Can I get away with it?

We went to friends who gave us a lovely three course meal. We returned the favour but the day they were due for a meal had been incredibly busy and I hadn't made a starter. I cheated. I opened a couple of cans of french onion soup. I chopped and fried an onion and placed the fresh onion on the soup and quickly did two slices of cheese on toast , cut circles from them and floated them on top. It looked good and tasted good. I kept quiet.
I have friends who swear by frozen mash potato and never make their own. I like short cuts!

I have a friend who is a wonderful cook but who has a demanding job. Sometimes when she invites me round she apologises because she’s not had time to cook and has bought a ready meal. Although I love her cooking I wouldn’t care if she served up beans on toast, her company means more to me.

My friend recommends the lamb shanks from Aldi. Serves those up at a dinner party. Says the mint sauce ones have often sold out. She hates cooking but is very sociable.

I agree with J52 just add some finishing touches to the bought in meal. As dragonflly46 says, it's the company that counts, not the food. Good luck and have a lovely evening.

coolgran I discovered that two M&S lasagnes fit perfectly into one of my casserole dishes and with a bit of extra cheese on the top I can pass them off as home made too!

Great minds!

Did we ever get an update from OP saying how it went?

Life's too short......I now use short cuts wherever I can, I no longer make Yorkshire Puddings or Roast Potatoes now I'm Widowed.

If family come over I usually scour M&S or Co-op for Buffet items. I've had my years of home cooking which I still love doing but it's on my terms now.

I do make my own soup, casseroles, stews. I would have no worries about "cheating" if I was entertaining.

I wouldn’t lie - why bother? If those on here are a cross section of the great British public it looks like most of us do it! My friends and I happily share “shortcuts” and “cheats”. Life is too short to worry about things like that. Enjoy the company!

Ha ha this reminded me of a time when my husband and son were knocking out the kitchen fireplace and chimney, both as black as soot and rather stressed ( both had been at work all day as well )
The doorbell went and there stood 4 ex work colleagues/friends with boxes and bags, containing starters, deserts, cheese and wine.?I had totally forgotten the bi annual planned "share a meal. ?
We were also "babysitting twin 4 year grandchildren overnight as Mum was on nights.
They took one look at my face and realised I'd take totally forgotten.
My son was furious with me, but we went ahead with the meal, my colleagues learnt to play WiGames while I popped out to the chippy, then we sat in the garden and enjoyed a fabulous time.
Grandchildren were little angles especially with all the adult attention, and seeing grandad and son looking like coal men was an added entertainment.

Absolutely agree with the others who said that it's the occasion that counts, the fun and chat and general good time to be had by all including the hostess.

There are ready meals and ready meals. Some are awful, some are indistinguishable from home cooking. THere's no shame in it - I've done it myself - bought from a good local deli. Takes a lot of the stress away. I know that 'cook' dishes are good too, but none near here.
I always confess - itwould just be too difficult if they start asking for recipes!
Once someone admired my 'homemade; mince pies, saying they were absolutely delicious and how had I made them. I had to confess ready roll pastry and mincemeat out of a jar and her face fell. She didnt have any more. What does it matter if they are delicious? Made me cross!

I have to reassure people that I haven't cooked it myself or they won't come.

Why is your immediate reaction to lie?

I'm loving the lasagne idea Coolgran. I might have to steal it

It is the company that counts not the food!

I've never managed to pull off a shop meal. I was caught out once with soup of all things. I got a box or 2 of stilton and broccoli soup for my guests starter. I thought I had pulled it off but the next day one of my guests turned up with broccoli and stilton asking if i would show her how to make it! Oops ... I had to confess.

You can easily tell a shop bought ready meal - the just taste completely different (maybe it's the packaging they've sat in not sure). I think you'll just have to apologise and say life has been horribly hectic lately (do NOT admit you forgot because that could be hurtful)

I have regularly bought dauphinois and macaroni cheese, decanted into my own dishes and perhaps added some blue cheese, mustard into Mac cheese then topped with cheddar and passed off as my own. Have owned up now tho.
Seriously don’t even worry about serving brought in food or even perhaps call your local Indian/Chinese takeaway. We all love that.

I have done that, tipped stewed steak into my cast iron casserole, ready prepared mashed potato and shop's own Yorkshire puddings, served with fresh vegetables. It was dinner for ten and by the time you do a starter and pudding you would be in the kitchen the entire day.

The food is literally second to me. It's the chat that is important. My 'proper' friends and I used to do massive dinner parties. It was good at the time but now we don't bother and mostly rely on ready made.

I wouldn’t say anything. A good friend will just eat the food.

Say something like 'I'm serving ready made tonight so that we can have more time to chat instead of spending time cooking. After all chatting and keeping up are much more importent'. Just wing it.

I have a friend who loves dinner parties but hates cooking. She invites people round boasting that it’s an M&S party. Last one we went to her husband toasted bread for the pate starter, but she was still able to say she had cooked nothing. The food was delicious and we all had a fab time. The hosts weren’t all flustered and tired from the preparation. It taught me that ready made can be just as good, so don’t worry about it!

I have had a few culinary mishaps,either forgetting some visitors arriving,or the planned meal turning out wrong...nowadays i would confess,and get a takeaway,but I remember once years ago,when we recently moved to a new town we invited Ssome neighbours round for a meal...duck ,only to find that the said Bird had shriveled to nothing,so I got hubby to keep the drinks flowing and entertain them whilst I quickly scooted to the chinese,and bought some duck,put it in Pyrex dishes and thinly sliced orange over it,but my now best friend saw through it and we had a good laugh,and laughed even more when my chocolate pear upside down pud,looked brilliant until I took it to the table to serve it,then as I cut it the middle oozed out uncooked!,we all had ice cream instead,I think the abundance of wine made it funnier.

My mum used to get fed up being asked to bake things for the church. She started buying shortbread and putting icing or chocolate on it herself. Nobody guessed she hadn't made the shortbread herself.