'Let's have a BBQ ' said no woman ever!

[Lifewithasixyearold]

No it isnt easier, no it's not less work and no DH you don't actually do anything like all of it!
Fuck me, it's 160 degrees out there, my rage is hotter than the damn BBQ which wasn't lit in time of course and naturally I have started things in the oven because when the BBQ does get going it will incinerate the outside of everything and leave a lovely warm core of pure food poisoning within...
AIBU surely we could get them banned, smoke, emissions or something??

Being keen to reduce "wifework" I have previously done the "leave it all to DH" thing with the result that meat was served burnt or very late and there was nothing else to eat but one big bag of tortillas and baps: DC ate baps and cereal: adult guests got grumpy! DH oblivious.

I just don't get excited about bbq. Frequently go on holiday to villas that have nice proper outdoor bbqs - I'm never interested in cooking on them. Last time I did was when we went on holiday with family and it seemed like "a thing to do" with them as it seems to make other people happy.

I find we have fewer barbecues since I started responding to "lets have a BBQ!" with "oh lovely, let me know when its time to eat" and just not doing anything. After a while I make lunch for me and the kids and explain that it seemed obvious that the BBQ was going to be the evening meal. Or a late-afternoon charcoal snack, or something.

The problem seems to be getting the fire going, then hot enough coals. Seems to take bloody ages.

You need charcoal, kindling, fire lighters, plenty of long matches and lighter fluid.

Honestly it's easy.

Maureen Lipman has written that her husband always said if he wanted his food raw on the inside and burnt on the outside he could have it in the comfort of his own kitchen.

Came home Saturday evening to be told DH has invited 9 members of family for a BBQ on Sunday .... and promised home made veggie burgers and salads. Hours of prepping later then ferrying everything in and out he lights up the bloody thing and burns the lot. I'm still fuming. With you OP.

But surely, if your dh invited them and has promised specific foods, then he will be doing all that prepping????

I'm with you. I fall for it evey time. They do seem to be more work than I always think they're going to be. We had one yesterday. Just me clearing it all away at the end as usual. Dh had 'done the cooking' after all.

I love Barbie's, DH does the meat and cleaning and make the salads apart from the tzadziki which we share

Dh had 'done the cooking' after all.

This annoys me too. They mean, of course, that they've fannied around outside chatting to their mates over cold beers, occasionally stabbing things with a fork.

Things to make it easier - swap to gas.
Get OH / DH to scrap off grill and then pop into the dishwasher. Mine is quite a big BBQ - yet I get them into it.
Book an oven clean and BBQ clean at the beginning of Oct, before it gets put away.
Prep as much food as possible in the kitchen and have a workspace outsite for plates etc.

I really liked the idea of buggering off to buy cocktail ingredients above - will pinch that, cheers!

Ooh, by the way, someone gave me a fab tip for cleaning the grill from the previous sesh. Screw up a piece of tin foil and scrape it along the grid. Comes off beautifully, even when stone-cold.

It's 30deg today and the thought of standing around a drum of coals burning hotter than the sun. No bloody way. It is madness to consider it. It also would melt the ice in my mojito and that isn't going to happen.

I really don't get the BBQ thing. If you want to eat outside, eat outside. Cook the stuff in the oven and carry it the few metres from your kitchen to the garden.

But I don't like eating outside much, either, because you get attacked by flying things, though it's not so bad at this time of year. Give it until July and the wasps start to appear.

Haha! YANBU!!! I HATE BBQS!!!...well hosting them at least!! I say hey shall we go somewhere for lunch and people are like why don't we just come to your lovely garden and have a BBQ...oh yes that sounds so relaxing for me..having to buy everyone's food and clean the BBQ BEFORE and AFTER (if I can face it!), have to cook half of the food inside anyway and make a huge mess in the garden Yey! Not!!

Totally with you, OP. Far more hassle than they are worth.

What is the point of a gas BBQ?! They are fundamentally wrong.

I was once so bored at a barbeque that I induced a very innocent man into trying fire breathing using the lighter fluid. He managed it but scorched the fence.

I know that was very irresponsible but I was much younger and drunk.

I love BBQ's!!!! But I am from Oz and we use gas BBQ's. So much easier and faster than the ones you guys use!!!

You know why else I love a barbie? The guys always do the cooking!!!

A real humanbeing - pretty much everyone is Australia has a gas BBQ and we are pretty good at BBQ's you'd have to say so there must be something in it!

It is quite funny - men get all competitive about how may burners their BBQ has - the bigger it is the better!!!

I love BBQs - I'm always into food and cooking. Plus sometimes it means DO cooks. Also has a rich heritage in Native American and African American cultures x

Oh but if DH is claiming he did it all because he flipped a few burgers then yeah he's being an arse

I love bbqs. Burgers, salads, kebabs. I love them. Collaborating with my husband on a meal rather than doing all the work is fun. Having a lot of beers and falling asleep at washing up time is advisable as a tactic

I'm from a country where BBQing (we call it something different!) is practically a national sport. Every single weekend practically, and most children are expected to have it down to a fine art by the age of 10 😂
If you mess up the meat you pretty much get ex-communicated from the family 😉
No using gas (horror-face), only wood or charcoal and fire lighters.
BBQs are pretty much open invitations to family and friends, very very laid-back affairs, everyone brings their own meat and booze, and generally someone will bring a dessert or a packet of crisps. The kids spend the afternoon in the swimming pool, while the adults sit around the fire drinking wine/beer and chatting. They are no stress at all, no one has any expectations other than to get a tan in the sunshine and have a good catch up with close friends.
It's absolutely heaven and a miss it desperately.
That said, my DH BBQ'd in the snow in London a few years back...