Bake Sales

Is it just me, or do other people get annoyed when they are asked to contribute to a bake sale and find most of the other parents have simply purchased store-bought baked goods and re-wrapped them?

My daughter's annual Winter Concert was Sunday. The Parent's Association for the choral department always has a bake sale. I was absolutely blown away by the amount of store bought goodies that were simply arranged decoratively on a Santa plate, thus apparently making them bake sale items in the eyes of most consumers. Also, who thinks buying Pillsbury slice and bake holiday cookies and garnishing the plate with some peanut butter cups and candy canes is bake sale fare?

Needless to say, the homemade apple cake we brought disappeared immediately. I stayed to talk a few minutes after the concert with a friend and finally made it into the cafeteria, where the remainder of the bake sale goodies were sitting on the tables -- and there was a lot of stuff left over. My husband and daughters had picked out a pie - a pie that cost $16. I had asked them repeatedly to make sure they got something that was actually homemade if they were going to buy anything.

Once in the car, I started to inspect said pie. There was something suspicious about it -- while I was home convalescing, I remembered being amused whilel watching Sandra Lee on the Food Network make a "homemade" pie by taking two refrigerator pie crusts and a can of pie filling, purchasing a lattice-cutter and using said lattice-cutter on the top pie crust, and then passing the pie off as something special you made yourself. I think she added a dash of cinnamon to the pie filling, like that makes a difference. The crust of our bake sale pie had obviously been lattice-cut by someone. When we cut into our dessert that evening, it was obvious we had been semi-ho'ed by another bake sale parent. Canned filling, and not even particularly good canned filling, in what was the blandest refrigerator pie crust ever. Yuck.

I understand that some well-meaning parent probably thought they could put together mass quantities of baked goods by using shortcuts, thus insuring a good turnout at the table and more money for the music program. Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather see parents just write a check than put "fake sale" stuff out for others to buy.

O.K. I feel much better now.

Suzy

P.S. Full disclosure -- I did not bake the apple cake. My mother did. I had something else I needed to do on Saturday and she feels, as I do, that if it's a bake sale, you need to actually bake something!

sorry to hear about your experience! this is also a pet peeve of mine. we recently had a holiday potluck at work, where people were encouraged to bring ethnic/national dishes, and i was amazed at the amount of storebought stuff - and this was an event where the best item was going to win a prize!

on a brighter note, i am going to try to work the phrase "semi-ho'ed" into as many conversations as i can.

HI,

Your experience does not surprise me. When I was contributing to school bake sales, I always brought homemade stuff. The homemade stuff usually sold fast unless it arrived squished from someone sitting on it.

A few weeks ago, I was involved in a function where there was a modest $60 budget for treats. My reaction was I would bake some sweet breads (banana, date, poppy) with cost of ingredients less than $10. Another volunteer called Jewel to learn you could get decorated brownie trays and cookie trays for $9.99 each. She ordered three of each without conferring spending up to the maximum $60., then advise me how much time she save me. (Having once been accused of being a show-off by bringing home baked food to a meeting. I wouldn't be surprised this was a motive.)

The brownies were ok, though the Costco cake for $16. for the last event was more generous and could have served the entire crowd. FYI - the Costco cake was rejected because it meant laying out plates, forks and napkins. The cookies were very plain (they were supposed to be decorated) chocolate chip and oatmeal. While turnout wasn't great due to weather, the treats were not enthusiastically received, either.

The leftovers were donated to a nursing home who grilled the volunteer over who made them. They reported back it was good the treats were store bought. They were not too keen to receive home prepared treats.

Those of us who offer homebaked goods seem to march to a different drummer.

Regards,

Well, I don't know much about bake sales . . . no kids . . . but what a loss not to bring homemade baked goods. I find baking to be so therapeutic and rewarding. Sometimes the smell in your house is enough of a treat, and if you've worked hard, the end product will almost certainly be better than anything you can find at your ordinary grocery store. Unless you're getting your goods from a top bakery (Pasticceria Natalina comes to mind), you're going to end up with lesser quality ingredients (e.g., Crisco instead of butter, when butter would be the only logical choice) and way too much sugar.

So if you bring store-bought crap and pass it on as your own, you certainly will not feel very proud of what you've accomplished, and you might actually be offering up a poor quality baked good. But I guess that on LTH, I'm probably preaching to the choir.

Cathy, as to the nursing home not accepting home baked goods, I know that our grade school district now will not allow home baked goods for school birthdays or other school parties. All goodies must come in a box with a label of ingredients so that there is no question as to what is in the food. I suspect their reasoning is that if a child gets sick, it is easier to sue the manufacturer than another parent, but my mindset may be due to the fact that I work for attorneys. There is also the issue of food allergies, and small children may not always know what is in the food they brought from home to share. This process eliminates any mystery.

