Roommate’s Girlfriend Leaves Leftovers Unclaimed, So He Serves Them At His Dinner Party Without Asking
by Diana Whelan
When you live with someone, shared fridge space can get tricky, especially when one roommate’s girlfriend keeps leaving behind gourmet leftovers.
But what happens when those forgotten meals find their way into a dinner party?
One host learned the hard way that leftovers might not be as “up for grabs” as he thought.
Read on for the story.
AITA for serving my roommate’s girlfriend’s leftovers at my dinner party without asking?
Here’s the situation: My roommate, Dave, has been dating this girl, Lisa, for a few months.
Lisa is an amazing cook, and whenever she comes over, she whips up these incredible meals.
The thing is, she always makes way too much food, and they leave a ton of leftovers in the fridge.
Now, Dave never eats the leftovers. I’m not exaggerating when I say that every few days, I have to go through the fridge and clean out all the old food Lisa leaves behind because it just sits there until it starts to go bad.
What a waste.
A few weeks ago, I decided to throw a small dinner party for some friends. I’m not much of a cook, so I was getting stressed about what to serve.
I thought, why not ask Lisa to help out? She’s always cooking at our place anyway, and I’ve always complimented her food.
So, I casually mentioned it to Dave, asking if Lisa might be cool with cooking for my party.
Dave seemed a bit taken aback but said he’d ask her.
The next day, he told me Lisa wasn’t comfortable with it because she didn’t want to feel like she was being taken advantage of.
I was surprised but told him no problem, I’d figure something else out.
The night before the party, Lisa comes over and starts making dinner for her and Dave, as usual.
I’m in the kitchen, hanging out with them, and mention that I’m still trying to figure out what to serve at my party the next day.
Lisa doesn’t say much but continues cooking, and I notice she’s making a LOT of food – way more than just for her and Dave.
I see where this is going…
After they finish eating, they leave the leftovers in the fridge.
Given the history of these leftovers going uneaten and just taking up space until I have to clean them out, I get an idea.
The next day, I take out the leftovers, heat them up, and serve them at my dinner party, along with a bean dip I made.
My friends loved the food and kept complimenting me on how great it was. I just smiled and thanked them without giving too many details.
That night, Dave comes home, orders pizza, and goes to bed without even checking the fridge.
Two days later (after Lisa has already come and cooked another dinner), he notices the leftovers are gone and asks me what happened to them.
I tell him I used them for my party.
Cue the anger in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…
He gets super mad and says I had no right to take the food Lisa made.
I argued that it was just leftovers, and since they never eat them, I figured it was better than letting them go to waste.
Now, both Dave and Lisa are pretty pissed at me, saying it was a jerk move to “steal” her cooking for my party.
I think they’re overreacting because it was just food that was going to end up in the trash otherwise.
So, AITA for serving my roommate’s girlfriend’s leftovers at my dinner party without asking?
What started as a solution to food waste turned into a recipe for drama…
Reddit agrees that there’s a lot of annoyingness here.
This person says OP is the AH.
This person says everyone is at fault.
And this person says, well, he is pretty annoying.
Guess what’s left in the fridge doesn’t always come with a free-for-all pass.
Next time, better check before serving leftovers—unless you want a side of roommate rage.
If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.
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