CV - Fed up with relentless food monitoring

[DorsetCamping]

Anyone else fed up with the constant mental stocktake their of food supplies and thinking about what to make for next meal?

One of the drawbacks of having everyone home 24/7 (2 adults, 2 teens) is the relentless eating and raiding of food. Between DC and DH they are locusts. At least when everyone's at school/work lunch is one less meal to worry about, but now...!

I also seem to have become a control freak where I am making every meal (even lunch) for everyone because I'm terrified that their couldn't give a shit more relaxed approach means we'd have nothing left within 2 days. Have even taken to hiding bits so they can be rationed. I Hate being so controlling over food

What does everyone else do? Do you just let everyone crack on and then go without when food has run out? Do they make own lunches (or other meals) with rules about what ingredients/food they can use?

Love the clock idea fedupandpoor.
we live in a flat, I still have a prepayment meter for gas and electric. Shop at end of road, small but busy. Post office there. I'm on a budget and different amounts of money coming in at different times so I go to the shop for something nearly every day - as tesco deliveries now slots difficult to get.
Going to the shop keeps me (relatively) sane - as at least it is an outing and I can get news on the bush telegraph. I take a spray dettol and disinfect all the door handles and the hand rails on the way. The neighbours have said thank you. I'm trying to tell myself going to local shop better and safer than going to supermarket. (only possible on bus) not running and taxis not running. Taxiss doing click and collect service now for a price.

I've heard some disinfecting the products and removing packaging. Can't bring myself to do this, feel as if I would lose it completley if I did...maybe im' in denial about it

Spray dettol does kill the germs doesn' it? I know there is discussion on wipes on another thread.

I know, sad isn't it to be writing all this...

Told you I was lonely...

mid

Another case of women automatically taking on the mental load as we are conditioned to do.

Time to sit down and plan together and they need to take on their share of the mental load too.

I have 3 preteens and the oldest is really hard to get through to. No Nutella to be found anywhere now so he’s reaping what he sowed!

Yes, a little. It feels like I am the one who has to eat the stuff which needs using first whilst partner eats what he prefers. Had a mini sulk when I asked him to use fresh veg rather than frozen. He opted for no veg which is a kind of result I guess.

I think my mindset hasn’t shifted yet. I wonder if it will. Daughter works in a supermarket and husband is NHS. We are resigned to getting Coronavirus at some point and are popping out for bread and milk and anything else available almost daily.

Agree to a certain extent girlwhowearsglasses, but I'm trying to choose my battles at the moment. Not too sure about 'conditioning' maybe more a case of trying to work with what I've got. And services available. Have to go to the shop for gas and electric which I don't like and have applied for a smart meter (what would we do if shop closed down?)

No arguments in our house about school work and DD motivates herself, so that is good isn't it? I sometimes discount the positive. Plus, DD makes meals...so battle choosing is the name of the game...?

mid

My DH has been shopping a couple of times and has come back laden down with bread products, so instead of rationing, I am forcing everyone to eat some form of bread at every meal! They are all getting fed up with me, including DH, despite me telling him we didn’t need any more bread before he went!
However, he did stock up the bathroom with toilet rolls from the supply in my wardrobe, and I was a bit annoyed to find out he’d done that, as that was what I was trying to keep track of!
Totally understand where you are coming from OP. We are not going to the shops again until it is absolutely essential, so trying to keep on top of everything too, and make sure we have enough combinations to make normal-ish meals.

I think a lot of posters forget that people, including kids, are scared and discombobulated. Everything they know is gone. No it's not Anne Frank's attic or the trenches, but it's still scary. Sure you need to tell your kids to stop scoffing, stop being so entitled and all that, but at the moment a little understanding would go a long way.

2 adults and 2 teens.

Instead of hiding food why dont't you have a family conversation - where it ends with everyone understanding how long the food has to last, and that they have to be mindful of what they're using in case it's planned to be used in meals?

I suppose the solution might be that, while everyone is at home together, that every time you find that you're tying yourself in knots managing use by dates to make sure nothing is wasted, working out how to feed people with five loaves of bread and little else that someone else has bought with no thought as to how they will be used or that the main protein component of a meal has disappeared as a snack is to call everyone together to join in the mental load of working out a solution until they get it and do their share.

In a household of two adults and adult/teen DC, it absolutely should not be the case that one person is trying to solve this all by themselves.

We are carrying on as we normally do with food. Ok some of our favourites are out of stock but alternatives are available.

My 3 are under 5 so they don’t eat much, but if they ask for a snack or whatever they can have it. Me and dh eat what we like too.

This situation is dire enough I am not going to start rationing food

I suppose this could be a positive lesson for the family? A bit of consideration for others when helping yourself to food and a bit of thought about making food last, being sensible and mindful of others.

R.e the vanishing tubs of ice cream... I get a bumper pack of wafer cones for ice cream. One or two scoops is then all you need for a portion and it feels like a nice treat. It actually takes much longer to eat too.

