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A terrifying part of growing up is realizing just how many people either are ignorant of the most basic food safety rules or simply do not care. Add in the folks who have significantly different standards of hygiene and you have a minefield of disgusting food and potential food poisoning. 

Someone asked the internet “What is your “can’t eat at everybody’s house” horror story?” and traumatized netizens shared what happened to them. So best to finish your lunch, snacks, or other meal first, then get comfortable and scroll through. Upvote your “favorites” and share your own experiences in the comments section below. We also got in touch with Dr. Joe, M.D. to learn more.

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#1

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place I used to help an old neighbor out w grocery shopping, I’d drop the bags at her door and she’d give me a check for the amount of groceries. She’d give me homemade cookies once in a while, chocolate chips. I didn’t ever eat them because one time I caught sight of her apartment-it was a large studio, a small kitchen and tv and bed/couch. And about 20 cans of cat food, half eaten and 1 million flies and small maggots in diff stages of growth, dishes w crusty food stuck to them, and a wall of empty beer cans. After I saw that, and got a whiff of her apt, I started helping her w taking garbage out and putting groceries away, cleaning out her fridge and making sure her cat was healthy. A couple months later she got Covid, ended up at rehab facility and passed within 2 weeks.

Some people need help and a little company…

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#2

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place My MIL fished around in the green bin (compost bin) with her bare hands, didn't wash them, WIPED her GARBAGE JUICE HANDS on the tea towel, and then WENT BACK TO PREPPING THE SALAD.

She also got horrifically offended if I didn't want to eat at her house.

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#3

Listen up, because I’ve got a story that’ll make you swear off potlucks for life. Meet Carol. She’s that office angel who brings cookies on Fridays and rescues the printer. We all love Carol. Carol decides to host a dinner party and, let’s be honest, we’re all expecting this to be the food equivalent of a TED Talk—inspirational and enlightening.

We get there, and Carol unveils the main dish: her “World-Famous Tofu Casserole.” Now, I’m no food snob, but this thing looked like it had already been eaten and returned to the plate for round two. Being the brave (or stupid) soul I am, I took a scoop. First bite, and it’s like my mouth got ambushed by the ghost of expired vegetables and tofu that had given up on life. It’s so bad, even the dog won’t touch it, and this is a creature that eats its own vomit.

But wait, it gets worse. I’m trying to power through when I hit something crunchy. I dig it out and find—no s**t—a whole-a*s acrylic fingernail, complete with chipped glittery nail polish, looking up at me like the Eye of Sauron.

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María Hermida
María Hermida
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

😂😂😂😂 I loved the dog part. However, I must say that, at least my dogs, are difficult to understand. STOP READING NOW IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH. NOW. STOP. YOU'VE BEEN WARNED. They will eat cat s**t, vomit, etc, but there are some brands of dog food they won't eat even if they were starving. Crazy creatures.

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Bored Panda got in touch with doctor and TikTok creator Dr. Joe, M.D. to learn more about food safety. We wanted to hear what items are safe to leave unrefrigerated. "Most dishes that are safe to leave out at room temperature are those with low moisture content or those that are high in sugar or acid, which can inhibit bacterial growth."

"Examples include whole fruits and vegetables, bread, and baked goods that don't contain cream or custard. Dried foods like jerky or fruit, high-sugar items like cakes and cookies that don't have cream fillings or frostings, and pickled products. However, once cut or prepared, even these items may need refrigeration to prevent spoilage."
#4

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place My mom thought that the turkey would “dry out” if you cooked it for the recommended time. We even used the turkeys with the popping thermometers in them and never once did I see it popped, as a kid I just thought it was a turkey button😂 then she would eat the outside of the turkey (that was cooked) because she “liked the white meat and skin” like ma’am there would be a lot more “white meat” and less “pink meat” if you cooked it longer! Sibs and I always got sick after thanksgiving and she’d tell us it was because we were fat and ate too much. Wasn’t until I moved away for college that I found out turkey wasn’t supposed to be pink, I honestly thought I was just allergic to turkey

