Eating the leftovers

[Spudlover]

I’m fully prepared to be told I’m a controlling weirdo.

We had people over yesterday, did a BBQ and have lots of salad and rolls left, a couple chicken breasts etc.

DH decided for lunch that he was going to open a new loaf of bread and a tin of mackerel and have mackerel on toast.

I asked him if he could wait until tomorrow for that and help me eat the leftovers so I wasn’t eating it alone for days and it gets used, I can’t bear food waste.

He didn’t want to, sulked a bit before saying fine, I’ll just eat what you want me to eat. I’m ultra mean now apparently because I pointed out I think of food from an entire household perspective and he only thinks about what he wants to shovel in his gob at any given point.

AIBU?

YANBU
Given increased food prices I would think that your Dh would happily wish to avoid food waste - or is that just your problem?!

YANBU to ask.

YWBU to insist.

Where has the op suggested any of this is because of budgeting?

Aren’t most people these days concerned about increased food costs?

There’s not one word about that being her motivation in any of her posts. You’d have thought she might have mentioned if it was.

Oh jeez… just make the chicken, salad, and rolls for dinner. This is not a crisis or moral failure on anyone’s part.

But does there have to be express mention?
She doesn’t like food waste - whether it’s because of moral, economic or other reasons.
My point is that you’d think food costs alone might bring her Dh on side.

But it’s just two chicken breasts! Perfectly edible tomorrow. Very good ingredients for a dinner. One lunch made of mackerel is not causing a mountain of food waste.

I agree with you op, hate food waste, and it's always women, the mothers, wives, partners who end up eating the banana that's going black, the dregs of the cereal packet, the broken biscuits, because the other feckers in the family open the new packet before the older stuff is finished.

Not in this house. Nobody opens a new thing until current one is open, it's a rule just like any other, if fruit looks like it's on the turn then we all have smoothies (usually made by teen or dh) or dh will make some banana bread. Both dh and I were taught to not open something until the other stuff is finished and if we didn't listen then his dad/my mum would just stop buying that cereal etc.

Dh always checks the freezer before we do a shop so if he's making something like chicken broth, he knows there's space to freeze leftovers because as much as I love broth, I don't like it three days in a row so he either does a big batch and freezes, or buys less and makes enough for the two of us (teen doesn't like)

When we do a bbq and there's leftovers then dh would be the one taking it to work for lunch. Very rare there's leftovers that would make one person have to eat it for days but if there was then whoever's turn it is to cook would probably bung it it with some pasta and a sauce or something so that it doesn't feel like the same cold meat for every meal. He'd never ever tell me off if I didn't want left over bbq and chose something else instead, because he'd know it would be used up anyway. He'd eat it instead of cheese sandwich for work or he'd use it in a diff meal.

Fil is the same, my brother and my stepdad too, That man once served us toad in the spag bol (yes you read that right) because there was some mince and half a tin of hotdogs to use up.

I'm with you OP, food waste is just plain wrong. But if he wants mackerel, it's hardly worth arguing about.

I'd be annoyed at him starting a new loaf though, especially if he's only making toast. That's pretty self indulgent.

YANBU
It's another way some mem absolve themselves of the mental load. I'm sure he'd complain when your food budget started to rise massively because you were cooking food then just chucking it coz he didn't fancy it. Unless you are very wealthy it's a ridiculous way to live. I don't think it's controlling as you are a family with a family food budget... he's not some random single man you are trying to tell what to eat for your own entertainment