Did you know that food waste is a major problem in America? According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average cost of food waste per person is $728 a year, and one-third of the food in our country goes uneaten.
So, what would you do if you had a family member who was super wasteful with food and just didn’t care about it at all?
This man has a 15-year-old niece, and this is his brother-in-law’s daughter from outside of his marriage. Nobody has ever denied this girl being his brother-in-law’s firstborn, and she’s been in all of their lives since she was an infant.
“Love ‘em all, so no bias when I say B’s spoiled. The biggest problem is B has a huge issue wasting food. She will load up her plate, eat less than 30%, then throw the rest in the trash. Every time,” he explained.
“I brought this up to my sister and BIL multiple times. Nothing done. I have no issue with her eating as much as she can, but she overloads her plate, then throws what’s left in the trash.”
“When I brought up this during family dinners, her parents excused it as her not ‘liking’ leftovers and that at least she cleans her plate (throwing what’s left in the trash and rinsing her plate to put in the sink).”
He questioned his sister and brother-in-law about why they didn’t take his niece’s food as leftovers for themselves to eat later. They resolved to try that as a solution, but that never happened.
Two family dinners ago, he gave his niece a plate of food and didn’t allow her to pick it out herself. His niece accepted the plate, and he informed her that she could have more food when she was done.
The following day, his sister texted him saying he embarrassed his niece in front of everyone and singled her out, as she was the only teen at the family dinner who wasn’t permitted to make a plate for herself. His sister reprimanded him for treating his niece like she was being ‘greedy.’
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The thing is, if his niece ate all of the food she piled on her plate, he wouldn’t have a problem. But this is all going in the garbage because his niece’s eyes are bigger than her stomach.
In the past, his family was concerned that his niece had an eating disorder and was throwing so much food on her plate to hide the amount she was truly eating.
“But it wasn’t that. She eats, but she’s also not overeating. She just overloads her plate and wastes what’s left. She even did the same thing with the cake, which I didn’t serve her,” he said.
“Took two slices to start, ate one slice, scraped the frosting off the other slice, and threw the remaining cake in the trash. Not wasting food is something that was greatly instilled [in] all of us as kids. So my reaction is just instinctual.”
At the latest family dinner, his brother-in-law made digs at him, even though he hadn’t confronted him about his niece’s food waste that day.
When all the kids went into the kitchen to get food or drinks, his brother-in-law made comments like they should make sure they’re allowed to do that.
Not wanting to create drama, he pulled his sister aside to speak to her, and she said that he got what he wanted. It’s not about getting permission for him at all, and his sister is missing the point.
“Now I feel like they’re making me the bad guy to my nieces and nephews,” he continued.
He’s left wondering if he’s the jerk for not wanting his niece to waste food and for stepping in when her parents failed to act.
His niece is completely old enough to understand that she is needlessly wasting food. At the next family dinner, he should call out his sister and brother-in-law in front of everyone for not doing anything about it.
His niece is throwing his money away by not even eating everything she has on her plate. I don’t see anything wrong with him portioning things out to her since she’s so careless.
What do you think?
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By Bre Avery Zacharski
Hi, I'm Bre, Chip Chick's CEO! I have a degree in Textile/Surface Design from The Fashion Institute of Technology, and... More about Bre Avery Zacharski
