UPDATE: Renter teaches imposing landlord a lesson after he demands renter cook meals for his family for free: ‘I’m cooking the most delicious food.. all for myself’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Sep 29, 2026 10:30 AM EDT

Food is the way to the heart, but what if you have no interest in someone's heart?

A big reason a person spends all their savings on buying a house is that no one wants to live their entire life having to answer to a landlord. As much as it sounds easier to just pay someone rent and not bother yourself with the burdens of homeownership, many are quick to learn that the existence of a landlord in your life is no easy fit either.

Some landlords make you feel like you're imposing on their home with every step you take; others would refuse to fix anything and allow you to live in a literal dump. Finding a landlord who simply leaves you to your own devices once they hand over the keys is a rare treasure, one that you only learn to cherish when you read stories like the one below.

This landlord's demands are different from anything you might have heard of before. He doesn't care whether his renter paints the walls or about noises at night; the main demand he made was actually food-related. In a post shared on Reddit a few weeks ago, the renter explained their bizarre living situation with the landlord and his family. According to the renter, the kitchen was a shared space, but on the contract it was clearly stated that the renter was not allowed to use any of the family's food or cooked meals. While this rule in itself makes a lot of sense, things started to go south when the landlord and the family started demanding that the renter share their cooking with them. Every meal the renter made, the landlord was there to ask for a share. Too bad that the contract works both ways.

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  • In this new post, the renter shares how they manage to live under the imposing landlord and family. Every meal they make, these people sniff around and attempt to have a taste, but the renter does not relent. The renter knows they can't live like that forever, but while they are still living under this landlord's roof, there's no reason why they can't have some fun.

     

  • Woman cooking in a kitchen.
    via Tina Dawson

    Woman cooking in a kitchen.

    Models for explanatory purposes only.  

  • My landlord tried to demand I feed him

    I moved into a basement unit with a shared kitchen with my landlord on Sept 1.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Basically I shared with my landlord and his pregnant wife some shrimp alfredo I made for dinner on my first night as a nice gesture, and the next time I cooked they tried to demand part of my meal and threatened to terminate the lease.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Cursed me out and acted like I was playing in their faces for eating a home cooked meal (oven roasted salmon and cilantro lime rice, a super simple meal really) without offering them some, because the pregnant wife thought she was entitled to my dinner.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • I previously tried negotiating with them by offering to cook a meal a week in exchange for reduced rent, but after they laughed in my face for thinking they should compensate me if they want me to cook for them I got petty.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • In my lease it states food is to be kept separate and I am responsible for feeding myself.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Their food is strictly off limits. And my food is off limits to them. Fine by me.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • All they eat is frozen burritos, hot pockets, ramen noodles etc. I have almost a decade of fine dining restaurant cooking experience, and to spite them, I decided to make myself the most elaborate, aromatic, delicious meals.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Food is to be kept separate so as per my lease, legally there is nothing I can do.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • So I first started with some red wine braised garlic short ribs and baked Mac n cheese from scratch.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • I cooked the ribs low and slow in the oven, and when I say they smelled glorious.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • My landlords living room is connected to the kitchen (I live in the basement, so my unit connects to a door in the corner of the kitchen that leads to the basement) and he and preggo wife sat on their couch basically mean mugging me the entire time I cooked but they didn't say anything.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • The whole house smelled divine for hours afterwards. I cleaned up. afterwards and took the leftovers downstairs to keep in my locked mini fridge and left not a trace in the kitchen except a delicious lingering smell.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • I half expected a snooty text from my landlord while I was eating but they actually didn't say or do anything that night.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • The next day I made myself some hot honey fried chicken and while I got more silent glares out of the living room from both of them, the meal went by uneventfully.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Woman sitting with an empty plate in front of her.
    via Alla Aramyan

    Woman sitting with an empty plate in front of her.

    Image depicted solely for explanatory purposes.

