To make covid fudge

[Decorbreadthegingerate]

DD, 6, halfway through covid isolation and climbing the walls with boredom. We thought about making fudge today to gift to family members when isolation ends on Xmas eve. Would you eat the covid fudge?

@HesterShaw1

People talk about a contagious illness (Covid) as though that makes it more rational.

An airborne respiratory illness.

I've already said that it might be irrational. But so what?

How people feel isn't based on rational thought. There are lots of things that aren't rational, but people feel the way anyway. Like being terrified of mice or completely harmless spiders.

@DeepaBeesKit

I don't tend to socialise in that way, so, no. I don't remember the last time I ate anything at anyone else's house, actually. I was probably in my teens, to be quite honest with you.We tend to go out for meals or if we do meet up at home, we'll get a takeaway instead

Whatever you do don't go look at the hygiene in your local takeaway if you think it's going to be miles better than most family homes.

Well, all our local takeaways are inspected annually and consistently rated 5* by the council.

But hygiene ratings aside, if I get sick from a takeaway, I can just choose not to eat from there again and nobody gets offended and no friendships are ruined. But if your friend makes you something that gets you really sick, it might be a bit awkward to say to them "oh, I can't accept this because the last thing you made me had me shitting through the eye of a needle for a week".

I don't see why some MN'ers people are so bothered about what other people eat or don't eat, though.

It is airborne and also contact spreading as a virus - so no, I would not want someone with covid preparing food for me to eat.

No fudge for me, horrible confection.

I won’t eat food made by any child tbh, even my own! Unless I’ve made it with them… carefully. I used to pretend to eat their creations brought home from school and bin them 😳

I would! Don't think there are any known cases of COVID being spread by fudge! (I assume you would ask her to wash her hands first and not lick the fudge before giving it!)

Icedcoffees

I would be absolutely offended if any friend of mine refused to eat food I'd made, as would pretty much everyone I know. I'd think someone was odd as fuck if they never accepted a dinner party invite or always refused a slice of birthday cake or the like.

@FluffyBooBoo

The risk of getting it from packaging is low and almost certainly lower than anything you'd pick up from the supermarket

I'm curious about the logic here. The chance of getting it from something made by and handled by someone that definitely has COVID is less than the risk of getting it from something that may or may not have been handled by someone with COVID?

some people are frightened unnecessarily about picking it up in ways it can't be transmitted

I'm not frightened. I still go to the cinema, and I was at the theatre this week. But I wouldn't have gone if I knew with certainty that I would be sitting with someone with COVID.

The risk of getting it from packaging is low and almost certainly lower than anything you'd pick up from the supermarket

I'm curious about the logic here. The chance of getting it from something made by and handled by someone that definitely has COVID is less than the risk of getting it from something that may or may not have been handled by someone with COVID?
Yes, fair enough, I knew what I was thinking and didn't make it clear....You know someone has COVID so take extra precautions when decanting, which you might not with supermarket goods where any number of people with COVID might have touched.

some people are frightened unnecessarily about picking it up in ways it can't be transmitted

I'm not frightened. I still go to the cinema, and I was at the theatre this week. But I wouldn't have gone if I knew with certainty that I would be sitting with someone with COVID.
Nor would i, because COVID is mainly transmitted through airborne particles, and that is not easily avoided sat next to someone.
It can't be transmitted through food, which is what I meant about people being frightened of ways it can't be caught. The risk from the packaging is low and can be easily mitigated.

And for further clarification my comment about inspecting kitchens before accepting dinner invitations was aimed at those who said they never eat homemade gifts because they don't know how clean kitchens are.

@DeepaBeesKit

Icedcoffees

I would be absolutely offended if any friend of mine refused to eat food I'd made, as would pretty much everyone I know. I'd think someone was odd as fuck if they never accepted a dinner party invite or always refused a slice of birthday cake or the like.

Why would you be offended if someone didn't want to eat food you'd made?

I don't think it's unusal to not want to eat homemde food, it's definitely not odd as fuck to not want to eat food made with a child in a house where people are unwell.

I think it’s a really nice and kind idea but personally I never eat and don’t know many people that do eat handmade gifted food, it ends up in the bin.
Not related to Covid, but I don't get this. We've had and been to many potluck parties and apart from the vegetarians and people with allergies, everyone digs into everything.

If anyone brings home-baked cake into work: straight down the hatch, almost no refusals.

I don't see that there is any material difference between eating a meal someone else has cooked in their house and eating a piece of home-made cake brought into the office.

@DeepaBeesKit

Icedcoffees

I would be absolutely offended if any friend of mine refused to eat food I'd made, as would pretty much everyone I know. I'd think someone was odd as fuck if they never accepted a dinner party invite or always refused a slice of birthday cake or the like.

