Can I vent about guests and food?

[april37]

Company arrives last night (staying the weekend). We start talking and guest tells me that they are gluten free. Um, hello, they can't eat 1/2 of the menu I planned for the rest of the weekend. Would have been nice to know ahead of time so I could have planned accordingly. Argh!

[april37]

Oh, and I say "I wasn't aware that you are gluten free and I planned french toast for breakfast." Then guest says "Sorry, I was thinking of calling you ahead of time but I didn't want to be a bother."

I think NOT telling me is worse because I have already planned meals and shopped for food. Now I have to scramble at the last minute to alter my menus.

[tacokick]

Jun 23, 2012 15:02:14 GMT -5 april37 said:

Oh, and I say "I wasn't aware that you are gluten free and I planned french toast for breakfast." Then guest says "Sorry, I was thinking of calling you ahead of time but I didn't want to be a bother."

I think NOT telling me is worse because I have already planned meals and shopped for food. Now I have to scramble at the last minute to alter my menus.

That's so weird?! How is not telling you until they arrive better?

[redheadbaker]

Are they gluten-free by choice or necessity? If it was by choice and they neglected to tell you, I probably wouldn't change the menu.

[ommynoms]

How obnoxious! We don't entertain much, but that would drive me nuts!

[april37]

Jun 23, 2012 15:09:48 GMT -5 tacokick said:

Jun 23, 2012 15:02:14 GMT -5 april37 said:

Oh, and I say "I wasn't aware that you are gluten free and I planned french toast for breakfast." Then guest says "Sorry, I was thinking of calling you ahead of time but I didn't want to be a bother."

I think NOT telling me is worse because I have already planned meals and shopped for food. Now I have to scramble at the last minute to alter my menus.

That's so weird?! How is not telling you until they arrive better?

I meant not telling me ahead of time is worse.

[april37]

Jun 23, 2012 18:01:35 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

Are they gluten-free by choice or necessity? If it was by choice and they neglected to tell you, I probably wouldn't change the menu.

By necessity.... so it's not like they can just make an exception and eat it while at my house.

[tacokick]

Jun 24, 2012 8:33:46 GMT -5 april37 said:

Jun 23, 2012 15:09:48 GMT -5 tacokick said:

That's so weird?! How is not telling you until they arrive better?

I meant not telling me ahead of time is worse.

I understood what you meant. I was questioning their thought process

[starburst604]

That really is a PITA for them not to tell you. I don't know much about gluten-free diets but I do love quinoa, which I know is gluten free. Maybe include a couple of quinoa recipes to be nice. It doesn't take any more work to cook than rice and there are some great recipes out there.

[mrssavy42112]

Or perhaps you can take what they said at face value. Maybe they really don't want to be a bother & are willing to eat whatever options you have that happen to be GF. I'm vegan and when I visit others, I don't tell them in advance. Why should they have to bend over backwards to buy all of these items for just 1 person to eat. In the case with GF, you may not even know all of the options they have and could inadvertently make things they can't eat anyway because of a certain sauce or whatever.

They're already putting you out a bit by staying in your home, they probably just didn't want to make it more complicated with their diet. I always bring snacks with me & go to the local grocery store to pick up a few things. To me, it's not the hostesses responsibility to know how to cater to my specific lifestyle.

[april37]

Jun 26, 2012 8:31:50 GMT -5 mrssavy42112 said:

Or perhaps you can take what they said at face value. Maybe they really don't want to be a bother & are willing to eat whatever options you have that happen to be GF. I'm vegan and when I visit others, I don't tell them in advance. Why should they have to bend over backwards to buy all of these items for just 1 person to eat. In the case with GF, you may not even know all of the options they have and could inadvertently make things they can't eat anyway because of a certain sauce or whatever.

They're already putting you out a bit by staying in your home, they probably just didn't want to make it more complicated with their diet. I always bring snacks with me & go to the local grocery store to pick up a few things. To me, it's not the hostesses responsibility to know how to cater to my specific lifestyle.

I couldn't disagree more. For example, they stayed two nights. Morning 1 - I planned French toast and bacon. Morning 2 - I planned scrambled eggs and hash browns. Obviously morning 2 was ok, but I didn't have enough eggs to make that for everyone both mornings.

So, morning 1 the only thing guest could eat was bacon (and I also had fresh strawberries). There's no way I would make a guest eat just bacon and strawberries for breakfast so I ended up cooking up a single seperate serving of eggs. It would have been WAY easier for me to have planned a different breakfast that everyone could eat than to make a seperate dish for one person.

For dessert, I made a cake. Guest couldn't eat it. I would have MUCH rather made a different dessert that everyone could eat. It was such a waste of my time making a cake that my guests couldn't eat.

