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

The mittens are great!

Crankley you sound shallow and closed-minded and quite rude.

My teacher friend says they have always binned all the homemade edible stuff
It probably depends a lot on child hygiene and age to be honest.

I regularly buy cakes from our 6th form bake sales as they're delicious and have happily bought student and parent baked cakes at PTA events or fundraisers, and I'd probably be happy if it was cake 'made by' a 4 year old obviously with parental help,but I'd probably be a bit more cautious in the middle range where they can do most of the cake themselves but don't demonstrate good hygiene.

Yup. If I know the person who made it, I'm more likely to try it because I'd feel bad. But generally I hate the idea of homemade stuff. DH would never touch it (more of a cultural thing for him) but I'm also with you on this one OP.

I also never gift any of my home made edibles but will make for family or friends if they request it.

@Skysblue

My teacher friend says they have always binned all the homemade edible stuff.

Our school admits they give away almost all food gifts - whether homemade or bought as they get too much. They donate them to a local hospice.

I wish I liked kimchi. It's supposed to be very good for you. But unfortunately I think it's horrible. Mind you, I've only tried shop-bought - maybe I should try making it myself?

My grandfather used to be a health inspector for restaurant kitchens, I would rather eat home made

@lazylinguist its not difficult, my Dh learned from online recipes. I never tried storebought tbh, only in korean restaurants and I did go to a kimchi making class when I was on holiday in Korea. I think our homemade mixture is comparable to what we get in Assa (best korean restaurant we have found in London).

I find it a versatile and fuss free dish, I eat it plain for breakfast. I also like to eat it for lunch, put some jasmine rice in the ricecooker and serve with kimchi. Dinner- kimchi soup with pasta, veggies and vegetarian sausages.

OP, I think you have an unrealistic view of the hygiene standards of shops and restaurants! Anything I produced in my kitchen, to give as a gift, would have far higher standards.

I can completely relate, OP. There are some people I would trust enough to eat their food, but some of it goes straight in the bin and I just pretend I enjoyed it at home. My boss for instance LOVES bringing in food to the office, but she has what I consider appalling standards of food hygiene.

She'll buy a packet of biscuits, then leave the pack open on a table going soft for a week. She will continue to eat them and offer them to people in this condition. It's been years and it never occurs to her to just put them in a bloody biscuit tin. I would never eat bikkies that had been open to the flies and going soft for a week, but she thinks nothing of it!

Also thinks nothing of buying chicken, milk, cream etc for her dinner in the evenings and leaving it to sit out on the counter all day instead of putting it in the fridge. Attributes her constant stomach upsets to "IBS"

Never covers food when putting in the fridge or microwave either. Fish, eggs, ham, whatever. All just sit there open and stinking to contaminate the food around them. Again, it'd be a two minute job to pop another plate or a bit of cling film on top to prevent cross-contamination, but does she? Never. She'll leave the butter open beside last week's ham and a big uncovered hunk of cheese and beetroot, and then complain the butter tastes funny. Gosh, does it? I can't imagine why . . .

I once made the mistake of alerting her to the fact that the milk she was about to pour on her cereal was two days past the use by. She insisted it was "fine" and she "always does it" and then quite happily poured away! Sour milk in baking is one thing but on your breakfast?

I haven't been able to keep food in the work fridge for years because of her. I feel nauseous even opening it, it's such a horrible combination of strong overlapping smells.

She's the sort of woman who likes to make fun of others for being "OCD" and insists that "a few germs never did anyone any harm" and that younger generations are being too precious and need to toughen up our immune systems. The fact that she has the runs on a daily basis and keeps a permanent stash of Immodium in her handbag is completely unrelated, of course. I bite my tongue so hard I nearly bloody bite it off sometimes.

I used to be far more open and gave everyone the benefit of the doubt, assuming that hygiene was as important to them as it would be to me if cooking for others. Working with this woman opened my eyes sharpish.

She genuinely thinks she has good food hygiene.

@seayork2020

My grandfather used to be a health inspector for restaurant kitchens, I would rather eat home made

Hmm I know that lots of restaurant kitchens are grose but if you only go to restaurants with a 'scores-on-the-door' rating of five for food hygiene then at least you know they have passed an inspection and do basic things like washing their hands regularly whilst preparing food.

I would never eat homemade food unless it was from close family and from a clean kitchen as I'd be too worried about food poisoning/norovirus.

I would happily accept homemade knitwear and other gifts though (after a wash or a wipe!).

Also like contactusdeletus, I have seen other people with poor hygiene prepare food and it makes me feel ill.

