Family member has bought refrigerated gifts

I’m guess cheese or a charcuterie platter of some sort also

I agree with above post. However lovely, how thoughtless. If it is a food item, surely it’s duplication of what you’ve already brought. Also, you’ve already planned your meals, so when is this supposed to be eaten. I’d be cross if food I’d purchased went to waste because of this.

My mother would have had a fit if I showed up with gifts needing 2 shelves in her fridge until Christmas. Who even does this? Entirely clueless to think someone (especially someone having people to stay / hosting) would have that kind of space available.

Use the neighbours fridge. Honestly sounds like a perfect solution- sounds like you have a good relationship with them.

I've just had to buy a fancy cooler that keeps ice frozen for three days to cope with guests for Christmas. If one of them said keep two fridge shelves for my present I'd sent them a link to another cooler and tell them to buy one for their 'present/passive aggressive power play'.

Tell them, if they want to bring stuff that needs a fridge then it'll have to go outside as there's no room.

My guess is a 3D ice sculpture of the extended family and pets to use as a centre piece. Only OP isn’t featured as CF finds her ‘difficult’.

Placemarking. A whole Stilton and a profiterole tower are my guesses. Tell them they will have to bring a cool box or a mini fridge. How odd to expect two free fridge shelves at Christmas! Perhaps the person doesn’t understand hosting?

“Everyone knows fridge space is sacred in the run up to Christmas.”

OP, absolutely this! I can’t believe that someone thinks it would be acceptable to take up two shelves of fridge space! I have a fridge with three freezer drawers and a separate little fridge, and I wouldn’t be able to sacrifice two shelves to an annoying guest! If this friend is so adamant that the presents need to be refrigerated, tell them they need to buy a beer fridge to accommodate them. And reiterate that there’s NO WAY they’re using your fridge space. Frankly, the whole business of arriving stupidly early and coming with your DS (there are things called trains - they don’t have to come by car) makes them sound like an utter PITA.

I’m suggesting the CF family member does that if you read what I said properly.

Maybe those expensive chocolates which have to be refrigerated

Watch out for the buggers trying to take your stuff out of the fridge or 'rearranging it to make room'... 😬

Cheese lasts for ages after the use by date if wrapped properly. Quite often, Brie type cheese isn't even ripe by the date it apparently 'expires'. I wouldn't be panicking about using it mega quickly.

@ShawnaMacallister I would imagine that's a little joke/fantasy?

You're suggesting they source a new fridge for them? Really??

Placemarking. I have a fridgeful of cheese - posh cheese I will add - which came as a gift yesterday, Great - apart from the fact several of them are soft and cannot be frozen for later. All need using by first week in January.

We had cheese after tea last night and didn't even manage a 1/4 of it - (package says to eat within 3 days once open!!) There are basically 8 lots of a similar size and two of us eating it 😭

I do have friends who may be getting a cheesy gift soonish.

But it's the very opposite of thoughtful. How thoughtless do you have to be to not realise that you can't just commandeer two shelves of someone's fridge, let alone in the run up to Christmas?

I'm imagining that scene from the Motherland Christmas special from a few years ago where all the guests kept turning up, ramming something in the fridge and quickly shutting the door and when Julia opened it, everything fell out.

I'd just message them saying “good one lol everyone knows there isn't free fridge space at Christmas time, how ridiculous. Two shelves hahaha” with lots of laughs emojis and let them scramble to sort it.

Instead of no room at the inn

it’s no room in the fridge

😂😂

How annoying! I’d tell them once then refuse to make it my problem, there’s enough to think about!

Have you all got full-height fridges? Mine only has four shelves (five if we count the salad drawer) and I couldn't clear two on a normal week, let alone Christmas!

I mean you are obviously not BU

You say the are adamant but what are they saying when you say there’s no room? Are they telling you to throw out / not buy other food items?

It’s quite simple, the fridge is full, sorry

We always accommodate this family member and I’m pretty fed up of it Perfect reason to be quite blunt about it.

I wouldn’t mess about with photos; I think I would just be very blunt about it and say;

‘You don’t seem to be understanding me. It is Christmas. I am feeding a large amount of people that has required a large amount of food. I do not have a spare inch in the fridge so you cannot have any space in the fridge at all, let alone one or two shelves. I’m also spending a lot of money and going to a lot of time and effort to prepare dinners and puddings for everyone, so you turning up with unspecified food stuffs, expecting me to magic up a second fridge and disrupting my meal plans isn’t something that I’m able to cater for. Whatever it is that you’re planning on, you need to bring a large amount of Tupperware with you so that it can be broken down and stored in the garage, which is the only chilled place I have available. If this doesn’t suit, then it’s probably best to keep it at yours and freeze it for another time, when you’ve given me a bit more notice and I don’t have so many people to feed.

My guess is a big charcuterie and cheeseboard