One tenant sparked outrage online with an unusual dilemma: how to prevent their landlord from throwing out food from their freezer.
"Alongside being omnipresent and verbally abusive to tenants when they complain to him, his latest issue is that there's 'out of date food' in the freezer," the tenant shared on Reddit in the subreddit r/HousingUK.
"He has said we must label our food or he will throw the food away. I think this is illegal," they said, adding that they live in a house of multiple occupancy (HMO) in the United Kingdom and that "food doesn't go off in the freezer."
"Also, this would be fair if a) there was a reported problem in the house — there isn't. b) we were an unclean house with significant food problems — again we're not, c) there wasn't space in the freezer — there's an entirely free draw and d) we hadn't offered to sort this internally," they detailed further in a comment.
"I volunteer at a food bank and also take home food myself from the [food bank]. Much of it is freezer food which is a few months out of date but is PERFECTLY FINE to eat," one Redditor said in support of the OP.
Approximately one-third of all food goes to waste globally, even as more than 2 billion people struggle to get enough nutrition, according to a report by the United Nations published by PBS.
Some of that waste occurs because of food safety concerns.
Yet freezing is an amazing way to extend the shelf life of products, not only helping people eat healthy but also preventing the hassle of a grocery run after returning from vacation. Meanwhile, clearly labeling the frozen products can help ensure confidence in your meal planning.
Complaints about restrictive rules or intrusive behavior from landlords and homeowners associations (HOAs) — or similar organizations — are nothing new, however.
Some of their decisions have hindered the adoption of practices that reduce harmful pollution and save money, such as growing food in home gardens, hanging laundry out to dry, or installing solar panels.
People have helped change bylaws by working with or challenging the organizations on numerous occasions, though. In this case, Redditors advised the OP to look for further assistance and offered suggestions on how to resolve the issue.
"If you reach out to your local council they will be able to sort it — they are taking my landlord to court for his behavior as he would literally let himself into the house at any hour," one person said.
"A quick search online came up with HMO advice and it spoke about not knowing whether food was a current or old tenants — their simple fix was to use a label maker … May be worth doing?" another wrote.
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