Friends promised a BBQ and delivered an Iceland beige buffet!

[Bbqdisaster]

As above really, myself, DH and 3 DC went to our friends’ house yesterday on the promise of some drinks in the garden and a BBQ.

They said they were having issues with their BBQ so would do an ‘indoor BBQ’. This consisted of beige food from Iceland!!

AIBU to find this a woeful alternative?

Ha, the OP being disappointed about the food didn’t bother me at all. But the use of ‘myself’ made me die a little inside. It’s endemic on here now.

Love it! I shall refer to the UPF crap I love to eat as “ecru food” from now on.

Fat mums go to Iceland?

Well I am a bit on the pudgy side but I just had an Iceland delivery that contained lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber....

I used to be given very milky, very sweet (very lukewarm) coffee at nursery school in the 70s!

Well, they are ready meals to us. Meals you get out of the freezer when you can’t be bothered to cook.

Sound familiar?

Oh dear. I know it’s Monday and you’ve probably had a stressful day but taking it out on me isn’t going to help you x

That’s not a ready meal though. A ready meal is shop bought.

What everyone seems to be missing is that they didn't do BBQ inside which suggests they were lying in the first place as BBQ food was not procured.

That would be what's rude, not your judgement of their (admittedly poor) but well meaning offering

She wouldn't though, in real life. Keyboard warrior delusion. I just can't imagine anybody outside of a soap opera being so blatantly rude to a friend who has invited you into their home.

I have dietary requirements so I often find a beige buffet difficult but I don't moan if that's all the host has got, but it's not to my requirements. I just have a drink, make some polite conversation and leave when I'm getting hungry.
.

What I don't understand is why, if it was the BBQ grill that wasn't working, they didn't simply cook what they had already bought for the barbecue under the kitchen grill or oven, and just topped up the spread with whatever Iceland party food they had on the freezer if they bought they needed more. .

You didn't have to eat anything you don't like. In your place I could have stayed for a hour and left and had something to eat at home

At home and in day to day life I actively go out of my way to avoid any ultra processed food and have never been in an Iceland, I am assuming it’s mainly frozen ultra processed food, I also have coeliac disease. But gluten free requirements aside my motto when in people’s homes enjoying their hospitality which they’ve kindly provided is “when in Rome…..”
Assuming you enjoyed their company and food aside had a good evening suck it up OP and don’t be so rude.

I think you are being a bit disingenuous. I batch cook and freeze all the time. But I do not call those ready meals. ‘Ready meals’ has a certain meaning, which is a prepackaged, probably processed meal that is sold by grocery stores and supermarkets as an alternative to home cooking.

I totally agree.
Don't forget, all the nasty additives, which i believe no one of us uses daily in their cooking, low quality ingredients for the most part or near end-of-shelf-life, excess sugar/salt/fats etc.
It sounds like the other user meant batch cooking by the description of the meal prep routine.
I wonder though, this a misinterpret of the term done intentionally?

If posters would at least take the time to read the OP's posts then they wouldn't need to be harping on asking why the hosts didn't just look the barbecue food indoors.

• The hosts were always planning to buy the food on Saturday.
• They realised on Friday that the barbecue was out of action.
• They then changed their plans and decided to have a buffet instead.

Agreed I would have told my kids that we’d leave after an hour, and grab a McDonald’s on the way home. We would want hot food and my kids don’t like Iceland party food! They think it’s gross. I’d leave my husband to eat and he’d still have a McDonald’s afterwards!

They don’t like every single item of Iceland food? Come on now.

Ha, ha, I had a husband like that once . As he got older he actually refused to eat beige, high fat, high carb , high sugar, UPF food ( to a ridiculous level of refusal) . But my healthy living lifestyle choices eventually rubbed off.

I hope you managed to salvaged the bottle of decent wine you brought to the barbecue as you left.....perhaps .saying you'd chosen it specifically to pair it with barbecued food , and ' will save it for the BBQ, next time'

Barbecues aren’t known for their health benefits.

I’ve always done well at a bbq by eating the meat and salad. My teenage girls are the same too.

The meat is usually burgers and sausages.

The can be ok. Some decent bread and some plain grilled protein served with salads is still better than UPF calorie dense, nutrient light , fats and carb based party snacks though.

If it was going to be cheap UPF burgers and sausages, and UPF bread rolls you may have a point

I think most people would assume and expect the latter. It’s one meal.

@Ethelspagetti

your children shouldn’t be around UPFs full stop! Why wouldn’t you take them home and make them a lovely homemade nourishing meal from scratch…never mind McDonald’s!