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okay i have to go to a baby shower on sunday. so i am thinking about playing a little prank to make it entertaining. tell me what you think. i have about 20 beef stew entrees from 2005 leftover over from my six case ebay fiasco from a year ago. i have been commisioned to bring some food to the shower. so i am thinking of opening each entree and putting it in a large bowl and presenting at the shower. the kicker is i am not going to tell anyone of its origin until they have eaten. my wife says she dont see a problem with it. also if i do it i will include pics. let me know what you think.

I think it's a pretty good idea. As far as everyone knows, you're just bringing some homemade beef stew. Then afterwards, you can tell them surprise!...it's 3 years old.

And as a bonus, it'll be the last baby shower you'll ever be invited to...

Before you do something like that you should think what the consequences
are.

1. What if someone finds out?
2. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

A simple cake will suffice.

It's a sin to waste all that good food. Is that morally correct?

Bad idea.

Bad joke.

I don't want to sound like I'm preaching but prove me wrong.

KMan, I have to disagree with you on this one.

jfko6, my first reaction to the idea (besides "what a waste of all those good beef stew entrees!"), was that it wasn't a good idea to sneak something like that up on people. I think that was my reaction because of that (urban legend?) story of the guy who fixed all those MREs for his girlfriend for dinner and the horrible reaction she had to it.

But the more I thought about it, the more it didn't seem like bishopmarine was trying to do anything mean to the guests. He's really just serving Beef Stew and the same stuff could just as well come from a can of Dinty Moore than it could from an MRE entree pouch. If the stuff was much older than 3 years then yes, that would be more of a problem. But at 3 years old, the entrees are still well within their "good" dates.

bishopmarine wrote: (...)
let me know what you think.

Last year, I offered my birthday guest a dessert mad out of ice cream and a T-18 apple dessert.

Nobody complaint! Everyone enjoyed it

Regardless of whether it is from a retort pouch or a can, prepared entrees aren't something that one would normally find at a baby shower, at least not the ones I've been to. As a matter of fact, beef stew isn't even a dish that I've seen at baby showers, but if it is a buffet/pot-luck type of meal, it could certainly be an option.

In terms of economics, 20 entrees of beef stew yielding 160 oz of food might have a market price of $30-40. 10 24oz cans of beef stew (any brand) would yield 240 oz of food at a cost of about $20. A couple of chuck roasts cut up along with associated vegetables for a home made stew from scratch for 20 people may cost about the same, $20-25 and will probably yield larger than an 8 oz portion.

I wouldn't do it. I suspect that most of the people at the baby shower will probably be unfamiliar with MRE's and the humor will be lost on them. Someone is bound to get mad.

bishopmarine wrote:... i am thinking about playing a little prank to make it entertaining.

Just so that I am absolutely clear on the concept, exactly WHO are we hoping to entertain? Serving people the equivalent of canned beef stew for dinner doesn't really sound like the prank of the century.

Maybe you can spice it up by giggling insanely after dinner and then asking the horrified women whether they noticed anything "different" about the food. I suggest that you also carry in a large bottle labeled "Antidote," but full of hot sauce. With a little luck, you can have them paying you $ 5.00 a shot to guzzle hot sauce. Now that's entertainment!

sorry guys didnt do it. for one simple reason as mentioned earlier it just wasnt worth wasting them on people that would not appreciate or even eat it. no one would have gotten mad we are all pretty close. i was not worried if someone got mad anyway. the menu was pretty much whatever so it would have fit pretty good. best idea i heard was maybe i would not be invited back to future showers. (that was sorta my plan) anyway i ended up going to cedar hills golf course in jonesville virginia and shooting an 89 and 90 during 36 holes of golf with my father. we walked the entire time and had a great time. thanks for the input.