Husband has ruined dinner

[OnAJetPlane26]

I’m been upstairs packing for a holiday so asked husband to cook dinner, all of the ingredients for a shepards pie are in the fridge/cupboard.
Came down and thought.. That smells nothing like shepards pie. He has poured an entire jar of Passata and half a jar of parsley into the meat.
Im going to beans on toast. My AIBU is this..
YABU.. Sounds fine to me.
YANBU.. He has made bolognese with mash potatoes and gravy.

What's parsley?

Dunno. What's a supermarket?

I think the problem may be that fresh parsley is widely available these days so the dried version isn’t so well known any more. I haven’t used it for years because IMHO it doesn’t taste anything like the fresh.

Oh man, I feel you. My other half offered to make dinner a while ago when I was feeling under the weather, and it was supposed to be incredibly simple. We'd bought these jars of pre-made sauce that were super healthy, only real ingredients, vegan, organic, etc etc. We'd had one of them previously (which I'd cooked) and it was delicious.

It was supposed to be added to pasta with a bit of chicken... so very simple! But it was taking a weirdly long time, so I went into the kitchen to check everything was ok...

He'd decided to use this perfectly balanced, pre-made sauce as you might a tin of plain tomatoes. He'd been adding all sorts to it, really getting into the spirit of "cooking" (I use the term loosely) by adding chilli powder, bay leaves, soy sauce, cumin, maple syrup, an alarming amount of salt, rosemary, and I can't even remember what else. He hadn't given any thought to how the flavours might work together and hadn't tasted anything along the way - it was quite literally inedible.

I would have found it funny except I'd been feeling rubbish that day and was absolutely starving, and had been really looking forward to a cosy dinner on the sofa. I was unreasonably annoyed and had to try so hard not to show it because, bless his heart, he really did try!! Thankfully, he also found it disgusting, so I think a lesson was learnt 😂

Sorry but that's completely illogical for the reason that 'fresh' parsley etc, widely available or not, is only 'fresh' for a few days after purchase and most people don't always plan ahead when they're going to use a recipe that requires the addition of herbs so to keep a good 'dried' variety is essential!
Popping to the shop for a bunch of parsley etc is not ideal with a busy schedule or when a recipe has been spontaneously chosen for that night's dinner!! I live rurally and if I did not have access to good quality dried herbs and spices my options for home cooking many dishes would be seriously curtailed! 🙄
Yes, obviously 'fresh' is best but I buy very good quality dried options and the taste is more than adequate for the normal palate! 😊

The bastard had one job to do - why parsley and what’s it doing in a jar anyway?

Dried parsley is pointless (unlike other dried herbs) as it is completely tasteless, but if you have heard of dried herbs in jars, it's odd to pretend you had no odea about parsley.

I'd assume he used parsley because it's a fairly common ingredient in a shepherds pie, and that it was in a jar because that's what it was in when purchased.

Hope that helps!

Think you may be responding to the wrong post as I have never 'pretended' to not have an 'odea' about Parsley!! 🙄

Did you try it ?

Yes, she didn't like it.
Adult DS said it was nice but not shepherds pie (at that tomato ratio, it's probably an "Italian-style" one, tbf).

Parsley is never overpowering , if it was basil , rosemary , thyme , oregano , coriander then yes but parsley never , especially dried it's pretty much tasteless

Well as long as she tried it 🤷‍♀️ she doesn't like it she doesn't like it. 🤷‍♀️

I don't think dad ruined dinner tho. Cause everyone else in the household liked it 🤷‍♀️ ruined dinner to me would be that it was inedible and no one is eating and ingredients go to waste.

I've voted YABU for two reasons; I don't think you were planning Shepherd's Pie, as you don't make bolognese with beef, and you are BU calling Cottage Pie Shepherd's Pie. Otherwise, if you want DH to do something specific, tell him specifically what you want him to do and what to use. I often put tinned tomatoes (or baked beans!) in Shepherd's/Cottage Pie.

" most people don't always plan ahead when they're going to use a recipe that requires the addition of herbs "

Where is your source for this statistic? Maybe you cook more spontaneously, and good for you, but I don't know if most people are the same.

Maybe most people are more like me. I plan two or three dinners in advance and then shop for the ingredients for those meals. I don't live rurally mind you, so it's easy for me to get to the supermarket a few times a week. I would have to change the way I did things if it wasn't so easy, although I would never use dried parsley anyway - I'd leave it out if a recipe called for fresh parsley and I couldn't get my hands on any.

" most people don't always plan ahead when they're going to use a recipe that requires the addition of herbs "

'but I don't know if most people are the same.'

Of course you don't, how could you? 🤔
However, logic and rational should surely indicate that the massive amount of different brands of so many varied dried and preserved herbs and spices available in the supermarkets, health shops, artisanal outlets and online that this is obviously a reality and that many people are just too busy and pushed for time and therefore don't have the middle class luxury of being able to casually 'plan ahead' or more importantly to shop for 'fresh' ingredients when they need to get meals on the table ASAP every day for a hungry family?! 🙄
I suggest you come out of your 'ivory tower' into the real world and wise up! 😊

I was questioning your use of the word "most", because you have no idea if the majority of people meal plan, shop, and cook the same way you do.

I personally own many jars of dried herbs and, particularly, spices. Spices are a completely different thing I think, but often even dried herbs are better in a dish than fresh ones. It depends on the dish and on the herb. In my opinion (and that of many people on this thread), parsley is not one of those. I have never gone to the supermarket just to purchase fresh parsley however - I'll leave it out if I don't have any. But if I know I'm going to be cooking a dish within the next few days that calls for fresh parsley, I'll buy it when I'm shopping. I really don't think that means I live in an ivory tower!

I appreciate that I'm fortunate in that I don't have to get meals on the table ASAP for a hungry family any more because my kids are grown. I do have the luxury of a little more time to cook (something I enjoy doing) and the income to be able to afford all the ingredients I need. Of course when my kids were little I did have to get dinner on the table quickly most nights, and therefore it was even more important that I plan ahead and have the ingredients that I need in the house. What do you do? Buy a bunch of random stuff at the supermarket and then decide last minute which of these ingredients you are going to use and how you're going to combine them? If you are able to do that, hats off to you! I'm not a good enough cook to do that confidently. And that has nothing to do with whether I'm middle class.

"Most people don't always"

I don't think we need a study to confirm that the majority don't meal plan every single meal. Surely even the most organized planner sometimes has some excess ingredients to use up?

Maybe you're right that the majority don't meal plan every single meal, but that wasn't what we were talking about.