DH and I have been staying with his family for almost a week as our home is undergoing renovations.

MIL normally cooks and she is quite good at it. However, there are certain things of hers I refuse to eat because I don’t think it’s safe. For example, she will buy eggs that were obviously stored in the refrigerator but then she leaves them at room temperature in a cabinet. So if she makes a breakfast that contains eggs I won’t eat it. The other day she made something with eggs and I politely said no thank you and I later on made my own breakfast that I went out to buy the ingredients for. I could tell she was offended and she questioned why I didn’t want to eat her food. I just said I wasn’t in the mood for that meal at the time.

Then the other night she cooked a beef stew and we did all eat that for dinner. The food was left out all night which she seems to do often so I won’t eat it the next day especially if there was meat that was left out. She reheated the food and offered me some and I said no thank you. I ended up ordering my own dinner about an hour later and she asked me why I didn’t want to eat the food she made. I was honest with her and said I had noticed that the food was left out all night and I didn’t want to get sick from eating meat that has gone bad. She gave me such a dirty look when I said this. I can’t understand why she wouldn’t see where I’m coming from?!

Since this conversation she has been giving me attitude and ignoring me when I talk to her so now I feel tension around her. Was I rude for any of this? I genuinely wasn’t trying to be but I wanted to be honest and maybe help her realize that food, especially dairy and meat, should not be left out all night and I would rather not feel like I’m being disrespectful for turning it down.