My daughter was talking about her brother "eating us out of house and home" today, and then she wondered where that phrase came from. I looked, but didn't find anything, and I agree with her that it's a rather strange phrase.

Does anyone know?

Eaten out of house and home

Origin
From Shakespeare's Henry IV Part II, 1597:
MISTRESS QUICKLY:
It is more than for some, my lord; it is for all, all I have. He hath eaten me out of house and home; he hath put all my substance into that fat belly of his: but I will have some of it out again, or I will ride thee o' nights like the mare.
ORIGIN

Thank you, Jerry. I will let my daughter know.

Shakespeare is the first known to use this particular variant of the idiom, with "eat", "house" and "home". But he was not original; OED notes these versions substantially predating Shakespeare:

1297: He caste out of house & hom of men a gret route.
1527: The prayers of them that..eat the poor out of house and harbour.

(out of) house and home

Cf. other alliterative collocations: time and tide, kith and kin, hearth and home, part and parcel, spick and span, hale and hearty, thick and thin, sticks and stones, hem and haw.