Birthday weekend ready meals - OK or not?

[whiskyowl]

MIL has one of those birthdays coming up with a '0' on the end.

DH and BIL are paying for a weekend away for six of us to celebrate. This involves hire of a cottage, a special activity for a day (£200), and we are also paying all food and booze. We've made a huge cake, too.
Obviously, the costs here are quite high.

We will all help cook one meal on two of the evenings. However, this means cooking after the all-day activity, when we will all be pretty tired.

I suggested that instead of cooking from scratch on that night, we got some ready meals in from that posh frozen place, Cook. We could then just bung them in the oven and chill out.

This idea was met with horror from BIL and partner on the grounds that it 'sends the wrong message' and 'wouldn't be spoiling MIL'.

I've never really thought of high-end ready meals as inferior, and I'd never judge someone who served me one. (I'm generally just grateful to be served any food at all!) But I am very definitely not as posh as the rest of them.

Would you be offended at being served high-end ready meals in this situation?

Jesus Christ. I have just read the whole thread of people bleating about not wanting ready meals to celebrate their birthdays.
1: Cook isn't really like a ready meal from m&s
2: it isn't to celebrate the birthday!! It's to have when they all get back exhausted from a long day out of celebrating in the middle of three days of celebrating and lovely home-cooked meals.
3: everyone seems to have missed the fact that the PILs are controlling and probably quite manipulative, to the point that OP's DH has had to have counselling to deal with them??
Did you all miss the bit when they said OP 'wasn't the kind of woman you marry?' My mum has said similar about DP and I've never forgiven her.
And where are the usual eye-rolls about adult birthdays?? Strange thread.
Op they are lucky to have such a kind and considerate DIL as you.
Your FIL sounds like a lazy mean selfish man however.

I'd be tempted to take a home made pre frozen thing to re heat. It's cheaper therefore leaving more money for booze. Win / win.

The only reason I could see for doing individual meals would be of everyone wanted something different.

Not unreasonable at all, those meals are delicious, especially the large sharing ones. Sounds like a great plan to me.

at ephemeral. To be fair, while PIL are problematic, they are not organising this at all, so the pressure isn't coming from MIL, but from a perception on the part of BIL and partner of what MIL might think!! (This is why I wanted the opinion of Mumsnetters on the etiquette). And BIL and partner are generally not controlling nightmares, but lovely and supportive people who will very much pull their weight in helping to do the labour involved!! I think BIL feels a bit anxious around disappointing PIL, because he hasn't had the same level of psychological support to manage their moods/demands as DH. .

Like I said, I'm going to go along with their idea of a second homecooked meal this time, because it clearly means a lot to BIL and his partner that it's done this way. I was just curious to canvas wider opinion to see whether others would think a readymeal would be unreasonable, because I'm planning to serve one at Christmas!