AITA for screaming at my husband and his sister to get out of my kitchen?

A Reddit user shares their frustration about their husband and sister-in-law constantly altering the meals they cook, despite repeated requests to stop. The situation escalated when both “helped” ruin a meal, prompting the user to lose their temper and demand they leave the kitchen. Read the original story below:

‘ AITA for screaming at my husband and his sister to get out of my kitchen?’

My spouse’s sibling, who is 38, resides in our home with our children. I’m completely exasperated with her presence here solely due to problems concerning nourishment. Essentially, each instance I prepare a dish, she enters and modifies it to suit her preferences.

TheOtherWhiteMeat_: I prepared steak and shrimp the other day, similar to what you’d get at Applebee’s. After I stepped out of the room, she added an entire stick of butter to my shrimp, which was already finished. When I returned, she said, “I’m almost certain that’s the flavor you wanted,” and completely destroyed it. It was inedible.

When I prepare spaghetti, she invariably adds sugar to the sauce, making it so sweet that my children and I won’t eat it because it’s disgusting. She consistently sabotages the food whenever she has the chance. Now, my husband has begun to do the same. Last night, I intended to prepare homemade macaroni and cheeseburgers.

I headed down to the chest freezer in the basement for the vegetables I required, and upon my return, I found my husband adding canned chicken to the Mac n Cheese – fully aware that the kids detest its flavor – while his sister was incorporating chunks of blue cheese into the burgers, which were already partially cooked.

I questioned their actions with considerable anger, having repeatedly instructed them not to interfere with the cooking. Their only justification was that they were “just helping”. I became enraged and demanded they leave my kitchen immediately. They both claimed that my reaction was excessive, among other things.

I’ve straight up asked my sister-in-law to do the cooking multiple times and she refuses. Yet, she constantly messes with the dishes I prepare. My husband frequently cooks, and I’m fine if he alters his own creations, but it enrages me when my food is tampered with, especially since he’s aware of this. Am I the unreasonable one?

Here’s the input from the Reddit crowd:

Laniekea −  NTA. Especially considering they’re just making your job harder by making your food inedible for your kids. Your sister-in-law has overstayed her welcome.

OtherThumbs −  NTA. Tell them that if they hate the food so much, they need to cook for themselves, and stop cooking for these people. Get your SIL out of your home while you’re at it.

ProverbialWetBlanket −  NTA. When they ruin a dish, set it aside in the fridge. Then when they ask ‘what’s for dinner’ tell them they can have whatever dish they ruined. Then take your kiddos out to eat or have takeout ready for them.. EDIT: thanks for the award!

LeBlancTheDeceiver −  NTA, she sounds unhinged and why is your husband not only enabling her, but actively participating? They both s**k, she needs to go asap and you and him need a long talk.

TemptingPenguin369 −  NTA. The fact that your husband has joined in on this feels like they’ve teamed up against you. How about not making dinner? Maybe you can get takeout just for yourself and the kids for a week or so? Husband and SIL are not only insulting your cooking; they’re turning your food into something the kids don’t enjoy, either.

PetitPied21 −  NTA who the f**k puts sugar in pasta?

Content-Plenty-268 −  NTA. Can you go on strike and stop cooking, and see what they do?

[Reddit User] −  Have your SIL move out. Done

dasunt −  NTA at all. But by way of explanation, I suspect your SIL and husband grew up with a different style of food, and their tastes have changed. Your “n**ty” is their “good”. Your “good” is their “bland”. I have some family members like that – some like cakes so sweet that I feel like it hurts my teeth. On the flip side, I like saltier food than many people.

C_Majuscula −  NTA. If they like messing with food so much, they can take over cooking for the house full time.

Was the Redditor’s response reasonable, or were there alternative ways to manage the situation? How would you react if someone continuously altered your culinary creations? Let us know what you think.