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?

I cook the mince with the vegetables the night before, to save me time as well as it's much tastier the following day. Then on the day just need to make the mash to cover the mince and put it in the oven. If I had to do all in the same day it would take me about 1h30.

I am only functioning at 30% though and have no choice in the matter thus have begrudgingly resigned myself to the fact that ‘I ain’t gonna be nobodies domestic Goddess’. Whatever works for you, don’t feel guilty. If it’s homemade and got as much veg as protein you’re doing ok and sometimes we have to take the odd shortcut or cheat.

This is quite possibly the most silly thing I've seen.

I disagree with this, unless your using jarred sauces.

Nope, but I use tinned tomatoes. Making tomato sauce for pasta or lasagne is quick.

Use frozen mash. Tastes as good as boiled fresh potatoes

Wasn't Jeffrey Archer famous for his cottage pie and Champagne parties??
But you're right its high maintenance..And it's on the menu at the Ivy..enough said.

I don't think anyone calling it a mid-week meal is suggesting you HAVE to make it mid-week. It's the sort of food many would be happy to eat mid-week. I'm sure if they called it a special occasion meal more people would complain it's not 'special' enough. Make what you want when you want.
I regularly make 'Sunday roast' midweek, as weekends are work days in our house. The food police haven't been around yet.

I don’t think OP’s question is silly at all. Recipes do exaggerate the speed and ease. Plus many women claim to be cooking fresh meals every day after school when they are actually using prepared meals, jars and ready made mixes and seasonings. It does give a false impression that everyone else is achieving the ideal daily. While conversely other families won’t even eat precooked or leftovers making more work and will then opt for take aways instead as it’s too onerous. Go figure the logic!? As if take aways are freshly cooked

We are having it tonight, it does take a while, but we quite often have it on Wednesday, so maybe it depends on your lifestyle if it's weekday or not.
Brown mince and onion, prep veg to go with it, including potato.
Should take about 30 mins to cook, then mash potato, stick it under the grill and serve with the veg. About 45 mins.

Funnily enough this thread got me prepping a cottage pie for tomorrow's dinner. Using my instant pot, an electric pressure cooker, and my only appliance I would take with me to a desert island (if they had electricity), it took me 40 mins from chopping ingredients to fully prepared and ready to bung in the oven. I cooked the mince and potatoes together (potatoes on a trivet on top) and fried off the mince, onions and carrots thoroughly before pressure cooking for 12 mins. Add oven baking time to that, and you have 1h and a half approximately in total.

It’s a weekday meal. It’s not special enough for Saturday or Sunday and great for in the week.

How's about we send an emergency call to Mary Berry to get her to come here and give you all a slap?

Never in my life did I imagine that in 2019 there would be so many 'emaciipated' women arguing over what a shepherds pie is and how to make one.

FFS GET A LIFE.

hells ODFOD

Yes we’re definitely emaciated and need a good seeing to

Bloody Hell. 50 minutes to simmer mince? It must be like boot leather. Cold water, break down the mince to a sort of sludge. Add onion, garlic and a stock cube. Bring to the boil, put the lid on, turn off the heat and rest for about 5 min. That's all it needs.

Transfer with a slotted spoon to the pie dish, add a layer of baked beans then Mash, but it's got to be mash from unpeeled King Edwards, a sprinkling of cheese then bang in the oven on a high heat until its bubbling and has a crispy top.

Make gravy with the left over meat water and bisto gravy powder. My Nana made cottage pie like this from when she was married, so about 1939. I still make it the same way. Takes about 40 min, including boiling the potatoes. If you want extra veg, it has got to be peas.

My youngest DS still asks for this as a birthday meal. He's 19 yo.

Eh?

YNBU. I wouldn’t be bothered to make it on a weeknight

5 minutes if you buy a microwave meal.

Fails at Mumsnet

Bloody Hell. 50 minutes to simmer mince? It must be like boot leather. Cold water, break down the mince to a sort of sludge. Add onion, garlic and a stock cube. Bring to the boil, put the lid on, turn off the heat and rest for about 5 min. That's all it needs

You realise Bolognese sauce takes at least a couple of hours? Doesn’t break down the meat, just deepens the flavour.

Bisto - no way!

I can't abide mashing/peeling potatoes so I would never make that sort of effort on a workday. Anything with mince is midweek supper. I think the description on these sites is based more on the sort of food/price, rather than the effort required. Eg steak is one of the quickest things to cook but you never see that listed as a midweek supper...

It doesn't really take long, I usually cook it whilst doing other jobs in the kitchen and whilst working on laptop (work desk is in the kitchen). I also tend to batch cook the filling and then the next few cottage pies take even less time to prepare ;)

To the poster who said it wasn't special enough to eat at the weekend, how come it's not 'special' enough to make at the weekend? Are all your weekends that amazing that you couldn't possible eat cottage pie just once on a Sat or Sun! 😆 This is the daftest thread ever and I admit I'm totally over invested in it!

Nothing to add that hasn't already been said many times, but I love this thread. There is something quite relaxing and quintessentially Mumsnet about 22 pages of arguments about mince

I don't believe all the posts anyway. The snobby ones are quite funny.

Yes the snobby ones are hilarious, like I said do they all just quaff lobster thermodore on a Sun eve watching Poldark or whatever!