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The holiday season is the perfect time to enjoy a meal with loved ones, and what better way is there to do so than to host a potluck for all of your closest friends? Someone can bake brownies, another can bring pigs in blankets, and inevitably, somebody else will bring the most disgusting creation you’ve ever laid your eyes on.
Reddit users who have experience with potlucks have recently been discussing the most unappetizing dishes they’ve ever seen provided for guests, so you can read all about the most unsettling and inedible ones below. Good luck making it through this list that might make your stomach turn, and be sure to upvote the dishes you'd send straight to the trash.
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#1
Someone made brownies with ground meat in them to a church potluck. My vegetarian friend discovered this when she bit into one. She was more confused and horrified about their existence than she was upset about eating meat-- it was the concept of this abomination itself that was disturbing and baffling.
I thought she had to be wrong. "You haven't had ground beef in years, you don't know what it tastes like anymore, it's probably something else." I tried them. It was beef. I was disgusted and really, really, really confused.
Years later, I found out that apparently this was a thing. Someone came up with this-- putting beef in brownies-- as a substitute for walnuts for people with nut allergies.
While this explains it a little, in theory, I'm still confused about why someone would assume that people who can't eat walnuts would prefer to eat ground beef brownies over just. Regular nut-free brownies.
Edit: Since this blew up, I shared it with my sister, who reminded me that she was also there for this and she had tried the brownies first, and that they were actually the reason she stopped wanting to come to church. "I started doubting the entire establishment," she says.
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#2
We had a lady who made her special pb fudge. But she wouldn't put it out with all the food. She would walk around with her Tupperware and offer the people she liked a piece. Not more than 1 piece you were allowed to take. If she didn't like you, you didn't get one. This went on for years.
The last year she worked there, we all decided to say no thank you when she approached us.
Oh and 2 of us brought fudge for everyone at the table spread. She was furious that we foiled her s****y efforts.
#3
How about what someone did to the potluck item I sent in? My baked goods are quite popular with my husband's coworkers. Frequently I'm asked to make stuff for their birthdays, holidays and so forth. Well for Christmas last yr they did a potluck and requested I send in my caramel pecan pie parfait. Instead of one or two big bowls of it I put it in individual half pint jam jars so everyone would get some and could take it home if they wanted. I made two per coworker. I also sent in several extra just so people could take some home to kids or partners too. Now there's this one particular woman who works there and is a chronic a*****e. Her husband also was on the same shift. He happened to comment she should get the recipe since it was really good. Apparently that pissed her off so she grabbed the tray of the remaining ones and smashed them on the floor. Only three people had gotten their jar and nobody had got their other ones since most were saving it to take home. My husband didn't tell me till a couple months later. He knew how long it took to make them and the effort it took. I'm still pretty salty about it tbh.
#4
Does Thanksgiving count? One year our small apartment complex came together for potluck dinner. A couple people had relatives, including someone’s older aunt. For dessert, one of the neighbors made a lime jello mold, but used weed-infused vodka. He was VERY clear about it to everyone. Some ate it, some didn’t. The older aunt knowingly had some. “Aw hell, why not?” She declared. That old auntie was the most engaging and entertaining person for like 20 minutes. Absolutely hilarious, owning the room with stories, and just loving life. Then she quickly snuck into a bedroom and immediately crashed out. To this day (if she’s still alive), I wonder if she considered that jello good or horrible.
#5
I love telling this story.
I worked at a patient care clinic with mostly nurses.
One nurse brings mashed potatoes inside of a Walmart bag. Not inside of a bowl inside of a Walmart bag.
Mashed potatoes. Loose. Inside of a Walmart bag. That could’ve previously held raw chicken or some other gross thing. A NURSE.
I ended up posting about it on Facebook later, after having forgot we were FB friends. Oops.
#6
My cousin’s wife wanted to make pimento cheese sandwiches for a Super Bowl party. Problem is she had no idea what went into pimento cheese and refused to go to the store because it “couldn’t be that hard.” So she mixed a bag of shredded cheese, an ungodly amount of mayonnaise, and for the little red bits? Maraschino cherry halves 🤮 Then dumped approximately a half cup of garlic salt in for good measure.
