I love home-made, friends think it's showing off - WWYD???

[amIbeingselfish]

Regular, namechanger ....

I am having some friends round for drinks and nibbles mid-December, pre-Christmas get-together. Just drinks and nibbles, not a meal. I love pottering in the kitchen, so would perhaps make things like bread-sticks & dips ; crudites; marinated olives & cheese; spicy nuts; sticky sausages; mince pies; little cakes etc. The friends I am inviting buy all their nibbles for similar gatherings from Waitrose/M&S, and it's always lovely. But I know probably costs 2 -3 times what I would spend making my own. So, 2 factors for me: cost and personally enjoying cooking. But one of the women made a remark last time I entertained that I was "showing off" by making my own food. I didn't think I was - I thought I was just saving money and doing something I enjoyed.
So a) should I just go buy shop-bought
b) do the things I'm suggesting sound like I'm "showing off" - to me they seem fairly homely, rather than fancy. Any other suggestions for what I could make?

You can invite me anytime-sounds wonderful! Ignore.

I think it's far better to do your own if you want to - not only do you have the satisfaction of doing it but also of knowing you've saved money!
But - and I say this cautiously - do you make a point of telling them it's home made? Or is it the case that they ask where you got it from and you then have to tell them that you made it yourself? Because if you can avoid it, perhaps it would save a lot of emotion on all levels by not telling them you've done it all yourself.

She was pretty bloody rude, though! As was the one talking about "normal" food (although I've had that from my sister - she can't cook very well herself so buys a lot of premade and processed food and calls my cook-from-scratch food "weird" - no idea why, she was brought up on made-from-scratch food, mostly! although mum did use some packets and jars of sauce and things, which I don't tend to)

Ignore, they are simply showing their insecurities.

I am however that you can make your nibbles cheaper than buying them.

Have a lovely party

thumbwitch, I think people can usually tell that stuff's home made. I certainly wouldn't say "have one of my home-made breadsticks, oh and here's a home-made dip to stick it in and you must try my home-made x, y, z"!! If someone said "where did you get your sausage rolls" I'd just say "I made them"

rubyrubyruby you're off my guest list am genuinely interested in why you would call home-made stuff of the fairly basic and homely variety showing off? And also why you would say something like that as a joke -just to understand the other point of view, not challenging you nastily x

see, that I wouldn't mind ruby. Guess it's how it's said and how it's intended.

Agree with Trills last post. I bet it's #1.
There's nothing wrong with showing off your cooking, even making something fancy. I bet your friends love it when you cook for them.

ha ha - not that the kind of stuff I make for this lot is domestic goddess standard. Now if I did want to push the boat out, I would probably be showing off & self-indulgent - but I think I'd joke about that with them up front .

sorry snailoon - my last post was aimed at ruby. I was brought up only with good, basic homemade food - we couldn't have afforded pre-prepared stuff anyway. Could afford it now but just don't see making a few simple bits a big deal, and you can take a few basic ingredients and make them into something you'd actually pay quite a lot for in the shops.

well now, I didn't expect that you would be rubbing it in their faces either! just wondered if you had (justifiably) mentioned that you had saved a lot of money making your own. :)

I have a friend who is a domestic goddess - and a couple of other friends who are a touch uncomfortable with it because it makes them feel bad about their lack of domesticity, I assume - they make occasional comments like your friend as well. But most of us are just really impressed!

I am a TOTAL show off. I embrace it now and as I watch my friends' eyes glaze over as I show them photo's of the best food I have ever made, I ignore them and MAKE THEM LOOK.

I'm not even joking.

Look what you have made me do - I want to be a showoff like you.

How does one make breadsticks? And do I want to?

There was a recipe for quail scotch eggs the other night on some BBC programme.

Stick one of those in her gob if she says it this year

I have made quail scotch eggs.

Seriously.

They were lovely.

Not for other people though, DP and I scoffed them.

If you could make them runny inside that would be showing off.

Oo. I made jam doughnuts once.

I also love making food. I've had comments similar to OP's before but in my usual blunt diplomatic way just said that I make them because I like to not for showing off. Surprisingly not people can withstand honest statements.

trills - of course you want to make bread sticks. Best ever and easiest ever breadsticks.

not many people.

Invite people that won't make snidey remarks.

I am surprised that people would think that you were showing off - it can only be a compliment! I don't care how nice shop bought food is from waitrose, M&S or Selfridges for that matter. If you are a good cook and I am sure that you are, you cannot beat freshly prepared home-made food!

"Yes, I do it because I am better than you" so there. :o