  • However, that weekend after I got home from work, I made myself some coconut curry chicken and saffron rice (really quick stovetop meal) and for the h of it I got my blender out and made myself a mango lassi.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • While I was mixing my drink, my landlord wandered into the kitchen and began digging around in various cabinets as I was cooking.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Just opening and shutting drawers and moving stuff around randomly. I waited til he went back into the living room, then I had to run back downstairs to grab my cardamom powder, and just because I had a hunch, I decided to come back up the stairs really quietly.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • I hadn't closed the door to the basement, so I just peeked around the doorway to see my pregnant landlord lifting the lid to the pot of curry.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Of course I came storming in then to ask her she thought she was doing, and she jumped and dropped the lid back onto the pot and turned and looked at me all sheepishly.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • I asked her again she thought she was doing and she just shrugged and said she didn't think there was any harm in seeing what was "going on in her kitchen." Then she just turned around and penguin waddled out of the kitchen like she hadn't just been trying to do something to my meal.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Her husband didn't reappear either and lowkey suspect he had told her the coast was clear when I ran downstairs.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Anyway I realized I was going to have to be a bit more careful after that because these people are shameless.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Two days later, I decided to bake myself a fresh loaf of bread and oven roast a Cornish game hen with fresh rosemary and some delightfully aromatic garlic and truffle butter I'd gotten from work.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • I made my bread dough and took it downstairs to rise for about 45 minutes, then came up and threw everything in the oven and made a point of sitting in the kitchen and reading while my food was cooking, and I was about an hour into baking, (and the house smelled divine) when the husband came into the kitchen, grabbed a frozen pizza out of the freezer and informed me that he would need the oven for his dinner.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Super ride but whatever. I let him know that I was almost done with my meal, and to give me 20 minutes and the oven would be all his.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • He huffed and puffed but went back into the living room and left the pizza on the counter.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • I finished cooking, cleaned up, took my meal downstairs and I left the oven on for him to cook his pizza.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • About half an hour after I went downstairs, I received a snarky text from my landlord asking if I intended to burn down the house and k I his family because I had left the oven on.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • These people smh. I replied back that I was sorry, I had thought he was going to cook his frozen pizza so I'd left the oven on as a courtesy.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • He texted back pretty much immediately that it was really no big deal, it had just upset his wife and maybe I could make it up to her by giving her a piece of the bread I'd just baked.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • At this point I'm pretty sure she put him up to it. I told him sorry, that's for my lunch tomorrow and again reinstated my offer to cook a meal a week for reduced rent.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Person cooking a meal.
    via Getty Images

    Person cooking a meal.

    Representative only.

  • He didn't reply. Then a few days after that, I was sitting in the kitchen reading while the French onion soup I was making for dinner simmered on the stove when I saw my landlord check his phone and then leave the living room and go upstairs into their part of the house.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Not 3 minutes later, the power in the kitchen shut off. I'm pretty sure he had flipped off the breaker because none of the power in the rest of the house went out.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • But the stove, the kitchen light, and I'm guessing the power to the fridge cut off.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Of course the wife started fr king out. Came storming into the kitchen to demand why I had "burned out" their power.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Her husband came down the stairs after that, looking a little too calm. He said it was probably the breaker (duh) and then went back upstairs to see if he could fix it.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Power came back on a few minutes later. I finished making my soup and went back to the basement.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Almost immediately got a text from landlord saying that maybe I should take it easy in the kitchen because the "wiring is fragile." I didn't even reply to that text.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Nothing is wrong with the kitchen wiring or it would have glitched out on curry day, because I had the oven, stovetop, and blender all going at the same time that day and I was only using the stove top for the french onion soup.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • It was definitely just another attempt to mess with me because I won't give them my meals.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • That's all the updates I have, but will continue to update you if their hijinks continue.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • It's definitely been a bit of a rollercoaster ride maliciously complying to the lease, but I've been eating deliciously the past couple of weeks, and there's a small part of me that enjoys that it riles them up so much.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Anyway that's all for now. Just in case anyone was wondering, I only have about 5 more weeks on my lease and then I will be moving into a small studio apartment while I save for something better.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • I'm almost to my goal amount, so by the new year hopefully my housing issues will be solved.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • Also as far as anyone wondering about the meals, nothing I mentioned here really took more than about 20 minutes of prep time and maybe an hour or so of cooking time.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • All of these meals are actually really simple and as I am only cooking for one, the small portions mean I only make enough for that meal and usually lunch the next day.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • TL, DR: I shared my homemade shrimp Alfredo with my landlord and his pregnant wife, and then they tried to demand that I share my meals with them and were super r de about it.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • The lease states our food is to be kept separate, so I've decided to cook the most delicious food I can..
    via EcstaticBlackberry72
  • all for myself. Also if anyone has any recipes that are simply delicious and not too expensive to suggest, I'm all ears.
    via EcstaticBlackberry72

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landlord cooking tenant dinner family renting food Renters apartment
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