I thought they were a dessert because they were pink and couldn’t figure out what a pink sandwich would be. It was truly one of the worst things I’ve ever put in my mouth.
Sky Render 1 year ago
Apparently she didn't know what a pimento is. What kind of dimwit makes something when they don't even know what one of the ingredients in the name itself is?
#7
Has a guy bring in his “specialty corn.” It was legit canned corn in a crockpot with spices. Thing is, he tells us “ya, my wife took it to her pot luck on Tuesday, they didn’t eat it so I saved it on low in the crockpot and brought it here.” It was Friday. Corn was brown. Nobody ate it. He kept eating it saying it was so good. The following Monday his new name at work was Corn Cob Rob.
#8
Once at a church potluck, a lady made chicken noodle soup, but instead of chicken it was raccoon. She didn’t tell anyone. We found out because her sons were laughing and we finally got them to tell us why 🤠👍🏼
#9
I know the neighbor's cat pees on everything. I've pet sat for them. I saw that critter pee on the patio next to the grill.
Went over for dinner. Chicken asada on the grill.
Small piece of chicken went astray right on the patio next to the grill.
Neighbor put it right back on the grill.
I brought salad.
That's all I ate.
#10
My Cambodian coworker brought chicken feet. I felt bad for him because no one would try them. I mustard up the courage and had one. It is the best part of the chicken. 10 out of 10 need to try.
#11
At my previous job, I had a coworker that would frequently cook food because it was his “passion” and he would bring it in to share with everyone. On a few occasions, someone would get ill after, but infrequently enough that people wrote it off as a coincidence. This coworker goes out on PTO and asks another coworker to feed his 12 cats while he is gone/scoop the litter boxes. Unfortunately, it was discovered the coworker was cooking/serving us food in the same pans he was also sometimes using as litter boxes for his bushel of cats. When confronted, he stated he thought this was fine because he washed them after. We never ate his food again.
#12
When I was in high school we had an "around the world" day and we were tasked to get in a group and make a dish from a chosen country. My group cooked at one girl's house... the condensed milk seemed a little weird but we used it anyways. As we were cleaning up we saw the can was 5 years expired but it was too late. My group was afraid to taste test it.
Almost every kid had explosive diarrhea within a few mins of Around the World Day ending. Some were crying. Nobody knew who poisoned the school but I'm suspicious it was us.
#13
Grandma brought the 1 yr old fruitcake she kept in a glass bowl covered in foil out from under her bed to the family potluck.
When the foil came off everyone gagged as it smelt like booze and death and then she lit it on fire and poured cream on it and insisted everyone try it.
It was simultaneously super dry and sopping wet, tasted like hand sanitizer, and had the texture of cat litter.
#14
Grandma's Jello salad, made with cottage cheese and celery
Edit - I love how half the answers are "OMG, that's disgusting", and the other half are "Yeah, I remember that monstrosity"
Heather Evans 1 year ago
My mother used to serve this .. along with grated carrot / mayo / raisin salad .. and when nobody ate them at parties we would have to eat them day after day until they were gone.
#15
A sugarless cake. She realized too far into the process that she forgot the sugar and continued with the decorating. She placed it on the table and didn’t think anyone would notice the lack of sugar.
We noticed… cakes need sugar.
#16
I once made a brain dip for a work afternoon tea on Halloween. It was a homemade onion & herb dip with paprika that made it pink & used a large brain mould. It looked quite realistic. Very few ate it because it looked too real
#17
An office potluck - as everyone is eating, one of the girls says,"I'm sorry if you find ant cat hair in the green bean casserole. My cat kept getting up on the counter to nibble at the edges." Cue everyone looking at each other like WTF??
Glen Ellyn 1 year ago
🤢🤮 I never allow my cats on the kitchen counter or the dining room table. One of them hopped on the counter during the night one time. I only knew because she tried to abscond with a banana, but decided she didn't really want it and left it in a different spot on the counter. I also think she decided it wasn't that interesting up there - no other food out and no windows to look out of.