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#5

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place My grandma made me a food phobic from a young age. Whether it was ramen with moths floating on top, or chunky milk in my cereal it just scarred me for life. Dinner at her house was always a fight. Not eating her food was not an option. I'm not sure why that was the hill she would always choose to die on, because she was an amazing grandma other than this. Expiration dates aren't a thing. If the cheese was moldy, you cut it off.... I think living through the great depression and raising kids in poverty changed her mindset on food. I mean obviously she's doing something right because she's 91. She must have the immunity of a super hero

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#6

I was gonna complain about raisins in the potato salad but the other comments on here are scary. OMG

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Blue Bunny of Happiness
Blue Bunny of Happiness
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Reading the other posts on here, I’m hoping they were definitely raisins and not something more sinister!

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We also wanted to know some common mistakes folks make at home. "Not washing hands, cutting boards, and utensils properly before and after handling food, especially raw meat. Not cooking meats to the recommended internal temperature."

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"Using the same utensils or surfaces for raw and cooked foods without cleaning in between. Not cooling leftovers quickly enough before refrigerating. Overstocking the refrigerator prevents cold air from circulating."
#7

I slept over at a friend's house when I was in middle school, it was really dirty and trashed and also had this bizarre, powerful funk I couldn't identify, but I didn't think much of it. At the time I had a bad habit of getting up in the middle of the night for a midnight snack, so I went into the kitchen cause they had left the leftovers from dinner out and a kid don't know any better.. I hit the lights and man every plate, dish, item of silverware, etc on the table was absolutely covered in cockroaches. They didn't even run when the lights came on cause they knew they owned that house. I somehow managed to turn the light back off and retreat to the living room before emptying the contents of my stomach and curling up in a ball imagining every stray itch or other sensation to be bugs crawling on me for the rest of the night. This is why I have a serious phobia of bugs.

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Em
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh, I lived with a friend like this. Every place he ever lived was chock full of roaches. I'd occasionally wake up covered in them. He liked to berate me on the rare occasion I'd leave a plate in the dining room or whatever -- "this is why we have roaches!" It's weird how I've never had them in any place I've lived without him.

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#8

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place My BIL sweats alot.. He sweats ALOT. We're Italian and there's always lots of cooking, sauce, etc on holidays. My mom and I went to my sister's and watched him standing over the sauce, wiping the sweat from his head, and saw sweat dripping in the sauce.. It was disgusting. We always eat before we go there and we also will order catered items to bring with us for everyone. We don't eat anything that's cooked at my sisters anymore. I'm getting nauseous thinking about it.

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#9

Neighbor invited me and couple friends over for pan fried steaks with mushrooms. He answered the door wearing the same swimming trunks and torn, filthy t shirt as the day before and barefoot. Those trunks with their netting inside really hold on to swampa*s and ballsweat stink and it was obvious he hadn't showered or washed the clothes. No dish soap on counter. No hand/bar soap or toilet paper in bathroom. Someone notified him about lack of tp or soap and he said he just jumps in the shower after he poops. There's no soap in the shower either.

I didn't eat. Everyone else spent the next 24 hours vomiting into trash buckets while they ejected from the other end on the toilet. Later he confessed they were mushrooms he'd foraged himself. They all got lucky the idiot hadn't served them something deadly. No idea what they were. Was it food poisoning or a toxic mushroom? Idk but don't you eat at people's houses unless you're certain of their food safety precautions. Some people are too stupid to be trusted around food.

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Kat
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You don't play around with mushrooms you don't know! In this situation though who knows if it was even just the mushrooms.

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However, it's possible to still get food poisoning, so we asked what a person should do to try and feel better. "If You Have Gotten Food Poisoning: Stay hydrated. Drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration. Electrolyte solutions or rehydration drinks can be particularly helpful."
#10

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place Told my dad my sandwich tasted like fly spray at my grandmas house. He didn’t believe me. Two days later I catch my grandma spraying the benches “clean” with the $2 fly spray you find at the cheap store. Dad figured it was safe to make sandwiches straight on the countertop because they looked clean. I dragged him over to see and he apologized and took my sister and I for fish and chips for lunch.

