My roommate says I'm "unzumutbar" (unacceptable)

Couldn't find the thread for expired edibles.

So here's a picture of my most recent Unzumutbarkeit, or rather, of the heroically contained contamination.

I knew my flatmate was a little enthusiastic for discarding packaged foods on the day before they expire, but hadn't realized she felt this strongly. If I'd known, I'd have re-packaged things ... what if she's been miffed this whole time, b/c I've routinely let things go a few days?

Any food scientists out there? What would happen to a bottle of cream with a screw-on cap if it went way, way past the expiry date?

dict.cc suggests "unacceptable", which I think captures the essence of the situation quite well. My commiserations for having to live with such a German German!

Maybe you should submit it to passive-aggressivenotes.com

You've gotta be kidding me! How dare you use whipping cream after it's expired!
Welcome to the crappy roommate club!

Dairy is good for no fewer than three days past the SELL BY date. It's called "MHB" because it's the Mindesthaltbarkeitsdatum -- the absolute minimum. Except that since stores can sell it up to that date, the product has to be good for at least a few more days. This goes for meat as well, though since they take it up to the limit you'll see beef starting to go brown at the edges even if it's in an oxygen-free package (Schutzatmosphäre). Tell your roommate to fuck off. Don't leave a note, do this directly. Since your roomie is clearly incapable of acting like a normal fucking adult, she definitely won't argue with you if you confront her in person.

Many items have an MHB simply as a way for the manufacturer to ensure continued sales. As an example I give you honey, something which is edible after 3,000 years' storage in an urn. And yet the shit has an MHB which legally forces restaurants to use up or throw out stocks within a period of time around six months. Fucking sugar packets have it, too. Some lower-turn-over items have unrealistically low MHBs for this reason as well.

woof.

Bloody hell, you let foodstuffs expire in the fridge? You're lucky the Enviromental Hygiene Squad didn't zap your neighbourhood from the nearest Zap-o-Neighbourhood satellite. No wonder your flatmate is up in arms. Next time you pull a trick like that, prepare to be escorted to the nearest border and cast into a dumper full of yesterday's bread.

On the other side of things... I had a co-worker who was vegan. Her boyfriend was not, and he MADE her sniff the expired dairystuffs in the fridge to see if they were still good.

And she married him.

*sigh*

I don't think you risk being merged since it was part of the do-all-foreigners-eat-watermelon-with-a-spoon thread, but if you want to have another laugh, here it is: Flagging yourself as a foreigner.

I thought we concluded (or maybe it was just me ) that that's nothing to do with Germanness. I absolutely eat yogurt if it is a week past the expiration date if it's not moldy. Milk can become very old in my fridge too (since I don't really like it that much/often)...

Speaking of expiration dates...
Ham and other similar meat products here [Spain] always seems to say on the packaging, consume within 48 hours of opening... Now ham usually (at my grocery store) comes in packs of 250gr. How on earth can a single person eat that much ham in 48 hours? So guess what, I just eat it for as long as it lasts, not overly long, but definitely not 48 hours... Though here I am a bit more wary with products that have to be cooled because I have the impression they are not cooled well on the way to the grocery store.

I've submitted a few of her special messages to the site, but they probably lost something in my suggested translations, or weren't clear out of context. The slow-worms admonition was my favorite.

Given the p-a-ness of my own missives, such as my first letter to the house owner cum lawyer, I don't exactly have the cleanest of shirts in this petty drama.


Actually, it's MHD, for Datum. Which I only knew b/c UnGroom had a client who was a manufacturer of a food ingredient which could go bad before the MHD. UG started using this ingredient all the time (talk about dedication) and it seemed the MHD was a batch-tracking system for the manufacturer rather than an meaningful indication of shelf life. I guess that's the opposite extreme of meaningless expiry dates.


You've really got her number! She sometimes lectures me in person, and repeats her argument once or twice, but I hold my own and she always skulks away.


Ugh, day-old baguettes ...


Oh, well, if thoughtfulness and respect aren't big in her book, sounds perfect. I had a vegan flatmate who made us wrap everything non-vegan in foil or paper or something opaque, so she wouldn't have to see it.


Not merged, but what's with the topic edit?
Thanks for the link.

Errr... I have no idea.
*dabs mouth with napkin*

It's probably certainly a moderator.

I have an old tradition of buying food then chucking it out when it goes off. To warn me off doing this, I left the last two overdue yoghurts in my fridge whey they still belong, now proudly bearing the date of 7 Oct 2006

It has worked a treat...

Shouldn't they have exploded by now?

Sounds like you are really clinging on to the local culture.

Tell'em to fuck off, and kick'em out /find another place to stay...

Sounds like a harsh way to treat those yoghurts - why should he kick them out now? Like Keydeck says, they bring a touch - a very solid touch - of culture to Jonny's home.

I like to name things in my fridge, the gf hates that...though I don't get any notes, they disappear these days though

...it's so sad...my pets just disappear *sniffle*

Does Monkeybint also refuse to drink milk from a glass because it leaves a film behind and then freak when others do it? Or have a pathological aversion to toast because of crumbs and cancer? Drink Bionade by the litre? Have a lifetimes' supply of post-it notes?

Just scribble the phone number of a therapist on the note and then stick it up on her door.

Hey PB, post-it notes are great!

Not suggesting anything, but...

Well besides the fact that that does look kind of cool and like someone had too much time on their hands, but very cool I'll leave that to someone else.
And why is there a post-it missing on that box?

They missed the side of this blue chair too...

Ahhh I love it.

Meanwhile, I'm sorry about your roomie. If they only knew some of the things I eat - LOL!!

Tell them that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger. So, you have a better immune system than she does because you eat stuff past the expiration date, and like to make sure it stays that way!

~Rose

Or refer her to this Wiki article (I knew there would be one on MHD, there is one on everything!

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindesthaltbarkeitsdatum

In which case, you should ask your room mate to replace the dairy products she destroyed by removing them from the fridge and putting them on the bench.

OMG - =Monkey= bagged the dairy and left the note. They both have loopy-girly handwriting, but I hadn't realized they share an MHD-fixation.