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Old 03-04-2014, 03:39 PM
 
29 posts, read 53,626 times
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601halfdozen0theother, it would be so tempting to take a chicken casserole or a roasted turkey breast sliced, to your pot luck. I'd almost bet it would be the first eaten platter.

We used to get together with friends every Saturday night and have pot luck. Usually we all brought our own meat to grill and a side dish to share. It was so much fun!
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Old 03-05-2014, 12:22 PM
 
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Potlucks here are very strained. The agency where I work is full of vegetarians and vegans who never seem to bring anything, can't seem to cook worth a damn and won't touch the KFC and BBQ ribs brought by the omnivores. That's if anyone brings an entree at all. Usually what you see is a mountain of desserts and 17 2-liter bottles of soda that someone shook up before bringing them to the buffet table, so they detonate upon opening.
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Old 03-05-2014, 04:13 PM
 
Location: Middle America
37,409 posts, read 53,321,025 times
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At my last employer, potlucks were always a bunch of baked goods and bags of chips and salsa. Nobody really cooked. If we were having a potluck, I'd still bring a lunch, because I just couldn't bring myself to make a lunch out of tortilla chips, jarred salsa, brownies, those little pretzel/Rollo/pecan bites, grocery store bakery cookies that tasted like a chemistry set, and those God-forsaken cake pops that were everywhere a few years back. They all liked to bake, nobody liked to cook.

I used to bring a main dish, but since I was one of few who did, it was usually long gone by the time I got in there.
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Old 03-05-2014, 04:27 PM
 
Location: PA
2,113 posts, read 2,396,788 times
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Originally Posted by Cliffie View Post
Potlucks here are very strained. The agency where I work is full of vegetarians and vegans who never seem to bring anything, can't seem to cook worth a damn and won't touch the KFC and BBQ ribs brought by the omnivores. That's if anyone brings an entree at all. Usually what you see is a mountain of desserts and 17 2-liter bottles of soda that someone shook up before bringing them to the buffet table, so they detonate upon opening.
LOL. This article from Cracked seems like a pretty accurate representation of most work potlucks.

6 Petty Things That Start Wars in Every Office | Cracked.com

I have a friend that works in the same building as I do, but a different department. Every once in a while, one of calls the other for a vent session, and the topic invariably turns to the office potluck.

There are always a couple of people that love the crap out of potlucks and can't wait for an excuse to bring their special dish. These also seem to be the people that sign up for the employee committees and come up with "fun" ideas for the rest of the office, such as "ugly Christmas sweater day".

However, potlucks seem to bring out an element of awkwardness and resentment among everyone else. "You mean, not only do I have to work here 40 hours a week, but I have to spend my money and my own time cooking food for my coworkers?" These are the people that grab the sign-up sheet before everyone else so that they can claim the "soda, napkins, plates" categories. Then there are the people that stop at the store or go through the drive through last minute before work and show up with the veggie tray or something from Taco Bell.

There are the people that bring something and look at everyone as though to say, "I put a lot of time and money into this dish and so help me God, if you don't eat it, I will kill you."

My friend brought up another category: the weird or disgruntled person who brings in a dish and no one wants to eat it. You don't know if their house looks like it belongs on an episode of Hoarders, or if the cookies are laced with arsenic. But still, just to be safe...

Then there's the person who is beside themselves because they spent all night making something, only to accidentally leave for work with the dish still in their fridge. Or the person that drops their covered dish all over the work parking lot. (I felt soooo bad for that girl.)

There are the people that don't read the sign-up sheet, and therefore the potluck consists of dueling mac-and-cheese, or taco salad dishes.

There's the person that makes a mean Thai cucumber salad or beef salad, but doesn't want to accidentally kill someone with a peanut allergy, or blow up anyone's intestines with the chiles, so they say "Screw it" and write "doughnuts" on the sign-up sheet.

And there is that happy-go-lucky person that everyone else wants to beat the crap out of - the one that, when you ask what they are bringing, their only answer is, "My appetite!"
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Old 03-05-2014, 05:20 PM
 
5,014 posts, read 6,558,940 times
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I once hosted a potluck brunch for a group of single ladies (about 15). I made a couple of quiches. Everyone else -- and I mean EVERYONE -- brought some sort of bread: bagels, muffins, doughnuts, cupcakes, french bread, cold waffles (yes, really). The quiches lasted about 76 seconds.

The next time I hosted, I had a sign up for OJ, champagne, peach schnapps, and once those were taken, everyone else had to bring $5 for the kitty and I fixed everything else. Lesson learned!
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Old 03-06-2014, 06:18 AM
 
Location: Elsewhere
88,154 posts, read 84,024,464 times
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Originally Posted by rural chick View Post
A lot of potlucks in my area are church or funeral based and tend to have desserts and more desserts and very few meat dishes or side dishes. Guess everyone thinks others will bring the main foods. It becomes "where's the beef?" Or, "where's the meat"? And a lot of attendees don't get real meal food - simply get a slice of dessert.

Assuming that others will not bring meat related or a side type dish, I always take a huge meat/fish/seafood/cheese based casserole/dish (lasagna, tuna noodle, baked macaroni and cheese, spaghetti, chili, meatballs, meatloaf, hamloaf, etc.).

I also notice that people tend to bring small quantities to the potluck, but really load up their plates with what others bring.

Seeing livecontent's post reminded me of a couple I knew who went to peoples' funeral dinners and/or wedding receptions, Uninvited of course. This is how they ate out. They couldn't afford to buy many groceries - but ate very well at least two or three times a week going to these funeral dinners and wedding receptions. And when they had kids after a few years, they dressed the kids up and took the kids too.
When we do church potlucks, we have sign-up sheets so that doesn't happen. We put categories on the sheet--salad/appetizer/main dish/dessert. That way we know if we are going to be short in a category.

We do the same at work for an annual holiday potluck.
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Old 03-06-2014, 06:55 AM
 
Location: The analog world
17,077 posts, read 13,278,867 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mightyqueen801 View Post
When we do church potlucks, we have sign-up sheets so that doesn't happen. We put categories on the sheet--salad/appetizer/main dish/dessert. That way we know if we are going to be short in a category.

We do the same at work for an annual holiday potluck.
Our Boy Scout troop's quarterly Courts of Honor are potlucks, and we run them the same way. I alternate between providing a main dish (expensive) and a side dish (less expensive). I think most of our families try to do the same.
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Old 03-06-2014, 12:51 PM
 
Location: Illinois
3,169 posts, read 5,142,932 times
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I used to help collect the money and bring a main dish. Then collecting the money, organizing it, and making it happen all fell on me. So now I just bring in a simple side dish or tack on a few dollars for catering.
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Old 03-06-2014, 01:12 PM
 
2,288 posts, read 3,224,601 times
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One time while RVing, the older folks invited us to a homemade soup or stew potluck. 1st I'd heard of this, but it was a hit. I made way too much of my stew beef soup though. lol I thought this was a good idea and a way to avoid all the desert and bread only fiascos.
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Old 03-06-2014, 04:46 PM
 
16,368 posts, read 30,102,520 times
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I do not mind doing pot-lucks. However, if 90% of the food comes from fast food places or Costco (I don't know which is worse), I will pass the next time.

I want to see some homemade dishes instead of purchased ones.
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