I was happy to see that among the home-baked goods I saw at the bake sale, several bakers put a list of ingredients on their labels and a lot of items were prominently marked "Does Not Contain Nuts." I personally love nuts, but one of my daughters hates them.

Suzy

Our school also has the same restriction for snack day, although we're allowed to bring home-baked goods to birthday parties - the kids with food restrictions keep a stash at the school.

I understand that a lot of parents don't have the time to make something, but there are ways around it - I used to bring chocolate-dipped fruit (fresh fruit in summer, dried fruit in winter) which doesn't really take any more time than slice-n-bake. My SIL does this also - chocolate dipped strawberries are always a big seller.

Maybe if we post recipes for non-time-consuming baked goods here, google will find the thread...

Hi,

It could be what you are thinking. It could also knock out another bird with the same stone: "Don't bring home baked good, because the parents who cannot feel bad when you do."

When my nieces were in daycare, I often picked them up for lunch. I was later asked not to, because the other children whose parents couldn't do the same 'feel bad.'

Should people determine their actions on whether their friends and neighbors might 'feel bad?'

Regards,

I will bet dollars-to-donuts that the reason why the school district now requires that treats be store-bought with the ingredients listed is to reduce the risk that the school district (not the individual parents) will be sued should some kid with a peanut allergy unknowingly quaff a cookie with peanuts in it, for instance. The school district has much deeper pockets than the individual parents do, although they'd be ripe for suit as well.

It's a sad, but true, state of affairs.

For day care centers licensed by the state of Illinois, the no homemade food rule is one of the DCFS state regulations:

"Upon agreement of the staff, commercially prepared foods may be brought in occasionally by parents as part of holiday or birthday celebrations. Food brought in for this purpose must arrive unopened as packaged by the bakery or manufacturer, or it shall not be accepted."

www.state.il.us/dcfs/docs/407.doc


I must confess that I was so exhausted during those years of day care that it was a relief to just go get cupcakes at Dominicks and not feel like I had to whip up something fabulous at home.

Safety issues and, dare I say it, the litigiousness that is so evident these days, have prompted many changes. Increasingly, schools are moving away from allowing any kind of home prepared treats for kids. We are constantly dealing with allergy issues (primarily peanut, but many other foods as well) so much so, that it has become virtually impossible to police everything that is brought into the schools.

It is indeed sad to see homemade foods disappear - no halloween treats, no birthday treats - who knows what else is next on the list! It is ironic that more and more cookbooks are published each year while we (non LTHers that is) cook less and less. Shockingly, for many people what Sandra Lee does to food does count as homemade!

Jyoti

Its sad that home baked good can no longer be brought to school. Regarding the bake sales so few people actually know how to bake in this age so maybe its a blessing in disguise. I love to bake but often time is an issue and even I have to resort to store bought. I would not bring it to a bake sale though.

Hi All,

The school district my mom works for banned all baked goods this year. The treats must be individually wrapped and clearly store bought.

As an aside, the Chicago Tribune published an article on December 16 about the new restrictions and/or bans on sweets that many public schools are enacting this year

Cupcake Tradition Crumbles

The sadly, the picture of a kid's holiday party accompanying the article shows almost ALL store bought treats.

It's such a shame. As a child, I remember LOVING the homemade treats that kids bought in to celebrate their special occasions. The first time I had a cupcake that had been baked in a ice cream cone especially sticks out. I thought that kid's mom was the most clever baker in the world.

Kim

Who cares what is brought to a bake sale? If stuff sells, isn't that the point? Women are pressured, pressured, pressured to be it all. They have their kids going 24/7, many work, have husbands who need love and care and homes that need love and care. So lets put that pressure on and then sit back and judge when they are too lazy to make homemade treats. I don't get it.

I have not been to a bake sale since I was in jr. high. I went to a school with about 70% Polish immigrants who didn't always "get" the idea of a bake sale. They would bring little zippy bags of cheetos with ribbon tied around it. Who cares? Many had moms who were on their own because dad was still in Poland or out of the picture and they worked crap jobs all night to make ends meet (even though in Poland they were scientists and lawyers!). Let's judge them too.

Sorry to vent but sometime I get frustrated be my generation. I am a 31 year old home maker with a 3 year old and a 6 month old. I watch my sisters and girlfriends with a bit older kids jump through ridiculous hoops for their kids. I can't figure out why. They are miserable and sressed and they don't know how to stop.

