FoodJAN 16, 2024

30 Strange, Amusing, And Horrifying Things People Have Seen In Others’ Kitchens

It’s always nice to get a home-cooked meal from friends, family, or a loved one. That is until you remember that some people have very “interesting” ideas about food hygiene, recipes, and eating habits in general.

Someone asked, “What's the weirdest habit you've witnessed in a friend's kitchen?” and people shared the horrifying and amusing things they have seen. From terribly unsanitary practices to the strangest recipe personalizations, get comfortable, make sure you are done eating as you read through, and upvote your favorite examples. We got in touch with beetlebloop to learn more.

#1

30 Strange, Amusing, And Horrifying Things People Have Seen In Others’ Kitchens

Taking raw chicken and putting it directly in her flour canister to cover with flour to fry. I am still horrified years later.

Birdy304, Kristiana Pinne / unsplash (not the actual photo)

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78points

#2

Can I include my own kitchen? My husband has a habit of just putting used utensils in the freezer. Not washed, just licked clean (sometimes). Says the freezer kills the bacteria and he can reuse them as many times as he wants.

I do the dishes every day. Literally no reason for this weird habit 😐

BashfulBastian

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71points

#3

Keeping the water running at full speed while doing other tasks. As in for minutes. Not to achieve a certain temperature. And getting mad when I’d turn it off and passive aggressively turning it back on after I’d said it was wasteful and made me uncomfy. Rot in hell kimberly!

GingerRootBeer

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70points

Bored Panda got in touch with beetlebloop who made the original thread and they were kind enough to answer some of our questions. We wanted to know if there was perhaps some sort of incident that inspired them to ask about other’s experiences with strange kitchen habits.

“My sister-in-law had us over recently and offered us some tea. I thought she had inadvertently dropped the teabag into the mug without detaching the label and hanging it over the side. No big deal, right? But then I saw she had a whole bowl of used teabags she'd fished out of other mugs that all still had their labels attached too! My husband had noticed the same thing independently, and we debriefed on this as soon as we got home and agreed she was clearly deranged!”

#4

I had a roommate after college that said the best way to boil water was a ‘slow boil.’ He insisted on using low heat.

Sunnyday-777, Sergio Camalich / unsplash (not the actual photo)

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69points

#5

I’m not a friend, but I was a Tupperware lady in the 90s. I got to the woman’s house to set up for her party and she was in the kitchen talking to me. I see her grab the kitchen towel, wipe her dogs bottom with it And she says to me “She’s on her period!”

Then she went back to making her sushi rolls and kept using the same towel.

tammigirl6767

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62points

#6

Cut up raw meat using bare hands, then opened drawers, cabinets, and the fridge before washing their hands.

When she asked if I wanted to do weekly meal prep with her, I politely declined.

0nlyhalfjewish, Usman Yousaf / unsplash (not the actual photo)

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62points

“I once witnessed my co-worker (who seemed perfectly normal) taking the basket of spent grounds out of our coffeemaker and dumping the entire thing down the sink. We did not have a garbage disposal so this seemed completely insane, to me and to all our other co-workers who were there. That moment lives in my head rent-free and springs to mind every time I dump coffee grounds out (not in the sink)!” they shared with Bored Panda.

#7

My uncle left raw chicken out on the counter—for who knows how long —and it was covered it ants. I let him know. He rinsed the ants off, and put the chicken back in the fridge.

MasterBallsCK, JK Sloan / unsplash (not the actual photo)

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60points

#8

When my childhood dog would poop inside, and if it was...not solid, my dad would use a spoon to clean it up. Not a designated spoon that was the dog s**t spoon, just a regular spoon from the cutlery drawer. I did not discover this until he had been doing this for years. I was HORRIFIED and furious. When I told him it was disgusting, he got so defensive and said "well, how would you like me to clean it up?" I then listed many different ways to clean dog s**t. My mom also didn't seen too concerned with it. I refused to use their cutlery until they no longer had any dogs and they had bought a new set. And quite frankly, I try to avoid eating there as much as possible because I have no idea what else my parents think is normal.

adoptdontshop1

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58points

#9

Maybe more wholesome than weird. At the grandfather’s house of my friend - he always kept a stock of homemade jerky chips in the freezer that were separated into servings. My friend had braces and loved jerky so grandpa made thin sliced jerky that wouldn’t get stuck in your teeth. I miss jerky chips.