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#11

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place There was one time I was eating at my bf's house at the time and his grand mother was cooking food. She wasn't feeling well and everyone offered to cook that night but she insisted. Usually, when she's cooking, she doesn't like anyone in the kitchen. Thing is, the kitchen is the first thing you see when you walk into the apartment. So I came from the store to help pick up a few things for dinner. I walked in, saw her blowing her nose with her hand and then used the same hand to massage seasonings into the chicken. She cooked the chicken in the rice. I didn't eat that day and just said I ate before I came over. Some of his family members thought I was rude but I didn't have the heart to tell them since they also didn't like me very much cause I was shy.

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electronicgogo
electronicgogo
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

wait, blowing her nose INTO her hand? and you didn't warn them about the SNOT CHICKEN???

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#12

I had a small circle of co-workers that I was friends with, and we would occasionally hang out together outside of work. One of those co-workers was Lisa, a mid/late 40's woman who was single, but had a couple of little yappy dogs and several cats.

Lisa invited several of us over to play board games, and said she would cook us dinner. We got there while she was still cooking, and were standing around the kitchen talking to her while she finished up cooking.

We all about s**t our pants when she took the spoon out of the pot of spaghetti sauce she was cooking, tasted it, and then casually held it down for her 2 little yappy dogs to lick the spoon, and then stuck it right back in the pot of spaghetti and continued stirring it like it was the most normal thing in the world.

I am not sure how the rest of them got out of eating it, but just before we were supposed to sit down and eat, I faked an emergency call from work and said I had to run in to the office and deal with a problem, and got the hell out of there. I was always "busy" every time she invited us over after that (and NEVER ate anything she ever brought to an office pot luck)

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"Rest to allow your body to recover. Avoid anti-diarrheal medication unless prescribed by a doctor, as these can prevent your body from flushing out bacteria or toxins. If necessary, seek medical attention, especially if you experience severe symptoms such as high fever, prolonged vomiting, signs of dehydration, bloody stools, or if you suspect botulism."
#13

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place When I was a kid, Christmas Eve was always celebrated at Grandma's. I always got sick afterwards. Like Merry Christmas, you're going to puke now. It wasn't until I was all grown up and helping her out in the last weeks of her life that I learned why. She did not believe in expiration dates on anything!

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Harley
Harley
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think from now on instead of using the term expiration date, we should just call it spoiler alert

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#14

I was babysitting a kid in a pretty dirty house. I was told to wake him up, supervise bathing and changing clothes, and feed him. I was welcome to whatever was in the fridge. Ok. The house and his clothes were filthy. Then, when I opened the cabinets, floods of roaches poured out. There were roaches in every opened box and container. I took him back to my house and returned him later that day. I hope the boy ended up in a better situation. I found out CPS got involved shortly after.

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Candace Mccoy
Candace Mccoy
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Always shake your clothes out and spray them with roach spray if you bring even one home your house will be infested.

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#15

I used to be a really sick kid and constantly in and out of the hospital but no one could ever tell me exactly why I was always feeling so bad but once I moved out of my moms house I never had tummy issues again and I wouldn’t get sick as often or feel horrible so frequently. Then once I went to visit my mom and she had chicken in a ziplock bag sitting outside on the steps right where any number of animals could get to it. I was about to throw it away but she stopped me and said that was for dinner, she was just thawing it in the sun. I’ve never eaten at my moms house since. But it did make me realize that a lot of the things she’d do in the kitchen were just not ok at all like leaving food out to thaw in the sink all day, maggot covered chocolate, mouse eaten Kraft Mac and cheese boxes, roaches in cereal, apple juice so old it started growing a large mass inside the bottle, oh god and the times she would cook pork and it would smell like burning p**s. I thought that’s what pork was supposed to smell like and assumed I just didn’t like pork but nope, it was very clearly expired.

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"When it comes to food safety, it's better to be proactive than reactive. Follow best practices to avoid foodborne illnesses from the start. If you're catering to special populations such as young children, the elderly, pregnant women, or those with compromised immune systems, be extra vigilant, as these groups are more susceptible to the effects of food poisoning. Always keep an eye out for food recalls and safety alerts in your area," Dr. Joe, M.D. shared with Bored Panda.