#18
Casserole with a side of roaches.
Not even kidding. They crawled out of the bag she brought her dish in. I stopped participating in potlucks after that.
The Original Bruno 1 year ago
Well, yeah... if they found another food supply. But that's why cleanliness is so important... roaches can always find their way in, but they need messiness to successfully colonize.
Load More Replies... Glen Ellyn 1 year ago
Yep, you just never know what's in a potluck dish or the condition of the kitchen where it was prepared.
Joshua David 1 year ago
The only thing I say about a potluck is...if I get some pot, I'm in luck.
#19
I came here to nominate myself.
At a Halloween work pot luck, I made dirt cake. Which was chocolate cake with chocolate pudding then a layer of crumbled oreos and brownies with gummy worms sticking out. Everyone was horrified. Those who did eat it loved it (who would like chocolate on top of chocolate on top of chocolate). Others couldn't bring themselves to eat it.
Boop the Snoot. Pound the Paw. 1 year ago
This is very common, in a good way, here. You can also make them in individual cups for kids parties etc.
#20
We had a Buche de Noel baking contest in French class in high school and one girl brought one in that when the teacher cut it had a bunch of hair baked through it. This was my first experience with “never trust what someone else baked at home unless you’ve seen their kitchen”
Featherytoad 1 year ago
I always pull my hair back and put a hat on when I have to make a dish for the holidays.
#21
Had a friend show up with “his wife’s specialty”. It was deviled ham and cheez wiz scooped onto a ritz. They were also made some time ahead because the crackers were no longer crisp.
To make it worse, he walked around with them and his wife telling everyone to try them.
That was the night I learned that it will be ok to strategically lie about having food allergies.
#22
We had a potluck today and someone brought some Doritos. People started eating them and complaining that they tasted like dirt. We looked at the bag and it had a promo for Mockingjay part 1. The chips expired in 2014! This was a mixed department pot luck and we haven’t found the person that brought the 9 year old chips.
Nice Beast Ludo 1 year ago
I think when the apocalypse comes, we will all be very disappointed that food doesn't keep. I opened a can of tomato sauce that was a year past expiration. Tasted like straight blood and acid. It was horrible. We will not be able to eat canned foods decades after they expire despite what they show on The Walking Dead
#23
My grandmother-in-law. Everything she brings. The first time was stale cake in a bowl of syrup(?). It was both cake and soup, while also being neither.
She has meat in her deep freezer older than some of her grandchildren. She’s a depression-era cook, so expiration dates don’t apply to medicine, cupboards, or freezers. Once she tried to give my daughter (2yo at the time), cough medicine that expire 9 years before she was even born.
Littlemiss 1 year ago
I knew a couple just like this. They had roasts in the freezer with reduced to clear stickers. The meat had sat for 10 years or more.
#24
Some kind of “lasagna” made by someone who had no clue what lasagna is. There were layers of pasta; but the rest was things like chicken, grated cheddar cheese, canned jalapeños, mushroom soup, frozen mixed vegetables, spicy mayo etc.
#25
This one requires some setup because the dish is actually very popular at family gatherings.
My dad was well known for his cakes. Small variety of different ones. Nothing fancy, just good cake.
He made one and iced it to serve later that day at a family potluck. The dog comes along and can barely get his tongue over the edge of the pan and gets about 1/3 of the icing off the top. Dad had leftover icing.
So the moral of the story, eat from the same side of the dish that my dad serves himself from.
WordNerdTali 1 year ago
Why are people willing to serve others food they wouldn’t eat themselves?!
#26
Went to an office potluck and someone had made a breakfast casserole. I cut a slice, was about to put a bite in my mouth and noticed the bottom was FURRY. Literally lined with cat hair. I can’t understand how she didn’t notice before putting the food in the dish, so gross.
#27
A half eaten chicken something dinner from their meal at Olive Garden the previous night.
Cecilia Herrera 1 year ago
They could have at least picked up something like fried chicken at a fast food restaurant. Left- overs would have too much probability of cross contamination from other people.
