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?

I think you are being unreasonable.

If you found it financially difficult to think beyond your weekly meal plan, or you had storage issues or other logistical problems then I would think differently.

But if you have the means to store some frozen, tinned or long-life food that could be prepared as a lunch, I think it is generally a reasonable and hospitable habit to do so.

I think if I lived rurally I'd be more inclined to keep a stash of just in case food.

I was so close to the line I admit I cried when she left.

😢

If you dropped into my house today wanting lunch you’d get the offer of pasta pesto with frozen peas and/or chorizo, an omelette and oven chips, or perhaps a frozen baked potato and tuna mayonnaise or baked beans. I’ve always got the makings of those meals in stock. But I think if three adults all wanted feeding then they might have to mix and match a bit.

@arethereanyleftatall

Well you're totally different to me, but I have no idea which of us is more Unusual. I always have a fully stocker larder and full chest freezer. I never meal plan (never heard of it before mumsnet), just do a weekly shop for fresh fruit/veg/dairy and whatever bargains are there for my larder/freezer. So, of an evening, I decide then and there what we're having. It works for me.

Would be interested to know your food waste vs people who meal plan

My mother taught my some recipes that could be made at a few moments notice, in order to be prepared for unexpected visitors. She had been taught them by my paternal grandmother, who lived in the country and was very attuned to the need to provide food for unexpected visitors.

All very tasty, made with store cupboard ingredients, such as scones which are delicious with butter while still warm from the oven.

Times have changed, though, haven't they?

Vanishingly few people have ever dropped in unexpectedly herd and, if they did, we would probably go out for a meal or order in takeaway. I have rarely been called upon to demonstrate my skills to whip up a meal unexpectedly.

We did have adult DSS and wife to visit once when the restaurant we had booked was unexpectedly closed. I produced home made celery soup and rolls from the freezer, salad and something maybe quiche from the freezer to follow .

They were literally amazed, knowing that usually DH cooks here and having never had homemade soup and expecting it to be a bit grim.

It's a dying art. I so agree with the people saying that inviting people to your home, providing food snd drink, even if only nibbles, is a very welcoming thing to do.

Keep some pizzas in your freezer.
Oven chips.
Long life part baked rolls.
Tin of corned beef.
Soup.

I could without a problem though it would probably be something like pasta bolognaise as I usually have some pasta, frozen mince / lots of lentils, onions, garlic, tinned tomato etc.

I could probably even manage a roast but it would certainly be frozen veg.

I wouldnt be very pleased if 3 people turned up with no warning at all though.

However, I'm lucky enough to have some disposable income, a small chest freezer as well as our normal one and some kind of compulsion to stock up as if a war might start in the morning.

YANBU OP.

Do people really only keep enough food to feed the household for a week? What about store cupboard ingredients? Pasta, rice, tins of tomatoes, pesto, lentils, eggs, beans? We keep spare bread in the freezer as well as various meals I have batch cooked, plus fish fingers, sausages etc

Living rurally with no easy access to a shop that is open for long hours, and being snowed in on the odd occasion I always keep our store cupboard topped up.

I sort of meal plan, but tend to do so after I have been shopping, unless there is something specific I want to make. I tend to look for bargains and see what looks good and is in season, then decide what to make.

When DD was at school I often used to get a text from her at about 3 asking if a friend could come for tea, and it was never a problem.

I’d be able to make something, but it would be storecupboard food.
Like pasta with sauce from a jar, tinned soup, tinned tuna with microwave rice, whatever freezer food we have in, that sort of thing.

We don’t normally have enough fresh food in to make an extra 3 adults worth of sandwiches / omelettes / salad / whatever else someone might like fresh for lunch.
We might be able to do a fresh food lunch if I’d just been food shopping, but then I’d have to go to the shops again sooner than I’d have otherwise planned.

In my culture you always have to have enough to feed guests, so I always have enough. It doesn’t cost much extra to add a few things here and there across 3-6 months eg the odd tin, small bag of semolina / lentils etc.

Those unexpected guests I get, if from my culture, would expect full on meals too, so it’s cheaper to get ‘cook from scratch’ ingredients to cater for then. Example - my sister and her family came to our garden and took me my surprise. If I knew in advance I’d make lasagna or a full on veg Indian meal for them but had no veg or cheese; so I made dhokla (steamed yoghurt and semolina cake with minimal spices) and chai instead.