#16

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place Had a Christmas party at work... Someone brought pasta salad. The bowl was full of cat hair... Some hairs in the salad looked like human hair. I wanted to throw up immediately... Unfortunately I'm bad at keeping a pokerface

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#17

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place When I was a kid, my sister and I were great friends with the kids that lived next door. We mostly played outside and would spend time at whatever house we felt like at the time. I went to their house early on a Saturday once when they had just finished breakfast and were cleaning up. They were pouring the milk out of the glasses the family had been drinking out of right back into the milk jug. They had 6 kids so I guess they had to be frugal. I never ate there, not with the thought of backwash milk in my head.

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Bored something
Bored something
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why wouldn't you a) pour smaller glasses or b) just drink the rest?

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#18

When I was a kid I used to visit my grandmother a lot. One day she gave me crackers and cheese to snack on. I was about to take a bite of a cracker when I looked down and saw something moving on it. “Hey,” I said, “There’s bugs on this cracker!” My grandmother took a look: “There’s nothing there, eat your crackers.” But I insisted, so my aunt took a look: “There’s nothing there, eat your crackers.” But I continued to insist until my other aunt took a look. Sure enough, she saw little brown bugs crawling all over the crackers.

My aunt opened the box the crackers had come from: bugs. She pulled boxes from the cupboards and looked inside: more bugs. The whole kitchen was infested with little brown bugs. They were in the cookie tins, in the bread box, in the flour… My aunt asked my grandmother, an avid baker, how she hadn’t noticed the colony of bugs that had taken over the white flour. Her response: “Oh, I thought it was whole wheat!”

They ended up tossing out at least three garbage bags of food that night. The cupboards were bare when they were done. It seemed to take care of the problem but I was always a little weary about eating at my grandmother’s house after that.

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Debbie
Debbie
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Flour bugs are common - in the sense that it can happen to clean people too, and they come with a package (imported into your house). Once you have them you have to toss out almost anything flour/dry (check EVERYTHING dry, flour, paper), thoroughly clean (I mean alcohol clean, disinfect,bugspray clean) your cabinets. Many people I know once had it, me too, I always check my flour thoroughly now. It sucks. But it can happen to anyone that gets flour in their kitchen.

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#19

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place I visited a friends house who was living with his mother, she asked if I wanted a coffee and I said I would, upon getting to the bottom of the cup and taking the last few gulps I found there was a used bandaid stuck to the bottom…never ate or drank there again.

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#20

I was at a friends house pretty late, and his mom asked if I wanted to stay for dinner. I ended up staying.

I was told we were gonna have "Spaghetti and meat". I know, I can hear what you're thinking. "Surely you mean meatballs?". My names not Shirley and that's what I thought.

She told us to go play and 15 minutes later she was calling us. I was naturally confused because I know Spaghetti takes longer than that. We rush inside and what I was served sure as hell was not spaghetti. Sitting in front of me was a plate of stone cold, wet spaghetti noodles, covered in ketchup with chunks of cold spam.

I ate like 2 bites and was full. But they happily gorged themselves on this insult to Italian cooking. But it did finally explain why my friend hated coming over to my house when my Mom made real spaghetti. He thought that was 'fake' spaghetti. First and last time I ever ate over there. My Mom did not believe me until he visited again and confirmed it.

As an adult I asked him what in the hell that was and he said it was real spaghetti... And that he eats as an adult regularly and despises "fake spaghetti" as he calls it.

You might be thinking they were poor, they were not.

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Brenda White
Brenda White
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

C.O. Shea please stop the hate. I personally don't like Trump but the constant hate is such an unhappy thing

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#21

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place A girl I was interested in at the time had cats, I came to her house one day to pick her up for a date and she had a large sack of rice open in her pantry with the pantry door open. One of the cats hopped out of the sack of rice and she just casually laughed at it like “oh they are always getting into things.” Came over the following weekend that SAME sack of rice was in the pantry and I could hear one of them tussling around in it again, we stopped dating sometime after that but anytime she offered to cook for me I immediately pivoted to taking her out to eat instead.