#28
The dish itself (a salad) was really good. It became gross when my coworker explained how they made the dish. She went into great detail about how she cleaned her sink, put everything in the sink, and mixed it IN THE SINK. And THEN, once everything was mixed, she would put it in the bowl. I haven't eaten at a potluck since. I don't care how well someone cleans their sink. That is downright disgusting.
#29
An apple pie, but they didn't have apple pie spices, like clove, cinnamon, or nutmeg, and said they used taco seasoning by accident and expected people to eat it.
I, a dumb b***h who likes to torture themselves tried it, and promptly tossed it into the trash when they looked away.
#30
A work colleague brought in a half filled casserole dish of little smokies (mini cocktail sausages, probably made up of 2+ animals) to a potluck. I asked her about the recipe and she said that she didn’t know. Apparently they were leftovers from a 3 day camping trip she had in eastern Washington. That means they were prepared by someone else at some outdoor site, picked over, and then packaged up (hopefully in a cooler? But who knows) and driven at least 5 hours through a mountain pass before they ended up on our conference room table in Seattle. Blech.
#31
A girl in our group is great at cooking. Then we noticed she changes the diaper of her 1yo kid and doesn't wash hands later. Never.
Covid and TV tutorials on how to wash hands were her last socially acceptable opportunity to learn this ancestral trick. But after she had a kid, her habits never improved
#32
Chocolate chip cookies but she didn't really mix the ingredients very well. So there were lumps of flour and baking soda (or powder). They were godawful.
Second worst was a macaroni salad that had some kind of white fish in it.
TheDarkestRaven 1 year ago
Macaroni salad needs to die. The poor noodles. (Don’t downvote hell me, I just don’t like Mac salad lol)
#33
I still feel bad for one of the office ladies who once brought ice cold green bean casserole not knowing her crock pot was never turned on.
After this; she literally brought 2 cans of green beans, a bowl and a can opener.
Of course no one ever ate the canned green beans after she stood at the microwave warming them up for 8 minutes or however long.
At a later several years reunion, she was still working there and had grey hair.
And it occurred to me in that moment that she never had much in life.
Life isn’t lucky or full of joy for everyone.
#34
I’ll fall on that sword. I brought Shepards pie to a Christmas party and thought it festive to colour the mashed potatoes green.
#35
Sidewalk beans. They spilled beans on pavement scooped them back into the container with bits of stuff and served it with the warning that they’ve spilled them on the pavement and there’s a chance of finding pebbles in it.
#36
A korean american coworker brought homemade kimchi, but she admittedly didnt know how to make it and just "winged it".
It was fermented wrong and was covered in mold, which she didnt seem to understand was bad. The vegetables were basically half liquified and it smelled like dumpster juice.
The thing is...half of the chefs at work had learned to make kimchi correctly and safely since various different kimchis used to be on the menu before she was hired. So we all instantly knew it was wrong and unsafe, but no one wanted to tell her.
#37
A dessert made to look like a cat’s litter box. It had Tootsie Roll “poop” hanging off of the sides.
Daniel Atkins 1 year ago
My brother made this once as a party dessert. We had a contest to make the worst looking but still taste good dessert we won hands down.
#38
“Homemade fried chicken.” Which translated to ‘chicken that I covered in pancake batter and breadcrumbs and dropped into a frypan until the outside looked cooked.’ It wasn’t even seasoned.
The Original Bruno 1 year ago
So.... (hot take coming)... Popeyes? (Go ahead and love their biscuits, but their chicken's only flavor is a little bit of heat.)
#39
A “salad” that consisted of shredded carrots, miracle whip, and raisins.
I’m sorry grandma, but f**k that salad.
#40
Orange Rolls. For those that don't know these are cinnamon rolls that have orange zest or extract in the dough recipe. Usually delicious.
**This maniac took a cake pan, poured orange juice in it. Dropped Biscuit dough in it and then baked it.**
#41
Someone brought Devilled eggs and instead of sprinkling paprika on them they used cinnamon.
Brian Droste 1 year ago
Not sure how they would taste with cinnamon. Need to try that for myself sometim. I make some pretty good deviled eggs myself. People have complimented me on my deviled eggs.
