Teen Spends $50 on Groceries, Cooks for 6 Hours to Make Elaborate Meal for Friends. Then Mom Throws It All Away

Sharing a fridge can get messy, especially when food and ingredients overlap. One 18-year-old on Reddit said that confusion turned into a painful surprise after they cooked a big meal for friends.

The teen wrote that they had spent the previous day preparing what they described as “some damn good food,” including truffle chili, garlic bread made from a “surprisingly complicated recipe,” and Midwest-style fettuccine Alfredo. They said they used about $50 of their own money on ingredients and spent nearly seven hours cooking.

But when they woke up the next morning, the leftovers were gone.

“I ask my mom if she’s seen it, and she says she threw it away. I think she’s joking, so I ask her where it is, and she says in the trash,” they wrote.

In an edit, the teen explained that their mother believed the meal had been made using her groceries. The teen added that there had been a few past occasions where they had cooked with her ingredients and then not finished the leftovers.

Commenters largely sympathized with the teen’s frustration, but some urged them to check in on their mom to make sure she was okay.

“I don’t want to sound rude or anything, but I think you should check on your mother’s mental health. Even if she truly thought it was her ingredients, it is still absolutely insane to just throw the food away,” one user replied.

Later, the teen posted an update saying their mom apologized and admitted she’d been overwhelmed. According to the teen, she said she’d had a rough week and wasn’t thinking clearly because of medication from a recent surgery.

“She’s never done anything like this before,” they wrote, adding that “she’s not a bad mom.” The teen also said their mom paid them back for the ingredients and gave them another $50 for the time and effort.

Another commenter summed up the shift in focus: “Judging by your comments, it looks like you should be more concerned about her state of mind than the food.”