Everyone makes mistakes in the kitchen, no matter whether they’re an amateur cook or a veteran chef. However, some food disasters are so epically bad that they deserve to be shared with the world.
Bored Panda has put together this list of potluck food fails, worst dishes, and horrible meals that should never have seen the light of day. It’s the kind of stuff that should have immediately been thrown in the trash instead of ever creeping and crawling out of the kitchen. We hope you’re not eating or drinking anything right now because you’re about to lose your appetite.
#1 I’m Fairly Certain I’ll Never Be Invited To A Potluck Again
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#2 Brought A Meat And Cheese Charcuterie Board To The Office Potluck Today. Was Told To Never Do That Again
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#3 Someone Brought This To The Office Potluck
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Failure and making mistakes are all inevitable parts of life. It happens no matter what you do or who you are. But when you’re learning a new skill, early setbacks can really demoralize you and sap your motivation to keep going. The same applies in the kitchen, where failure with your first dishes can make you want to quit.
But, like with all important life skills, it’s worth persevering. Though to be fair, that’s easier said than done! Few people are naturally resilient to failure. The rest of us have to learn to embrace our mistakes. Having the patience to develop a growth-oriented mindset helps with this.
The good news is that you can learn and strengthen new skills no matter who you are. The same goes for a growth mindset, which is the belief that you can develop and improve various abilities, talents, and intelligence through effort. In other words, you understand that, through practice, you can get better at something.
The opposite of this is a fixed mindset, where you think that you cannot improve any traits, no matter how hard you try, the Harvard Business School explains.
#4 Employee Potluck Yesterday, Management Couldn’t Understand Why The Lasagna Wasn’t A Hit
Company contributed these poor examples of food to the employee potluck, these went untouched and they’re trying to convince people to take some home today lol.
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#5 This Is Why I Hate The Pressure Of Office Potlucks
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#6 Potluck At Work . No One Claimed They Made It
I was thinking 1) either someone made something their mom gave them as a kid and after seeing everyone’s reaction was like awe hell naw I don’t know who brought that or 2) they were like ….here hold my beer let’s see how this goes down . Funny either way.
Image source: Useful-Screen-136
Meanwhile, Verywell Mind points out that your mindset plays a “critical role in how you cope with life’s challenges.” For instance, an individual with a growth mindset tends to be curious and to have a hunger for learning, discovery, hard work, and engagement with new things.
In practice, this leads to better academic achievements and perseverance when you face challenges and setbacks.
#7 I Dislike My Co-Workers Enough To Practice Making Bad Food For The Office’s Halloween Potluck. More In Comments
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#8 Cold Hotdog Pie For The Potluck
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#9 Asked My Boyfriend To Make The Dish For A Potluck This Weekend
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“Instead of throwing in the towel, adults with a growth mindset view it as an opportunity to learn and grow. On the other hand, those with fixed mindsets are more likely to give up in the face of challenging circumstances,” Verywell Mind explains.
So, if you have a fixed mindset, you might think that people are born with certain talents, abilities, personality features, and an amount of intelligence that can’t ever be changed. This mindset can stunt your growth and lead to stagnation.
#10 Kevin Stopped By Work For Our Potluck Today
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#11 A Few Years Ago My Job Had A Potluck And Someone Left This
Pretzel sticks w/Nutella in flour tortillas on a bed of lettuce and strawberries. Nobody ate it and we never found out who left it.
Image source: NJtoTheBay
#12 Potluck Misunderstandings
Image source: JiveMonkey
Luckily, if you have a fixed mindset, there are a few things you can do to gradually shift toward a more growth-oriented mindset. It won’t happen overnight (few things do), but with some patience, it’s possible.
“An important factor when building a growth mindset is seeing the value in your journey. When you’re fixated on the end result, you miss out on all the things you could be learning along the way,” Verywell Mind suggests.
#13 I Made A Food Monster For A Potluck At Work. Took Me A Bottle Of Wine, To Finish It Lastnight
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#14 Buddy “Made” A Pot “Roast”
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#15 A Fusion Of Poutine And Fettucine
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Another strategy that you can apply is replacing negative thought patterns with more positive ones. One example of this is embracing the power of the word “yet.” Namely, if you’re struggling with something, you should remind yourself that you haven’t mastered the task just “yet.” Basically, by using this word, you’re reminding yourself that you can overcome anything.
What’s more, you can intentionally and actively take on more challenges so that you make more mistakes and learn more quickly.
#16 Actually Laughing At The Person Just Disappearing, Never To Be Identified
Image source: Chicken_Scented_Fart
#17 Crazy
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#18 Beef As A Substitution For Walnuts Oh My God I’ve Heard It All
Image source: Unfey
As Maggie Shi writes in a piece on Today, failing in cooking is inevitable, just like it is in life. “But failing, and learning from those failures, can only lead to more delicious things.”
According to her, one of the toughest cooking-related lessons that she learned was that you needed to put in the time to learn new skills. Improving, according to her, sometimes meant being patient, and that studying, trying harder, or paying more attention wouldn’t necessarily help.
#19 It’s Giving Me “Minnesota Salads That Aren’t Really Salads” Energy
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#20 Absolutely Not. Straight To Jail
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#21 Festive
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“Sometimes, you’re going to fail. No amount of memorization or studying is going to ensure that your lamb chops cook to a perfect medium-rare every time. Sometimes you’ll burn those cookies, or overcook the steak, or try to invent a dish with capers, scallops and grapefruit, only to have it fail miserably. And that’s OK,” Shi writes.
“Food is all about trial and error, experimenting with flavors and techniques, and having fun while doing it. It’s the only way to learn how to be a better cook. And those croissants I made from my raggedy laminated dough? They may not have been perfect, but they still tasted pretty darn good.”