I do think everyone should keep a little extra for unexpected guests even if it’s just an extra few tins, because it’s embarrassing to be caught short when something unexpected happens. And from my friends’ experiences it hurts when your child prefers to go to their friends’ houses for dinner because they’re too embarrassed or scared to bring them home because of the food situation.

I could provide a basic lunch for 3 unexpected guests, plus myself and DS. However, we wouldn't all be eating the same thing!

I usually have enough food to last a fortnight, but my meal planning is based on our needs as I dislike waste and have limited storage. If unexpected guests are expecting more than tea and biscuits they'll have to take what's on offer or go without!

^^ that said my friend once took me, dd and her dd to see her aunt for lunch. I assumed aunt knew we were coming but she clearly had no idea yet she still whipped up a 3 course meal!! I felt awful and insisted on doing all the washing up.

Friend's family from a very different culture though so may be a different situation

Egg on toast. But it would be very rude of three adults to turn up unexpectedly and want to be fed. Very rude indeed. In fact, keep a few takeaway menus handy, just in case. 'Oh, what's for supper?' 'We're having what I'd planned, but you could order in some takeaway if you like'.

I have pasta and jars of pesto so as long as they'd eat that, or cheese on toast, unexpected visitors would get fed. Or I could make a quick soup.

Would be interested to know your food waste vs people who meal plan

I don't meal plan and very rarely throw food away. I buy food and then eat what I have in or freeze it before it goes off. Sometimes that makes for a pretty random meal though!

I couldn't always feed something exciting, but I almost always have food batch cooked and in the freezer, as well as dried pasta, rice and (usually) potatoes in the cupboard.

I could but it would be the sort of food we like maybe not what guests would like, I do live near a nice Indian takeaway though so they might get a curry.

I have the slightest prepper tendencies, so I always have good stocks in of dry goods & tins & generally keep a well stocked fridge. It might be a bit of a random meal but I could easily feed 3 surprise guests.

Lunch is, I can always rustle up a cheese sandwich, omlette, we have tinned soup in the cupboards, cheesy pasta or a simple tomato pasta and waffles and fish fingers never run out in this house.

On a left over day I would struggle as there wouldn't be enough of the same meal for 3 other people to eat, so I would probably fry some samosas or spring rolls from the freezer or worse case stick on a dhaal. On a day where I have cooked a curry there would be enough food for 3 extra mouths but I would still do a few starters so the main meal went further. It is more of a problem if I do fajitas or something like that as woupd only use a chicken breast each.

I think it is rude to turn up unannounced at meal times though or at all and like to give notice. I wouldn't just invite myself over to someone's house for lunch or dinner. My mum always has enough cooked so extra people can eat and as a kid my cousins would pop over for dinner if they liked the sound of what my mum had cooked more than theirs. I always have a fully stocked freezer and larder but that goes back to being a child and seeing my mum do the same. She will offer you food regardless of whether you have just eaten as will my aunties. Its common in most Asian families.

Nope. Or not at least the same food. I would have enough for a mix and match. Some could have spagbol
And some could have tofu.

As for sandwiches. I don't buy bread but I would have the ingredients to make some and put butter on top.

I try not to buy too much extra or keep too much stuff in the freezer.

I’m single so I’d be able feed them from cupboard but not likely the same meal. If covid and the last year taught me anything it’s to have in extras at home. When deliveries fail or you are ill just having bare amount cover immediate few days, when you can afford have few extra provisions in storage isn’t always best idea.

We always have tins and spices in so I could whip up a bean chilli......... Not that I ever have visitors but still

@Rayna37

I'd struggle with dinner without a few hours notice but not a basic lunch. It's rare we wouldn't have eggs and cheese, bread and fish fingers in the freezer, cans of tuna or beans, usually a bit of salad, mushrooms. Couldn't do sandwiches (we don't eat them ourselves) but anything with/on toast, toasties, omelettes, not too much of a problem.

How come you could do toasties but not sandwiches?

Back in the day, I'd think sandwiches & crisps, at least, should be able to be rustled up but I wouldn't expect to be fed if I turned up unexpectedly.

Nowadays so many people count every last portion and penny so I think its very rude to expect to be fed without being invited. If you turn up unexpectedly you should bring stuff, not expect it.

I have a chest freezer so could feed people something even if it was random freezer surprise.

For sandwiches I'd have to go to the shop for fresh bread. We dont eat a lot of bread. I could probably always provide tuna or cheese sandwiches but only sometimes ham.

I normally have part baked bread in, as its hard to predict how much bread our family of 4 get through and I don't like over ordering and waste, so I'd manage feeding three extra adults as long as tuna or cheese would be acceptable.