Offended by friend’s comments about party food

[LinsMum22]

We hosted my friend, her husband and three kids yesterday afternoon. Our sons are in the same football team and we said we’d put some food on at ours after and watch the Liverpool match who they both support. My friend agreed to party style food being the best option as everyone could pick at it as and when.

Amongst other things, there was - Indian selection, tempura prawns, sausage rolls, mini pizza’s, mini sausages, chips, breaded chicken. So a good mix all from Iceland where we’ve had positive comments on the food before.

I could tell my friends’ youngest looked unimpressed when they tried one of the items, and pulled a face to my friend. She made no
attempt to get them to try another item and basically said ‘I know’. I noticed five minutes later she had barely ate anything herself either.

15/20 minutes later, the youngest moaned again and this time my friend said ‘don’t worry, we will stop at McDonald’s on the way back as I’m hungry too.’

I text her after they left to say sorry if they didn’t enjoy the food. She replied to say they didn’t realise it would be that sort of food and that they’d have got something else before coming round if they realised!!

AIBU to find this really snobby and ungrateful? The fact she then took the kids to get a McDonald’s makes no sense!!

Agreed. MN reverse snobbery is just as irritating as the common or garden variety.

I think the clue for you in your post is ‘canning factory.’ I’m not sure people who like good food eat much other than baked beans and tuna out of cans

Agree.

all our supermarkets vie each other to be seen as the cheapest. Coles even wrote a song ‘down down prices are down’. With singing and dancing and a giant red finger pointing down.

Well good for them but a lot of us unfortunately rely on this as we are skint. I'd rather pay i eland prices for the same food.

OP, big boast coming up! I am legendary amongst my friends for putting on a great buffet. Worst party food comes from Waitrose, followed by Asda then Sainsbury’s. Best M&S, Iceland then Tesco. Thing is people don’t know where my food has come from, it’s taken out of the packaging before they arrive, and I get lots of great comments about how good it is. My guess is that she wants to appear more upmarket than she is. Don’t feed her again.

Hahahahahha 🤣

Iceland are the best for party type food, I love that they put on their packaging of multi foods how to cook it so it is all ready at the same time! More recently they seem to have adjusted their recipes so all of the stuff can be cooked in the same oven, at the same temp, for the same time.

ETA Just had a thought....probably expecting you to order in Dominoes. Seen that before at parties, would explain the McD's comment.

Iceland party food is fine. McDonald's from Just Eat next time @LinsMum22 I would suggest.

And, on the other side, the posters suggesting a child would be stuck on the toilet forevermore if they eat a bowl of fruit a day 🙄

This woman undoubtedly has no manners, but the reverse snobbery on these types of threads is always hilarious.

I was expecting this to end with the mum making that the food provided wasn’t healthy enough / was a bit beige …. But then they went to McDonald’s.

some people are just rude and/or mad op. I’ve learned to let it be water off a ducks back.

Your buffet sounds right up my street and I would have been made up! They wouldn't be getting invited again and I would leave it at that. I would also have been made up with the left overs.....more for me! Some people are such hard work. It must be difficult being someone with that mindset, they need to take a day off

co-op is a weird one because it's insanely expensive but not 'posh'
also lidl and aldi have some food that is as nice/nicer than m&s/waitrose but are cheap

imo iceland's party food can be hit and miss but definitely on a par with mcdonalds! How different can a chip/inedible can a chip be, ffs?

Many of these own brand snack foods ( not all ) are made in the same factories by the same staff, some with slight recipe & ingredient variations ( many use identical ingredients it's only weight ratios & additives that change) and obviously different packaging for each supermarket.

She is very rude. And is letting her children down by teaching than that this type of behavior is acceptable.

in the food - it wouldn’t be my cup of tea either. It’s not snobbery - I would nibble at the Iceland food - but would prefer something fresher in there too. Cridutes and some humus, some French bread slices, a bit of salad etc.

But I have the manners to be grateful and gracious.

100 percent but people don't want to hear that... 😂

Has anyone complaining about the food actually been to a real football match..... and seen the options.

So what? Regardless of what she ‘expected’ she and her child were still bloody rude to moan about it and I find it hard to believe there wasn’t anything they could eat. The food included mini pizzas, chips, sausage rolls and breaded chicken. I find it hard to believe that someone who eats McDonald’s with her kids couldn’t find anything for her and her son to eat from that selection, even if they were too scared to eat a tempura prawn or something.

Absolutely graceless to accept an invitation and then talk to a host as the OP’s ‘friend’ did. But I see there is a lot of it about.

When I used to work in a Midlands factory at uni if the item’s packaging was damaged they would be put in the section labelled, ‘for the North.’

But they weren’t at a real football match. They were in the ops home. What’s the point here!

Everyone's too keen to pipe up with how superior their Michelin star-worthy offerings would have been, that's why!

A vital part of the post has been missed entirely in the scramble to prove they're not working class!

She put on a better spread in the comfort of her own home.... next time the other person can host if they are that fussy.

You kindly provided food they didn’t want / like. Literally no difference between chicken goujons and chips and a bloody happy meal.
they were rude. I’d not bother so much next time.

Exactly my point , unless OP personally announced or paraded the packaging in front of this woman, how on earth would she know the picky bits were from Iceland? And honestly, how would half the people in the comments know either, unless they’ve developed some kind of sixth sense for frozen party food?

At this rate, someone needs to set up a full-on blind taste test and post it on TikTok, because clearly we’re all surrounded by elite sausage roll sommeliers now who can identify a shop just by sniffing a mini quiche 🤣🤣🤣

I worked in Co-Op "for the duration".

For reference, price points in the UK...

Waitrose
Co-Op
M&S
Sainsburys
Tesco
Morrison
Asda
Aldi/Lidl (pennies either way if that).

Problem with Co Op is that they have high prices but most of their shops are corner shops so they are exploiting the poor with no transport or the elderly who trust the brand.

For that reason I absolutely detest their "for our members" bullshit. They are worse than the likes of Waitrose and M&S who atleast own their status as high cost, because they are selling the luxury brand. Co Op claim to be benevolent and sharing, but actually they are far far worse than the others. I no longer shop there on principle and my friends/ex colleagues hate it too as their HR and staff morale are appalling.