*This is a work of nonfiction based on actual events I witnessed firsthand; used with permission.
When your adult children live with you, should you place limits on how much food or beverage they can consume from the family fridge? That was the issue facing one man and his parents after he drank an entire gallon of fruit juice with every meal but didn't contribute financially to the family grocery bill.
Complaining that juice was expensive and her son drank too darn much of it, the frustrated mom stopped buying fruit juice for the family, or her son. "He can drink water," she said.
How do I know all this? The fruit juice freeloader was my boyfriend. Fortunately, we've long since broken up. Unfortunately, when we were together, I had to tolerate his and his parents' petty ways over everything, including his overconsumption of their fruity juice.
It all started when my ex-boyfriend's mother brought home several gallons of Tampico she'd bought on sale. If you've never tasted the stuff, I'd compare the flavor profile to Sunny Delight or Tang.
One taste was all it took. My boyfriend declared the beverage delicious and drank an entire gallon in one sitting. After that, he couldn't get enough of it. As soon as his mother popped another gallon in the fridge, it went down his gullet.
He drank an entire gallon of Tampico with every meal whenever there was Tampico available.
It didn't take many gallons of Tampico before his mother started to complain. "You're drinking too much Tampico. It's too expensive to drink an entire gallon at a time. You're only supposed to have one glass."
Her complaints fell on deaf ears. If there was Tampico in the house for longer than five minutes, it was gone in ten. That's how much he loved it.
But he was too cheap to go out and buy his own. He was always too cheap to pay for his own stuff, which was no doubt one of the reasons his mother grew so frustrated at his hogging all the citrus punch.
The flurry of Tampico ended just as suddenly as it began when his mother refused to continue buying it if the entire family couldn't share it.
Is Tampico even real fruit juice? Sort of! According to a Quora answer, the majority of the product is indeed fruit juice. However, it is not 100% pure juice.
The product is made with about 60% fruit juice, which is pasteurized and processed. When it comes to the remaining 40% of Tampico, it's a mix of chemicals, synthesized vitamins, artificial flavors, and food coloring. So it's better to stay away from juice like Tampico and stick to natural, pure juices.
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