I feel like, if school has crazy bake sale rules, who cares? Make the "homemade" experience for your own kids and when their friends come over. Or for their birthday parties. (A whole other subject I could rant about all day.....lets spend 200 bucks on a 5 year old party...umm..ok...NOT! Oh wait, I must compete with all the other women so they don't think I'm lazy!)

I guess I am lazy, oh well!

Hi,

Unfortunately people sometimes have to be bribed to give money. People who will cheerfully keep their money in their pockets, will open their wallets at a bake sale, fancy ball or pledge to get a premium. Bake sale is 100% profit. Fancy ball and pledge premiums are front-loaded with expenses with a lot less than 100% going to their charity. It also accounts why your $100 'donation' comes with a $50 (for demo purposes only) tax receipt. The other $50 was spent enticing you to drop your money and is the cost of the event/premium.

You really believe in your cause, then either give them a cash donation or provide labor thus reducing their overhead expenses.

Regards,

JeanneBean wrote:Who cares what is brought to a bake sale? If stuff sells, isn't that the point? Women are pressured, pressured, pressured to be it all.

Or the Dads could do the bake sale treats. Not like they don't have hands....

This comment made me laugh also;
P.S. Full disclosure -- I did not bake the apple cake. My mother did. I had something else I needed to do on Saturday and she feels, as I do, that if it's a bake sale, you need to actually bake something!


Hello! Lucky for you that you have someone else to do your baking for you! Yet you are complaining about the people who don't have time and didn't have people to bake for them!

JeanneBean wrote:This comment made me laugh also;
P.S. Full disclosure -- I did not bake the apple cake. My mother did. I had something else I needed to do on Saturday and she feels, as I do, that if it's a bake sale, you need to actually bake something!


Hello! Lucky for you that you have someone else to do your baking for you! Yet you are complaining about the people who don't have time and didn't have people to bake for them!

Sdritz family provided a good will offering to support her school. Just as you will do someday.

Now if you do come with ribbon wrapped chips, then please report back on how it went.

Regards,

JeanneBean wrote:Who cares what is brought to a bake sale? If stuff sells, isn't that the point?

I am one of the people who care and I've been thinking about your question since you posted it. Why do I care?

First of all, we are having this discussion in the cooking section of a culinary forum. I think your question of "who cares if people cook or not" is akin to going to treehugger.com and asking why they care if people use energy-efficient lightbulbs. But that's besides the point.

I care because I believe it's important. It's as simple as that.

I believe that cooking and sharing food is an important part of my family, community, and ethnicity. The act of cooking with and for my family or friends is intimate and important. Whether I'm making a Valentine's day dinner for my wife or if I'm smoking racks of ribs for my block party, I'm sharing a part of myself with the people around me and showing them that I care about them.

I believe that if we stand by and let supermarket mentality replace our shared culinary heritage, we're allowing a big part of our culture to decay.

I do understand that bake sales are about "selling" rather than sharing, but that's only on the surface. At a bake sale, we're sharing our cooking with the community around us, regardless of an incidental price tag.

Finally, if time and laziness are the motivating factor, I can say without exaggeration, that I am always less than a half hour or hour away from homemade cookies, or even a simple cake with ingredients that are always available in my fridge and pantry. It's amazing what you can whip up in a short amount of time with some flour, eggs, baking powder, butter, and chocolate. I can bake a pan of brownies from scratch in the time it takes me to drive to the supermarket.

Best,
Michael

As a hubby who baked for a bake sale AND a treehugger, I am thrilled with this thread.

I don't think that being nonjudgemental about sale offerings and taking great pride in one's own work are mutually exclusive. If there is pleasure enough in your own handiwork, lovely; if you give someone else kudos for awesome work for a totally volunteer effort, so much the better.

What I love about LTH is that at the picnic or other home-spun events, EVERYTHING is guaranteed to be made with utmost care, quality, and love, since it's people serious about food cooking for other people serious about food. I think it has less to do with judging or feeling the need to be up to snuff than it has to do with affection, pride, and goodwill. If everyone would put that effort into every bit of cooking, for charity or for sustenance, the world would be a happier, fuller, warmer place.

Michael, you got my point exactly. And I'll happily pay a premium for something that someone has taken the time to put together by hand.

As for my mother baking the apple cake, I didn't realize how lame that looks. My daughter begged me to please make pecan tarts for the bake sale. I had everything ready and planned to make them -- when I mentioned that fact to my mom, she actually discouraged me from taking the time when, as she pointed out, I had a number of other things to do and as she is now retired, she wanted to do that for me to help me out. Now, I absolutely know that not everyone has someone in their family who will take the time to bake for them for a high school bake sale. I just wanted to give my mom the credit where credit is due. If she had not offered I would have been up baking pecan tarts the evening before the bake sale as I had planned to do.