#42
A custard pie that wasn’t made well so it tasted like cold eggs. It was like chewing farts. 🤢
#43
Chicken soup 🍲…… but not delicious chicken soup! This was a putrid green colored broth with an entire chicken in it! Organs! Bones! Skin! Whole chicken just plopped in and cooked. It was gross
#44
My husband and I went to a potluck at a park shelter one time. Someone had brought vegetables and dip. I was reaching for some when my husband nudged me and told me to look closely. There were bugs all in the vegetables. I don't think they were from being outside because none of the other food had bugs. I think whoever brought the platter either didn't notice the vegetables were full of bugs, or didn't care.
Glen Ellyn 1 year ago
Yikes! 😬 A hard pass from me. Thank goodness your husband noticed and warned you.
#45
Chili with a sock in it. An actual sock. She called it “dirty sock chili.” I don’t think anyone tried it.
Little Wonder 1 year ago
Oh sure, you GOTTA have a sock for dirty sock chili. For dessert I like to serve Bra Trifle.
#46
Hot dogs in a crock pot.. you haven't lived until you've had a melt in your mouth hot dog.
WordNerdTali 1 year ago
“Melt in your mouth hotdog” is an incredibly repulsive phrase. I can’t imagine how awful it is to eat.
#47
Mushroom and wild rice full of dog hair. Not a strand or two. But FULL of dog hair. Turns out she ran a sanctuary or something 🤮
#48
Chocolate covered shrimp. No, not mole sauce. Just sweet chocolate sauce.
Little Wonder 1 year ago
There was a guy on one of Gordon Ramsey's early Kitchen Nightmares (the UK version) who had opened a restaurant in Spain and was serving basically any seafood you could think of, all with chocolate sauce. As a "point of difference" from all the other sea food restaurants, you see.
#49
My sister would bring 2 crockpots …. 1 with spaghetti sauce… the other with water and the noodles. The noodles would be cooking in the water all day.
#50
She opened a can of tiny shrimp and poured it out, liquid and all, on top of a block of cream cheese. That was it. I guess we were supposed to eat it with crackers.
What do you think ?
Ima Manimal 1 year ago
This kind of reminds me of an incident that happened a few years ago around here. This church was doing a fundraiser, so they were selling plates of chicken and sausage jambalaya. The chicken was undercooked and about 200 people ended up with salmonella.
Annie 1 year ago
Went to a potluck where several people brought desserts like pies & cakes, and one of the older women jumped in to cut them into slices, but she licked the knife after every cut 😳🤢 Those of us who witnessed it warned everyone else not to eat the pies & cakes
Elizabeth Tayler 1 year ago
Omg, wth? How can someone be so clueless? Maybe she did it on purpose?
Load More Replies... Corinne Wheeler 1 year ago
In the UK we call it "bring and share" but usually cold snack foods.saying that someone once brought an apple curry.
Astro 1 year ago
Honestly one of the best soups I’ve ever had was a autumn apple curry soup. It was savoury with a touch of sweetness and went really well with the curry spice! There were potatoes in it too :)
Load More Replies...
Multa Nocte 1 year ago
Totally unrelated, but HELP - I've got 274 BP notifications - how do you turn them off? 🙀
Sky Render 1 year ago
Let me know if you find out! Something went wrong about a week ago...
Load More Replies...
Islandchild 1 year ago
Home made baked beans come in many forms. They should not be served by dumping them all into the same dish and mixing them together. Trust me on this.
Hester 11 months ago
For fun, my workplace used to hold backing competitions. One colleague, who was quite an attention seeker, and gluten free proudly entered a container full of Melting Moments and talked about how hard they were to make gluten free. Everyone there knew she had bought them from the café downstairs - the café *always* had a jar full of them on the counter.
