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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think a roast dinner is nicer if you have it infrequently

116 replies

Meruem · 15/10/2020 20:39

As a kid we had a roast every Sunday but once I had my own DC it became an infrequent “treat”. I just got very bored of having one every Sunday. I did an impromptu one tonight and my (now adult) DC really appreciated it but both said it wouldn’t be special if I made one every week. Although DS did say he wouldn’t turn down a weekly one
So AIBU to make it a rare treat?
YABU - Sunday wouldn’t be Sunday without a roast
YANBU - it’s more special to have a roast infrequently

OP posts:

tealjourneys · 15/10/2020 21:49

I love a good roast dinner, but I know my DC would prefer to have them as a rare "treat" (as in never, because they don't like it). We tend to compromise and have one either every other week or every 3 weeks, but I cook them so if I want one, we'll have one

Scweltish · 15/10/2020 21:54

@DollyDoneMore

Roast dinners don’t take much time, though. Chicken takes next to no prep. Potatoes need a parboil then do the rest themselves. Root veg / cabbage - bung in the oven with some spices. Frozen peas, nothing to do.

It doesn’t need to be every weekend, but it’s hardly a chore if it is.

That’s just a basic chicken dinner to me though, not as proper roast. Mine will have stuffing, yorkshires and homemade gravy, possibly cauliflower/leeks and cheese aswell. I’m cooking on and off all day when I make a roast.

Porcupineinwaiting · 15/10/2020 22:00

Cook's choice. YANBU to cook one whenever you fancy doing so.

PetNameChange · 15/10/2020 22:02

I cooked my first roast on Sunday! Our first one since January, it was amazing.

I’ve now scratched the itch for a roast dinner and we won’t have one for a while again now.

Now if we were talking about a beef stew in a giant Yorkshire pudding I’d happily eat that every Sunday at the moment

gaggiagirl · 15/10/2020 22:07

Totally agree that roasts should be infrequent. I have made one every Sunday this year til a fortnight ago. No one cared how massive and epic and beautiful the Yorkshire puddings were. No one cared that I had put extra work into the gravy, or butter on the veg.
If they stop caring it means nothing to them, it's not special anymore and I don't have time in my life to devote to upping my roast game every week for my DC to be so underwhelmed.

Rant over.

The next one will be Christmas dinner. Hopefully by then they will be missing my beautiful Yorkshire puddings.

MrsClatterbuck · 15/10/2020 22:10

Dh and I were out for a car trip the other day not far from home. We ended up going into a favourite place of ours for lunch. Lovely menu with lots of choice but we both ended up having the roast lamb which I haven't had since I did my own at Easter. It truly hit the spot. From tomorrow evening all restaurants are closed for 4 weeks and I think I have a few roast meats in my freezer so home roasts it will have to be. At least DH prefers my roast potatoes to anyone else's. Thanks Delia.

Ninkanink · 15/10/2020 22:12

We have a roast every week or two and we never get bored, but we do mix it up quite a bit so it doesn’t get too samey - roast chicken/pork/beef/lamb and then we also switch out the style of roast and accompaniments.

I’m hungry now!

movingonup20 · 15/10/2020 22:15

Have it as often as you like, we often have it twice!

shitinmyhandsandclap · 15/10/2020 22:15

Every Sunday here cooked either by me or partner, I love it and could eat a roast dinner every day. Roast lamb last week, roast pork this week 😋

shitinmyhandsandclap · 15/10/2020 22:16

I also agree it's not a chore, meat in oven, prep the veg, par boil the spuds. Easy

MirandaMarple · 15/10/2020 22:16

YABU

It doesn't need to be the same every Sunday. I alternate the roast (pork, chicken, beef, lamb) and the veg/condiment possibilities are endless. I get more enthusiastic about the sides than the roast.

Simple green beans (home grown but they've ended now), and steamed carrots with lamb and homemade mint sauce. Pork and crackling with homemade apple sauce and stuffing. Beef (slow cooked brisket or rare beef (with cauliflower cheese and yorkies) and a simple roast chicken which is my favourite, with bread sauce and cranberry sauce (I make tonnes of cranberry when they come into season and freeze)

It's also not just about the actual ceremony of the meal for me. It's the preparation, the radio on a Sunday (the sound of Sunday is Michael Ball, Elaine Paige and Paul O'Grady on R2), the productive morning, the lazy afternoon, the organising for the week ahead. It's really a kind of celebration of end of/start of a new week.

