Man cooks steak pie in the oven – but is horrified when he looks at packaging

Most mums would do anything for their children - even when they're adults themselves.

For one man, however, that proved to detrimental effect recently after his mother kindly brought over a pie from the depths of her freezer. What was intended as loving gesture towards her son turned into a hilarious culinary disaster - after the man spotted an important note on the box of his shortcrust pastry steak pie.

"Just popped this in the oven," he penned in a caption alongside a snap of the food on Reddit. He elaborated: "My mum bought this round and stuck it in my freezer a few months back when she was visiting and I thought nothing of it untill I found it in the back of my freezer earlier today and thought score!"

However, his appetite soon soured after spotting the name of the supermarket on the box. "Only now as its cooking away in my oven has it occurred to me that Somerfield hasn't existed in well over a decade."

Indeed, Somerfield supermarkets closed their doors for the final time in 2011 - two years after The Co-operative Group splashed out £1.57 billion to take over the company.

"How ill do you think I'll be if I eat it?" the man pondered, closing his post in the CasualUK subreddit. With a use by date of 'October 21' on the box - no year specified - one Reddit user quipped: "It’s good until the 21st, says so right there on the box."

A second person joked: "That pie is older than half of TikTok's user base." And a third laughed: "Well matured."

A more daring Reddit user suggested, however: "Assuming this was bought between 2009 and 2011 when Somerfield was being bought up and subsequently rebranded...IF it's been constantly frozen that whole time, it's technically safe to eat I think. It being pleasant to eat is a whole other question."

"If it's been frozen the whole time, you'll be fine," someone else concurred. "If it hasn't, you will smell it as it's cooking and will not be able to get rid of the smell for days. God speed, my friend. May the odds be ever in your favour."

Asked later in the post if he had "dared" to take a bite, the man responded disappointedly: "I don't have the balls, it's smelt lush whilst cooking now it had a mild smell that isn't quite rancid.. but it isn't quite right either. Definitely wussing out of this one."

According to TNS Worldpanel, Somerfield was the sixth largest food retailer in the UK, with 977 stores (as of January 2007). Also the fifth largest private company in the UK, it had a 3.8% share of the UK grocery market that year.