My old flatmates used to take mouthfuls of icing from a bowl and then leave it several days before using it to decorate and the same with ice cream tubs. They'd eat food left out, uncovered on the kitchen surface and on one occasion managed to eat something that had mouse poo in it and fell sick.

How do the germphobes here think homo sapiens has survived this long? Our immune systems and digestive systems can deal with germs very efficiently. We've only had access to fridges and freezers for a tiny fraction of our species' existence. We took a huge leap forward when we learned to cook our food because cooking kills bacteria. Salt, sugar, vinegar, spices all inhibit the development of harmful microorganisms, so baked food, jam and chutney are amongst the safest things we can eat.

Yes it gets binned. And for good reason, my neighbour's house is scruffy. Theres no chance her hygiene standards suddenly improve just because she is baking cakes.

A BBC investigation found bacteria with traces of faeces on the ice served in a branch of a well-known fast food chain

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/magazine-36112111

How do the germphobes here think homo sapiens has survived this long?

We've survived as a species, but the approximately 180 people who die from food borne illness each year in the UK have not.

We've managed to increase and multiply and survive as a species in far greater numbers since the advent of simple things like antibiotics which kill disease-causing bacteria, vaccinations against bacterial and viral illnesses, and improvements in housing, access to clean drinking and cooking water, running water for indoor plumbing, refrigeration, hand washing by doctors, and many other elements of modern life.

There was significant pushback against the NHS advice not to wash chicken, a practice which spreads campylobacter all over kitchen surfaces.

From 2014:
An online survey of 4,500 UK adults by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) found 44% washed chicken before cooking.

But it warns this spreads campylobacter bacteria onto hands, work surfaces, clothing and cooking equipment, through the splashing of water droplets.

Campylobacter affects about 280,000 people in the UK each year but only 28% in the FSA survey had heard of it.

Only a third of them knew that poultry was the main source of the bacteria.
www.bbc.com/news/health-27832220

@anxiiousone back in the 80s I worked in a city centre pub in Hull... the locals used to ask for "ice and black bits". The ice machine was NEVER cleaned.

[quote BeyondMyWits]@anxiiousone back in the 80s I worked in a city centre pub in Hull... the locals used to ask for "ice and black bits". The ice machine was NEVER cleaned.[/quote]
Oh God yes! Pubs that never cleaned their pipes - worked in one of those!

I don’t think people who give homemade gifts care all that much if the recipient uses or enjoys them. Unless it’s something specific like the lovely mittens upthread made for a specific friend.

But the people who throw a load of berries into a bottle of gin, or make truffles or whatever - I think they feel good showing off what they perceive to be their talent (fair enough) but the person enjoying it or not doesn’t really come in to it!

So a polite thank you and then throwing it away/giving it to someone else doesn’t hurt anyone.

The food waste is sad but not really the recipient’s fault.

As I said, I liked all my students but I threw out all of the homemade food stuff and a lot of the crafty shite. Because it really was shite!

I don’t think people who give homemade gifts care all that much if the recipient uses or enjoys them

I agree. It’s usually a batch of the same items given to everyone just to say they have done a gift.

A gift should be something the recipient wants and will enjoy personalised to their tastes.

I don’t think people who give homemade gifts care all that much if the recipient uses or enjoys them

That thinking is so warped. You can't tar every homemade gift with the same brush

If you think someone has given a thoughtless gift, it's thoughtless whether it's shop bought or homemade, except the home made has probably had a lot more effort, time, thought, money and skill placed in it.

Almost all homemade gifts are made with love, it sounds twee but I genuinely believe that. I find this thread and the attitudes expressed really depressing.

But the people who throw a load of berries into a bottle of gin, or make truffles or whatever - I think they feel good showing off what they perceive to be their talent (fair enough) but the person enjoying it or not doesn’t really come in to it!

On the extreme off-chance a dear old friend of my mum’s is reading, I’d like to make it clear that her homemade sloe gin was one of the most looked forward to Christmas gifts in our house for years.

To be honest I never think about it. If one of my friends has made me food I would say thanks and eat it happily - especially partial to sloe gin (if anyone I know is reading).

If I started to go down the 'germs are everywhere' rabbit hole, I'd never leave the house!

That thinking is so warped. You can't tar every homemade gift with the same brush confused

@StillStriving no you can't. And that's why I didn't, which my very next sentence highlighted.

But it's the thoughtlessness, not the homemade-ness that matters in that case.

The idea that generally people making home made gifts generally don't give a shit about whether the recipient wants it (purely because it's homemade) and are somehow doing it for their own gain is a view I can't get my head around.