houses rather than at work, who ferries them from house to house?

Two slow cookers would not be manageable for me. They would take up workspace I need for my own cooking prep and serving.

I think you would need three in any case to cook enough for 20 men. The prep alone for such a big meal would take at least an hour. Who has got that sort of time after getting home from work, dealing with homework, cooking family meal etc?

7 more hours work! Blimey!!

DH cooks cakes to take into work. He also makes sandwiches for work but if he was doing communal meals, he'd cook his own communal meal

Well if it's 20 people and they work 5 days a week then the rota can't be coming round once every 3 months. It must be every 4 weeks. For 3 months assuming 5 day weeks, you'd need more like 60 people surely.

Unless some of the men have mums, sisters and aunts who are also contributing to the effort?!

How big is the George foreman? Is it like the giant cheese toaster maker Heston built?

It just feels a bit depressing with the men buying these kitchen gadgets so they can take them home to their wives so they can cook a massive vat for 20.

random this isn't the only alternative to microwave meals as you seem to suggest. Most people manage to arrange their work food without such industrial cooking.

If the system works for the OP etc then that's fine but the assumption that the new blokes wife would get involved is incredibly sexist. If he wanted to bring food that's one thing and if he and his wife agreed privately she would cook it then fine but the op should not have assumed the wife would cook.

And if a hot meal is so much nicer, why do they not have hot meals at meal breaks all the time? Most people do not have a hot meal during their working hours. One cooked meal a day is the norm for working adults

Says who? I don't particularly like cold food and rarely eat sandwiches by choice, so generally eat three hot cooked meals per day, although sadly I have to prepare most of these myself.

I work in an office and lots of people have reheated leftovers - sometimes there is quite a queue for the microwaves - I don't think we could manage the batch cooking rota, although I would love it if we did.

I do a lot of batch cooking and lots of things are quick meals like omelettes, soup or eggs on toast, or reheated batch cooked meals or leftovers. In addition, I do have a takeaway about once a week (which does two meals so more reheated leftovers) and eat out about twice a month so its not like I am cooking three times a day.

One of the things that puzzles me the most is that all the other wives have obviously agreed to do it - up until now. I mean if you were to choose a random 20 MNetters asking them 'If your DH worked nights, would you be prepared/happy to take it in turns to cook hot food for them on a rota and delivering it to their workplace?' I can't help thinking the vast majority would be pretty damn close to the new wife's reply.

Every third week is nightshift, so five women cook for twenty men. Which does work out that its only every third month you only have to do a full days work, come home, cook the normal the for the other family members, leave yours in the pot and heave out the industrial sized pot and start coking for the men. You can probably manage to eat a few spoonfuls of your own meal in between chopping and stirring the mens food.

a total doddle. It's for this reason that most people prefer to do entertaining at the weekends - because they simply don't have enough time at during the week. 20 portions is a lot of work to cook.

How unlikely is it that out of 20 men, all but one are inept in the kitchen and cannot prepare the meal themselves?

What do the men do for food on the dayshift? Did I miss that bit?

It is undoubtedly sexist. It'd be an Interesting maths Q!

How would a George foreman work for so many people, surely even with more than one it'd take ages to do chicken breasts, burgers or whatever

Says me. On the basis of 32 years working experience.

times have changed. It used to be, back in the 80s, that a hot meal was the norm. You only have to look at the sandwich shops, ready made sandwiches in shops etc to know that there has been a huge change in the way people eat. .

You might think a hot meal in the middle of the day is nicer but many people do not, so it is not the absolute that was stated. You prefer hot meals three times a day and that is your choice. It doesn't mean it is the norm though. The time taken to cook and then eat an omelette, for example, is great than the time taken to eat a yoghurt. And lots of people in offices have their breakfast at their desk because they don't have the time to eat at home before rushing out.

I always cook from scratch - I love cooking. But not for 20. that is a chore, not a pleasure.

What do the men do for food on the dayshift? Did I miss that bit?

Graze on McCoys crisps and yorkie chocolate until they get home to a proper meal.

...Where I work, the husbands have a rota and 1 man comes in at lunchtime to clean our cars and put fills them up with petrol. He also helps carry heavy items and does small plumbing and carpenters work for us......

Sounds ridiculous and sexist doesn't it? That's because it is!

Poor new woman, I expect you'll all perpetually moan about her. 1950s my arse my Mum is turning in her grave at the thought of how little womankind has progressed.