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

I also think it's a bit cheeky to give someone a present for Christmas or birthday that is homemade food.

Why? It depends, surely? If it's someone with whom you normally exchange pretty equal level presents, and the norm is for you each to spend about £50, then fair enough - a jar of chutney might not be ideal! But in a situation where a small gift is called for, why would it be cheeky to give something homemade? It cost money and effort to make!

Crikey cherish, if you'd tasted my friends homemade dark chocolate fudge she gives out at Xmas you wouldn't say it was a cheeky gift. It takes her hours and it is bloody delicious, indescribably so. I might text her in a minute to check she's doing some this year!

I take it you never eat out or get takeaways? Because you don’t really know what the hygiene is like in a commercial kitchen either. Yes they have ratings but they’re all not valid on the day they are given out. Things can change quite rapidly

Would never cross my mind to bin food someone had lovingly made. Ps. If I were you I’d never eat out in a restaurant / get a takeaway again as from my experience commercial kitchens are WAY less clean than your average home kitchen.

Love homemade stuff. Rather have homemade than than anything commercially made. Sorry, but I think you're a tad bonkers OP.

It’s not so much that you’d throw away a handmade edible gift that has got me puzzled, it’s the fact you’re already thinking of ways to be grumpy/disgusted/offended abut a potential Xmas gift in November!

I know some people think this way and I wouldn’t make gifts for them. My good friends aren’t like this though so I make stuff for them all the time.

Also, if something is cooked then surely most germs are probably killed aren’t they??

@lazylinguist

I also think it's a bit cheeky to give someone a present for Christmas or birthday that is homemade food.

Why? It depends, surely? If it's someone with whom you normally exchange pretty equal level presents, and the norm is for you each to spend about £50, then fair enough - a jar of chutney might not be ideal! But in a situation where a small gift is called for, why would it be cheeky to give something homemade? It cost money and effort to make!

I agree with this.

I don't do teacher presents generally and wouldn't give home baked goods to people I don't know well for allergy reasons but love making stuff for family. We generally only do token gifts for adults so food/homemade gifts always go down well.

We don't do gifts really out with family so all works out. Love thinking about what family members would like and planning accordingly.

You've clearly never been inside a commercial kitchen OP.

MN: Anyone who consumes a single atom of plastic at Christmas is single handedly dooming the Earth to shrivel into a desert wasteland and will kill us all. Everyone should be recycling and making gifts for family and friends rather than suffocating us all with more plastic tat.
Also MN: Ew, homemade? But what if they have pets at home? What if their toddler was in the same room as it? What if they smeared their own shit all over it? DON'T YOU KNOW THERE'S A PANDEMIC?!

One year we made strawberry jam from our home grown fruit and gave my daughters teacher a small jar or it with half a dozen home made scones. The following September she sought me out at picking up time to thank us for it. And subsequent teachers dropped hints or straight out requested jam, so I’m guessing it was talked about in the staff room.

Home made, if made well, is a gift of time and effort, not just money.

I used to have a colleague who brought lots of homemade food into work and I would happily dig in along with everyone else. Then I went to her home. Never touched anything she brought in after that.

I have one relative that I will not eat any edible gift from because I have seen her kitchen and her food handling and she lets her cats drink from saucepan if making a white sauce etc.

I get a few homemade food gifts a year. Jams and Marmalade that I always either eat or pass on to family members (I get a lot). Every Christmas a lady that I deal with in work gives me a Christmas cake and another lady gives me a chocolate business cake. People often drop me in homemade buns/scones/cakes and always eat them of give them to colleagues (on diet). I have never seen their kitchens but trust them.

I also get homemade craft gifts. A lovely lovely lady noticed that when I am not at work I tend to wear colours since I lost weight and knitted me the most stunning cardigan.

The pain from a marmalade scald! No germs could survive that heat.

If it was something I'd enjoy ie something sweet then I'd happily accept and enjoy it. Chutneys and things like that aren't my bag, so people I know wouldn't give me stuff like that.
I'm too fat and greedy to be fussy over sweet stuff!

I would and do eat edible gifts and accept them gratefully.

I think you are being unreasonable.

In this thread : people who have clearly never worked in a factory, veg/fruit picking or a commercial kitchen...

@cherish123

I never eat a homemade gift. I am a teacher and would never eat a child's home baking. Equally, I would never send homemade food into school for a teacher. I also think it's a bit cheeky to give someone a present for Christmas or birthday that is homemade food.

Really, the staff at my sons school are always really happy with a home make cake

YANBU. I’ve always binned homemade food; it’s never appealing.

@cherish123

I never eat a homemade gift. I am a teacher and would never eat a child's home baking. Equally, I would never send homemade food into school for a teacher. I also think it's a bit cheeky to give someone a present for Christmas or birthday that is homemade food.

I’m guessing that the Queen would disagree with you about home made food gifts being cheeky - when Catherine spent Christmas with HMQ, she gave her a jar of home made chutney, and saw it opened on the table later on in the visit.

Really, the staff at my sons school are always really happy with a home make cake

Fbearsmum Few people are rude enough to say to someone’s face they aren’t going to eat your homemade cake/chocolate/gifts, so of course they’re always going to be “really happy”.

I agree with you OP .... bleurgh!!!!

Nope your not being unreasonable! I never eat anything others have made. For example whenever we have a cake sale at work I won’t touch the home made food! I’m so paranoid about it, I’ll only eat food made by myself or close family.

YABU, very.
Caring and community spirit is holding people up.I cooked an enormous lasagne yesterday for 3 households and others were doing the same.
Rejecting a gift is rude and thoughtless.

OP I won't eat things people at work have made/baked/cooked even before the pandemic