When a grandparent’s kitchen becomes a time capsule of expired groceries, what’s a concerned parent supposed to do?

This mom decided enough was enough when her dad tried serving up a meal that had been chilling in the freezer for years.

Read on for the story!

AITA for telling my father he’s no longer allowed to cook for my kids?

My (30F) father (60s) shops like a doomsday prepper. Whenever he gets groceries, he buys enough to feed a family of 5.

He’s also the type to buy food he doesn’t plan on eating anytime soon, “just in case” he craves it.

This has always been a problem. When I was younger, my sister and I spent more time at our mom’s place, and weren’t there often enough to eat much.

Nowadays, he lives alone, so even less of what he buys is eaten.

The result has always been the same: a lot of the food he buys ends up either spoiled or sitting in a freezer until the end of time.

We’ve never eaten anything that’s rotten or moldy, but my dad has always refused to listen when I tell him this is bad for his health.

What an odd problem!

My family went to his place for dinner about a week ago. I arrived earlier to help my father out, as he planned on making burgers.

My husband would come later with our kids (5M and 2F).

I had offered to buy some burgers when we decided on them, but my father had said he had some at his place.

I didn’t think about what that could mean until I saw him pull a box of burgers and some cheese from the very bottom of the freezer.

As both had clearly been there a while, I checked the expiration dates.

The cheese expired in February (I know dairy products can last longer frozen, but still). The burgers expired in March 2021.

Oh heck no.

I asked my father if he actually planned on cooking that food. He said yes, as both were frozen and “still fine” to eat.

I told him I didn’t care how edible he thought the food was, the meat was older than my daughter.

We could think about something else to make or I could have my husband pick up some burgers on his way to my dad’s place, but I didn’t want my kids eating that.

My father got offended. He started going on about how the food was safe and how a dozen nutritionists (AKA some guys his girlfriend found on TikTok) had said so.

He said he couldn’t believe I didn’t trust him.

He’s unwell.

He continued talking about how dramatic I was being for a while. I was very upset at the way he responded.

Finally, I said: “My kids aren’t eating that, and I don’t want you cooking for them again. Either (husband’s name) buys the burgers or we’re not staying for dinner.”

My husband ended up buying the burgers. We ate them peacefully and no one fought in front of the kids.

The next day, my father told me he was upset by what I’d said. He said he felt offended that I’d “accuse him of putting his grandchildren in danger” like that.

I told him that wasn’t my intention, I just didn’t want to feed my kids 3 year old meat, and he refused to listen to me.

My goodness.

My dad’s still insisting I’m being dramatic. My husband is completely on my side, but thinks forbidding my father from cooking for our children might have been a little too much.

AITA?

Was banning him from cooking really over the top, or just common sense?

Reddit says it wasn’t even a little dramatic.

This person says they’d never serve expired frozen meat to a guest.

And this person says it’s not even about the food, just the control issue.

This person…green…what?

Listen…

When your parent’s meal prep looks more like an archaeological dig, setting some boundaries isn’t just dramatic—it’s necessary.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.