Don't laugh: what lockable box can I use to store tempting foods?

[Saracen]

I thought I had developed pretty good self-control. I've been on a low-carb diet for eight months now and am doing really well with it, with very few lapses. Many of the foods that used to appeal to me are not so appealing anymore. There's no danger of me succumbing to cheap nasty sweets.

I can even resist my favourite foods if they are only around briefly. Sometimes I buy the family small quantities of the foods I love, and they eat it up the same day without any "help" from me. No problem.

Until now. My 11 year old is going through a major cooking craze. I don't want to discourage this. It's a good skill to have. Of course, the things she wants to bake are all of my favourites. And she is quite good. And I can't very well expect her to bake a batch of just two brownies! So now I find the things which are most difficult for me to resist sitting there in my kitchen in large quantities for days on end. I have had more lapses in the last six days than in the previous six months. I need to do something about this.

One strategy that has helped is to get her to bake shortly before she goes to see a gang of friends, and make her take all the cookies with her and not bring any home! We are getting very popular with her friends. But it isn't always possible.

I have reluctantly decided that this situation is just too difficult for me. I think I'll cope better if we have something like a lockable cake tin to which my daughter keeps the key. She can share a few cakes with her little sister - they are both quite moderate about their eating habits - and then lock it up again afterwards. I'm too proud to pester her for the key, or to break into the box.

Any ideas what might be practical and easy to wash? Or any additional ideas besides locking the food up?

[FunnysInTheGarden]

Really? I have terrible binges with food that I really like, but also have days when they are off limits and my brain won't let me eat them. The only way forward is either not to have the food in the house (ie I never buy crisps I actually like) or make yourself not eat it. I think lockable cupboards are the worst of all worlds.

[foreverondiet]

I think need to ask her to put in box with a note on the top saying 10 brownies, for my friends. Tell her to be cross if there are any missing. Or how about freezing, then it takes time to make them edible? I think trick is to not have any, or get her to cut you off a tiny bit and for her to count up the rest for her friends.

We used to have chocolate in a cheapo money box.
www.argos.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Search?storeId=10001&catalogId=1500002701&langId=-1&searchTerms=CASH+TIN

But not sure if big enough for batch of brownies!

[Saracen]

@FunnysInTheGarden: "I think lockable cupboards are the worst of all worlds." Could you explain why? The only thing I can see against it is that it makes me look a bit pathetic. But I think I can live with that, if it helps me achieve what I want to achieve.

My dh said I just ought to get more willpower. Then I asked whether he would have been happy to leave a packet of cigarettes and a box of matches sitting on the table in front of him all day when he was quitting, and he saw my point.

[Saracen]

Thanks, foreveronadiet. The note idea would work if there were a very small amount of brownies exactly matching the number of children who were going to eat them. I think that is part of the reason why I've managed OK when I buy little treats for the kids: I say to them that I've bought four cookies, and so they are expecting to get two each. Dd is too softhearted to be cross if there's actually more brownies than needed and I eat one. And of course she likes to make loads.

Funny you should mention the freezing idea. I did that yesterday and it worked well. Not everything freezes so well, of course.

That money box is the sort of thing I had in mind, only I need something larger. A toolbox, maybe? A file box would be a good size but I always think they are rather expensive for what they are...

[foreverondiet]

I freeze stuff all the time, that way a) it takes time to make edible and b) no rush to eat it as it doesn't go off c) out of sight, out of mind.

Most things freeze, I would get her to wrap them up securely and freeze them in a package, and have a date/event in mind for when she'll take them out. If they (brownies/cake) are frozen in block its very hard to take one off. Sadly biscuits are nice even if eaten straight from freezer .

Another idea is a drawstring bag with a padlock instead of the string.

[whostolemyname]

One thing to think about is the message this might give your DD about food/ dieting. You sound like you are doing really well and i understand why you are worried but you dont want to trigger any food issues with your DD either which locking 'naughty' foods away in such a way could do.

[FunnysInTheGarden]

Saracen for me having a lockable box would drive me nuts. Not being given the choice about whether I wanted to eat what was in it. Like admitting that I had no control over food. And because I am rather belligerent, I would have to find a way to break into it, which would defeat the object.

Mind you those issues are prob just peculiar to me

[foreverondiet]

That reminds me.

Before we had a lockable box I had a drawstring bag where DH kept his kitkats. I took the thread out and replaced it with a padlock.

Was fine for a bit but then one day I had bad PMT and I cut open the bag and ate all the kitkat!

We then bought the lockable box but DH kept on leaving the key around. I need to have control rather than have the control taken from me like a small child.

So I agree with funny, lockable boxes are not the way to go!

[Saracen]

"One thing to think about is the message this might give your DD about food/ dieting." Yes, I can see your point. Perhaps my cigarette comparison doesn't work: it isn't possible to have a healthy relationship with cigarettes, but it is with food. I'll have to think about that some more. I do care a lot about the messages I'm giving my children here.

However, as far as it affects me I don't think locking food away would make me feel like I had no control or was being treated like a small child. After all, it's me that's making the decision to get the box and use it - no way would I be happy if anybody else told me we were going to use a lock. And at the end of the day I am sure I'm quite capable of breaking in, but I am pretty sure I wouldn't choose to do so. It's just another tool, a way to slow me down and give me time to think "do I really want to eat that?". I don't see the principle as different to not keeping these foods in the house, or keeping them in the freezer. A lock does look more extreme, but is it really different to these other methods?