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Bored something
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Nope, rice kitty litter is gross. I love my cats but they do not get in the pantry or on the table or bench.

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#22

I graduated high school at 6' 10" tall, but weighing only 120 lbs.

That's not skinny, that's emaciated. The food prepared by my bio-mom was so bad that it wasn't providing me with the nutrients or calories I needed to survive. I went off to college where I had to cook for myself (I wasn't allowed to cook at home because my father insisted that "cooking was women's work") Not only did I discover that food didn't have to be burnt to a crisp, flavorless, or boiled until everything was grey. I also discovered that food can be made to taste good, and using things like salt, or pepper, spices, or various condiments can make it taste amazing.

The "freshman 15" likely saved my life.

The thing is, I don't think that my biomom was even *aware* that her food was that disgusting. Whenever we went out for dinner (which was more often than what my father wanted, but *he* was the one that insisted on going) she did nothing but complain about how the food was undercooked, "practically raw," or "too spicy," to eat. When she went to other people's houses (including her own extended family) she would criticize them for "doing it wrong" when she watched them cook anything. She would often end up refusing to eat their food because she "watched them ruin it," when they cooked it. We never had guests over to eat her cooking. Ever.

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#23

Recently at my mother in laws. She asked for a jar of Alfredo sauce from her cabinet. Grabbed one, a year expired. Grabbed another, two years expired. The oldest I found expired in 2018. There was also a day recently where she wanted me to make taco meat out of ground beef. I opened the meet and it smelled rancid, like totally rotten. She smelled it “oh it’s fine that’s just how ground beef smells”. She tried to make me cook it and I refused. No wonder her autistic daughter accidentally s**t in the pool this summer if she’s cooking expired foods just because she’s cheap and doesn’t want to replace something if it’s bad. Had to tell my 9 year old that I don’t want him eating at nanas house anymore.

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#24

My friend told me that she put whipped cream on top of a cheesecake solely to hide the footprints her cat left when he stepped on the cake. I never ate anything that she baked from that moment forward

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#25

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place My colleague always brings me food to work. I work in a hair salon, inside of a hair salon, if that makes since. She owns the main salon and I have my own small salon. We share an entrance and backroom. I always knew she was a bit of a slob, but when I saw she used the same sponges to clean the dishes she served me from to wash counters, hair color bowls, bleach bowls and sink basins I couldn't do it anymore. The thought of eating from something with bleach, Ammonia, hair color, counter dirt and the shampoo bowl grime was too much for me

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#26

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place Worked as a cleaning-lady.

There was one woman who had schizophrenia, she was kind, but damn. That house was the stuff you see on tv shows. They should sent a team of professionals.

She had a rat cage, and I've had pet rats myself, so I asked her about it. She said he had died.
I took a closer look and the water in the bottle had black spots all over it. The water had gone bad or something. I've never seen water go that bad in my entire life.

The rat was gone, luckily. But the whole cage was still in there, like the rat had never left.

Decided to do some dishes, they were piling up quite a bit. But she had no clean sponge or clean towels. She also didn't knew where they were.

There was a spot on the floor where 2 flies were feeding themselves of, as I vacuumed they flew away.

She asked me if I liked some coffee and just automatically I said yes before I realized what I had done.

Right before she handed it to me she said "I wonder when I last cleaned that thing... must have been about 2 years ago."

I said I forgot I had a cup of coffee at the previous house and shouldn't drink too much caffeine, and excused myself.

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Debbie
Debbie
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"There was a spot on the floor where 2 flies were feeding themselves of, as I vacuumed they flew away. " ... 2 flies.... honestly, all of it doesn't sound THAT bad. The rat died and she never cleaned out the water bowl, so it went bad, that can happen within a week. Dishes were piling up "quite a bit" - was that an understatement or just dishes from a few days? That she didn't know where the sponge or towels are could be because of her condition. At the start I thought of a filthy hoarders house, but then there would be mention of piles of trash, piles of dishes, stains everywhere etc.... but this sounds mild in comparison to that image.

