Wow. People really do that? Just show up without calling?

I'd have to say that if they're going to show up unannounced and uninvitied, they really can't expect a gourmet meal. If I wanted them to stay for dinner, they would eat whatever I'd already planned to make. I usually have pasta on hand, which can be dressed up or down.

As for something to go with coffee, I usually have a poundcake in the freezer (which thaws quickly and can be dressed up with some fruit or fudge sauce) or a baguette that can be turned into bruchetta quickly with either a tapenade or a jar of roasted peppers and some cheese.

A toasted bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich (BLT) was an unexpected but welcome snack for a family member who happened to drop by my cousin's house one day around noon. He wasn't planning on staying during their lunch hour but was persuaded by my cousin's wife to have a toasted sandwich and coffee which she made especially for him and he really did appreciate it.

I don't know if I could manage even that if someone dropped in on us at dinner time as I'm not good at preparing a meal for unexpected guests. I don't keep prepared meals in the freezer and I shop for each meal day by day. If there were no time for me to go out and buy extra food, for sure we'd all have to go out the door to a restaurant for dinner.

In an ideal situation I imagine one would have a huge freezer full of different meat cuts, chops, roasts, chicken pieces, meat patties as well as a selection of frozen vegetables, frozen breads and cakes. Given enough time and a good microwave defroster one could then whip up any kind of a meal. But in cases where you have no advance warning of guests arriving for dinner I'd say order in some Chinese food or pizzas or else go out.

SharonCb

The only kind of last minute meal anyone would get around here would be salad and pasta. LOL Even if I had more things available in the freezer what would I do with those drop in guests while I was thawing and cooking? And I am pretty good at garnishing a box of TJ's soup.

I'm much more the kind to open a bottle of wine and a can of nuts, some fruit, crackers and cheese. If it was this time of year there would be cookies in the freezer but that's only at holiday time.

Martinis. After the second one, sucking ketchup out of the stash of fast food packets seems to be a crowd pleaser.

I usually have some kind of pasta in the freezer or cupboard and I can easily whip up a bechamel and add in some prawns from the freezer. Often I have some frozen salmon, also easy to do something with. An impromptu quick meal here might easily be a salad and an omelette. I always have eggs, milk, cheese, and can find something in the veggie bin or freezer. Today I made a lunch omelette of roasted red pepper, porvolone and caramelized onions for an unexpected guest, a friend of Alice's.

Another easy meal is to make crepes ahead and freeze them. Easy entree with a creamed something inside or dessert with jam and a sprinkle of powered sugar. Or roll up some ice cream and drizzle with chocolate sauce. Sweetened ricotta is another crepe filling with a bit of lemon zest.

Grilled cheese is easy. Make it grilled cheese and ham with some soup and you have a meal.

No one goes hungry in my house. I can always comb the kitchen and come up with something.

We've just recently had our kitchen redone. It really wasn't appealing to invite people for meals before. So I guess I'm just wanting to be prepared if I decide at the last minute to have someone stay for a meal or to stop by. I haven't actually had drop-ins in a long while, but I'm wanting to be prepared. I have never made a pound cake!!! I think I'm going to start some baking and freezer stocking. Thanks for the ideas so far. Keep them coming. :)

We often have drop in company at the cottage and before you know it it's time to be fed...we do the same to them so all is fair.

Here is what I have on hand at all times:

frozen shrimp
dried pasta
lemon juice
seafood sauce
chicken broth
olives
several cheeses
several crackers
canned clams
canned smoked oysters
dijon mustard
brats
buns

From that I can make shrimp cocktails, lemon shrimp linguine, clam linguine, cheese/ oyster/ olives and cracker plate, brats on a bun

In addition I always have meatballs, cabbage rolls and spaghetti sauce in the freezer. I make bunches up on a lazy weekend to have on hand when required.

I can alwaysw hip out a meal while the guests are sucking down a martini or a glass of wine...or 2 or 3...
Frozen boneless skinless chicken breasts....thawed in the micro, patted with crumbs of some sort....and baked...served with rice and a salad.
Thawed home made soup... pasta and pesto topped with frozen shrimp, tuna salad piled on a lettuce leaf...a spinach omelet...or a mushroom omelet...or asparagus, or mushroom or crab ( from a can) or artichole hearts ( also from a can)...or whatever you can dream up..
I always keep home made bread and try to keep salad greens too.
Linda C

I wonder how so many are able to keep salad on hand. I have to buy the ingredients fresh every time I make a mixed salad, unless I have a huge romaine lettuce in the fridge. But even then I can't keep red or green peppers, cucumber, red onion etc. fresh for more than a day or two, as they go soggy and brown. So if salad's on our menu, I have to go out and buy everything. I wonder if it's because of the way they're grown here, perhaps without any hormones or preservatives or something like that.

