To think that, unless you know the kitchen they were made in is very clean, homemade edible gifts go straight in the bin

[Bearbehind]

Especially this year

Given we’re sanitising things we touch and are ultra conscious about the spread of germs etc - AIBU to think that if you get edible gifts from someone’s who’s kitchen you either don’t know or don’t think is very clean - you’d just bin it?

I’m not saying you can catch Covid from the food but it’s the principle of not knowing how hygenic stuff is

I’m not a fan of homemade gifts at the best of times - I think a sort of rule should be that unless your homemade items are good enough to sell for actual money, then please don’t do it

No one is going to admit they binned it but I do hope those who would make homemade edible gifts, especially for teachers, this year think twice

@RaspberryCoulis

Also loving the idea of sticking your fingers in fudge as it cooks.

You can do clearly tell the people who have no idea what they're talking about.

Ha, indeed. In fact, the soft ball stage of fudge (116°C) is not far off the temperature for steam sterilisation (121° for 30 minutes). Maybe fudge is...sterile?

I can remember making jam tarts for my grandad. I was about 4, I think? The pastry was overworked and a bit grey as only a little kid can make it... the finished product was brittle and must have been hell on his teeth. He still said they were the best jam tarts ever.

I miss him and I miss normal people who don't attempt to make others do what they themselves see fit, belittling them with 'must have touched a nerve'. Here, have one of my tarts ... the bin's that-a-way ->

@GrouchyKiwi

I was going to bake a loaf of bread and bring it with flowers and card for neighbours whose family member died last week, but now you have me rethinking.

I think this would be a lovely thing to do. This is the worst bit about this site and social media in general... normal behaviour outlawed by a few. They don't matter. Do your own thing, never look back.

I grew up in a house with a "five minute rule" (if any). Unless my colleagues have been using their homemade cakes to grow an e-coli culture, I'm not sure there's much in them that could really affect me.

@EmilySpinach I still have scars from a particularly vigorous batch of Scottish tablet making a few years ago. Boiling sugar is HOT and it STICKS.

One word of caution though - if you're planning on giving homemade stuff to charity please please check first. The shop where I volunteer has a long list of rules we have to stick to - no toys without CE marks, no candles without safety warnings, no toiletries without ingredients or unsealed, no food at all - even commercially packaged.

Absolutely love receiving foodie gifts, everything is welcome! Far nicer than something bought. It's never, until now, crossed my mind to think about the kitchens the food items were produced in 🙄

The OP's comments are very mean spirited.

Im not too hung up on the food hygiene side of things but I do agree with you that homemade gifts as Xmas presents are usually more about the giver than the recipients.

I am pretty surprised by the vote, considering the comments though I admit I've only read about half

Of course YABVU.

I agree with this from one of the early pages :
YABU, but I'm sure lots of people will agree with you. MN is crawling with people who are hysterical and paranoid about hygiene. I'll happily eat cookies made by primary school children, never mind competent fairly clean-looking adults. It's probably why I'm not often ill.

Nearly everything edible that was given for the staffroom/class teachers was binned in the last school I worked at. It doesn't mean that the thought wasn't appreciated and we weren't touched by the gesture.

A colleague didn't understand why no-one had eaten a cake left on the side and cut a slice. It was full of dog hair, the cake must have been 20% hair. It was like a rite of passage getting the hair cake in the end.

Yabu. I'd happily eat homemade gifts.

I hope you never eat out OP.

You do realise that almost every restaurant and food establishment gets notice of their EHO inspection and that the chefs don't tell the EHO they never wash their hands after taking a piss or having a cigarette, don't you ?

I am seriously wondering if the OP grows her own food and cooks everything, including bread and biscuits, from scratch. Otherwise, can't see how her way is any safer than accepting gifts.

I might refuse it if I know the person's home is C5 documentary standard, otherwise, no.

I love homemade stuff in fact our neighbour still gives us bread all the way through lockdown she knocks goes back upstairs and there’s a wonderful loaf of bread, magic with butter on.