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#27

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place I went with my then-fiance to visit some relatives of his. We arrived at their place to find that they were serving up the leftovers of this noodle dish (pancit) that had been their fare the night before.

Now if you know anything about handling pancit safely, you'd know that it goes rancid real quick in hot weather. I could smell that it had gone off, even from the doorway of the house. One of the older relatives knew this too, and bundled some of us to get McDonalds nearby. Those who insisted on eating the pancit got a bit sick later that day. What a mess.

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Lavendar rose
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I grew up eating Pancit and never knew about it going rancid. Probably because there were never leftovers.

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#28

This is a family story. It happen when I was a baby so no memory. It was a family thanksgiving pot luck style. Everyone brought one dish plush a drink to share. One of my aunts by marriage brought mash potatoes.

She let it slip that while cooking she ran out of milk. So instead of having her husband run out to try and get more: she used her own breast milk. No one touched it but her, my uncle, and the older kid.

After that it was a rule of thumb; if she Made it don’t eat it. Mind you after my grandma died in ‘07 we haven’t had any family holiday get togethers like that since, so no worry there.

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MonsterMum
MonsterMum
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wouldn't eat breast milk potatoes either but surely all non plant milk is breast milk, just the species varies

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#29

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place We have a 73 year old coworker who's a legit hoarder. I'll get to the point without going too far down this rabbit hole.
Years ago we had a potluck for our crew. As lunch is coming up we are all getting cleaned up and putting all the food out. I go to the bathroom to clean up and I see Ron walk out the stall as he's buttoning up his pants and walk right out. I go to our lunch area and I see him in line and first thing he does is grab a hand full of chips and put it on his plate. I grab that bag and hand it to him. I tell him "these are yours now" long story short I tell my boss why I did it and he agreed. After that I never participated in potlucks on the same crew as Ron

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WindySwede
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That why tongs should be used. But some f*****s still would use their hands for the chips...

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#30

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place I went to a friend's house after school, he was going to teach a group of us to play d&d. We got there and his house was disgusting. I'm not the neatest person but the carpet hadn't been vacuumed in forever, clothes were all over the place, and dirty dishes were stacked everywhere. I tried to be polite even though the place reeked, but at some point he was like "who wants snacks!" He picked up a bowl that was crusted with stuff, splashed in some water, wiped it with a towel that clearly hadn't been washed that decade, and poured chips into it. Then he asked if we wanted to stay for dinner. We did not.

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#31

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place I was working as an interior painter during my college years. This middle aged man put a container of strawberries in the sink, then proceeded to trim his nose hairs over that same sink with an electric trimmer. He rinsed the strawberries and then offered me some.

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#32

My distant uncle's wife couldn't cook or use seasoning to save her life, so I would pretend to eat it then give it to the dogs. My aunt got a text from said uncle saying he caught me on camera feeding the dogs and that he didn't feel comfortable with me staying over at the house anymore. MF why do you have cameras in your HOUSE??!!

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#33

My dad's house. I stayed with him once and on the first day, he took some ground sausage out of the freezer to thaw for dinner. He put it on the stove in between the burners to thaw. He said the heat from cooking breakfast and lunch would make it thaw faster. He moved it to cold water in a bowl, but according to him, that was to appease me because I'm a "germaphobe."

He also has a habit of scratching his belly and back almost constantly, even dipping into the waistline of his shorts in the back to scratch and never washes his hands. I asked him about it because I saw him doing it while he was making breakfast, and he said very defensively IT'S NOT LIKE I'M SCRATCHING MY A*S CRACK, JUST MY LOWER BACK.

So yeah, that was day one, and I made myself scarce at mealtimes the whole time I was there.

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Spooky Demon Bat (they/them)
Spooky Demon Bat (they/them)
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It's not germaphobia if you don't want someones gross, unwashed hands in your food. That's called being normal and hygienic

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#34

Recently, our friend had to move his family in with his in-laws due to financial reasons (single income, rent was going up, want to save up for a house) and he found out his mother in law will cut raw chicken with kitchen scissors, and then put them back without washing them. Apparently she has been doing this for decades

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Little Wonder
Little Wonder
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

omg my mum is the same. I wash the scissors when she's not looking these days.

