This Redditor's Neighbors Owed Him £400 — So They Paid Him Back In Three Years’ Worth Of Roast Dinners

For more than a decade, this 47-year-old Redditor and his family have lived next door to the same couple. They started out as neighbors in a flat, moved away, and somehow ended up living side by side again — basically destiny, but with property deeds.

Over the years, the families grew close and considered each other more like friends than just next-door acquaintances. Which is exactly why what happened next felt so awkward.

A few years ago, the neighbors borrowed £400 so they could afford to take a holiday they really wanted. The OP didn’t think much of it at the time and assumed they’d eventually repay the money.

What he didn’t expect was a steady stream of chef-quality meals showing up at his door. A few times a week for the last two or three years, the neighbors delivered generous plates piled high with flavorful, creative dishes.

Then came the plot twist.

When the neighbor’s wife arrived with yet another plate, she cheerfully announced they’d finally paid off the last of their debt. Confused, the OP asked if the money had been transferred back to his account — only to learn the meals were the repayment plan.

Apparently, they couldn’t afford to pay back the £400 all at once after their trip. So instead, they quietly decided to “repay” the loan in food form without ever checking if that arrangement was okay.

The OP was furious.

He pointed out they never asked for lump-sum repayment and would have happily accepted small installments. Worse, they hadn’t even confirmed whether gourmet dinners counted as acceptable currency.

In the heat of the moment, he told her off, returned the plate (filled with food, because cultural manners still matter), and threatened legal action if the money wasn’t paid within two weeks. His wife later suggested a calmer conversation might’ve been the better move.

Now, with hindsight kicking in and the realization that those meals likely exceeded £400 in value, the Redditor is left wondering if he overreacted. After all, sometimes repayment doesn’t come in cash — it comes with seasoning.

AI-generated image

Here's the original post by Reddit user u/aita_foodneigbour.

Throwaway. I'm a 47 year old man. Me and my family (wife and kids) have had the same neighbours for the past 11 years: in our old flat, we were neighbours and they moved away. We then moved to the house right beside them. This is all to show that we're close to our neighbours, and we pretty much seem them as a family friend rather than just simply a next door neighbour as we've been so close for over a decade, which is why I feel bad for doing what I did. A few years ago, our neighbours had to borrow some money from us so they could afford to go on holiday (£400 - the holiday itself wasn't 400, but they needed the extra cash on top of what they could afford to go on a holiday that they considered was "worth".)Anyways, to this day, they still haven't paid a single penny back however what they were doing was providing us with a huge plate of food (e.g. meat+chips) a couple of times a week. Me and my wife had no idea why they were doing so (at the time), so we just accepted it and moved with our lives: this has been happening every week for the passed 2 or 3 years. (Our neighbours were chefs, so the food they were giving us was glorious and were always filled with unique flavours). However, just yesterday, when our neighbour's wife showed up this afternoon with another plate of food, she said alongs the lines of "I'm so glad we've finally managed to pay our final ounce of debt we owe you." Confused, I just said "Really? Did you relay the money to our bank account?" She looked at me weird and said, "No, the debt we've been paying off for the past couple of years".Apparently, they couldn't afford to go on the holiday they went on a few a years ago in the first place, which is why they had to take on a debt from us and had assumed that they could just purchase cheap meat from stores and turn it into delicious food in order to pay it off. She said that there was no way they could've paid it off all at once when they came back, so they assumed food would be a satisfying replacement for us.I was furious because 1) We never asked them to pay it off all at once. They could've paid us back at their own pace. Hell, if they paid us 2 pounds a day, by now they would've paid off the debt they owe us and 2) THEY DIDN'T EVEN CONFIRM WHETHER WE WERE OKAY WITH THIS OR NOT. I basically told her to go fuck herself, gave her the plate, told her if she didn't pay us back the money owed to us within 2 weeks she'll be receiving a call from our lawyers and slammed the door on her face. However, my wife calmed me down and told me a civilised conversation would've been much more effective and she also told us that we were in no need of the 400 pounds they owed us so we should just let it go as a gift (we are financially well off, if that matters).Furthermore, the food they gave us over the years was worth well over the debt they owed us, which is another factor that made me rethink this whole situation. AITA for not accepting this method of them paying debt? Thank you. Edit: People are saying this is relevant in the comments, so I'll add it in: when we returned back the plate, we also filled the plate up with food as in our culture it's considered rude for us to return an empty plate.

Let's see how the Reddit community reacted.

JaviConstance

You could've handled the situation better.

yqsia

You did this to yourself.

MattLaneBreaker

ESH.

esp-eclipse

NTA.

nepenthye

Not cool.

ChronicApathetic

They never discussed it with you.

Cocoasneeze

You will never get that money back.

Deleted user

Your reaction was a bit over the top.

TheIdealisticCynic

You should ask for half.

squidinosaur

YTA.

Ambidextrous_Fapper

It's simple really.

NoApollonia

They should have clarified their intentions with you first.

alicedeelite

Now the Redditor is left wondering whether he reacted to the principle of the thing or the shock of finding out years later. After all, the money may not have come back in cash, but it certainly came back covered in gravy.

Was it a misguided repayment plan or a generous (if poorly communicated) gesture? Either way, one thing’s clear: next time, everyone might want to agree on whether the currency is pounds… or potatoes.