You'd be surprised how many people accept gifts then chuck them away. So many manky looking biscuits made by school children over the years. They are just so un appetising when you also see that child with their finger up their nose.

@DeepaBeesKit

Icedcoffees

I would be absolutely offended if any friend of mine refused to eat food I'd made, as would pretty much everyone I know. I'd think someone was odd as fuck if they never accepted a dinner party invite or always refused a slice of birthday cake or the like.

Oh, well I can't say it would cross my mind to be bothered by anything like that. People have all sorts of reasons for eating the way they do.

And besides, how would you know they hadn't politely accepted and chucked it in the bin once you'd gone?

Oh, and I don't know anyone who throws dinner parties - maybe I'm too common for that

Screw using it as a gift. Make it and eat it together in front of the tele watching an Xmas film!!

@DeepaBeesKit

Icedcoffees

I would be absolutely offended if any friend of mine refused to eat food I'd made, as would pretty much everyone I know. I'd think someone was odd as fuck if they never accepted a dinner party invite or always refused a slice of birthday cake or the like.

Presumably, you are offended because not only is your kitchen clean and constructed to the higher commercial standards, you have also completed food hygiene qualifications and your friends have all seen the kitchen and whether you follow food hygiene procedures at home?

Or your friends have standards as low as your own.

I'm not offended if somebody declines food at mine. It's not a deliberate swipe at me, they are either happy with what they can see in terms of hygiene or they aren't. Or they don't like what I'm cooking. Whatever.

@Grumpyosaurus

I think it’s a really nice and kind idea but personally I never eat and don’t know many people that do eat handmade gifted food, it ends up in the bin. Not related to Covid, but I don't get this. We've had and been to many potluck parties and apart from the vegetarians and people with allergies, everyone digs into everything.

If anyone brings home-baked cake into work: straight down the hatch, almost no refusals.

I don't see that there is any material difference between eating a meal someone else has cooked in their house and eating a piece of home-made cake brought into the office.

Potlucks aren't for me. Went along to the last work one and all the inherently gluten free stuff - which was, admittedly, limited to some fruit, olives and cheese - had all been emptied out onto platters alongside pork pies, quiches, crackers, breads and everything else that is packed full of gluten.

I went back to my office for a protein shake.

This is so, so weird. I bake for people often and so do lots of people I know. The idea that some people are just throwing things away rather than refusing them is bizarre?? I don't think I'd be that offended if someone said "no thanks" when offered food, but I'd be very upset if I found out they'd said yes and then thrown it away.

As a PP said, when we have baking days at work everyone tucks in and has some. I regularly go to dinners where everyone brings a course. And what about charity cake sales? They have those Macmillan coffee mornings... Surely those wouldn't work if people were really weird about homemade food? And what about homemade/small batch food sold in shops or at fairs/fetes?

I guess this is useful though as in future I will check food is welcome before I gift it.

@Wavypurple

I think it’s a really nice and kind idea but personally I never eat and don’t know many people that do eat handmade gifted food, it ends up in the bin. Probably most cost effective to make something else that the two of you could eat together like cupcakes

Seriously??? How wasteful.

@thecombineharvester I think when people talk about throwing things away, they're talking about gifts they're given for Christmas or birthdays - you can't just stand there and refuse a gift that someone has made and wrapped for you.

I won't eat homemade cake people have brought into work either but it's much easier to refuse that without offending people - the same applies to charity bake sales. I've never once bought a homemade cake off someone at a charity stall - but that's not the same as refusing a gift someone has made and wrapped up for you specifically.

I would eat it happily. But then I had no idea till I was on MN how many people have weird hang ups about eating food made by other people.

I would assume if it were actually possible to pass covid into food it would get killed by cooking. I wouldn't give it a second thought.

@Fritilleries you say it's wasteful, but what other option is there if you don't want to eat it?

You can't return it, as you'll just upset whoever has made it for you.
You can't donate it, as charities and food banks won't accept homemade food for hygiene/allergy reasons.
You can't really re-gift it to someone else as you don't know what's in it or what it tastes like.

So if you're not going to eat it, what else are you supposed to do with it except throw it in the bin or put it out for the birds if that's possible?

Baking days at work - 'everybody' has some. Well, everybody except that I'm not there, I'm still at my desk avoiding it and they don't notice one person not coming along. Same with Macmillan coffee mornings (tried providing GF stuff, they took it out of the packaging and arranged it artfully with all the gluten riddled stuff, rendering it inedible to anybody who might have needed it - I don't bother now).

Fudge isn't really a child-friendly cooking choice imo. She can't do much bar weigh the ingredients and lick the condensed milk spoon. I'd make a batch of cupcakes and some icing.

How about covid soaps?

They’re fun with a six year old, ingredients readily available on Amazon.

I'd eat anything a child made if they made it under adult supervision. Send me the covid fudge!!