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#35

I had to stay at a friends cousins house for a few days.The thing is the house was..hoarder level. I slept on the floor which was covered in clothes and a three inch layer of cat hair(I hope it was cat hair) she fed me macaroni and cheese but I distinctly remember there being green crusts on the noodles and the fork being dirty. Not wanting to be rude I picked out what noodles I could and claimed I wasn’t hungry since I had to leave my home. The milk she offered me the next day was cottage cheese and I politely phoned another friend to ask if I could sleep on their couch because I was finding bugs on my body.

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Mel Colley
Mel Colley
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm more worried that you HAD to stay at a friends' house. Family problems are much worse

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#36

I dated a girl once that thought it’d be a nice idea to bake some muffins. She forgot to wash the muffin pan. Do you wanna know how I know she forgot to wash the muffin pan? Because we had a mouse problem and there was mouse s**t in the muffins, not funfetti.

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Reenzy Bennington
Reenzy Bennington
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'm on desktop, no emojis. Can somebody help me out with the about-to-puke face in a reply? LOL

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#37

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place Sleepover in the 5th grade at a friends house. Her mom made chicken and veggies. I took a bite of chicken and something was off. Flipped it over and the backside was COATED in black dog hair.

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Kat
Kat
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How do these people get so much dog hair in their food and not notice or care?? I live with a husky and constantly have hair on me somewhere but it's never in my cooking.

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#38

My narcissistic mother would fake illnesses and not leave bed for months. There was also a portable toilet next to the bed. She hadn’t showered in months and has highly questionable hygiene habits. Last Christmas my now husband and I were visiting and she said she made the meatballs. I brushed it off because she’s highly delusional and typically my dad cooked anyways.

Turns out my dad brought her the raw hamburger and supplies to make the meatballs in bed to make her feel better. She made the meatballs with her dirty hands next to the portable toilet. I found this out months later. We are now no contact for other reasons. But I am thankful my husband and I will never risk eating her sketchy meatballs again.

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the quickening
the quickening
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

... that doesn't really sound like "faking an illness". In fact, it sounds like an extremely serious illness on top of another on top of another.

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#39

Went to a barbecue on my uncle’s farm decades back. We used to have Christmas and Easter dinners there, so I didn’t think anything of it.

Unfortunately, the guys were doing the grilling - *not* my aunts. Lots of farm guys don’t have the greatest hygiene and I think whoever made the burgers had been in contact with some “bio hazardous matter”, if you catch my drift.

By the time I got home, it was coming out both ends. Couldn’t eat for almost a week, I heard a lot of people ended up ill. I don’t touch anything that isn’t prepackaged if I’m there now.

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#40

I’m a germaphobe & I cannot eat at my friends house. but every single dish, cup & fork has dried food on it bc the dishwasher didn’t clean it all the way. But it’s “clean” bc the dishwasher “sanitized it.” Don’t get me started on her reusable straws. & if u don’t find a plate with dried food on it, you’ll find dog hair.
Oh & they used the same sponge to clean the dog bowls, the sink & coffee mugs. Just no.

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M Penguin
M Penguin
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Had my hair done by a friend in their kitchen. They grabbed the kitchen sponge, wiped the excess dye off my neck, then wiped up some that had dropped on floor. I declined her coffe and cake.

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#41

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place my mom tells one about going over to her aunt Virginia's house. she, her parents, and siblings are sat around the kitchen while aunt cooks, and my mom cannot figure out why no one else is having ANY of this incredibly delicious bread that's on the table. she's on her third slice when aunt steps out to do something else, and my mom is told by her brother to go look in the flour bin.

absolutely filled with miller moth larvae. aunt Virginia had been losing her eyesight for years.

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#42

My inlaws leave food out on the table, and then expect you to eat it until the dish is gone.

