DEAR ABBY: Is it rude to label one's leftover food when staying with relatives? My husband, daughter and I visit his family often. When we go out to eat and bring leftovers back to the house, we usually label them if we want to eat them later.
It has never seemed out of the ordinary to me. I was raised that way. My mother always said that if I didn't want something eaten by one of my siblings, then I should label it.
Recently, my husband's sister (who is 16) asked if she could eat the rest of some pizza we had bought the night before. I politely responded that I planned to have it for lunch. She remarked that she thinks it is funny that we are so protective of our food. It got me to thinking -- is our behavior odd? -- TAKEN ABACK IN WASHINGTON
DEAR TAKEN ABACK: Considering that you come from a family in which anything in the fridge was considered fair game among your siblings, it's not odd at all. And when your sister-in-law said what she did, you should have explained that to her. Had you done so, she wouldn't have questioned it.
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Abby gets an F on this one, from me. It's leftover pizza and YOU are visiting HER house and she is 16 years old. Give her all the GD leftover pizza she wants and stop marking leftovers like you're in a concentration camp. You are wierd as hell.
26 comments:
Ya, how about if you don't want to share your friggin food, don't bring it home...idiots!
Yeah, it's not great grandma's diamonds..it's friggin leftover pepperoni.
I would be considered weird as hell then. With a house full of people I have to label or we wouldn't have lunch at all. When I bring left overs home for a small lunch or snack for work thats all I have all of my money goes to bills so having a few quarters or a couple of dollars for the snack machine just isnt there and if I dont have a little something to eat for lunch or snack I get to the point where I get shakey and feeling as if Im going to pass out, I use to keep crackers and that kind of stuff in my desk until the night mongrels began going through things and items came up missing (and this is at a detention center).
Happily eating marked left-over lunches aka "The Idiot Wierdo", aka Connie
I always say if a kid wants food, give it to them. Less calories for me! LOL...I never eat 1st. I always have made sure my kids were fed 1st. Unlike my idiot husband that pushes everyone out of the way so he can serve himself 1st. He has always done this and weighs as much as a house now. Health problems abound. Not a good idea to make food your god. It's not that serious. It's food, share it. Dayum. Day old pizza? Gawd! I can't believe that. Not a big deal. I share, I don't hoard food. I don't care that much.
rox
If you live with roommates and label your food that's one thing, but when you are a GUEST in someone's house either accept anything you put in THEIR fridge is fair game or just don't order so much damn pizza. That's how I look at it anyways.
Ohhhh Def. Rox, when it comes to my little ones I would go without any time for them no questions asked and they could just want the food to want it not necessarily because there hungry, and Im not talking about pizza either that is something I wouldn't order. When my 15 yr old nephew lived with us (Yeaaa he's gone) he would eat everything we had and leave the empty containers in the cabinet or fridge, he didn't care who ate or who didn't just that his stomach was full, I kid you not once we had made chicken alfredo it was on the stove in the pan, I went to my room for a couple of minutes before dishing my kids up some, went back to the kitchen and the friggn pan was GONE I thought I had lost my mind, about an hour later Jacob comes out of his moms room with the pan EMPTY, talk about being PISSED OFF of course I got called the C*** and F***'n Bitch, for throwing a hissy fit, this was also during the time where my sister was wasting milk by giving her dog it so Shay couldnt have it, and throwing away a dozen of eggs because my ex husband had accidently broke one of the eggs she had bought. The drama that was. But I still mark what I will take for lunch so that I know I will have a little something.
Connie
I agree with feeding children. I wouldn't ever tell a child that they couldn't have my food. I'd eat something else.
OK OK OK, I need to really grasp the post before typing anything cuz now Im just back tracking...this will be the last from me...YES if a guest in someone elses home and I have left overs in their fridge I would never even consider marking it, but at my house I will mark my items, if my children say hey mom im hungry or hey mom can I have I would never ever say no to them when it comes to having something to eat UNLESS of course it is something unhealthy and they havn't had any food with some kind of substance...I think I have covered everything...so now Im overly weird Connie
Give the teen the pizza. Saying "no" is just plain rude and selfish. I grew up in a big family where everything was fair game. If you brought leftovers back to the house..(unless it was brussel sprouts) someone was going to eat it real soon. What's the problem? Isn't family you like well enough to stay with also good enough to share with?
I hear you Connie. I have a background teaching in public schools..and everything left loose went missing. Food in the teacher's fridge, staplers, money, expensive district supplied cirriculum materials ......it was "lock it or lose it". Funny thing..I'm positive it was seldom the students.
Connie, you live with a bitch sister who steals your kids milk to give to the dog. You are excused.
At home I sometimes label things just because our tastes are different, and I want to make sure the right leftovers go to the right person.
In this case, she was a guest in someone else's home, and I think that changes everything. If you bring leftover pizza back in this instance, it should be with the idea in mind that it is fair game. It's really cheap to take advantage of someone's hospitality, and then try to make sure that no-one eats your day old pizza. Maybe that's her habit from when she grew up, but it's not appropriate and does come off as being selfish in this instance.
Christina
Meh. I thought the message here was to smack the teen in her head for giving the hostess lip. While telling the hostess to get a life, and stop eating cold pizza.
This is not a baby, it's a teenager. No one is starving a small child. It's their food and the have a right to keep it if they wish. The kid asked instead of just eating it so they have some manners but in no way is it the right of the host or their kid to dig into their guests food.I doubt the guest rifles through their cabinets eating what ever they want. The host provides for the guest because that is what is supposed to be done. While I agree labeling the food while staying at someone's house is odd, wanting to eat your own damn left overs isn't a crime.
This is not a dorm.
She is a guest in their house and should be more gracious, imo.
It would be totally different if they all lived together.
i don't think it's wrong to want to eat your leftover food. i doubt the kid is starving. maybe the guest doesn't want to eat the host's food.
That is very strange. How do you say no to a guest.
i read that this morning and thought WTF?! you are visiting someone's home and you label your leftover PIZZA?? do they bring their own toilet paper?
that is fucking NUTS!
Connie, I'm sorry babe. You trying to be a nice aunt and get sucker punched by an ungrateful nephew. Good thing he's gone. He never was taught to take his share & leave the rest. No manners. Mark your food girl. I get it!!!! My adult kids do it to keep their dad out of it. If they have been to an expensive restaurant and want it for lunch the next day. If they don't write their name on it, he eats it!!! So, I hide stuff behind things sometimes from him!!! LOL...it's still there for anyone to eat, but hidden. If it gets gone, oh well. I tried!!
rox
I agree with DD on this one I think it's weird. Left overs are left overs Lobster or Pizza. Plus this is family not random house guests.
I think we all know Abbey is clueless!
I never write my name on food, but then, I don't have to, because I'm one of the few people in my house without food allergies...
I think this woman should have shared her pizza.
I'd rather they label it and eat. Less work for me to feed them and I don't want their germs anyway.
My first comment hasn't appeared. It's blogger,isn't it?
At least the 16yr old asked before helping herself and digging in. And, it was just pizza for crying out loud - not expensive truffles or some caviar!
Steph
Blogger comments are wacked right now, all we can do is wait for a fix.
What a wench. She'll sleep in their beds yet not share a slice with a kid,who asked polietly. Betcha she doesn't send a Thank You note either.
That's messed up. I am one who as a guest likes to cook for my hosts, family or not.
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