SheamusFanFrom1987 1 year ago
I'll be the first to admit that me and my bros made an abomination of a Christmas dish before. It was actually a gathering a week before Christmas and a few days prior, we had watch a guide on how to make your own kimchi and decided to try our hand at it. Long story short, everyone at the gathering had very spicy cabbage instead of proper kimchi because us ding-dongs went too liberal with the gochugaru as we followed the recipe to a T rather than test it out among ourselves for spice level first. Suffice to say, while we didn't exactly ruin the gathering, the most consumed beverage that evening was milk rather than alcohol. -_-"
walkabout 1 year ago
My in-laws family Thanksgiving has finally spiraled down and beyond redemption. My MIL likes her stuffed cabbage rolls with extra tomato based sauce: she dumps a can of tomato soup on frozen Golumpki and bakes it. My SIL #1 brought instant mashed potatoes: too much boiling water in too little potato flakes yielded over a gallon of tasteless gruel. SIL #2 insists on spatchcocked turkey, it's split at the spine and flattened and looked like it was run over by a truck. Furthermore I saw the meant thermometer had already run up to 180 F when she said "almost done!" T'was a dry and half-blackened bird. And my wife who made the best cheesy potatoes in her youth, because of the care she used to take, dumped it all in a bowl stirred and baked it. Far from her best work. Thanks for zero effort. The kids and I are taking over Christmas.
Ima Manimal 1 year ago
This kind of reminds me of an incident that happened a few years ago around here. This church was doing a fundraiser, so they were selling plates of chicken and sausage jambalaya. The chicken was undercooked and about 200 people ended up with salmonella.
Annie 1 year ago
Went to a potluck where several people brought desserts like pies & cakes, and one of the older women jumped in to cut them into slices, but she licked the knife after every cut 😳🤢 Those of us who witnessed it warned everyone else not to eat the pies & cakes
Elizabeth Tayler 1 year ago
Omg, wth? How can someone be so clueless? Maybe she did it on purpose?
Load More Replies... Corinne Wheeler 1 year ago
In the UK we call it "bring and share" but usually cold snack foods.saying that someone once brought an apple curry.
Astro 1 year ago
Honestly one of the best soups I’ve ever had was a autumn apple curry soup. It was savoury with a touch of sweetness and went really well with the curry spice! There were potatoes in it too :)
Load More Replies... Multa Nocte 1 year ago
Totally unrelated, but HELP - I've got 274 BP notifications - how do you turn them off? 🙀
Sky Render 1 year ago
Let me know if you find out! Something went wrong about a week ago...
Load More Replies... Islandchild 1 year ago
Home made baked beans come in many forms. They should not be served by dumping them all into the same dish and mixing them together. Trust me on this.
Hester 11 months ago
For fun, my workplace used to hold backing competitions. One colleague, who was quite an attention seeker, and gluten free proudly entered a container full of Melting Moments and talked about how hard they were to make gluten free. Everyone there knew she had bought them from the café downstairs - the café *always* had a jar full of them on the counter.
SheamusFanFrom1987 1 year ago
I'll be the first to admit that me and my bros made an abomination of a Christmas dish before. It was actually a gathering a week before Christmas and a few days prior, we had watch a guide on how to make your own kimchi and decided to try our hand at it. Long story short, everyone at the gathering had very spicy cabbage instead of proper kimchi because us ding-dongs went too liberal with the gochugaru as we followed the recipe to a T rather than test it out among ourselves for spice level first. Suffice to say, while we didn't exactly ruin the gathering, the most consumed beverage that evening was milk rather than alcohol. -_-"
walkabout 1 year ago
My in-laws family Thanksgiving has finally spiraled down and beyond redemption. My MIL likes her stuffed cabbage rolls with extra tomato based sauce: she dumps a can of tomato soup on frozen Golumpki and bakes it. My SIL #1 brought instant mashed potatoes: too much boiling water in too little potato flakes yielded over a gallon of tasteless gruel. SIL #2 insists on spatchcocked turkey, it's split at the spine and flattened and looked like it was run over by a truck. Furthermore I saw the meant thermometer had already run up to 180 F when she said "almost done!" T'was a dry and half-blackened bird. And my wife who made the best cheesy potatoes in her youth, because of the care she used to take, dumped it all in a bowl stirred and baked it. Far from her best work. Thanks for zero effort. The kids and I are taking over Christmas.
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