When being welcomed into someone’s home, we’d like to think that our host was genuine when they said “make yourself at home.”
Even so, it’s still always wise to err on the side of caution, or being polite, and ask before using or partaking in certain things.
This can include food in the refrigerator.
Redditor Professional-Gur-602 was more than happy to welcome his sister and brother-in-law into his home after they fell on rather hard times.
Until the original poster (OP) discovered that his brother-in-law ate some food in his refrigerator intended for a very specific purpose.
While the OP was more amused than anything else, his brother-in-law was furious upon learning what he had just eaten.
Wondering if was being disrespectful to his family, the OP took to the subReddit “Am I The A**hole” (AITA), where he asked fellow Redditors:
“AITA for letting my brother-in-law eat my dogfood?”
The OP explained how the lack of a label on a certain dish in his refrigerator led to some tension between him and his brother-in-law.
“So my sister and her husband are living with me temporarily because of Hurricane Ian.”
“Their home in Fort Myers is in bad shape.”
“So I agreed to let them stay with me and my dogs.”
“I own a nice bungalow and it’s just me and my dogs.”
“It’s a little crowded but I can deal.”
“I have a couple of little dogs and I like to make them raw food.”
“It’s healthy for them and I like knowing what they are eating.”
“I use cheap ground meat and I mix in chopped-up vegetables, seeds, and organ meat.”
“Also I mix in their doggy vitamins.”
“I make up big batches whenever I find ground meat at a good price.”
“Then I make patties out of the mix and freeze them.”
“At night I take out a couple of patties and leave them in the fridge to thaw out for the next day’s food.”
“When I was out yesterday my BIL saw the ‘hamburgers’ in my fridge and decided to grill them up and eat them.”
“When I got home I went to feed my dogs but the food was obviously not there. So I asked my sister if she had fed my dogs while I was out.
She said that her husband had eaten the burgers in the fridge.”
“I kind of giggled and said oops I guess I need to thaw more out.”
“He heard me and said that they tasted off anyway.”
“I told him the reason they tasted off is that they were dog food.”
“He started dry heaving and saying he was going to puke.”
“He yelled at me for keeping dog food around people food.”
“I yelled back that he is a guest and while he is welcome to anything in the house perhaps it would be best if he asked before he ate my food.”
“Him and my sister are angry at me that I didn’t label my dog food.”
“I am kind of angry that he complained.”
“Yes I would be a little grossed out too, but it’s just funny.”
“He isn’t hurt or anything.”
“There is nothing that isn’t edible by humans in the food I make.”
“I would not eat it myself of course.”
“Part of the reason he is angry is that he says I took it lightly.”
“All I did was joke that he would have a nice shiny coat.”
“AITA?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
The Reddit community wholeheartedly agreed that the OP was not the a**hole for leaving his dog food in the fridge, and thus letting his brother-in-law eat it.
Everyone agreed that the OP’s brother-in-law got what they deserved for eating food without asking first, with many pointing out how it was awfully presumptuous for the OP to grill thawing, prepared patties, which were clearly being saved for something.
“I’d lean toward NTA, because if I saw newly thawed patties in someone’s fridge, I’d assume it was their dinner plan for themselves and I wouldn’t touch it.”
“So to me this is kinda what he gets for eating what anyone would assume was your dinner.”-seventeenblackbirds
“NTA.”
“If I saw meat patties thawing in someone’s fridge, I would assume they had set them aside for THEIR dinner.”
“I wouldn’t just grill them up without asking.”- trixen2020
“NTA.”
“But even if you have a ‘you can eat whatever’ policy, I would NEVER just grill up obviously prepped burger patties from my host’s fridge!”
“That’s impolite to me because someone, WHO IS NOT YOU, prepped them and meant to eat them, and then you just come in and decide to grill them up without asking?”
“It’s just rude.”
“But the fact that it was meant for the dogs is hilarious and should be a lesson learned LOL.”- FineFeather90
“They had clearly taken two burgers out to defrost.”
“That implies they had plans for them.”