Like, on monday lunch might be a pork fried rice. The leftovers stay on the table and you eat more for dinner, then overnight it stays on the table and you eat it for lunch again. They do the same thing with seafood, chicken, any dish, any weather, its staying on the table. And if for some reason food is leftover after 2 days, instead of throwing it out, my inlaws will add it to the new dish theyre cooking (eg. 3 day old chicken thats been on the table during summer will get added to a stirfry)

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C.O. Shea
C.O. Shea
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The poor guy who died recently after eating take-out food left on the table for 8 hrs convinces me... food handling is important.

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#43

My 3 year old nieces birthday party. The kids, all around the same age, gather round the cake, which was a really nice one that was custom made by a bakery.

One kid has a snotty nose and he’s really fascinated by the candles and trying to get up close so he can blow them out. He’s blowing and blowing and his mom keeps trying to pull him back so my niece can blow them out. I’m thinking this is gross, he’s blowing flu germs all over the cake. I ain’t eating that.

He breaks lose and gets right up next to the cake to blow, but this time he sneezes instead. A big blob of snot lands on top of the cake.

I was laughing my a*s off. Funniest thing I’ve ever seen. Then the adults were racing to pull him away from the cake and they scraped off the icing and served the cake. I don’t think anyone really ate it at that point. They just kind of scattered it around their plates so it might look that way.

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Lavendar rose
Lavendar rose
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Eww I don't get people who allow their clearly sick kids to go tomorrow go to school or parties! Gross

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#44

Saw Linda from billing on that show hoarders. Her kids had her do the show not realizing she had a very legit career outside of her home.
She stopped coming to work, I stopped participating in Potlucks

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Debbie
Debbie
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Even people with legit careers can have issues, and if she was doing well at work, her being a hoarder should not have to affect her career. I bet it was the shame why she didn't come in anymore. How could this be prevented or remedied?

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#45

I went to a friend’s house after school. She was going go make us toast.
went to put the bread in and realized there was already bread in the toaster. Pops it up and it’s covered in mold. A lot of mold.

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#46

50 Food Horror Stories That Made These People Instantly Run From A Place My first boyfriend’s parents invited me for thanksgiving. I came over a few days before Christmas and all the same dirty dishes from thanksgiving were still in the kitchen. I passed on coming over for Christmas dinner.

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Reenzy Bennington
Reenzy Bennington
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'll be naive and point out that Thanksgiving and Christmas are almost a whole month apart and those might have been the same dishes but maybe not since Thanksgiving?

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#47

My crackpot aunt served us a lovely tray of deviled eggs, complete with very old paprika sprinkled on top. So old, in fact, the many weevils mixed in it were dead.

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Reenzy Bennington
Reenzy Bennington
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The disrespect!!! - greetings from the paprika growing region of Hungary lol

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#48

A lady I knew told me a story about how they were at a potluck and halfway through one of the other ladies started talking about how she uses a crockpot to autoclave her menstrual cups. No one was able to get her to clarify it wasn't the same crockpot she brought food in.

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deejak
deejak
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, an autoclave involves both heat AND pressure, so she wasn't doing that with a crockpot.

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#49

A friend’s mom poured salt on my mac and cheese. She later called my mom and said I must not like mac and cheese very much, because I didn’t really eat it. (It has always been my favorite food of all time). My mom asked me about it and I felt awkward that it merited a call home.

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#50

When we were just starting out, my first wife and I were invited to a couples house for dinner. Being polite (Also not knowing any better) we accepted and sat down to a nice home cooked spaghetti dinner. Now, every young couple we knew made a version of "basic a*s white people pasta and sauce". Dry pasta, boil and drain, sauce from a bottle and meat, toss it all together. Maybe make a version of garlic bread if yer fancy. This did not occur. Wet a*s poorly drained noodles, sauce and meat together until the meat basically boiled through and sugar...heaps of it in the sauce. To top it off, yeast rolls (A family recipe!!) that I would have sooner taken to a riot and used to smash windows with. Shockingly enough, rich only kid and his head cheerleader wife did NOT, in fact know how to cook. How polite were we? Two duty stations later we wound up at their Christmas dinner and no, their culinary skills did not improve.

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Raphapablap
Raphapablap
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Can someone explain "white people pasta and sauce" is? What has race got to do with someone's inability to cook?

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