A California family’s disagreement over expiration dates has caused laughter across the internet.
On Nov. 22, Los Angeles resident Alanna Barron posted a TikTok showing what happened when her family decided to clean out the fridge over Thanksgiving. The video quickly went viral, garnering over 11.5 million views as of publication.
“Have you died yet? No,” says Alanna’s mom Maria Barron in the video, stating her case with lively, gesticulating hands.
Alanna’s brother Tyler Barron and sister-in-law Ally Barron rifle through the family refrigerator, picking up bottles for what has been dubbed “the annual refrigerator purge.” Alanna shows the expiration date of a bottle of sesame oil: Feb. 25, 2015. “This is not ok,” the on-screen caption reads.
Maria continues to protest as more bottles are taken out of the fridge: a bottle of Sriracha with a “best before” date of August 2018, a murky bottle of clam juice and blue cheese olives that expired in 2022. She tries to keep an unopened bottle of yellowing artichoke dip from being tossed into the garbage to audible protests from every other family member.
“It’s changed colors. You have to stop,” says Alanna’s father Bob Barron, presenting his argument while wearing an oven mitt on each hand. “No, stop it!” Maria replies.
In the more than 13,700 comments under the video, folks empathized with the plight of both sides of the expired food battle, outlining their own experiences with family members that love to hold onto groceries a little too long.
“why is this such a universal experience hahahahahahha,” commented one TikTok user.
“I really don’t understand the unconditional bond parents have with expired goods in the fridge,” wrote another.
“cleaned out my grandma’s pantry after her husband passed and there were things in there THAT EXPIRED BEFORE I WAS BORN👹,” commented another TikToker.
“Found a Jello box in my grandmas pantry from 1966!” wrote someone else. “Which means she packed it and moved it to 5 different houses over the last 60 years 😂😂😂.”
You may be wondering how an “annual refrigerator purge” includes sesame oil that expired when “Fifty Shades of Grey” was the No. 1 movie in theaters. Alanna says that while the family tends to clean out their fridge over the holidays when everyone is together, they’ve unfortunately missed a few years.
“I hate it because I literally feel like I need to go to the refrigerator every single time I’m home,” Alanna tells TODAY.com. “It’s weird because she’s very type A, but then also literally hoards s---, like our refrigerator always has expired stuff. I feel like I need to make a follow-up TikTok attacking the pantry. But I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
Alanna says she filmed the TikTok a few days before Thanksgiving and she noticed the video going viral right after posting.
“I didn’t realize that this was such a universal experience. I thought this was just my mom,” says Alanna. “It’s always a scene whenever we try to clear out the fridge, so I’m just glad I finally caught one of them on video.”
As for how her mom is handling her virality, Alanna says she thinks it’s pretty funny.
“Some people are calling her unhinged, and I’m just like, ‘Don’t read the comments,’” Alanna says. “I’m like, ‘Mom, you are unhinged in a beautiful way.’”
