s/o Potlucks

I would never, ever eat anything at a work potluck.

People are gross.

You have no idea which of your coworkers is a hoarder. You have no idea which one uses expired groceries. You have no idea which one doesn’t wash their hands when they come out of the bathroom.

I also just don’t understand the concept of a work potluck. Like, hey, you know what would really raise morale around here? An office lunch. But we’re cheap as hell, so you guys have to pay for it all and cook it yourselves! Woohoo! Just what I wanted to do - buy enough extra groceries at today’s prices to make a big enough dish to feed the whole office!

Who likes these things? Why?

They stopped having them at my husband’s school (thank god) because so many people just refused to participate.

When we were all working together in the office pre-COVID, we would do a potluck lunch every now and then. I really enjoyed them, especially the dishes brought in by my Asian and Indian colleagues. I got to try a lot of new delicious foods.

My team at work has declared the end of potlucks as one of the best things to come out of the pandemic. Surprisingly, we had quite a few good things happen at work due to COVID.

You didn’t have the option “Never been to a potluck”!

I could take them or leave them. As for the cleanliness of the chef I feel the same as eating in a restaurant…..I can’t give it too much thought cuz I would never eat a potluck (or restaurant) again. Sure restaurants have health inspections but a certain amount of things are forgivable or just given a warning and that’s even if they’re caught, lots of times people are on their top game during an inspection but things go by the wayside on any other day.

The only potluck I've regularly participated in was for cub scouts/boy scouts. Once or twice a year and we had a blast. I never worried about germs -- as my grandmother used to say, you have to eat a peck of dirt before you die.

The kids were encouraged to help with the food -- they learned cooking and food safety throughout the year.

I miss those fun times.

I haven’t been to one in a long time but I used to love them. I love that little bite of many different foods way of eating.

I’m no longer religious at all but that’s one of the things I miss about church - the fellowship between the members. We had potlucks at church all the time. I loved those meals. Great food and lots of interesting conversations.

Hate them. I like hot food served hot or at least warm. Unless food is kept in a crock pot, all hot foods are cold or maybe a bit warm at best. I usually end up eating bread, ham, coleslaw, fresh fruit and a lot of dessert.

Plus you have to come up with something to take that you think everyone will like. I almost always take dessert. So everyone cooks, everyone has some clean up and many people because of dietary preferences or concerns about cleanliness or whatever aren't satisfied.

You might want to skip this post as it is disgusting.





I loved potlucks until the morning at school when a teacher brought in her crock pot, plugged it in and as it heated up several roaches ran out. All of us screamed and left the room. Her item was left behind and the meal was moved to another room. Many didn't eat and I think we never had pot luck at that school again. I have never wanted to eat at a pot luck again.

I like potlucks.  

I only like potlucks at my friends’ homes as I know they’re all sanitary cooks. Work pot lucks though - no thanks.

I've only ever participated in small group pot lucks at work and was confident in the cleanliness/cooking habits of the other participants so have nothing but great experiences.

The first time I had lumpia and samosas were at work potlucks. 

Slightly different, but similar, we used to have a December long event that was completely voluntary and hugely popular. You signed up to participate and were assigned a day to bring in your item. It was about half desserts and half savory finger foods. The number one, people starting circling the break room mid morning because they didn't want to miss it, most popular item were an accountant's mom's samosas. We all knew what day they were coming in. 

I don't think I've ever seen a management driven pot luck as a company event/morale booster type thing. 

I’m not a fan. Beyond the whole, you don’t know how sanitary the cook is, I’m a bit anal about how long food is left out.

I'm sort of "meh" on them - I voted the "don't hate, I don't care" option. Pre-COVID, I would only really be interested in eating things at a potluck where I knew all of the cooks well enough to trust their offerings. For work potlucks, I typically would stick to the store-bought dishes (brand-name fried chicken, pizza, etc.) and my own dessert or salad. I have not been to a true potluck since the pandemic started, but I did eat food from a catered buffet line at a funeral. It was at my own church and I know the caterers and the people putting food onto their plates (with tongs) so I trusted that. 

The only potlucks I can say without reserve that I absolutely hated were the stupid end-of-season marching band (and other sport/activity) potluck dinners where eleventy billion people and their HS-age teens brought/consumed all manner of icky-looking questionable foods. There I usually ate beforehand (or afterward) and ONLY put store-bought items on my plate, and/or the casserole/salad/dessert that I personally prepared and brought. Heaven help if we happened to be one of the last tables called to join the line though, and all of the buckets of fried chicken or pizza were completely gone, as well as the most ok-looking casseroles (store-bought lasagne or mac-and-cheese, etc.). Then you always had well-meaning parents of your kids friends saying stuff like "oh, did you try my [insert weird combination of ingredients] casserole/salad? It's a specialty!" Um, no I missed have missed it, sorry!     Soooo glad to see the end of that phase!