Now, I will admit, if I was dealing with a vegan menu, I wouldn't even know where to start. But with things like gluten, vegetarian, or peanut free menus I'd much rather be able to prepare ahead of time to cater to my guest.

[mrssavy42112]

Jun 26, 2012 18:47:29 GMT -5 april37 said:

Jun 26, 2012 8:31:50 GMT -5 mrssavy42112 said:

Or perhaps you can take what they said at face value. Maybe they really don't want to be a bother & are willing to eat whatever options you have that happen to be GF. I'm vegan and when I visit others, I don't tell them in advance. Why should they have to bend over backwards to buy all of these items for just 1 person to eat. In the case with GF, you may not even know all of the options they have and could inadvertently make things they can't eat anyway because of a certain sauce or whatever.

They're already putting you out a bit by staying in your home, they probably just didn't want to make it more complicated with their diet. I always bring snacks with me & go to the local grocery store to pick up a few things. To me, it's not the hostesses responsibility to know how to cater to my specific lifestyle.

I couldn't disagree more. For example, they stayed two nights. Morning 1 - I planned French toast and bacon. Morning 2 - I planned scrambled eggs and hash browns. Obviously morning 2 was ok, but I didn't have enough eggs to make that for everyone both mornings.

So, morning 1 the only thing guest could eat was bacon (and I also had fresh strawberries). There's no way I would make a guest eat just bacon and strawberries for breakfast so I ended up cooking up a single seperate serving of eggs. It would have been WAY easier for me to have planned a different breakfast that everyone could eat than to make a seperate dish for one person.

For dessert, I made a cake. Guest couldn't eat it. I would have MUCH rather made a different dessert that everyone could eat. It was such a waste of my time making a cake that my guests couldn't eat.

Now, I will admit, if I was dealing with a vegan menu, I wouldn't even know where to start. But with things like gluten, vegetarian, or peanut free menus I'd much rather be able to prepare ahead of time to cater to my guest.

Did your guest complain and make you cook a whole separate meal for them? If so, then shame on them for being that demanding. But if they gladly accepted whatever items they could eat & then tried to supplement it with something they brought with them, I don't see the big deal. I know that 'being a good hostess' is a big deal to some people, but why should you have to drive yourself crazy making all of these different meals to accommodate 1 person's special dietary needs? It's their needs, so they should be responsible for it. At least that's the way I see it. I would never let someone cook a whole separate meal or make everyone else eat something else, just for me.

[april37]

Jun 27, 2012 7:24:28 GMT -5 mrssavy42112 said:

Jun 26, 2012 18:47:29 GMT -5 april37 said:

Did your guest complain and make you cook a whole separate meal for them? If so, then shame on them for being that demanding. But if they gladly accepted whatever items they could eat & then tried to supplement it with something they brought with them, I don't see the big deal. I know that 'being a good hostess' is a big deal to some people, but why should you have to drive yourself crazy making all of these different meals to accommodate 1 person's special dietary needs? It's their needs, so they should be responsible for it. At least that's the way I see it. I would never let someone cook a whole separate meal or make everyone else eat something else, just for me.

I need you for a guest! The only food my guest brought was crackers. Because the only thing that she could eat for breakfast that morning was bacon and strawberries, I offered her cereal (I had Rice Krispies which are GF) or eggs. She said she'd love some eggs. So I cooked up some eggs for her.

[mrssavy42112]

Jun 27, 2012 7:48:53 GMT -5 april37 said:

Jun 27, 2012 7:24:28 GMT -5 mrssavy42112 said:

Jun 26, 2012 18:47:29 GMT -5 april37 said:

Did your guest complain and make you cook a whole separate meal for them? If so, then shame on them for being that demanding. But if they gladly accepted whatever items they could eat & then tried to supplement it with something they brought with them, I don't see the big deal. I know that 'being a good hostess' is a big deal to some people, but why should you have to drive yourself crazy making all of these different meals to accommodate 1 person's special dietary needs? It's their needs, so they should be responsible for it. At least that's the way I see it. I would never let someone cook a whole separate meal or make everyone else eat something else, just for me.

I need you for a guest! The only food my guest brought was crackers. Because the only thing that she could eat for breakfast that morning was bacon and strawberries, I offered her cereal (I had Rice Krispies which are GF) or eggs. She said she'd love some eggs. So I cooked up some eggs for her.

I find that borderline rude. You did ask her what she wanted, so her going along with it isn't totally horrible. But really, she should've brought some stuff with her. I have plenty of friends who are vegetarian & others gluten free. We don't expect other people to cater to us. On several occasions the host will ask a billion questions on what they should buy/make & we always say don't worry. We ask permission to store a few items like milk/meat substitutes in their fridge & then hit up a local store. We get what we need to supplement what they have & it's all good. We've done this several times now.

Hey, at least now you know what to make if you ever have another GF house guest!