To not be able to feed 3 extra adults unexpectedly for lunch?

[ImFree2doasiwant]

I'm single, with 2 small children. I do a weekly meal plan and shop once a week.

If 3 extra adults dropped in for lunch, I'd either be able to feed them but have to go shopping again, or not have enough food in to feed them at all.

Its not like I can't afford to, I just buy the food that we, as a family, will eat. I have a small freezer. I could probably manage dinner better.

Am I that unusual?

Buying a couple of months’ worth of loo rolls at a time because it’s cheaper that way isn’t remotely pathological. But it does mean that you have to find somewhere to store them until they’re used

Definitely not. We always have a good stock of loo roll in the house. The plus side being, when covid happened, we didn't need to go out and take the last ones off the shop shelves. Leaving them for other people. Win win right.

I had enough loo roll in the first lockdown. I usually keep an extra few weeks worth as it's something I buy when I get the car out to go and do a big shop.

More recently, I've been buying loo roll from wherever and it varies in quality, so you the rolls don't last as long.

I buy stacks of stuff when it is on offer,
I have a shelved garage- I keep big supplies.
Often it is end of line stuff- a few good buys in the past year or two-
Radox Bubble bath from Tesco- a fragrance that was being discontinued, reduced from £1.99 to 29p. I bought 30 bottles.
Andrex toilet roll- again some variety that was being discontinued- 9 roll packs priced at 50p, I bought fifteen of those. 12 packs of cat food reduced from £3,99 a box to 39p. For 12 packets! Had similar deals with wash up liquid, and many other items.
Supermarkets regularly change their lines, even if manufacturers are not discontinuing, once Tecso- or other supermarkets stop stocking a line they will sell off remaining stock at silly prices.

I am lucky to have the space, but I have saved a small fortune.

@KirstenBlest

But a couple of dover soles and some part baked baguettes and freeze them. When your unexpected guests turn up you'll be able to feed 5000.

Only if your initials are JC

We meal plan very rigourously for fresh stuff, so eat ourselves almost down to the last banana every week. However, if three extra adults dropped by for lunch I'd absolutely be able to feed them something . Either I'd look at our meal plan and smush two meals together to make a big one and then fill in a storecupboard meal for us later in the week, or I'd turn today's lunch ingredients into something bigger by adding storecupboard stuff, or I'd just make a cupboardy meal. Haute cuisine it would not be, but I don't feel the need to roll out the red carpet for an unexpected set of guests. Pasta and pesto, probably, but served with a smile and no grumbling! Or egg fried rice with veg "stolen" from other meals in the week.

I find it very weird that someone would have NO extra food in the house OF ANY KIND beyond what they expected to consume that week. We have loads of tins and pasta and jars of stuff, plus a freezer full of batch cooking. Obviously poverty is one thing, but I mean just regular people who aren't struggling. Don't you stock up when your favourite stuff is on sale? What do you do if you're ill or can't get to the shops for some reason? When covid hit, we looked round our kitchen and laughed. We could have made it a month before having literally bare cupboards. A weird month ofade up meals, to be sure, but still. There's always something edible!

I find it very weird that someone would have NO extra food in the house OF ANY KIND beyond what they expected to consume that week.

Tbh I didn't even think it's possible. If you buy pack of lentils for example it makes quite a few servings. Same with most bags of pulses (the 500g ones). Rice, unless people buy the microwave one, same thing. Frozen peas in a freezer? Or any frozen veg? Same thing, isn't it?
I get it with fresh. Eve before shopping there is not a single piece of fresh fruit or veg here, but with other stuff? I just don't get it.

Long life rolls do not have to go in fridge or freezer and are handy to keep. A few tins of nice soup and some corned beef is handy. I doubt anyone who just dropped in and then stayed would expect much but what I have suggested is easy and filling. There's nothing wrong with saying, "I don't have much in to make a proper meal but you are very welcome to ..this", and they would probably be delighted.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

I find it very weird that someone would have NO extra food in the house OF ANY KIND beyond what they expected to consume that week.

Tbh I didn't even think it's possible. If you buy pack of lentils for example it makes quite a few servings. Same with most bags of pulses (the 500g ones). Rice, unless people buy the microwave one, same thing. Frozen peas in a freezer? Or any frozen veg? Same thing, isn't it?
I get it with fresh. Eve before shopping there is not a single piece of fresh fruit or veg here, but with other stuff? I just don't get it.

There are many people who have nothing to spare, plenty of British families are very strapped for money.

It is important to believe people when they explain this.

It is certainly possible not to have spare food.

@sueelleker, they're not.

I don't like people turning up unexpected, and turning up hungry seems rude.