Incidentally, my older daughter and a group of her B'nai Brith friends got together yesterday afternoon as a group to bake pies for PADS. Our synagogue always hosts on Tuesday evenings, and since it is Christmas, they wanted the guests to have a special dessert. I asked her if the pies were "semi-hoed" and she knew exactly what I meant. While this bunch of high-school girls did use pre-made pie crusts, the fillings were made by hand, apple and berry. The pies are now sitting in the temple kitchen and my daughters will be serving them as the finale to Christmas dinner tomorrow night for our PADS guests. She thinks that they will be much better than the bake sale pie we brought home!

Suzy

I thought that was what was great about this forum. Having a difference of opinion. Bake sales are great. Homemade treats are great. I just thought the whole original post was a bit silly that's all. I know there are some serious cooks here who might get very nitty-gritty about what is "homemade".
So, you have degrees of "homemade", I guess.

I feel my opinion was food based and when I go to bake sales, yes I will try to bake things myself, BUUUUT.....if there is no time, I would rather bring a Costco cake than tell the church, school, etc. "Sorry, but I was too busy for you".

JeanneBean wrote:I feel my opinion was food based and when I go to bake sales, yes I will try to bake things myself, BUUUUT.....if there is no time, I would rather bring a Costco cake than tell the church, school, etc. "Sorry, but I was too busy for you".

You could simply make a cash donation, which is appreciated and the ultimate time saver.

Regards,

That was my point, who cares! We're doing this for charity etc.

JeanneBean wrote:That was my point, who cares! We're doing this for charity etc.

We care.

Regards,

Cathy2 wrote:

JeanneBean wrote:I feel my opinion was food based and when I go to bake sales, yes I will try to bake things myself, BUUUUT.....if there is no time, I would rather bring a Costco cake than tell the church, school, etc. "Sorry, but I was too busy for you".

You could simply make a cash donation, which is appreciated and the ultimate time saver.

Regards,

Cathy, I don't understand you. I am agreeing with you. It all comes down to the fundraiser.

JB,

Communication in this forum is not as three-dimensional as a real life conversation. I have no benefit of voice intonation or a twinkle in your eye to hint your slant on this issue when a sentence begins with, "Who cares ..." Sarcasm, if indeed this was, falls flat in this medium because it relies on other cues to convey the message. Absent of your intent, it simply sounded like we were not agreeing.

Meanwhile, do have a wonderful day this Christmas day. We can wrangle about bake sales and other fine issues another day.

Regards,

My daughters school has banned bake sale fundraisers this year. Prior to that there was always one or two a year for various events. Some of the reasoning given was various issues with food safety, but the major reason was concern for children with severe nut allergies. Even if you're preparing a nut free treat they felt the possibility of you cross contaminating your item and possibly being unaware of it was there.

I always think that sending home made treats for a bake sale is best. Obviously the idea is to raise money so if you can't manage the time to make something on your own it's nice to participate. I have a lot of good memories from my childhood of helping my mother prepare my items to contribute to the bake sale. I was hoping to do that with my kids too, but, for now we'll have to stick to just baking on our own.

eatchicago wrote:Whether I'm making a Valentine's day dinner for my wife or if I'm smoking racks of ribs for my block party, I'm sharing a part of myself with the people around me and showing them that I care about them.

Block party yesterday, I brought mini pulled pork sandwiches with pickled red onion, a number of others brought home-made delicious thoughtful dishes. What made me think of posting was one person brought Pizza Hut chicken wings, I kid you not, and another quartered American cheese slices and.............wait for it..............Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage links, the microwave kind, cut into thirds.

Some of my neighbors, obviously, are not foodies, and the person who brought the jimmy dean is possibly the sweetest woman in the world, but geeeesh.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:one person brought Pizza Hut chicken wings, I kid you not

This blows my mind. While I prefer bringing something I've made myself, I'm all for bringing prepared foods to events when I'm short on time. But when I do, I make it a point to at least get the food from some place good (like Toon's wings rather than Pizza Hut, like we did for my friend's Super Bowl party this year).

That way, even though I miss out on the pride that comes with bringing something homemade, I can feel good about introducing people to something I really enjoy from a place they might not have been to before.

Khaopaat wrote:That way, even though I miss out on the pride that comes with bringing something homemade, I can feel good about introducing people to something I really enjoy from a place they might not have been to before.

I once brought Sai Ua/Northern Thai sausage from Sticky Rice to a food centric party and it was a big hit, to say the least. I was pressed for time, needed to bring a good sized portion and had just read Kenny Z praising the portion size for $2. $20 and change, easy, quick, new flavors to many, win win.

Sticky Rice
4018 N. Western Avenue
Chicago, IL 60618
773-588-0133