Wow!!! Very cheeky indeed!
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Lol we need better emojis for my reaction to that. 
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I never throw food away. But then, I never have leftovers either. I cook what I know I’ll eat.
If in some odd situation I do leave food (perhaps butter or milk, I dunno), I would hope the HO would use it, rather than automatically toss it. But then, I’m of the generation which instinctively hates waste..
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I absolutely love finding leftovers in fridges. Why throw good food out? I can always be creative and make lots of meals from things in other peoples fridges. Nice when lots of sald items and vegetables. Tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, lemons always welcome as is carrots, runner beans, peppers etc. And it is also nice to be told you can use their cheeses.
I have only once come ascross a completely empty fridge and hated it. Normally I do not leave any of my food behind, although may do if I was catching a flight. Then I would like to think that the home owner would be grateful for any items lef,t and made good use of them.
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The fridge was cleaned and stocked with basics for the sitters, not empty! I returned to a dirty fridge and opened perishables which I will definitely not eat. Three cartons of partially used milk for example 
That’s spooky, our current HOs left exactly the same thing for us! A huge container too, so I’m not going to be able to eat it all and don’t know if they expect me to leave some for them. They told me to use up what they left in the fridge as it’s a long sit, including an enormous bottle of full-fat milk that expired yesterday, which I feel I should replace even though I didn’t use any as I brought my own semi-skimmed, and a large full pack of caged eggs, but I brought my own free-range. It’s kind of annoying, but they obviously meant well.
I have to say though, I had sitters myself a few times and always told them to use stuff up that would go off, and felt quite miffed when I got back and they hadn’t touched it. Hate to see food waste.
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Some people are just bad at kitchen management, I think. That would annoy me too.
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A UK sitter couple left a lot of unopened food in the fridge. They had thought they would cook a lot and shopped for that but got seduced by the local restaurants (we’re in France). As they’d flown in with only carry on bags they couldn’t take most of it so left it for us. I gave it all to a friend who is struggling financially. We leave a clean fridge but aren’t maniacal about finding it just the way we left it. If sitters forget stuff, I’m not that put out. To me it’s kind of interesting to see what other people make or buy for themselves. Like, at the height of peach and nectarine season, a sitter bought a big bag of apples!
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I would have put the milk in the freezer if there was enough space. Sometimes I make milk or juice ice cubes if we have excess, then place the cubes in ziplock bags in the freezer for future use.
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Ok, good idea. But not knowing if they’ve drank straight from the carton 
, or left it out of the fridge for days or opened it a week ago is a definite straight down the sink. I don’t like wasting food and unopened products left in a clean fridge would not be a problem.
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When we go on vacation, whether we take our dog or not, I plan our food for the last week at home. I only have the condiments and butter left, maybe a couple eggs, no milk. I don’t like coming home to my forgotten leftovers, so I can only imagine a sitter won’t like it either. I’ve asked sitters if they want me to get anything for them before they arrive and they have said no, especially the ones who are taking a flight. They have a very empty clean fridge when they arrive and they don’t have to worry about my leftovers.
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We are milk drinking people, with coffee and just milk. So we always love if there is some milk in the fridge when we arrive and make sure we leave some when we leave. No drinking straight from the bottle! So far we have always stayed the night before with HO so are not doing groceries until the next day when they have gone and we can see where we are re space and any supplies that might be left for us. But we all have different tastes and I hope the two unopened jars of Vegemite that I left in an Airbnb find a good home 
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As hosts we always leave groceries and basics so sitters don’t need to shop immediately. All sealed and just for them. This last sit had gluten free requirements and I shopped especially for them and found a variety of products I thought they might enjoy.
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There’s a lot to do at the end of a sit, and it’s easy to forget what’s in the fridge because it’s out of sight. I’ve done it a couple of times and realised when I got home, followed with a text to the HO to apologise.
It doesn’t take long to just throw things in the bin if you don’t want them and move on. I really think we need to stop being so pedantic if the experience has been majoritively a good one, otherwise people are going to be put off from sitting. Humans can’t be perfect all the time.
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As I’ve already said, food left in a clean fridge would not irritate me. We are not being pedantic. It’s an exchange I’ll clean my fridge before I leave, sitter cleans it before they leave.
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They did not leave an inch of space in the freezer unfortunately. I’ve just got them some new milk and will leave the out of date untouched one at the back so they can see I didn’t use it all up lol.
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This possibility had not occurred to me in all of our 35 sits so far !! We’ve happily used up any ( in date) milk that’s the host has left … but now I can’t unthink about the possibility that they could have drunk from the cartoon …
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In my profile I have the words ‘please don’t make me think YUK’ …. we’re on the same page with this.
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Oh, my—reminds me of cleaning my in-laws’ refrigerator. They had a mozzarella stick that expired in 2006 and this was in 2024!
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As a sitter I tend to leave leftover food in the fridge/freezer because I don’t like being wasteful. In the US, you can only buy groceries in bulk sizes because this country perpetuates and prioritizes the nuclear family structures. It is extremely difficult if not impossible to buy food for a single person. Oftentimes I end up buying an 8-pack of something when I only wanted 1 of it. And so I will leave behind those extras because it would otherwise feel wasteful to me. I also consider it a gesture of good will - it’s me “sharing” my food with others. I hope that HO’s don’t see it as a nuisance or take offense when I leave food behind. I’d feel awful binning something that is perfectly edible and unopened.
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