#22 This Is Horrifying
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#23 Never Knew You Could Get Canned Shrimp
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#24 Thanksgiving Potluck Food Gets Better Every Year
Image source: Bunnybunzzzz
Meanwhile, Elle Hunt writes in The Guardian that she has been a “terrible cook” for most of her life and has given herself food poisoning twice.
“My regular diet used to include microwaved scrambled eggs, children’s lunchbox cheeses, tinned lentils mixed with tinned tomatoes, bowls of garden peas, and the ‘complete food’ powder Huel. I alternated between the same two dinners for nearly a year, and the same sad desk lunch for two years. In short, I scavenged like a raccoon. I wrote cooking off as ‘not my thing’ alongside, say, basketball,” she writes.
However, she is not alone. Around a tenth of Brits “cannot cook a thing” while a quarter can only make three dishes.
#25 Invite Us To Your Potluck
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#26 Corporate Potluck Vibes
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#27 Bean, Onion And Pistachio. Bringing It To A Potluck Tonight
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However, Hunt’s situation changed thanks to a few mental shifts, and now she considers herself “pretty good at cooking.”
“See if you can identify the source of your belief that you are someone who can’t cook. You might uncover a false assumption – for example, that you don’t deserve to enjoy food, that any time not spent working is wasted, or that cooking is anti-intellectual or even women’s work,” she emphasizes. “It is exhilarating to realise that your identity is not fixed.”
She stresses that, for example, you can decide that you can cook, and then you prove it to yourself through small victories. In other words, we are all capable of adapting and evolving.
#28 I See Your Facebook Ad And Raise You This Sweet Macaroni Salad From A Potluck I Was At
No one ate it. The recipe involves cider vinegar, pepper, sugar, sweetened condensed milk, and red onions.
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#29 I Made Jellied Meatloaf For My Company Potluck Lunch
Image source: TehFuriousOne
#30 Spotted At A Work Potluck
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What are the very worst dishes that you’ve cooked, seen, ordered, or dared to taste at a potluck? Did they taste as bad as they looked… or worse?
What’s the biggest kitchen disaster that you’ve personally been responsible for, and what happened? On the other hand, what’s your biggest cooking win that you’re proud of to this day?
We’d like to hear all about your food-related experiences, so drop by the comments to share yours. Got any photos of your cooking fails and wins? Share them there, too.
#31 So We Had A May The 4th Potluck At My Office
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#32 Boiled Hot Dogs Presented In Red Cabbage At My Grandma’s Potluck
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#33 My Famous Lettuce Sandwich
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#34 Midwest Sushi At A Work Potluck
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#35 So My Dad Made This For A Potluck
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#36 Contribution To A Work Holiday Potluck
Unironically offered to staff. He was confused that people didn’t want to eat it.
Image source: TheBiggerWave
#37 From An Office Potluck
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#38 What Appears To Be Uncooked Pastry Dough, Layered With Cool Whip And Blueberry Compote At My Work Potluck
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#39 Not As Pretty As I Wanted But My Contribution To The Pot Luck
It’s so ugly. I made it as a joke for my favorite cousin’s wedding potluck! We are both appalled but get enough drinks in me and I’ll be cutting into this for the lol’s but he’s requiring me to make one for every family event now.
The chicken broth came out way darker than I expected but next time I’m sticking to clear and I want to try and make a forest scape with broccoli!
10/10 was very fun to make and highly recommend it!
Image source: Same-Speaker7628
#40 The Office Potluck Said To Bring “Your Favorite Traditional Holiday Dish” But I Didn’t Have One So I Made A Traditional Christmas Pizza Instead
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#41 “Who Brought A Can Of Tomato Soup To The Thanksgiving Potluck?”
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#42 My Friend Just Brought This “Deli Tray” To Her Office Potluck. Nailed It!
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#43 Total Eclipse Of The Heart Cake I Made For Potluck At Work
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#44 Brisket My Mother Cooked, And Told Me I Should Eat Some. “It’s Delicious!”
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#45 I Made Cheese From Shamrock Shakes
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#46 Made Sonic Hotdogs
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#47 Roasted Chicken, I Guess
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#48 Oatmeal “Cookies”
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#49 “Fly In My Salad” Pickle Legs, Roast Beef Wings, And A Peperoncini Head With Olive Eyes
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#50 A Nice Crispy Whole Roast
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#51 Candied Bacon At My Work Potluck Today
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#52 My Friend Made Quick Dinner, And I Really Want To Share It
Sourdough bread
Lettuce
Cheese
Cucumber
Chocolate
Tomatoes
“Skagen”
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#53 Sonic The Cheese Log
We’d forgotten about this abomination of our own making!
For a Christmas potluck we attended last year, we decided bringing a simple cheese ball woild not be tacky enough.
Enter: Sonic the Cheese Log!
Image source: Over-Reflection1845
#54 Need Holiday Ideas?
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#55 Sausage Elephant For A Classy Party
Those long meaty nose.
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#56 Someone Made This Charcuterie Board For Our Neighborhood Party
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#57 The Wildest Part About This, To Me, Is She Knew It Was Called Pimento Cheese But Decided To Use Cherries Instead Of Actual Pimentos
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#58 This Is Why I Don’t Do Potlucks
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#59 I Made This Abomination For Today’s Work Potluck
No one ate any of it — Spaghettio Jell-O Mold with Shrimp & Krab, seasoned with Old Bay and Hot Sauce.
Image source: Spanky_McJiggles
#60 What Went Wrong???
My friend tried to make brownies for our potluck dinner. We’re all pretty puzzled with how it turned out.
Image source: yuruyurika
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