I've made the impromptu store cupboard meals for people and had the 'this pasta's not very good, you should use ---' , 'this omlette's a bit dry have you got ketchup' and 'I don't know why you buy this cheese it tastes like soap' type comments. Well fuck me, I tried, you can go to MacDogshit or Kwality Kebabs next time, mate.

I would almost always have some spuds in, plus a can of tuna , say, and some cheese.
So- baked potatoes with tuna melt filling. Microwave the spuds briefly than give them 15 mins in a hot oven to crisp them up.

I could whistle up a basic pasta sauce or curry but that’s cos my mum is queen of store cupboard food so even when we’re low on fresh (and we meal plan as well) I always have dried pulses, rice, pasta and tins of legumes and a fairly hefty spice cupboard

*There are many people who have nothing to spare, plenty of British families are very strapped for money.

It is important to believe people when they explain this.

It is certainly possible not to have spare food.*

Sorry forgot to add the mandatory disclaimer of unless of course they are below poverty line and use the whole pack at once?

@SchrodingersImmigrant

*There are many people who have nothing to spare, plenty of British families are very strapped for money.

It is important to believe people when they explain this.

It is certainly possible not to have spare food.*

Sorry forgot to add the mandatory disclaimer of unless of course they are below poverty line and use the whole pack at once?

The OP has already clarified it is not a money issue in this case anyway, more an unfortunate meeting between a household that doesn't keep bread in and a group of people unable to deviate from an 'it's lunch so it must be sandwiches' mentality.

beginningoftheend: There are many people who have nothing to spare, plenty of British families are very strapped for money.
........
Yes and we must be sensitive to that. If I called in on someone unexpectedly, which would only be if it was important, I would not expect to be fed. If we were talking and enjoying our chat I might suggest ordering a pizza or something for us all otherwise would be on my way.

I would expect most people to be able to produce something, even if it's just scrambled egg or something. I suspect people who can't fall into:

1. People who genuinely can't afford to keep extra in.
2. People who have a meal plan and wouldn't deviate from that, so using some of tomorrow's food to bulk today's out isn't thought about.
3. People who would have food in, but feel it wasn't worth offering unless it was a "decent" meal.
4. People who keep to a recipe, so wouldn't have enough ideas to think over what they have and produce something.
5. People who don't like people staying for dinner and would use that as an excuse.

Even the day before we shop, or the day before we go on holiday we'd be able to offer something like fishfingers and chips from the freezer, or throw together two or three oddments and say "help yourselves". But I can think of a couple of separate relatives, who would have plenty of food in stock but would be thrown at suddenly having to do an extra 3 meals because of 2 and 3 above. I don't think they'd think beyond the "food for today won't do everyone". And that's fine. not everyone can think on their feet like that, they're not inhospitable, simply don't do spontaneity.

Can you imagine men discussing this. Generalising, of course, but do you think they would worry about peeling spuds and the like?

I could do pasta and tomato sauce with grated cheese or something on toast, as I have eggs and tins and bread in the freezer. Or fish finger sandwich

Who turned up and why did you have to feed them?

I'd never just drop by and expect food. Or even for my friend to be available to chat / invite me in. I think it's polite to text or call first.

Or beans/cheese on jacket

More than likely as I buy when stuff is on offer to I'm a bit of a prepper
You could have a sandwich with cheese/tuna/ham/chicken/salad/egg mayo, cold chicken salad, nuggets/waffles/wedges/fish fingers/beans, jacket potato with various fillings, tuna pate or cheese and crackers, batch cooked pasta bake/cottage pie/beef stew, any form of eggs, bagels and cream cheese...

@beginningoftheend That's not what the thread's about though, is it? The OP wasn't worrying that if she fed her guests she's have to starve over the weekend to make up for it. She specifically said that if she did, it's not that she could afford it but she'd have to go shopping again to make it through the week.

You'll also note that I specifically mentioned in my post "people who aren't struggling". Povertys one thing, but theres no need to bring that sort of whataboutery to a thread when multiple people including the OP have already mentioned it.

The OP also seems to be suggesting that three adults turns up uninvited and unexpected wanting only sandwiches for lunch, despite her saying she could have rustled up other stuff.

The OP hasn’t ever really come back to clarify though.

@QueenPaw, OP said upthread that she buys half-loaves. She wouldn't have bread.

@KirstenBlest

Can you imagine men discussing this. Generalising, of course, but do you think they would worry about peeling spuds and the like?

My husband would just send one of the kids to the chippy.

I always have food (including bread) in the freezer and cupboards. It might be a beans on toast or pasta with a jar of sauce but I would always have something available to feed unexpected guests.

I would struggle to provide food for anyone who expected a meal made from scratch because I don’t cook!