SharonCb

I always have fish and chicken breasts in the freezer. I also have weekly fresh veggies. So I can do something quickly. Broiled, breaded, stirfry. Then there is always the bottle sauce to dr and pasta. And I keep frozen turkey meatballs on hand. Actually I think these times are often the nicest as I have no time to worry.
As for snack, we always have hummus and crackers on hand.

My Mother kept a stock of food on hand so drop-ins could be fed, and I followed that tradition.

An Italian friend taught me to make this:

Sliced Smoked or Italian sausage from the freezer, cooked 'n drained, large can of baked beans poured in, a dash of red pepper flakes cooks really fast. Along with salad & garlic bread (from the freezer too) it's makes a quick meal. I keep the ingredients on hand since family often requests it too. Coffee, cheese & fruit for dessert...unless freezer raid reveals something better.
Suzi

I always keep cans for a quick marinara and I always keep loaves of garlic bread in the freezer and a nice pasta on hand...it works in a pinch

Maybe I am anti-social by nature, but I don't usually have this happen except maybe by the occasional Jehovah Witness, and they get a polite 'not interested' and a closed door LOL.

I suppose it would depend on the type of neighborhood, family and social circle and perhaps a cultural element too.

Growing up we used to have neighbors drop in for coffee and cookies etc, but in this day and age that is nonexistent. For one thing mom's used to stay home, but now 2 job households are the norm.

So...if you pop in on me...assuming I am home..and you're hungry...you better be bringing a pizza with you!

Duane

Sharon, I suspect it's your refrigerator that makes your produce head south so fast...
If I wash lettuce and wrap in a dry towel ti keeps for about a week....and garden produce keeps even better because it's fresher.
But onions and peppers keep well for me....cucumbers and ice berg lettuce less well. But since I always eat a salad, there is always some greens. Now sometimes I might have to stretch it with an apple or pear...but there are always leafy greens.
Linda C

This is hilarious! If anyone showed up at my door, well, they had better have something with them. I expect dessert or at least a tin of chocolate almonds!!

Now, having said that, I do have two sets of friends within two blocks and if they showed up to say hi, I'd invite them to stay for a meal.

If they could stay, I'd have no trouble putting pasta on and I would mix it with pesto from a jar. I always keep spaghetti sauce and pesto on hand...for those late nights when we are too tired to cook and too hungry for toast.

I usually have lots of pine nuts and grated cheese, so it would be easy to top it off. Also, I have loads of jarred and fancy olives, so that would be a start.

I'd send my boyfriend the three blocks to the market for a baugette and a bottle of sparkling juice (we don't drink). I could also offer tea, but that is about it.

I think it could be fun, but I'd hope we weren't nekkid when they'd show up at the door!!! Good thing we have alert-dogs, just in case :)

Weed!! ROFLMAO!! I can taste the ketchup chaser now! Best when pulled through the teeth like an artichoke...

I also like Duane's idea.

but my real answer is "it depends."

We don't get drop-ins (no family nearby, and not many friends in the area)... but if we did, they'd get whatever I could pull together... and that's not very predictable... but there is always pasta on hand, and usually frozen shrimp.

I have teens with friends, need I say more? I have fairly frequent unexpected guests who are hoping for food. Homemade waffles with chocolate chunks are rarely turned down.

Weed!!!! OMG too funny. but good point. 2 martinis and who knows! taco sauce chaser? smuckers grape jelly packet for dessert??
I too am trying to be more prepared, especially this time of year. I have some things frozen that could be pulled out. Running out the door to buy tons of vodka and olives! Sue

We just take people out to Phil's. I'd turn off the stove, say gee, I don't have enough here to stretch for company, how about we all go out.

That said, I don't know anyone with enough nerve/lack of manners to stop in at meal time unless their car broke down in front of my house. Really.

Sharon I think your produce may not last as long because it's not refrigerated after picking. The organic lettuces I buy at the farmer's market last a week at least in my frig, longer than the supermarket stuff. But they have been picked that day of the day before and we have a pretty cool temperature. Since your temps are warmer and the produce may have been picked a day or 2 before then they won't keep as well.

Hey Dukerdawg, I had 2 well dressed young men ring my bell when we were in the middle of our kitchen renovation. They asked me "what can Jesus do for you today?"...and I said "Jesus was a carpenter, right?" :D

I keep alot of hordourvey type things in the freezer from TJ's this time of year.

