My mum and the frozen portion of pasta from 1983

[bubble99]

Well, not quite that old but you get the general idea. Feeling down at the moment and want to cheer up a bit.
My mum, gawd bless 'er, cannot physically throw leftover food away. She says it's because she was a war baby but it drives me to distraction. Whenever she comes to stay I have to empty any leftovers in to the bin when she's not looking. I'm not a particularly wasteful person but I don't get the logic of clingfilming 2 tablespoons of peas only to find them loitering in the 'fridge a week later. I s'pose if I was Nigella I'd make some kind of super duper leftovery type thing with them but to be honest I can't be arsed

Anyone else or is my mum just particularly odd?

[emkana]

My mum is exactly the same.
It used to drive me mad, and still does.
But on the other hand I'm noticing that with increasing age I'm getting more like it .
Hope I'll never be as extreme though!

[Tommy]

My Mum's the same.
I have inherited it a bit but now say "I'm just going to pop this in the fridge so I can throw it away in a couple of days...."

[misdee]

my mum always has out of date food in the fridge. always loads of cakes etc that should've been eaten ages ago but she got cheap.

[katierocket]

Yep, my mum is like that too. Actually my dad is even worse. he frequently eats mouldy bread because it's wasteful to throw it away and anyway "it's like eating penicillin isn't it, so it'll do me good" !!! hmmm.... not exactly dad.

[milge]

This thread could read "my friends mum and the 1992 jar of redcurrant jelly" that she put on the table over New Year. The jar hadn't popped, and it looked ok, but i threw it down the sink just in case, didn't much fancy eating 12/13 year old food!

[debs26]

one day my mum noticed the mustard she was putting on my dads tea was 13 years out of date!!!!! oh well she said, he had it last week and didnt notice. they are thinking of having a party when it reaches 21

[myermay]

Message withdrawn

[janeybops]

Ooooh this rings a bell.

When my mum was moving (after being in house 1964-2001) she asked me to pack her food cupboard. Well.....found

packets from before sell before dates were introduced.

a box with a shillings label on it!

three boxes of trifle sponges dating back to 1987.

at least 1 black bin bag of boxes that were about 4-1 year out of date.

But to make matters worse, this winter while visiting, my dad asked me to go through the food cupboard while mum was out. And found

food with sell by date of 1999, 2000 - she moved in 2001 so in theory she must have moved it with her!!! lol

[bubble99]

debs26

A Coleman's coming of age party

[debs26]

exactly! think i will be taking my own mustard tho (think she is being serious btw - any excuse)

[princesspeahead]

my mother is famous for this. she had a can of fosters with a sell by date of 1984 which my university friends all used to say hello to when they came to stay (in 1989/90). It finally got thrown out when she moved house in 2002. It was rather emotional - it had been part of the family for 20 years!

[Heathcliffscathy]

when i first moved in with dp (now dh) i decided to defrost the fridge. i'm not really a defrosting type, but we couldn't get it shut anymore there was that much ice build up in it. when i cleaned it out, i found, among other things a packet of frozen vegetarian sausages embedded in the ice at the back. on questioning dp about this (he is v carnivorous) he shamelessly retorted that they sausages were the previous owner's of his house's from whom he'd bought said fridge. apparently i'm very mean for relating this on mn.

[happymerryberries]

When I had to sort out my mums house when she went into hospital I found a tin of mandarins that were the 'Produce of Swaziland' which I don't think exists any more......

She also had an opened and half drunk bottle of larget that was 8 yaers outside its use by date!

[lunavix]

A few years ago I found a packet of dried cheese sauce from 1987 in my mum's cupboard... not it's not just yours! Her response 'the best by date is a guideline not a law...'

[princesspeahead]

swaziland exists! I was at school with the King!

hi soph have just sent you an email. that is hilarious, btw...

[happymerryberries]

Realy PPH! if you ever see the King, please tell him my mum was so impressed with the mandarins, she kept the tin pristine!

[princesspeahead]

he was just one of about 70 of the then king's children. but he named him as the next king when he was on his deathbed, so he disappeared after o levels to be crowned!
he is now considered to be the greatest despot in africa after mugabe, ho hum

[bubble99]

The last time we went to stay with my mum I decided to make some cookies with the boys. No, I'm not a "cookie bakey" type of gal but it was peeing down outside and they were driving me mad. I checked her cupboards and made a list of ingredients to go shopping with. When I got to cinnamon the indignant voice came at me from across the kitchen - "But I've got cinnamon!" Er, no mum, that packet of brown dust dated "use by end 1985" ceased to be remotely cinnamony many years ago. The hurt look as I drove away will stay with me always.

[milge]

Wasn't it the king of swaziland that bought £500k worth of BMW's for his wives ( many and various?)

[binkie]

My dad had to pack up his father's house when grandpa went into a nursing home - grandpa was a keen sportsman and had been a widower for a very long time. Huge old house in Scotland, gigantic chest freezer. Dad looked in the freezer, then went into the garden & dug a giant hole because through the undated bags he could see that the pheasants and salmon


were green

[bubble99]

binkie, eeeuuuuuuw

My mum has the same cavalier attitude towards household appliances. Her microwave is the one we got when they were first widely marketed in 1980. It's huge, looks like a prop from "Dr Who." In recent years it's taken to throwing out really scary rays and making a humming/fizzing noise - it is truly lethal. We have asked and then begged to buy her a new one but she's having none of it. I'm tempted to sabotage the beast everytime we go there but she's got a "they don't make them like they used to" attitude about everything. She's got a 'fridge from 1978 which she refuses to part with and when we bought her a dishwasher we found her down in the kitchen at 1am eyeing it and muttering suspiciously.

[OldieMum]

PPH - did you got to Waterford? I went to its sister college - Atlantic College.

[happymerryberries]

oldie mum, I went there for a weeks course held by the UN when I was a kid!

Nice swimming pool and it had a bar! I was very impressed

[Jimjams]

My mum does the same.....