DangerUnicorn_27

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55points

By this point, the original thread had thousands of comments, so we were curious to hear their opinion on why it ended up being so popular. “I think the thread became popular because eating is such a universal, personal, and visceral experience. It can be mystifying and/or horrifying to see people you thought you knew acting bizarrely and so differently from the way you do things. One other example that freaks me out is people who eat fruit rinds you're not supposed to eat. Like kiwi skins or watermelon rinds. Ugh!”

#10

Not a friend's kitchen, but My mom thinks it's weird that my husband and I use a sharpie to date everything that goes in the fridge pretty much. The expiration/best buy date is affected by when it was opened but it also helps us realize when something has been in there longer than we realize and should either be used up or thrown out.
Shredded cheese? Gets an opened date written. Lunch meat? Yep.

tkdbbelt

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54points

#11

I opened a friend's fridge and it contained 30-40 cans of whipped cream and NOTHING ELSE. Family of 3.

Vampilton, Jason Leung / unsplash (not the actual photo)

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48points

#12

MIL insists on keeping cabibet doors above the microwave open. Why you ask? So the heat doesn't build up in the cabinet and start a fire.

HelpMySonIsARedditor, Point3D Commercial Imaging Ltd. / unsplash (not the actula photo)

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48points

#13

I knew a bloke who thought you were meant to throw.out wooden spoons after each use he'd spend so much money on them. When we told him you could re-use them his mind was blown.

SkyMortar65, Louis Hansel / unsplash (not the actual photo)

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47points

#14

The dish cloth used once only. Do the dishes wipe down the stove top, counters, cupboard fronts then throw in the bin and get a new one. Must cost a lot.

PsychologicalBit5422, Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 / unsplash (not the actual photo)

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46points

#15

I watched my coworker wash his potatoes with dish soap. Squirted the soap straight onto the potato, rubbed it all over with his bare hands, rinsed it, started chopping it.
Threw the chopped, unpeeled, soapy potatoes into a pot. Boiled them, mashed them without adding anything to them, then for some reason, picked the skin out of the pot of mashed with his bare hands. No milk, cream, butter, salt, anything.
Tasted like a sad, soapy pile of compost.

ninesandaces, Monika Grabkowska / unsplash (not the actual photo)

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44points

#16

I had an acquaintance whose place I went to a couple of times for parties. On both occasions, they brought out a blender to *blend wine*. I think one of the times I just saw them blend a single bottle but another time they blended two bottles together (to a weird result).

I think they fundamentally misunderstood what it meant to “blend wines” and thought that it involved the appliance. I was absolutely gobsmacked but didn’t know them well enough to feel comfortable with asking them why they did it.

wickerfolk, Diogo Brandao / unsplash (not the actual photo)

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44points

#17

Knew a guy that kept his chef knifes stabbed into the wall.

daggomit, Fernando Aguilar / unsplash (not the actual photo)

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40points

#18

My ex FIL thought traditional spaghetti with meat sauce was too “spicy”. So he would make noodles and top them with ground beef and ketchup.

Dottegirl67, Mae Mu / unsplash (not the actual photo)

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40points

#19

Putting vegetables to stir fry into a cold pan, then adding oil, then turning the pan on.

geckos_are_weirdos, Clem Onojeghuo / unsplash (not the actual photo)

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39points

#20

I worked with someone who told me that if she ever cooks and bakes for other people she will strip down to her underwear to do it to avoid any cross contamination of dog hair or other linty bits from her clothes.

MapleGoose, Huha Inc. / unsplash (not the actual photo)

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37points