One of the advantage of living 15 miles (or more) from.....anybody we know.....

They ALWAYS call first! :+)

But, if it WERE to happen, I've got enough food in the house to pull together just about anything from snacks to gourmet (well, as gourmet as I get). It would depend on how much time I had before serving.

I almost always have muffins or some dessert breads in the freezer. Lots of different meats, home canned veggies,etc.

What I couldn't do is Weed's suggestion....no martini fixin's, no ketchup packets. If you mix them together is it a bloody mary???

Deanna

I don't know anyone who would drop in without calling, except for my children. They know that when I cook there is always enough for another plate/bowl.

Maybe you could make tomato soup from the ketchup packets :)

Maggie, that is funny! We have had 2 very well dressed young men stop by twice recently. I believe they were Mormons. I really don't have any problem with people who have a relationship with their saviour, but I don't want to be bothered at home by strangers. My dad used to invite folks in to debate scripture :-)

Anyway...I sort of wish I lived in a close knit community where people 'popped in' ...a different age...

...but I have enjoyed this post nonetheless.

carry on---

Duane

maggie ~ ROFL! TOO perfect :)

Seriously now, *if* somebody dropped in by surprise, (I hate that!), I would have no problem ordering pizza or going out. If I had to produce something out of my larder, it would be whatever I happened to have on hand. Living blissfully alone, that would typically be a choice of:

> Cheese tortellini tossed in olive oil or butter, with fresh shaved parmesan and lots of black pepper.
> Jalapeno cream cheese poppers.
> Cheese & crackers.
> Velveeta shells and cheese :)

I might have some frozen chicken breasts or shrimp to thaw and cook with whatever other items I had handy, but for drop in company, I wouldn't go to the trouble. I would certainly feed them and get the available beverages in them, (usually wine, vodka, scotch, or Diet Coke...), but I wouldn't feel obligated to produce a real meal, and I don't think they would expect one.

Wondering---do you think that the practice of just dropping in on someone is regional? Generational? (I am not speaking of children, but adults.) City vs. country?

I will say that I have driven by a friend's house and if I see the car, I'll stop to drop off or pick up something promised (as in "you left your jacket in my car, I'll stop it by your house" or "That book will be here if you want to stop by for it.") But I would never dream of stopping by at a meal time. In this day of cell phones, do people still do that?

We live in an age and place of plenty. There's always food in the pantry that takes almost no work to prepare, witness the above posts. Most of us seem quite capable of 'throwing together' a meal, stretching what was intended for just a few or ordering out and feeding a crowd at a moments notice. I think a message to be learned here is that food, in fact the experience of eating, is best shared. There is nothing quite so rewarding as preparing and eating together, whether with close friends and family or with new aquaintances. I hope if I have taught my children anything at all it is to find joy in sharing food with others, expected or not.

Happy Thanksgiving All! - M

Well said, M......very well said!

Happy Thanksgiving to you too... and yours.

M, I agree with your thoughts..absolutely! Meals shared with family and friends...the preparing and partaking...are always a wonderful experience. It really makes the just 'eating' more of an integrated human experience...beyond just putting food into our gullets to sustain life.

I just don't have any family, friends or acquaintences that would 'drop by' unexpected at meal time. Get togethers are planned...not only for mutual schedules to be coordinated, but also so a menu of sorts can be planned out and we can take the time to enjoy each others company and not make it a drop-in hodge-podge burden...of both time and resources.

Happy Thanksgiving to you as well!

Duane

Living half an hour away from the closest grocery store we always have lots of food on hand. I only shop once a week so stock up then. Plus we get our meat from my folks cattle and pigs, and I do tons of canning and freezing each year. Plus I never know when someone may stop by or we have a spur of the moment party, or a snack night:) Plus after cooking for my family of 8 while growing up, I never make just enough for our family. Always tons of left overs. I will even call the neighbors up to come and help us eat all the food:)

Stacie

I am with Duane on this one. The best meals are always shared. We have a friend who lives alone, quite close by, and I'll invite her over often, two or three times a month, maybe, when we fix something very good that serves more than two.

But it's the dropping in and expecting a meal that puzzles me. So I ask, is this regional or cultural or what? And without a phone call?

This thread makes me chuckle! Hmm, the only last minute dinner guests I get are between the ages of 10 and 14--they aren't too hard to fit in or please.

We don't have any family in the area, and our friends either live in the neighborhood, or are too far away to just drop in, so it's never been an issue.

