Do you still cook a Sunday roast?

Hardly ever have one. If we do, we don't have it til the evening. Couldn't face one during the day like my Mum & Nan used to do eeverry week. Eurgh. When we do have them, we don't faff around in the kitchen all day like they used to. Carrots & frozen brocolli done in the steamer, ready to roast potatoes (not the frozen ones, they're yuk), chicken breast or other meat in a small foil dish. My own Yorkshires, made up in batches & frozen.

If we announce to close family that DH and I are doing a Sunday roast they almost all come. It's not often these days but one time, apart from Christmas, when most of us meet up.

Feeling so much better after having at LAST had my stent out (kidney to bladder) which had me on and off antibiotics for 18 months!! I decided treat myself and to do a small roast pork - and tho I didn’t’t get the crackling quite right, it lasted me for 3 days - I used aunt Besssies roasties/honey roasted parsnips from the freezer - Bramley apple sauce from M & S , and did fresh veg,(purple sprouting and cauliflower)in a dish with a tablespoonful of water (covered) in the microwave ( steams it beautifully) all of which took minimal time and effort - the only issue was the length of time the stove took re my energy bill. Just bought ‘Delia’s How to cheat at cooking’ - VERY useful - tho I’ve been cheating at cooking for decades now !!!

When ours were young we had a roast dinner every Sunday apart from in December so that C***s Day was more special. Nowadays I seldom do them. If I do, I choose beef fillet. DS does a mean chicken and excellent roasties which none of us can rival. DiL’s turkey is scrummy but she prefers others to cook. I’m in the minority loving lamb so if anyone has a spare place….

Heck, no! No cooking on Sunday afternoons, evenings. Day off! (No big family around)
That said - a big beautiful Sunday breakfast. (Always the best meal of the day.)
Munchies for the rest of the day. Just the way I like it.
Soon holidays will be here and I love to bake, even on Sundays.
Cheers!
USA Gundy

Kartush…
Oh, I love this! Hahaha

It’s only occasionally my family can get together on Sundays but when we do it’s roast beef with all the trimmings. I like to see my sons tuck in and my granddaughter loves my tray onion Yorkshire pudding eaten the traditional way as a starter. She’s also a great fan of the roasties cooked round the beef. It’s worth all the effort to see how they appreciate home cooking after frozen yorkies and roast potatoes.

We do have a roast dinner but never on a weekend. DH didnt want the mess the very first time I cooked a Sunday roast for us. He said it was too much work on a weekend when we should be relaxing at home or going out. So we don't really cook at the weekend and have sandwiches, pizza, a one pot meal, takeaway etc. I don't mind as its nicer to go out and about.

A couple of times each month except in vety hot weather, but have stopped recently to cut down on the cost of using the cooker. However with the imminent departure of my son and his partner to their new house, I will be able to cook a smaller chicken in the air fryer for the two of us (we don't eat red meat), and then the roasters in it while the meat is set aside. Quicker and cheaper than using the oven.
As to preparation, I've never had the time or inclination, I use frozen veg, packet stuffing and gravy granules, sometimes frozen Yorkshires, or made from a packet mix (we don't have them that often).
I'm not a fan of heavy meals like roasts, nor if cooking in general, so I'm not going to spend hours slaving in a hot kitchen to produce them - there's better ways to spend the time!

Since we both retired, my OH and myself take it in turns to cook Sunday lunch as with the weekday meals, that way it gets less boring and tedious. I'ts easy to say let's have a proper Sunday lunch but not so great when you're the one having to do it every week.

We usually have a roast on Sundays, (only the two of us) and the meat stretches to do another meal during the week. It’s one day where we always sit down and eat together (DH is a lorry driver and not always home for dinner during the week). We use our wedding china and ‘good’ glasses and it feels special. We love it.

I love my Sunday breakfast as well Gundy - if we're not having a roast dinner we often have a big brunch, complete with pancakes and fruit compote, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, black pudding, eggs, hash browns, toast and coffee. Very easy these days too now we can sling the bacon, sausages and hash browns in the air fryer.

Not the Traditional one, no! I do love roast potatoes, and will add those to a meat and veg meal some sundays.
It's just too much work for one person ( and too much food as well, to be honest).
I do miss them though.

Grandmama

Every Sunday, right through the year.
1st course: Yorkshire pudding (cooked in a large tin and cut up, not individual ones) with onion gravy made from the meat juices
2nd course: beef, roast potatoes, veg
3rd course: a cheat - Waitrose almond croissants but the ice-cream is home made.

There's usually just the two of us but sometimes family roll up. Any joint left over is frozen and re-cooked the following Sunday.

I’m loving reading everyone’s versions — or not — of this. I’ve just read this one out to DH who claimed to be proper shocked by the use of Waitrose almond croissants, his favourite Saturday mid morning treat, as a Sunday dinner pudding. With icecream, no less! But I’m pretty certain it will appear in our kitchen one Sunday after dinner so secret thanks for the suggestion, Grandmama!

I've never cooked a roast. I'm a lifelong vegetarian, now vegan. Sundays are for being out and about, climbing hills etc, not for cooking.

That said, I have a friend who does a roast every Sunday for her extended family. She does the main course and they have a rota for the pudding. Afterwards the women sit and chat and the men do all the washing up and cleaning.

Not even a nut roast?

Surprised at how many respondents seem to think the roast with all trimmings is still affordable. Probably not much in it compared to a small pub effort. Living alone makes a Sunday roast unviable and too much effort. Frozen roast meals are pretty feeble. The history of this custom just goes back to the late nineteenth, early twentieth century when lower middle class people could afford it. Thrifty housewives used up leftovers on Monday and Tuesday ( laundry on Monday) Meat every day is certainly unnecessary and most people are aware of this now. However, people using food banks cannot exist on pasta every day.

Well, that's us told!

Lots of issues going on in that post .

It must still be affordable to those who do it. Whether it will remain so is another matter. Those who can't afford it will do something else.

Not everyone likes going to the pub, and some people have said that they do go, so don't make a roast dinner.

Some people who live alone still cook for one, others visit F&F and yet others buy ready meals (whether you think they are feeble or not) or eat something different. One size doesn't fit all.

The social history of food is interesting (I think so anyway) but it's not what the thread is about. Nevertheless, I'm sure that we all know how to use up leftovers, whether we necessarily do our washing every Monday or not.

As you say, most people are aware that we don't need to eat meat every day, but we are talking about Sunday lunch/dinner, not everyday meals, and nut roasts have been mentioned more than once. And of course people who use food banks can't live on pasta every day - did anyone say otherwise?

Well put, Doodledog

I think the custom of home cooked Sunday roast dinners is dying out, except in an ageing demographic, but eating out for family Sunday lunch still seems popular. It’s usually cheaper than meals out at other times. Will have to see how affordable this continues to be.

HowVeryDareYou

I never cook a Sunday roast. I find that (since my stroke a year ago) I get overwhelmed with trying to cook a lot of different things with different timings. We either have something "ordinary" or we go out. However, DH cooked a roast last Sunday. He's a great cook.

I know the timings can be a bit of a pain. That is where, to my friends' and family's amusement, I use my Alexa for the timing. She says, "Time to put the potatoes in." or " Time to take the meat out," and so on - very useful. I used to have lots of timers but sometimes could not remember which one was timing which ingredient

I use my Alexa just the same - it's a real help.

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