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

[Meruem]

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

I really like a roast but I don’t like to be tied to “having” to have one on a Sunday, or once a week on any day.

When we were kids we always had to have a Sunday roast and it just dominated the day too much - a lot of boring hours while it was cooking and then sitting down to a too formal meal.

I like making a roast for my kids but if we want to go out and do something that doesn’t leave time for all the cooking we do!

I just don't get the 'can't be bothered to cook a roast' posts. I prefer the cooking of a roast to the eating.... well nearly. I have the kitchen to myself, pour myself a chefs glass of red, put some nonsense on the telly and relax and peel and chop. Lovely. That being said, we probably only have a full roast once or twice a month.

Simple roasts are an easy midweek dinner, and something everyone will eat. Also I can then get the bones into the slow cooker for stock for Saturday lunch soup.
Weekend roasts have more trimmings and effort which is what makes them special.

A lot less of a chore than plenty of dinners IMO. Pretty much a doss if you’re organised and have your timings sorted out.

Of course a good roast has to have proper gravy, made in the roasting tin, not a travesty made of granules and water.

We cook a roast here every Sunday in colder months, and a proper sit down lighter meal in summer months. Tail off roasts to cottage pie etc on the weeks leading up to Christmas Day. Always a pudding on a Sunday.

Like @Parkmama it was a big tradition in our family growing up. We’d go to church, maybe a friend or neighbour would call in for coffee or sherry, eat a roast lunch, bike ride or dog walk, then home for tea with sandwiches, cake or jelly etc, watch the BBC children’s 6pm family drama, then bed.

I loved it, and really appreciate it looking back. Am aiming to do the same for DS.

We only have one a couple of times a year apart from Christmas, one DC hates them, the rest of us like them but not that bothered. I do enjoy cooking them but they take too long to do regularly.

Definitely an occasional treat

I hardly ever cook a roast, probably haven't done one for a year. Makes it really special if Mum or BIL invite us round for one

@DollyDoneMore

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?

So if you roast a chicken and serve it with chips or pasta, you’d still class it as a roast? If I made chicken/veg and potatoes, I’d tell the family I’d made chicken and potatoes. They’d be disappointed if I told them I’d made them a roast and it was missing most of the sides. And the cauliflower cheese is lush with homemade gravy

We only have roast dinners during the winter months, but we also often have it during the week. I think it’s quite easy to cook as you just put it in the oven and it cooks itself or maybe I am doing it wrong?

@Pollynextdoor

We only have roast dinners during the winter months, but we also often have it during the week. I think it’s quite easy to cook as you just put it in the oven and it cooks itself or maybe I am doing it wrong?

No I think you are absolutely right.

It's not hard but it takes too long. We are in and out taxiing the DCs to various sports most evenings (and Sunday afternoon) so our meals need to be fairly speedy. We could do one on Saturday evening I suppose but we rarely feel inclined to.

I also grew up in a "roast every Sunday" household. And yes, they were boring. Plus my mum isn't any great shakes in the kitchen, with zero clue on seasonings or anything like that. So everything was just mindlessly blasted in the oven and dumped on the plate.
As my older sister so memorably said once, "I was well into my teens before I realised gravy was meant to have a flavour." It was always just an anemic brown puddle.

Nowadays, I like to think I'm a good cook, and I enjoy a roast! But not every week. Maybe once a month.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

A lot less of a chore than plenty of dinners IMO. Pretty much a doss if you’re organised and have your timings sorted out.

Of course a good roast has to have proper gravy, made in the roasting tin, not a travesty made of granules and water.

I agree they are less of a chore than lots of meals. I find lasagne to more of a chore.

Sorry don't agree about the gravy though. Both me and DH hate gravy. I just don't get the point of making nice crisp foods like roast potatoes and yorkshire pudding soggy.

Once a year at Christmas in my house. We have a toddler so lunchtime is usually sandwiches while we chase him around, and we don't eat in the evenings til he is in bed. Maybe when DS is older and will sit down for the length of a meal...

we have it every week, twice sometimes... the kids love it!

@Meruem YANBU - doesn’t need to be every week or a Sunday. That said, I use it as a good excuse to escape DH’s very boring family and get quietly pissed in the kitchen. Also the only way we get DC to eat veg!

@zingally

I also grew up in a "roast every Sunday" household. And yes, they were boring. Plus my mum isn't any great shakes in the kitchen, with zero clue on seasonings or anything like that. So everything was just mindlessly blasted in the oven and dumped on the plate. As my older sister so memorably said once, "I was well into my teens before I realised gravy was meant to have a flavour." It was always just an anemic brown puddle.

Nowadays, I like to think I'm a good cook, and I enjoy a roast! But not every week. Maybe once a month.

Yes I think this is the problem

Those saying they just put a chicken in with a load of boring veggies, that’s really easy to do, but the actually tasty bits are the sides of cauliflower cheese / stuffing / decent Yorkshires etc etc

We are too busy to have a roast every Sunday!

I could eat one every day

I wouldn't want to cook one every day though!

Its nice to have a break from a roast every week occasionally but I like having everyone making time to eat together and enjoy each others company

Totally agree. We also had one every Sunday growing up and it was always really leathery horrible beef which I never enjoyed plus oven roasties which just aren’t the same.

We have one once a month and it’s always lovely.

I do one most Sundays in the winter. Don’t find it a faff at all and I also make all my own sides, but I do enjoy cooking and don’t find it all stressful (I never understand why people find Christmas dinner such hard work!). We’re out this Sunday all morning so I’m trialling slow roast pork belly to have at about 5.

Agree. Every week becomes boring after a while, especially the cooking.

I always had a Sunday dinner every week from being young! I’ve lived with my fiancé for 4 years and I bet there’s only a few Sundays where I haven’t made one, even then I tend to make one the next day to make up for it! I absolutely love it, even doing the prep and cooking it. It’s like my hangover cure 😂 We have a dog too who loves his big bowl of Sunday dinner every week and he gets the skin off the meat! I think it’s just been passed on from my mum as she always made a nice dinner - still does! My fiancé loves them too, he didn’t really have them that much when he lived with his mum, she would always moan about cooking so no chance she’d do a dinner every week! And when I have kids I’ll make sure they get a dinner every week same as I had!

I find a roast far easier than a stir fry for example...just the potatoes are a faff.
I agree that it is nice to have a change on a Sunday.

Funnily enough we had one last night for the first time in months, we probably last had one in February and I commented to DH that it's so much nicer to make it every now and then rather than every week.

Growing up we had a roast every sunday
All it meant was mum being in and out of the kitchen for most of the day whilst we were loosely supervised by our dad who was more interested in watching snooker. Once finished mum would disappear to tackle the mountain of washing up. It felt like such a lot of effort and such a waste of time when she could have instead been playing games with us. Seems like I wasn't the only one who grew up with such poor memories of Sundays.