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?

If you have a car shopping once per week is pretty easy, it just requires a mind set shift. We moved to a country/ region with no online food shopping 12 years ago (from the south east of England where I'd already got used to on-line grocery shopping even then). There's still no on-line grocery shopping here, and we live 5 miles from any form of shop, shops are closed entirely on Sunday and until a couple of years ago at 2pm on Saturday and 6pm in the week - recently 6pm on Saturday and 7 or 8pm in the week.

It takes a bit to shift your mindset but I only shop on the way home from a Nightshift as I started resenting the sheer time lost to doing a grocery shop for a family of 5 (driving there, shopping, queueing to pay, loading it back into the trolley, into the car, out of the car, unpacking it finally) so I do it once a week when the stars align and it's not an extra journey and family members are home to unpack it.

No rationing out is needed - meal plan plus equal division of treat food which is labelled.

No one family member hides or doles out treat food when they deem it the right time to eat it, that's quite arbitrary and creates issues, but each person has their share labelled on shopping day and has full control of their own share, unless the children are very young indeed.

I am finding myself thinking about food constantly, but in a way that ensures there is zero waste (we rarely have any anyway as I meal plan and make sauces and soups out of anything that needs using up etc).

DH and I aren’t snacking at all, but DS(6) is an absolute fruit monster and I’m having to ensure that he doesn’t eat too much too soon as he would genuinely eat it all in a day if I left him to it. He knows to ask before he takes anything though and all other snacks are out of reach so it’s not much different to normal here, except that we are obviously here all the time!

With the exception of flour and pasta, I have been able to shop normally so far though, in terms of what sorts of things I buy.

I am trying to do once a week shopping but I’m also now shopping for 2 90 year olds and one 86 year old (who all live separately) so that might not be manageable depending on what they need and when, and how long this goes on for.

I'm not going to the shops if I don't have to, I have a delivery slot booked for the 8th. So far I know two people who have lost parents to this virus and at the moment I am recovering from a virus with very similar symptoms so not going anywhere.

Therefore, food in the cupboard is being eeked out. Also, I don't know what I will get paid.

We won't starve, we didn't waste food to start with, but we are having smaller portions and limiting the fresh fruit so the kids get more. The children (who are both primary age) have been spoken to so that they know it's a once it's gone, it's gone.

It is a mental load that I hadn't appreciated before. I've taken for granted popping to the shops, having full cupboards and not having to think - shall I use this flour to get the kids to bake a cake, or save it in case we run out of bread.

I keep a list of food in the fridge and use by dates ( although regularly exceed them anyway ) to avoid wastage , try and make interesting meals for those at home to eat while I’m at work . We have a generally well stocked mini Waitrose at the bottom of our street so feel lucky and spoilt anyway .

We were quite poor when the children were growing up so they accept it as a matter of fact that you can't just go and help yourself without taking other people into account.

We also didn't have a car so what we could buy was always limited to what we could carry and our shop was a small COOP rather than a large supermarket.

Having enough money still leads to far less of a mental load even during a pandemic.

@mrsm43s, I don't know where you are but in my village, we are definitely experiencing shortages and not just of the expected loo rolls!
The problem is, if it isn't there and no alternative available, and you don't want to keep popping out to check if stock has arrived, then you DO have to go without.

So much for staying at home!

Sorry but a lot of people had indeed moved to little top ups and had stopped weekly shopping - it’s why all those Sainsbury’s locals and Tesco expresses opened! There is a suburban street near me that has 3 small supermarkets in a row. People returning to the big weekly shop is actually what has stressed the supply chain.

@Horsemad I'm in the SE.

There's a shortage of specific items, certainly. But not a lack of food overall. Surely its better to eat a different or unusual meal of the right quantity, rather than going without, or eating a reduced portion?

So everyone has a full portion of hummus and carrot sticks for breakfast (if that's what's available) , rather than half a portion of cereal. Or a full portion of potato curry, rather than half a portion of chicken curry. I don't think there's anywhere in the country where you can't buy enough food to feed a family for a week, assuming you go for a weekly supermarket shop. It might not be your usual stuff, it might not be your favourite stuff, but you can meet your families full nutritional needs for a week in any supermarket, I'm sure, without anyone having to cut down on the amount of food they're eating.

(One can't generally get a full weekly shop in a village/corner shop at any time, so it doesn't make sense to try to do so now! Use your one trip per week wisely, and go somewhere that is likely to have a suitable amount of food in store!)

Surely its better to eat a different or unusual meal of the right quantity, rather than going without, or eating a reduced portion?

Yes, I’m baffled by the idea that only certain foods can be eaten, at a time like this. Necessity is the mother of invention and all that. Eat what’s available, surely? I’ve tried a few new recipes already.