Strange catering habits you have experienced when eating at friends/family houses?

[Chicchicchicchiclana]

The grazing table thread inspired me! I know one should always be grateful when people invite you to eat with them (and I am!!) but I find it interesting the great variety of ways people do the hosting. Have any memorable dining experiences in other people's houses really stuck with you? Without being mean of course.

My late DM saved every bit of leftovers in tiny ramekins in the fridge - spoonful of beans, ramekin. Half a sausage, ramekin.
She was also renowned for her deeply ingrained habit of veg at every meal, so in later life she'd make a spag bol with a portion of broccoli on the side, or have a takeaway curry and cook some cauliflower to go with it.

One occasion she served us up one of her strangest concoctions made with leftovers - cottage pie made with twice cooked beef (cooked for Sunday roast 2 weeks before, frozen, thawed, minced and repurposed), with sweetcorn, baked beans, and...Chinese five spice.

I don't know what she did with it with it but it was bloody delicious and nobody threw it up overnight.

@MrsMoastyToasty

I took DS to a birthday party as a toddler. There were about 10 full sized cakes and nothing else. Not even a sandwich, carrot stick or jammy dodger. The mum doing the "catering" had been to all the other parties for the other toddlers in the group so knew the type of things we fed our own children.

It's cake 🤷🏻‍♀️ Who actually needs carrot sticks at a birthday party? And she doesn't need to copy what you feed your own children, it's her party 😂

My MIL reputedly made 'the best lasagne ever'. My suspicions were raised when it took her less than 20 minutes to make said lasagne

Turned out that the 'lasagne' was actually just mince, mixed with tinned tomatoes and a single layer of dried pasta sheets on top. That was it. It was like eating hot dust.

My Mum was an excellent home cook and could spend a whole afternoon making a lasagne and it tasted like Heaven. The first time DH ever tried my Mum's lasagne his mind was blown. He never praises his Mum's hot dust lasagne again.

Haha my DF is also 'from Forrin' and we ate rice a LOT, including often with a roast dinner. I think a lot of my school friends were thrown by coming over and having a 'normal' tea of e.g. chicken nuggets and veg...and rice. As don't think many of them ate rice often at all (late 90s/early 00s).

@Starstar7

As a teenager I went around a friend's house for tea and after the main course they got the breakfast cereal and milk out for dessert.

We use to do this in the 80s and 90s! And white bread with dinner! We didn't have much money though.

I went to the US 25 years ago and was served cold courgette sandwiches as my vegetarian lunch.

My grandad gave me scrambled eggs with sherry in once. I put it in the bin when he wasn't looking.

This thread is making me quite hungry though.

Sliced white bread with soup

What on earth is wrong with that?

I know an elderly couple who still lay a breakfast table, have their main meal at lunch and have tea in the evening - bread, jam, cheese, cake etc, with tea.

Fish finger sandwich. Had never even conceived of such a thing before I came to live in the UK. Since then, I'd heard of it, but never seen it. Until a couple of weeks ago when my very gastronomic partner decided what he really craved was a fish finger sandwich... ordered one in a cafe... and ate it. I was stunned. Fish fingers in a sandwich!!!

@ImFree2doasiwant

Sausages cooked in milk. As in boiled . Or poached I suppose. With mashed potato and the hot meaty milk as gravy.

My DP told me about his whole family's favourite tea as a child, "sausages, bread and milk". I wrongly assumed fried sausages, in a sandwich, with a glass of milk. It was actually sausages boiled in milk, served on a slice of bread, with some of the hot meaty milk poured onto the bread. With mustard.

He still eats it as an occasional treat (when I'm out!)

@NapoleonOzmolysis

Fruit crumble at childhood friend's house - we were told it was "a game" to see who found the most plum stones in our crumble, most around the edge of the bowl at the end of the meal won. Looking back, I think whoever made the crumble just didn't bother stoning the fruit before they froze it

Just wondering if you came to my house. My Mum always did this - made a game out of it - and I thought it was perfectly normal for years.

I went to a friend's for tea as a kid. We had spinach pie which was mashed potato with spinach mixed in with raw oats sprinkled on top. It was very dry and bland.

Heinz tomato soup is sweet it has that much sugar, it's revolting. there is something like 4 teaspoons of sugar in a cup

My guts are fucked (medical term) and I am on a diet that is mental low fat, low fodmap, low gluten, low lactose, low meat, low in joy.

However I love cooking and having friends round for lunch.

I suspect that they have their views ...

(They get proper food btw. And I eat mine. WITH DRINKS.)

White sliced bread with soup is normal surely!

Growing up it was normal to me to have a slice of bread ( with or without butter) to soak up the gravy after a meal. DH remains horrified at this habit as he hates soggy food.

Oddest thing at a friend's house was tinned mandarin sandwiches. Not unpleasant, just...odd.

Late FIL asked me where the pickles were when I served shepherds pie and was most indignant when I didn’t have any.

My MIL would serve up bowls of jelly as a pudding then promptly start pouring milk over the jelly even if we insisted just plain jelly was absolutely fine.

@Sparklingbrook it took me an embarrassingly long time to realise I was eating a cows tongue!

We did it too, and used to say the "tinker tailor" rhyme as we counted them. A quick Google suggests it was a traditional thing www.agefotostock.com/age/en/details-photo/boy-and-girl-counting-plum-stones-on-a-plate-tinker-tailor-etc/MEV-11079104

The first children's party I remember was hosted by American friends. They offered me a hot dog. I said no thank you and ate nothing the entire party

We later discovered that in spite of my polite words, my face had betrayed my horror at people eating dogs.

No one explained.

Baked beans in a shepherds pie is quite lovely.

But I simply can’t get on board with chips and gravy!

@Pebbledashery

Also have a friend who puts spaghetti Bolognese or left over lasagne in a toaster bag type toastie.

I would totally eat that.

When I was a child we got a toasted sandwich maker. I opened my packed lunch box to find a cold toasted sandwich containing burger and tomato.

Boak.

I don't think cold rice pudding is weird is it? That's what a Muller rice is! I love cold rice pudding.

On the topic of pudding...the idea of a daily pudding is alien to me. Pudding was only had on special occasions in my home growing up so I always thought it was weird when people had it routinely.

My DP is the opposite and always wants to finish every meal with something sweet...even breakfast.

@DartmoorChef

I'm from Lancashire. Tea with your meal, white bread and butter with soup.. perfectly normal.

I was coming to say this.

Cold baked beans on top of a salad is unusual.

Tea with your meal and bread with soup was very common for me and my family and friends growing up in the north west.

‘Hot meaty milk’ is one of the worst combinations of words I’ve ever come across