Well said about the 'scared and discombob...' thing. Yes, totally,
DD at this end went through a 'scared' phase last week, and so did I.

So guess, navigating those big feelings, as everyone is, I'm trying to choose battles and let certain things go...for now. whilst feeling as if I am not managing very well...but probably managing better than i think I am...

Sorry, you wouldn't want to be in my head...
mid

You don't need to disinfect packaging. Packaging really is of very minimal risk to you.

Cardboard has a mild antimicrobial effect - it's to do with the surface - smooth surfaces (eg stainless steel) which are easier to clean are also easier for microbes to transfer from. Rougher/ convoluted surfaces trap microbes within their peaks and valleys. Microfibre cloths trap microbes in this way.

A way to think about this is: when you put your hand on stainless steel, the microsurfaces of your skin can pick up bacteria and viruses comparatively easily as your skin has more 'hooks' than the steel, but cardboard has its own 'hooks' and will hold on to more.

It is possible to make an effective air filter out of plain untreated cardboard, amazingly.

we are carrying on as we normally do with food

Thank fuck.

Obviously everyone does not normally do one weekly shop or the supply chain issues would not be there. Just do as you normally do. If you can afford to use slightly more expensive local shops, it leaves cheaper produce for those on very low incomes.

I’ve spent all week dealing with food at work, including sending my team to open food banks putting them at risk because people are still bulk buying and the worst off of us are being hit hardest of all.

You do realise there are volunteers out there every DAY trying to get shopping for the vulnerable don’t you?

**Dogsaresomucheasier Sun 29-Mar-20 11:10:55
I think my mindset hasn’t shifted yet. I wonder if it will. Daughter works in a supermarket and husband is NHS. We are resigned to getting Coronavirus at some point and are popping out for bread and milk and anything else available almost daily.

I think your mindset does need to shift. I'm not worried about getting it myself, but have hardly been out to avoid spreading it before I know i've got it.

I write everyone's name on chocolate (so buy 5 bars, family of 5, write the name of a family member on each bar). So then everyone has theirs and can choose whether to eat it all immediately or make it last.

I absolutely loathe having someone else in charge of rationing out my food - hang over from a mother with food issues who'd give us each a crumb of our own chocolate Easter egg as "pudding" after each meal for moths after Easter. It made me obsess over the chocolate. As a teen I used to steal cooking chocolate... We lived rurally and she controlled all the food. All my siblings have had or still have eating disorders.

I prefer to let the children know what their share is and let them choose when and how to eat it. 3 kids, teens and pre teens. Some eat it all at once, some eek it out, but they seem chilled about it and always accept what their share is and never try to eat anyone else's.

At the risk of sounding too challenging, I've heard and read that it is not necessarily panic buying that is the problem and more the inherent weaknesses in the supply chains of supermarkets i.e. the Just in time thing.

I'm sure that to some extent we are all in denial about something and learning at the same time. So guess it is good to be challenged and challenge each other.

In the shop yesterday I leaned over too far to put something in the bag because as I automatically would, and then had to apologise when I realised what I had done. The assitant said 'nothing personal' which was really big of them.

they've had to deal with far worse.

I am being ruthless with food. Me, dh and adult dd. Everyone has to ask before opening anything.

anothermother...

this is a really good point you are making and in my mind too with a near 15 year old i.e. that they can choose and are responsible for their choices. I'm mindful of this as eating disorders so common in the peer group etc. and online

I have food hidden all over. Have realised that I've replaced the usual trips to get snack food with regular baking sessions. I suppose there's some education in the baking for the dc at least! Annoyed with dh who wants to go out to get lighters. No thought for all the other things other members of his family might want, or why I'm not getting them due to reducing interactions.

Really not sure what your point is RJ
Everyone I know shops weekly, the supply issues were caused by people stockpling extra food.
Yes I do know that because Im volunteering for the pensioners in our street .
I buy their food at the same time as mine.
No extra trips ,several times a week needed.
Its not hard ...
Clearly you just want to argue for shopping several times a week, against the official guidelines so will leave you to it.

see this link for missocialistworker.co.uk/art/49783/Just+in+time+production+for+profit+to+blame+for+empty+supermarket+shelvestakes in food supply chain for example

socialistworker.co.uk/art/49783/Just+in+time+production+for+profit+to+blame+for+empty+supermarket+shelves

@anothernotherone that sounds like really good parenting.

It's hard not passing on your own food issues to the kids. DD (11) was eating way too much sugar since starting senior school where she can buy what she wants but I didn't know how to address it since I was gorging myself on chocolate.

I've now mostly stopped eating sugar unless it's a family dessert, and talked to her from a health point of view. Fingers crossed it helps.

I am making a conscious effort to eat less, not because of rationing but it just seems sensible to consume fewer calories when living a more sedentary lifestyle (although I am doing plenty of online workouts). No real problem with shopping where I live, I use the smaller shops and have to go out every three days or so as I am doing volunteer work classed as ‘helping the vulnerable’.