“The fact the BIL then just took them and ate them is rude.”
“The Burgers sound Healthy and nutritious, I’d try them.”
“NTA.”- SirKlip
“NTA.”
“You’re used to living alone and it takes some time to adjust to others sharing that space, like labeling dog food that looks fit for human consumption.”
“I think BIL is overreacting.”
“It wasn’t intentional on your part and it is kind of funny. “
“Maybe get BIL a new squeaky toy to smooth things over.”- ShushImThinking
“NTA.”
“This is what happens when you eat food out of someone else’s fridge without asking first.”
“Since you are cool with them raiding your fridge, I would have gone with NAH until they got angry and yelled at you.”
“Then it was on them.”- MadaVastra
“NTA.”
“They could’ve avoided eating dog food by this simple thing, asking you ‘hey, op, I saw hamburger patties in your fridge, what’s that for?’.”
“Assuming they didn’t already know.”
“At least he’d have a nice shiny coat and hey, dog food especially homemade is nicer than most human food.”- pixelpusheen
“NTA.”
“Who just takes Mystery Meat in a house they’re a guest in without checking what it is and if it’s available?”
“Much like finding Mystery Leftovers in the fridge, you are taking your chances!”- lyan-cat
“NTA.”
“Once I got a wild hair and decided to make some horse cookies from scratch.”
“I used oats and flour and a little brown sugar and unsweetened applesauce as a binder, as well as, like, a lot of chopped hay.”
“So much hay I didn’t think my husband would need to be warned, but of course, he walked in the kitchen and shoveled one right down his gullet.”
“It never even occurred to him to be mad about it.”- Temporary-Tie-233
“’Not in the house! Out to the backyard!’”
“NTA.”- hirvaan
“Who’s a good boy?”
“NTA lol.”- loriteggie
“NTA.”
“He took something that wasn’t his, to begin with, and learned that it wasn’t what he thought it was.”
“As for labeling your dog food, well your house is not set up as a guest house, and how you deal with the contents of your fridge is your business.”
“You are a nice person for housing your sister and her husband, at least they should be grateful for that.”
“Nobody died, but your doggos did have to wait for their next meal!”- SnooSprouts6712
“NTA.”
“And as long as there are no adverse reactions from the doggy meds it’s pretty funny.”
“I would probably give him a bill for the food/medication he took, just to reignite things.”
“I guess that would make me TA though.”- JsCTmav
“NTA.”
“Don’t eat people’s food without asking bruh.”
“s’whatcha get.”- Luhdk
“NTA “
“He didn’t ask first that could have been your dinner.”
“He played a stupid game and won a stupid prize.”- Starlight92_
“NTA.”
“An open fridge policy doesn’t mean cooking meat you’ve got thawing in the fridge, because obviously you have taken it out for a reason and have plans for it.”- Independent_Ad9670
“Hahahaha!”
“The same thing happened to me!”
“I also make my dog’s food.”
“Basically a casserole, if you will: ground turkey, sweet potatoes, carrots, spinach, rice, oats.”
“My sister came over one day and she said ‘I ate the rest of your rice casserole in the fridge, it was really good but needed some salt’.”
“She thought it was hilarious when I told her she ate her niece-pup’s food.”
“I had more in the freezer, Carmen got fed lol.”
“NTA.”- Poppy-Persephone
“NTA.”
“I definitely think you should start saying ‘woof’ randomly around the house when they’re in earshot.”- AbstractUnicorn
“LOL.”
“NTA.”
“Check on him in 3 days.”
“Stand behind him and pet his hair and say something like: ‘yes, those omega 3s are really helping!'”
“I also feed raw patties.”
“If someone was going to be stupid enough to eat random food in my own fridge: oh well.”
“It’s probably healthier than what he eats regularly anyways.”- AbbyBirb
It’s interesting to notice that the OP wasn’t at all angry when his brother-in-law ate his dog food without asking first.
Indeed, had the OP’s brother-in-law merely asked, this whole issue could have been avoided.
Hopefully something the OP’s brother-in-law will consider moving forward.