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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

I've been told I'm disgusting. I am actually feeling quite smug! (Lighthearted)

141 replies

AuntMatilda · 22/07/2017 16:23

My Mum manages some properties as a part time job, her boss is an old friend. One tenant had left and returned to his home country (Egypt) and I went to help her clear the flat

He had left LOADS of food. Mostly sealed, in packets, some dried food (lentils, grains, pasta etc) in jars or huge tupperware containers.

Lots of (sealed) huge bags of herbs and spices.

I've taken the lot.

My opinion is, I hate food waste, the stuff that has already been opened and decanted into another container is dried stuff that will need to be boiled before consumption anyway, and the other stuff is sealed.
So I'm feeling smug about having lots of free food (I love cooking)! and also happy to be 'recycling'.
My Brother and some of my friends I've told have told me things like this is disgusting having someones 'second hand food' and that I should have chucked it all.

My only issue is, I don't know what some of it is. I am currently making a 'risotto' with some grain type thing -looks a bit like a cross between rice and bulgar wheat! So a few surprise dinners to come I think.
Am I gross or economical?

OP posts:

Butteredparsnip1ps · 22/07/2017 17:39

This reminds me of a story that I always assumed to be appocraphyl. It concerns a family writing a thank you letter to relatives in, I think Australia, to thank them for their generous gift of exotic spices which they had used in their Xmas Pudding.

The story continues, explaining how gift givers were horrified to learn that The receivers had used Grandad's ashes in the Xmas pudding instead of burying them in the garden....

Be careful OP

thunderpunt · 22/07/2017 17:44

The one you have cooked looks to me like Farro (otherwise known as emmerwheat. It's lovely, more bite to it than rice - I do diced roasted veg (red onion, courgette, aubergine, garlic xtra virgin olive oil etc) and mix with farro - delicious

thunderpunt · 22/07/2017 17:45

On second looks it might be a bit small....

John4703 · 22/07/2017 17:48

Well done for saving food that could have been wasted. Enjoy some great free meals.

Trills · 22/07/2017 17:57

I think you sound very sensible.

If you are as sensible as you sound then no harm will come to you from this.

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 22/07/2017 17:58

Ashes - very amusing, but common sense says that he wouldn't have left anybody's ashes behind.

As for how old dried foods are, what's the problem there? If the food is dried to start with, it might not be in peak condition if it's years rather than months old, but I bet it's still edible and perfectly safe. It's fresh food, with high water content, that goes off quickly after the use by/best before date.

Deploycharitygoats · 22/07/2017 17:58

The first two bags are probably cumin seeds (look a little too thin and long to be fennel) and cracked coriander seeds.

I don't care about the hygiene aspect, I'm just enjoying squinting at unidentified spices!

LockedOutOfMN · 22/07/2017 18:03

John4703
Well done for saving food that could have been wasted. Enjoy some great free meals.

I agree! Not disgusting at all.

Liiinoo · 22/07/2017 18:04

It's a culinary adventure and frugal. Win win IMO.

hackmum · 22/07/2017 18:06

Economical. I hate food waste too.

isthistoonosy · 22/07/2017 18:07

Economical.

When we leave holiday lets we try to wait for the cleaner and ask ig they want the food or should we bin it. We make sure it is bagged securely and in shopping bags so they can just take it. It seems crazy to just bin it.

swimlyn · 22/07/2017 18:07

AuntMatilda - keep up the good work!

We’ve helped a lot of people move in to pre-owned houses, and we’ve re-directed good quality items to charity shops, and yes, unopened food to our larder. (we helped for free, after all)

We are constantly astonished at what new owners ditch in the rubbish, for example, a brand new quality toaster, still in box, £80, in the skip! It came out of the skip pretty damn quick.

Three full packs of expensive dish washer tabs, bottles of Riocha, set of kitchen knives (unused). The list goes on and on.

The opened food is fine too, as long as you’re sensible of course.

Wickedstepmum67 · 22/07/2017 18:08

I think one of your mystery items might be mace? I'd be very chuffed and smug to get all that lovely free food, OP.

riceuten · 22/07/2017 18:12

Sealed stuff - hell yes. Why not?

I know someone who won't even read a book that someone else has handled (in case they catch any germs). How these people navigate life I have no idea.

Decaffstilltastesweird · 22/07/2017 18:13

Yanbu. I'm glad you did this. I'd probably be too much of a wuss to eat the unsealed stuff, but I'd definitely have taken the sealed packets and applaud you for taking the unsealed stuff too. I really hate food waste too. It would have been criminal (disgusting ?) to chuck this all in the bin imho.

chocolatespiders · 22/07/2017 18:16

Good for you. Too much waste in the world.

Ohyesiam · 22/07/2017 18:19

Sometimes the mn catastrophe mindset is staggering.

elevenclips · 22/07/2017 18:20

Gross imo.
I took a casserole off my friend that she had batch cooked and her husband and kids hated and fed it to my family. But no I wouldn't take food off a stranger. It's the unknown I suppose not whether they are clean or dirty people. I would have put it in the food waste bucket.

Sparklingbrook · 22/07/2017 18:23

It's quite funny because a while ago when Herman the German friendship cake mixture was a thing most of MN were throwing their arms up in horror at it coming from an unknown source and that anything could be in it.

Boredwithmyname · 22/07/2017 18:28

Agree on the cumin and coriander seeds bags 1 and 2. I'd have taken the sealed bags without a second thought, not sure about the containers but might well have taken them too if they looked interesting/usable. Have fun!

fullofhope03 · 22/07/2017 18:32

I too hate food waste OP, so imo you're not BU at all. I'd have done the same :-) xx

user1498911589 · 22/07/2017 18:35

It's not disgusting but it is extremely inadvisable.

user1498911589 · 22/07/2017 18:37

If you are as sensible as you sound then no harm will come to you from this.

That's one of the most ridiculous things that I have read. How sensible the OP is has no bearing at all on what the former tenant has done to the bags of food or what he has put in them.

MerchantofVenice · 22/07/2017 18:45

Yeah sparklingbrook but isn't friendship cake mixture quite different, in that it's sort of fresh and could easily go off or could incubate bacteria? Dried food doesn't go off in the same way and is then boiled to buggery. The worst outcome is that it could be a bit stale/unappetising, surely? Unless, of course, the bloke has deliberately injected it with poison... but then, any psycho could do that to food on the supermarket shelves!

MerchantofVenice · 22/07/2017 18:47

User... but how very unlikely is it that he'll have done stuff to packets of food? The chef in any restaurant you've ever been in could do stuff to all the food you're about to eat. Ever think of that?

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