to say that cottage pie is NOT a “weekday meal”

[RiddleMeThis2018]

Cottage pie is delicious. I know how to make it, but sometimes I like to look at a recipe online, to make sure I don’t put too much tomato in by mistake (disappointing, not to be recommended). Almost ALL the recipes say “delicious week-night supper” or similar. This is NOT a weeknight supper!! I couldn’t do it yesterday because the DCs and I got back from swimming too late. I’m not even working today and I had to psych myself up to it. The mince takes 50 mins to simmer, and that’s after all the chopping. Then there’s 20 mins in the oven assuming you time the potatoes right. And then the washing up!

I don’t blame cottage pie. I blame the website writers who want to make me think I should just whip this up on a Thursday when I get in from work. AIBU?

@Cariadne we use tinned lentils. Cuts it down a bit :)

I actually think that a mini roast is at the very least easier than something like cottage pie

Definitely less work. And fewer pans. But takes longer because the chicken takes about 90 mins to roast and then you need the rest time.

I think it is often described as a weeknight dish by those who don't think it's posh enough for the weekend.

They are wrong. Shepherds pie is delicious any night of the week.

This is your concern? You are being unreasonable, because your post just suggests you have not mastered a recipe yet which clearly is taking up too much time for you to consider making it on a weekday.

It is certainly doable for a weeknight dinner, working full time and with kids. Within 40-45 minutes you can create a fresh cottage pie, it's not difficult at all.

I wholeheartedly agree. A meal which takes over an hour from start to finish is not a weeknight meal in my book.

I haven't read the whole thread but I am sure it is full of lots of people talking about how the "bung" or "throw" things around and make it in 30 minutes. I agree that it is quite a lot of work compared with some meals so probably would only do on a week day night if I didn't have to take the DCs to clubs etc. No one in my family likes it that much anyway so it seemed too much effort for what is not a particularly great or healthy meal.

You don't need to simmer the mince for 50 minutes!

Correct - I'd do it for 3 hours.

M&S cottage pie is 100% a weeknight meal though!

We had it last night. Weekday meal here.

It might be a Friday night meal or a night when the kids don’t have any activities to be ferried too . My mid week teas normally involve spaghetti or noodles !

Why on earth does it take 50mins for your mince to cook & 20mins in the oven??

I wouldn't make it if I couldn't cook the mince at least an hour. That makes it softer. I prefer to cook it for 3-4 hours at 140 degrees though.

This is your concern? You are being unreasonable, because your post just suggests you have not mastered a recipe yet which clearly is taking up too much time for you to consider making it on a weekday.
Yes, this is my only concern in life . As for mastery, i’ve been making cottage pie for 20 years. I just don’t fancy doing it after a long day at work with hungry children waiting for their tea, which is what is suggested by the phrase “weekday dinner”.

A midweek meal here.... but no often as DS doesn’t like it so need to do him something else....

Lasagne is also a midweek meal and I have been known to do a roast on a weekday if we fancy it. We eat around 6 - 6.30 though....it wouldn’t work if you have younger DCs so eat earlier....

What have I just read

If you eat it on a Monday to Friday it's a weeknight meal

So much handwringing and angst over a cottage pie 🙄

Weekday meal ideas always seem designed for sahms of older DCs. For lots of the rest of us, a 'weekday meal' has to be cooked as soon as you get home from nursery/after school care pickup, using only leftovers from your fridge, while holding a baby, in the 10 minutes and 17 seconds it takes for an Octonauts episode, after which your preschooler will explode with hunger and exhaustion.

So for me, yanbu ..

I’m really not a fan but my family are so I will make it occasionally. Definitely mid week though, I’d be sad having to eat it at the weekend😢

Cottage pie is the devils vomit and should never be made. Ever.

I do a generic mince dish.
Frozen diced onions 500 grams
Litre of passata
Frozen mixed peppers
Frozen diced carrots.
3 kilos of medium lean mice.
2 beef stock cubes.
Bing the lot in pressure cooker and cook for a good hour.
The above is not 5 minutes effort in the evening and is the basis then of a super fast lasagne/cottage pie the next day, plus a couple of bags for the freezer.

Weekday meal ideas always seem designed for sahms of older DCs

Absolutely agree and I am a sahm of older dc! Meals like cottage pie are old fashioned and hark back to the time of the housewife. Most mums work now so mid week meals are more realistically stir fries, pasta etc.

It's grim any night of the week.

But I like to slow cook the meat.

Me too. Wishy washy mince cooked in 20 mins has very little flavour and is a bit minging. IMO.

There are some sanctimonious arse holes on MN today!

I have honestly never simmered mince for 50 mins to 3 hours! It sounds like it would turn to mush. But now I'll have to try it if it really is so much tastier.

You only cook your mince for 78.5 minutes? You HEATHEN, Glenda. I wouldn’t eat anything that hasn’t been slowly broiled in its own juice for at least 2 weeks.

I like microwaved fish fingers, that's a 4 minute meal. But then I'm pretty damned lazy when it comes to food.