For those of you who keep garlic bread in the freezer--is it store bought or garlic bread you've fixed up? If it's your own garlic bread, how well does it keep?

Sharon S.

This usually doesn't happen to me but I've always got enough ingredients on hand for a great big pot of SOUP or SHEPERDS PIE such as:

Sheperds Pie: Since These ingred. I always have on hand and just about as good as CheeseCake Factories Sh. Pie

Mashed potatoes (I use a good quality instant such as Paradise Valley brand via Costco - why bother with the hassle when they are great!) Just use once packet prep'd,,basically I'd say about 5 cups of mashed potatoes,,we like a lot so you'll have to go with what amount of potatoes your family likes OR...you could just add canned potatoes that you've drained and diced to the meat mixture, I'd say about 2-3 cans maybe.

1 pound of hamburger
1 med. onion chopped (could use dried, minced onion soaked in water to save time here)
1 med carrot diced (I always have the shredded carrots for salad on hand so I avoid that time)
1-2 celery stalks diced (most always have this on hand for salad but could substitute CANNED CORN if you don't have it)
1 can of mushrooms drained
2/3 C frozen peas
2 TBSP dried parsley
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp or more of Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1 can of Beef gravy

I can have this meal done in less than 30 minutes and you wouldn't need to bake it if you made the instant potatoes last, then just put them directly on the hot meat mixture.

Basically, brown the meat and onion,,add the carrot and celery, sweat that or cook til tender, then add the spices the mushrooms and gravy. Lastly add the frozen peas.

Mix together, put in a 9x13 pan and top with the potatoes. If it all isn't still hot then bake for 30-40 min in a 400 degree oven.

Regarding the Soup: The knock off Olive Garden
Pasta E Fagioli Soup

1 # hamburger browned with onion, 1 cup
slivered carrots (says 7 oz but I just eyeball it or do the shredded salad carrots)
7 oz. celery diced
1 lrg can of diced tomatoes, juice and all
2 cans of beans (either kidney, pinto, great northern, whatever you have and like, could be 2 different ones, drained)
3 regular cans (44 oz.) beef broth or stock
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1 1/4 tsp pepper
2 1/2 tsp dried parsley
3/4 tsp tabasco sauce (optional, I don't)
24 oz of canned spaghetti sauce, your choice
4 oz. of dry small pasta, i.e. those bits for macaroni salad or other small shape

Cook the hamburger, onion and carrot. Add celery and canned tomatoes cook about 10 min, drain the beans and add to pot, Add beef broth, spices, spaghetti sauce and pasta. Can be ready in 30 minutes. Makes 4 1/2 Qts.

Pretty much everything is canned or frozen, the only iffy thing is the carrot and celery, I've used dried, minced onion soaked in water in a pinch. Everybody loves it.

We have a lot of unexpected out-of-state drop-ins Memorial Day through Columbus Day. We live on the shore & have a boat. Seems many of our friends from before we moved to CT decide to go for a drive to the shore & end up at our place. They check for us at the marina first &, if we're not there, they walk over to the house. They'll usually find us at one of the two places. It happens so frequently that we don't really consider it "unexpected" anymore. :)

There's always cheese, homemade bread, nuts, crackers, fruit, fresh homemade salsa, & drinks on the boat. While our guests are munching on the snacks & enjoying the water either DH or I make a quick trip to the store, if needed. My fridge & freezer always have the basics or about all I'd need would be some additional meat or fish...usually not even that. For instance, if I'd planned on grilled salmon that evening I would just switch to huge salads topped with grilled salmon which would stretch out the fish to easily serve four. I've always got bread & desserts in the freezer.

Often though, we'll just put together a bunch of munchies from what's on hand, toss the lines, & go for a harbor cruise & we make-do with the munchies for dinner. Or, if I've got a couple hours notice, I'll get chicken or steaks and we'll take the boat out to a gunkhole, drop anchor, & DH will BBQ & I'll fix the sides in the galley.

We keep meals quick, simple, & easy. If we're late getting back in we let our guests stay overnight on the boat. The galley's always well stocked so they can fix their own breakfast. I 'think' that's one of the reasons we have so many drop-ins! Now that the boat's hauled for the winter people seem to phone first.... lol

/tricia

Weed! roflmao!!! And Maggie too roflmao!!!

I always have Turkey burgers and hamburger patties made up in my freezer. Guess I could throw some of those on the grill.

I think spur of the moment dinners with friends is fun. That's when I get to go into my pantry and pull out something that's been sitting there and make it!

Bacon is a wonderful thing too. Do you realize how many people love BLTs and never make them?