diff --git a/nova/notifications/objects/flavor.py b/nova/notifications/objects/flavor.py
index a659d1e64f1..03f95cb9eb3 100644
--- a/nova/notifications/objects/flavor.py
+++ b/nova/notifications/objects/flavor.py
@@ -75,6 +75,13 @@ class FlavorPayload(base.NotificationPayloadBase):
 
     def __init__(self, flavor, **kwargs):
         super(FlavorPayload, self).__init__(**kwargs)
+        if 'projects' not in flavor:
+            # NOTE(danms): If projects is not loaded in the flavor,
+            # don't attempt to load it. If we're in a child cell then
+            # we can't load the real flavor, and if we're a flavor on
+            # an instance then we don't want to anyway.
+            flavor = flavor.obj_clone()
+            flavor._context = None
         self.populate_schema(flavor=flavor)
 
     def obj_make_compatible(self, primitive, target_version):
diff --git a/nova/objects/flavor.py b/nova/objects/flavor.py
index 73768244b28..1d95948cf08 100644
--- a/nova/objects/flavor.py
+++ b/nova/objects/flavor.py
@@ -610,6 +610,11 @@ def destroy(self):
             db.flavor_destroy(self._context, self.flavorid)
 
     def _send_notification(self, action):
+        # NOTE(danms): Instead of making the below notification
+        # lazy-load projects (which is a problem for instance-bound
+        # flavors and compute-cell operations), just load them here.
+        if 'projects' not in self:
+            self._load_projects()
         notification_type = flavor_notification.FlavorNotification
         payload_type = flavor_notification.FlavorPayload
 
diff --git a/nova/objects/instance.py b/nova/objects/instance.py
index e54d2241cd6..ca805b7d6ec 100644
--- a/nova/objects/instance.py
+++ b/nova/objects/instance.py
@@ -272,19 +272,6 @@ def _obj_from_primitive(cls, context, objver, primitive):
         self = super(Instance, cls)._obj_from_primitive(context, objver,
                                                         primitive)
         self._reset_metadata_tracking()
-
-        # Note(gibi): The flavors stored in the instance should not be used
-        # for lazy load data from the db as these objects aren't connected to
-        # real flavor objects in the db. However during RPC deserialization
-        # every object gets a valid context so we have to orphan the flavors
-        # again.
-        if self.obj_attr_is_set('flavor'):
-            self.flavor._context = None
-        if self.obj_attr_is_set('old_flavor') and self.old_flavor:
-            self.old_flavor._context = None
-        if self.obj_attr_is_set('new_flavor') and self.new_flavor:
-            self.new_flavor._context = None
-
         return self
 
     @property
diff --git a/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance.py b/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance.py
index 394b8d9a0a0..13f59e9eac5 100644
--- a/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance.py
+++ b/nova/tests/unit/objects/test_instance.py
@@ -1518,30 +1518,6 @@ def test_obj_clone(self):
         inst1 = inst1.obj_clone()
         self.assertEqual(len(inst1.obj_what_changed()), 0)
 
-    def test_flavor_deserialization_orphans_flavor(self):
-        flavor = objects.Flavor(context=self.context,
-                                name='test-flavor',
-                                memory_mb=1024,
-                                root_gb=0,
-                                vcpus=1,
-                                flavorid="m1.test")
-        flavor.create()
-        inst = objects.Instance(context=self.context,
-                                user_id=self.context.user_id,
-                                project_id=self.context.project_id,
-                                flavor=flavor,
-                                old_flavor=flavor,
-                                new_flavor=flavor)
-        inst.create()
-
-        inst = objects.Instance.get_by_uuid(self.context,
-                                            uuid=inst.uuid,
-                                            expected_attrs=['flavor'])
-
-        self.assertIsNone(inst.flavor._context)
-        self.assertIsNone(inst.old_flavor._context)
-        self.assertIsNone(inst.new_flavor._context)
-
 
 class TestInstanceObject(test_objects._LocalTest,
                          _TestInstanceObject):