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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Passing pre made food off as your own

174 replies

Natsel84 · 03/12/2020 21:34

Lighthearted

Tonight I "cooked" for the family. I had gone to the supermarket earlier to do the weekly shop and for quickness I picked up a fresh family size lasagne .
Cooked it in the oven but added some extra cheese on top to make it look more " home made "
Served it up just before everyone returned home, after hiding all packaging in the bin and passed it off as my own.

It went down a treat not a mouthful left. Everyone said it was one of the nicest thing I made. Technically I did cook it, in the oven anyway...

Do I feel bad no 🤣

Anyone else passed off pre made food as homemade cooking ?

OP posts:
PyongyangKipperbang · 03/12/2020 23:21

Oh, just remembered one!

NCT post birth meet up (made that mistake once and never again!) and we all had to take a dish. Nipped to get some chicken drumsticks to bung in the oven and the only ones they had were coated in a chinese ...something! Everyone raved about them, even my own (now ex) DH thought I had made them because I usually did make stuff like that from scratch.

Never fessed up!

CounsellorTroi · 03/12/2020 23:24

@Deadringer

Not the point of the thread but i would really like to know which lasagne it is. A shop bought lasagne that tastes as good as homemade is the holy grail for me, its such a feckin faff to make.
Charlie Bigham's is great. But pricey.
keeprocking · 03/12/2020 23:25

@Blondiney

I've made lasagna from scratch before and apparently it was so good everyone thought I'd bloody bought it! Heathens.
Isn't that a bummer! for my daughter's 18th birthday I made her a Fairy Castle cake that she'd always wanted, very complex, lots of fancy icing, turrets etc., it was a masterpiece that no-one believed I'd not had made,
MiscellaneousMinutiae · 03/12/2020 23:26

Why would you lie? Who cares that much?

Tomhardyshadabath · 03/12/2020 23:28

Some weird comments on here! It's absolutely fine, I sometimes pass Cook meals off as my own, they're amazing and it wouldn't occur to me to feel bad about it.

San141 · 03/12/2020 23:29

If I invited friends, I would cook! How lazy can you get? If you can't cook...don't invite anyone!!

Parker231 · 03/12/2020 23:30

Cook is gorgeous food. We’re having Christmas dinner from there this year as no one can be bothered to cook when there will only be three of us instead of the usual 16.

PandemicAtTheDisco · 03/12/2020 23:31

I'll use ready made short cuts if my hands are bad, I'm tired or I'm short on time. I have a fairly hard to please family to feed. I think a lot of cheats can be used despite family members insisting otherwise. I'm honest about my cooking though.

My ex likes to believe he's a cross between Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver. But he's a total fake about his culinary skills. He pretends to cook everything from scratch but he's a liar. I wouldn't mind so much but my daughter passes on comments he makes about my cooking - I'm a far better cook than him.

I wish my friend would use ready meals. I can't stand the bland, overcooked watery slop she tries to pass off as food. She really is a terrible cook and many people refuse to touch or eat only tiny amounts of her food. She still thinks it's them being conditioned to like over-processed crap and that's why they cannot appreciate her homemade garbage.

Hardbackwriter · 03/12/2020 23:32

I do think it's quite a weird lie to tell to your family. I also think it's surprising that anyone thought a ready meal lasagne was home-made, it's usually really obvious - do you use ready made sauces when you make lasagne normally?

San141 · 03/12/2020 23:32

@keeprocking ....been there are times!!! Just shows that homemade is the best!!!

BoudiccaD · 03/12/2020 23:34

PandemicAtTheDisco SarahAndQuack is probably your friend...

Parker231 · 03/12/2020 23:35

@San141 - I’m not interested in cooking and have little time. DH is a great cook but also has little time. We have (pre Covid) friends around for dinner most weeks. Is this not allowed as we don’t cook the meal ourselves.

Boulshired · 03/12/2020 23:36

I made a huge chicken curry made with pre made Chinese curry sauce ( the same as take away curry sauce) for a party, I didn’t try to pass it off as home made but when the compliments came in the host tried to make out it was hers. To the point when I asked for my slow cooker back she pretended I had too much to drink and didn’t know what I was talking about. She asked for the recipe and I told her it was a family secret.

frolicmum · 03/12/2020 23:39

LOL no, I love cooking but maybe you never receive praise from the famo for your cooking and needed it.

dottiedaisee · 03/12/2020 23:39

Why are you concerned about a family meal? Does it actually really matter who cooked the delicious meal ? What are you worrying about?

SarahAndQuack · 03/12/2020 23:39

@BoudiccaD

PandemicAtTheDisco SarahAndQuack is probably your friend...
Nope, I've no snobbery about ready meals, I usually doctor them up just like the OP. What's weird is pretending to your own family that you cooked. No normal person does that.
Mamanyt · 03/12/2020 23:41

LOL! Oh, yes! There's a brand of frozen, bake at home pie over here that is WONDERFUL! I buy them, gently remove them from the tin, and nestle them in my own pie plate. Sprinkle a bit of sugar over the crust (only a tiny bit), and bake. People have been asking for my apple pie recipe for years now. I just laugh, and tell them I'll write it down to be given out when my will is read!

I also get rave reviews for my pasta sauce, which starts out as a decent quality jarred sauce. I add browned ground beef/pork mixture, bell peppers, onions and garlic and simmer it forever. Now, I DO make a killer sauce starting with fresh tomatoes, but that's an all-day proposition, literally.

Zaza1414 · 03/12/2020 23:43

@parker231 ... that's up to you. Personally I would've said to people that I was getting a ready meal/takeaway! But the friends I have know the difference

Parker231 · 03/12/2020 23:48

Zaza - we do it as a joke. Everyone knows I can’t cook.

Seems to be a lot without a sense of humour this evening.

LoveMyKidsAndCats · 03/12/2020 23:48

Nah my family know my cooking is crap, if it tastes nice I probably didn't make it from scratch 😂

PandemicAtTheDisco · 03/12/2020 23:49

I'm not snobby about ready meals although some of the cheap ones are vile.

Twobrews · 03/12/2020 23:52

This might out me to a relation I know is on MN they're only one of two who know my dirty secret.
Every year for over 10 years I've passed off bought items as homemade gifts for my parents friends who are ridiculously hard to buy for but love homemade presents.
Christmas markets are where I usually choose my goods for what DH has labelled laundering, but have decanted chutneys from M&S and flavoured gins from Lidl previously too.

Jouleigh · 04/12/2020 00:00

@marmitegirl01

I love that someone thinks the OPs marriage is in trouble over lasagna 😂😂😂
Me too! I wish I could like some of these posts. Especially the lasagne and the pie for the in-laws Grin
Myshitisreal · 04/12/2020 00:05

This is pretty good, I added quorn mince. Made double "meat" sauce and double cheese sauce and froze.

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/best_vegetable_lasagne_50381

Original poster
Natsel84 · 04/12/2020 00:13

@Zebracat

I have to do the opposite and replicate ready meals for our fussy teen. My Asda extra value chicken curry is very very good.😬
🤣
OP posts:
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