'Rude' houseguest help themselves to a lot more than just leftovers

Hosting house guests is a luxury many of us have missed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, but maybe that's a good thing.

A woman whose house guests have "just left" has been left stunned by their behaviour during their most recent stay. She describes them as lovely, adding she enjoys hosting them "every year".

"Multiple families who are helpful with the kids and get involved with cooking and cleaning," she explains on Mumsnet. "We don't ask for any money and provide everything down to nappies and toiletries."

But two of them at least are "funny about food and freeload horribly", the woman writes.

"We've spent £500 (AUD $942) on tickets for a day out, BBQ food, a takeaway, food shop for the weekend, wine and beer," she explains. "No problem we saved for it, it's our holiday for the year.

"They turned up with four beers, very kind - thank you," the woman continues. "I put them in the fridge and it was a free for all during the weekend but they didn't get used."

After the guests had left, the woman discovered they had taken their unused beers with them.

"Not a word said, just taken," she writes. "At Christmas we made all the food and hosted and asked them to bring cheese. They did and took all the leftovers and their cheese home."

She says on both occasions the guests have also taken a bag of leftovers with them, commenting that their hosts had "way too much" and they "don't want it to go to waste".

"Yesterday I tried to make the meal I'd planned and found they'd used the ingredients to make tupperwares [sic] of meals 'so it doesn't go to waste!'" she continues.

"The ingredients were fresh that morning, had a planned purpose and would have been fine for a week."

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She admits to finding their actions "frustrating and rude" and admits her husband says she's "being ridiculous", before asking the forum if she's being unreasonable.

"What do you say to them as they're emptying the fridge?" one shocked Mumsnet user asked.

"Wow. They wouldn't be invited back if it were me!" comments another.

"I wouldn't say ridiculous but pushover comes to mind," says one blunt Mumsnet user. "I've honestly never heard of anything like this. It's nice to be generous but……."

"They are absolutely taking the p---," suggests another.

"I'd hate anyone messing about in my fridge, for a start," says one. "I think you might want to consider being a bit less lavish with the food, so there's nothing left over for them to pinch."

Another asked if the hosts were asked for their Tupperware back.

"If you did then YANBU (You Are Not Being Unreasonable) as you showed backbone and asked, letting them know they were being cheeky!" they write. "If you didn't, then ... you wimped out and what do you expect when you let people walk over you?"

"They've cleared you out to the extent that key ingredients for your dinner are gone?" comments another. "They presumably can eat as they have the contents of the fridge? Very cheeky and strange behaviour from them."

Just one Mumsnet user felt some sympathy for the houseguests, writing, "Are they doing okay financially? I'd absolutely hate it, but maybe they are really struggling."

"No you don't start emptying a host's fridge of ingredients they've bought, informing them, 'You don't need all this, it'll go to waste'. That's the most bizarre behaviour ever!" another person writes.

"If it's 300 left over profiteroles/obvious perishables, that will have gone ick in 24hrs, then that's one thing, but of course, you still ask first. Raw ingredients that haven't yet been used, and just bagging them up, telling you that you don't need them, that's unbelievably poor manners.

"What I don't understand is why you didn't point this out? You didn't have to be rude, just a simple 'ooh, hang on, that's for tonight's tea!' And laugh, but with a look that says, 'seriously, leave that there please'."

Another Mumsnet user suggests the hosts stop inviting these particular friends over to their home.

"This is very weird dynamics," they write. "Yes they are ridiculous. Perhaps you could visit them next time?"

Contact Jo Abi at jabi@nine.com.au.