I was surprised by the amount of people in the post below who said they throw away food that neighbors bring for them. I am curious if this is the majority or just the people who answered, so...[Poll]
Warning
No formatter is installed for the format bbhtml
Re: Clicky Poll: Homemade Food from Neighbors
Like I said in the other post, my next door neighbor is the sweetest woman, but she chain smokes and just smells awful all the time. She's brought over several gifts for DD (baby blanket, stuffed animals, toys, etc) and they all reek of smoke so bad that I have to put them in the garage and let them air out. I can only imagine what her food would taste/smell like.
I'm not opposed to potlucks or homemade food at all, I just have high standards of cleanliness and I'm a germ-a-phobe.
I had a bad experience. My husband and I moved into an apartment right before we got married. A seemingly sweet older lady brought us a casserole the day after we moved in. We chatted with her for a bit & ate the food. We both felt a little ill the next day but did not make the connection.
We got to know the lady a little more and she was separated from her husband of 25+ years. She disclosed that he was suffering from dementia and tried to poison her. She made us soup, and we got sick. I made the connection. The next time she made me something, I did not eat it. She started bringing up poison more and more in conversations where she would catch us when we were coming or going from our home. Over time, we realized that her husband was not the one with dementia trying to poison his spouse- she was the one with both of those issues.
She brought us food a couple times that we did not eat. I noticed that she asked me how I was feeling the next day each time. Sad & scary situation. I learned from it.
It totally depends on the neighbor. Although, in my 'hood the only neighbor whose food I'll eat lives right next door. He is the head chef at the local diner that we frequent. If I'll eat his food at his work, it makes no sense that I wouldn't eat it at home, too.
Otherwise, I've seen the state of these women's kitchens... eww. Yes, I'm being judgmental, but I'm not desperate for food. I can afford my own, and I enjoy cooking.
I voted to devour it. That's if the neighbors appeared to be clean and decent people and the food looked and smelled okay.
I've seen this before and have to ask. What is special snowflake?
Cam 6.6.10 - Autism, Global Developmental Delay, Mixed Receptive/Expressive Communication Disorder
Unless we really know them well, I would throw it away. I feel AWFUL doing it but I am grossed out by the germs. You never know if they washed their hands or not and maybe they pick their nose? Lol. I feel really terrible throwing anything away but if I don't know them, I just do.
I get it from my mother. She is really grossed out by anything that people send over if she questions their cleanliness. Growing up, the neighbor across the street would send over a cake every Christmas Eve and my mother threw it away every single time. (sometimes my Dad would have a piece first) She felt REALLY bad but she wasn't sure how the neighbor kept her house and was just grossed out.
So because of that, I would never judge someone who did this. I send cookies to all my neighbors every Chirstmas and who knows, maybe they throw them away? (I hope not though! And I DO wash my hands!
)
We've only had 2 neighbors bring us food and both times we ate it.
The first time was right after we moved in and the sweet old lady who lives across the street and 3 houses down brought us a cake to welcome us to the neighborhood. She's about 4.5 feet tall and was wobbling up the street with this giant sheet cake. It was very nice of her. She seemed clean and it never occured to me that this sweet old lady would have put anything in it to hurt us.
The second time, a woman who I'm friends with who lives down the street (she's the mom of one of Jordan's good friends) brought us a lasagna shortly after Ben was born. It was a very nice gesture and we ate it with no hesitation.