I just wouldn't think to make anything else on a Sunday than a roast dinner.

MrsR87 · 15/10/2020 22:18

Totally agree. We had to have one every Sunday after church when I was a kid. I used to be sick of them!

Now I love them, but we only have one every three or four weeks or so. I don’t see making it as a chore as we don’t do it all the time and so we put time and effort into it and make everything from scratch, so it’s delicious!

Rosebel · 15/10/2020 22:23

And it's not just the cooking, does anyone else find there's mountains of washing up with a roast? I wash up as I go and there's still loads.

bridgetreilly · 15/10/2020 22:25

Everything is more special when it’s an infrequent treat rather than a regular expectation.

ShirleyPhallus · 15/10/2020 22:30

Oh I really dislike roast dinners. All that effort for it to be eaten in 10 mins then all the pans to wash up after?

No thanks

Parkmama · 15/10/2020 22:33

We have a roast every Sunday in the colder months and everyone enjoys it. It was the same when I was growing up and brought a sense of familiarity and security to me and I want to provide that for my DC. I realise they won't reflect on this at all until they are adults! I try to mix it up each week so the meat and veg combinations are different, we also have desert which we don't the rest of the week. I much prefer making it myself to eating someone else's version of it, same with a full English breakfast. However I do agree that it can be time consuming and does feel a bit repetitive. For that reason I might reduce the frequency in December so on Christmas Day it feels special again, basically it's the pigs in blankets which makes it festive!! Does anyone else prefer their own? Like a bacon sandwich, very fussy about those too!

Glitterbubbles · 15/10/2020 22:34

100%. We only have it in the winter and even then only maybe 4 times per year? Used to have it as a kid weekly and hated it. Now even though I'm making it myself I love it because it's infrequent.

AriesTheRam · 15/10/2020 22:38

I do a roast midweek but I don't do them after the end of November as I like Christmas Dinner to taste extra special.Usually start doing them again in January

ViciousJackdaw · 15/10/2020 22:38

Does anyone else prefer their own?

Yes! I really don't like having to eat other people's roast dinners - especially DM and MILs. Their ideas of what constitutes 'cooked' are very different to mine!

It's all in the timing really and when I do make one, I'll generally make enough stuffing balls/p in b for another time and bung them in the freezer. I cannot do YP to save my life so just use Aunt Bessies.

Wearywithteens · 15/10/2020 22:42

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn at the poster's request.

DollyDoneMore · 15/10/2020 22:42

That’s just a basic chicken dinner to me though, not a proper roast

It’s a roast chicken dinner. Clue’s in the name.

WTF are you doing putting cheese on it?

RockingMyFiftiesNot · 15/10/2020 22:46

We have a roast dinner every week and never get bored of it. We always have roast potatoes and gravy, but the meat, veg and other accompaniments vary. So it's not the same thing every week. On the rare occasion we don't have one, everyone looks forward to it, even when little the children would say they missed it.

WinWinnieTheWay · 15/10/2020 22:46

We have it 2-3 times a month Nov-March.
I vary the meat: chicken, beef, pork, ham.
I vary the potatoes: roast, boiled, baked, mash, dauphinois, sliced pots with stock and onions (can't remember the name). If Ham I'll sometimes pair with Macaroni Cheese.
I vary the veg: carrots, parsnips, swede, butternut squash, broccoli, cauliflower cheese, fine beans, broad beans, peas, fennel, courgettes & baby sweet corn. A salad with red cabbage in lieu of leaves even.

Tillygetsit · 15/10/2020 22:49

We've a place near us that delivers a cracking Sunday roast. We all tramp off fir a walk, order on way back and enjoy. No mountains of pots afterwards and dh ds and dd1 love it but say my roast potatoes are better so its also good for my self confidence!

CeibaTree · 15/10/2020 22:51

@Coldbatteredpuddings

Completely agree - it's such a chore and cooking it takes up far too much of my precious weekend. Once or twice a month during the winter is plenty and i never roast between April/May and September!

What are you doing that takes up,so much time? I find roast are the easiest thing to cook. Prepping vegetables doesn't take all that long then you just shove them in the oven with the meat and forget about it until it's time to take it all out :)

We had a roast every Sunday growing up and it did feel special despite its frequency as it would be the one meal of the week where we'd lay the table in the dining room and all sit down for a leisurely meal with a home made pudding. I don't make a roast every week now, but at least twice a month, and actually probably more frequently in the autumn/winter.

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