People tricking you with cheaper food

[HuntIdeas]

AIBU to get really annoyed with people substituting cheaper alternatives into food and thinking you can’t tell the difference! No dumbass, we’re just too polite to say “your food is a bit crap today” so instead say “that was lovely, thanks”

I went over to a friends yesterday and she served chilli con carne. After the meal she gleefully told us that it was quorn and lentil, as if we didn’t think we could taste the difference! At which point all we said was “I thought it tasted a bit unusual”. I really should have said “no wonder it was almost inedible” but I’m way too British for that!

How snobby of you OP. So a host cannot feed their guests within their budget- it has got to be high end, quality ingredients that match your standards? with regards to allergies i aways ask if anyone has any i should know about but i also like to tell everyone what ive made. Seems silly to trick people but i find it even worse to judge someone (who has gone through the effort of making you a meal) because they used cheaper alternatives. Glad ive not got you as a guest!

YABU. When I read stuff like this, it makes me appreciate my lovely, gracious and accepting friends even more.

I don't mind quirk but it tastes nothing like meat.

I'd happily eat an all-lentil chilli, but I actively choose to avoid Quorn. Fermented soil mould is not my bag, baby

Quorn, not quirk

@crockof ah I see what you're saying. My mother was similar in a smug attempt to feel she was getting one over on you whilst all the while you were trying not to comment, for fear that would cause her to have a go too... Maybe I've gone a little too far now!

Depends how well she knew the guests. I'd cook a Quorn mince cottage pie and still call it cottage pie for example. But DP has Crohn's disease and soya/Quorn make him extremely poorly. If he was told it was mince he would eat it but yeah, don't really like being lied to. But people with allergies and the like usually check ingredients before eating

This post just makes you sound like an ungreatful cow. Glad i dont know you.

I like a bit of quirk too @ReggieWoo.

I think the issue isn't the cost of the ingredients, its being deceptive! The 'ha ha!' moment, really not nice. I make sure guests know exactly what they are getting so I can take into account allergy's and preferences? Its what you do?

Quorn makes me very poorly so I'd be mega annoyed by this.

Now I don’t have “allergies” but my digestive system simply can’t tolerate quorn OR lentils (shame as I actually quite like lentils) so that “surprise” would have left me in the bathroom for most of the night.

I am allergic to quorn, it makes me have stomach cramps and feel really sick so I'd be pretty upset if I'd been tricked. It's not a well known allergy but not uncommon

Quorn would give me the total shits. So I'd think they were total shits for not telling me. Not technically allergic, but definitely a gut intolerance. And not one it would occur to me to declare if hearing we were having chili con carne. Given it actually fucking means "chili with meat" not "chili with fungus culture".

Unless your friend actually lied and said it was meat, then revealed that it wasn't , YABVU and rude.

For those pp who have allergies presumably you would tell the host in advance so they would know not to cook that for you. Allergies aside, if people cook a meal for you then you should be grateful.

You sound really stuck up OP.

YANBU. I think it's a stupid thing to do,some people can't eat Quorn without having a bad reaction to it.

Id be pissed as quorn makes me ill

For those pp who have allergies presumably you would tell the host in advance so they would know not to cook that for you. Allergies aside, if people cook a meal for you then you should be grateful.
I don’t have an allergy, Quorn just makes me ill

I put lentils in my chilli and bolognese. Not because they are cheaper but because they are healthier. And to me they taste better not worse.
I think it's a bit rude to judge a meal someone has kindly made you as 'too cheap.'
And as for, 'it's like feeding a vegan mince' - no it's really not. A vegan will have ethical and/or health reasons for not eating meat, and will have made that clear to someone who is feeding them. I'm sure if you had a reason why you wouldn't or couldn't eat quorn or lentils and made that clear to friends they would not put them in your food.

If I was invited round for chill I wouldn't say oh don't make it with quorn, my friends would think I was crazy. I'd only mention that if was specified as vege meal then I could see it. Some people think it's clever

@treacletoots are you mu sister???

I always add finely chopped mushrooms & / or aubergine to chilli - nothing to do with cost - totally about getting my family to eat more veggies

Generally I don't mind this, if it was the example you gave or similar.

Our ex nanny used to bulk out shepherds pie with tins of beans (even though I was paying the ingredients) and it was really horrible. I had to stop buying baked beans as she would sneak them into everything! They aren't an ingredient!

Having said that, if I'm having people over for a meal I do always do a 'is there anything you can't eat?' check first.

She gleefully told you the chilli con carne was actually vegetarian? Or did she simply say that she'd used Quorn and lentils instead of mince? The fact it is a low-fat version of the dish would be good news for me. You sound a bit snobby, and I do hope your SIL isn't on Mumsnet. If I were her,and I read your post, I'd never invite you for dinner again.

I add barley and grated carrot to chilli and bolognaise sauce, to make it go further, particularly if I'm cooking for a horde of people. No-one has ever accused me of trying to fool them
.
Also Quorn isn't a cheaper alternative to mince.