To not want to eat food that my mother has cooked?

[Cheeseoncrumpets]

I probably am being a bit unreasonable a bit, but to put it bluntly she is shit at cooking. Everything is either frozen or out of a packet, either overcooked or undercooked, unseasoned and served on a freezing cold plate. Her roast dinners are the absolute worst though, unseasoned cremated meat, frozen Yorkshire puddings, burned roast potatoes and veg that's been stewed for about two hours smothered in thick gloopy bisto gravy. I feel sick just thinking about it.

So, she's currently in a huff with me because I don't want to go around there and eat one of her Sunday roasts. To put it into context, we usually all go out as a family together for Sunday dinner. But today she's decided she can't be bothered today's and so instead of asking us first has gone out this morning and bought a piece of beef, some veg and has announced she will be making us all lunch instead. My heart sunk as I was looking forward to a hearty Sunday meal, cooked properly in a nice pub. So I declined and said "no thanks, you know Im not a big lover of Sunday dinner" and then got in the ear because she's bought everything in for us, and she's also enquired as to why I will eat a roast in the pub but not one of hers...

So now I'm stuck. She's not good with crticism anyway so I can't really say "sorry mum but your a shit cook" without it provoking WW3.

I know it's trivial, but am I really unreasonable to not want to eat her slop cooking eveer again?

I sympathise OP. My mum is exactly the same. She tells me I undercook everything and will never throw me a compliment after I've cooked for the whole family (which I usually do now as every meal she makes takes ages and the DC go to bed at 7.30!) She does however sometimes slyly ask me how I made something or where did I learn to cook xyz. So I suppose she likes it. She always brings dessert which is from a packet and it's never finished or "the fruit might be slightly tangy but it's alright!" If I'd been in your position I would probably have sucked it up but realistically I think my mum wouldn't just offer anymore as I do it on time and with actual seasoning!

Typical exchange:
"Where did you get this soup?"
"I made it mum."
"What? Soup? You MADE it? Well how'd you know what to put in it then?"
"The recipe said so..."
"What's THIS?!"
"It's #insert perfectly normal ingredient here#"
"Oh. Right." Eyes my soup suspiciously but goes back for seconds.

Very sad if a family cannot cope with a child saying to a parent 'I don't like mushy veg.' or 'I don't like mouldy soup'. Yes, we will all die one day and we will miss each other but that doesn't mean that amongst family we have to eat things we'd rather not eat.

Like a pp said, it would be different if it was a one-off or infrequent thing or you are a guest in someone's home, etc, but not if it's a regular every Sunday thing with your family. In families, people should be able to say what they prefer.

DD doesn't like sauce on her pasta, so I don't put sauce on her pasta! Simples. I'm glad she told me she doesn't like my sauce (straight from a jar, I confess, none of that lovely cooked from scratch sun-ripened tomatoes simmering gently with basil and olive oil nonsense, who has time) - but I wouldn't want her to feel she has to eat my plastic sauce out of loyalty to me or just because when I die she will miss me.

Maybe all these kids who don't like vegetables actually don't like the way they are being cooked.

As a child, I used to ask for a beef burger or a pie instead of meat on my roast dinner. I would be chewing the meat for a week, it was awful. I went veggie in the end to get away from it. Then I ended up with fish fingers & chips done in the chip pan all the time.

A few years back my DM asked why I now ate rare steak, after 'all that fuss' in my childhood. I told her that the meat was always too chewy, her response 'well, kids don't like rare meat'.

yy I didn't like veg much as a kid. had something to do with the fact that they were always over cooked. I spent years saying they only took 3/4 mins in a steamer. so she cooked them fir 3/4 mins. bit then they sit in the steamer (hob top steamer pan) with the lid on for several minutes while they faff finishing off or serving

my Dds hate mushy veg too.

Maybe all these kids who don't like vegetables actually don't like the way they are being cooked.

My mum will also try and catch me out by asking what brand packet/jar I used for the chilli/lasagne. When I say I used ingredients instead, she is aghast with disbelief! DP hasn't eaten at hers since around 2010 when she served unidentifiable meat (lamb). She doesn't actually think she does it well done either! She thinks that's medium! DP is Mediterranean and my PIL do the BEST lamb in the world!

Dh was an incredibly fussy eater when I first met him. Huge long list of foods he didn't like. Turns out he just didn't like MIL's version of most of them

I didn't like veg as a child. Or red meat. As others have said just overcooked! Carrots and parsnips are peeled early and soaked for a few hours, then boiled in stock for at least an hour. Bicarbonate of soda is put in cooking water to "keep the colour". Beef dry and crumbly. MIL cooks exactly the same way and drenches everything in Bisto. I ask politely to be allowed pour my own gravy and she thinks I'm very odd!