I learned the hard way when it come to edible gifts. In my first year of teaching I was given some lovely homemade shortbread by a boy in my class. Unbeknownst to me, his sister had been off school with d&v and whilst off school this girl and her mum had made the shortbread together. Anyway, I had shared this shortbread at break time with my TA and another lady we worked with. I can't remember exactly how long after eating these biscuits we were struck down, but we all fell ill within an hour of each other. I have never been so violently sick in my life, and it went on for days. I don't teach anymore so it's no longer an issue, but after that incident I refused to eat anything else a child made for me because I was so scared of getting ill like that again.

@ImnotCarolineHirons

Aww bless. You don't work in hospitality OP that's clear. Your naive view that restaurants have to have amazing standards - well, let's just say you don't want to know the truth. I've seen things that would make the hair in your cake turn curly and die of fright. Chefs are notorious.

Exactly. That is the bizarre thing!

must have touched a nerve
That’s just an attempt to show you are not speaking through gritted teeth.

Mumsnet Bingo No. 4.

Wow. My kitchen is definitely cleaner than cafes and restaurants I’ve worked in, but that’s not even the point. Most homemade food gifts I’ve received and given is more than good enough to sell, it’s delicious and made with proper ingredients, it’s obviously not commercial to get premises certified and just start selling this, plus we all have careers anyway with zero interest in being a commercial food producer? But I’ll take any food you get, shortbread or preserved lemons in particular thanks, your loss.

Has anybody on here ever actually been I'll from someone's homemade brownie/cookie/jam/fudge?

When my kids were in elementary school the school held a fundraiser bake sale for one of the grades every year to help cover the cost of trips, etc. Each donated baked item had to be recorded, with a corresponding number assigned to each item and its donor. This was the local health department rule, put in place to make it easier to track down cases of food borne illness. So it's not unheard of.

I would prefer not to miss several days of work or end up with knackered kidneys because someone was slap-happy with licked mixing spoons, pet hair in batter, ingredients picked up off the floor and returned to a bowl, etc.

None of the teachers I know eat homemade offerings.

I'm ok with friends and family but I'm a little less keen on cake stalls, especially of the school fete variety.. And despite having had three children go through High School I've managed to avoid eating a single morsel made in food tech 😂

Oh and if I was a teacher... Homemade edible gifts would go straight in the bin (unless the giver was known for being a baker or something)!

@Bearbehind

I’m not even paranoid about Covid - I just dislike homemade foods from kitchens I either haven’t seen or think are unclean

It’s not really an illogical stance

I’m intrigued by all these people who regularly give gifts back to the giver though

100 per cent agree with you OP. Just reading a lot of threads on mumsnet and you can see how dirty a lot of posters are with showering/changing clothes etc.

I would never ever eat from someone who owns a pet. Thinking about it, I wouldn’t even accept a drink to be made by colleagues. Or share cups/cutlery in communal spaces.

The only people I trust to eat from are my family and a handful of very close friends bar one (she talks a lot over cooking and I imagine spit hitting the dish LOL).

But yes, I agree with you OP. Don’t back down, haha.

"I’m not a fan of homemade gifts at the best of times - I think a sort of rule should be that unless your homemade items are good enough to sell for actual money, then please don’t do it"

That;s a very joyless approach to life.

It's just that no-one makes food that good. It's never as good as they think it is.

I don't think people should not give things unless they're good enough to sell, but I do think people should not get massively invested in seeing themselves as 'that woman who makes the amazing fudge' or whatever every year, unless that fudge is truly good enough to sell. If you're not at that standard but still want to do it, maybe only do it occasionally not every single year? And accept that maybe 25% of people will see it as a bit meh or doubt your hygiene enough to just not fancy eating whatever it is? Don't be precious about it. You're not actually doing something a league above people who buy presents, however much you may feel you are, and people don't owe you extra apologies and justifications for not wanting your gift, just because it's homemade rather than bought.