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Original poster

Can anyone NOT eat all the sweets once the bag is open?

63 replies

largeprintagathachristie · 27/07/2023 15:07

I have two bags of chocolate sweets brought back from holiday. They are amazing. The first bag is gone - eaten in one or two sittings. Felt faintly sick and annoyed I’d got through them like that. They’ll be expensive to repurchase from the UK, too, so I’d like to make them last.

Are there others who can make sweets/chocolate last longer once the bag is open and if so, what are your special powers? I’d like to have, say, three sweets a night, for a treat after my evening meal.

Have thought of giving them to DP to look after and dole out to me but suspect he would have the same problem and just eat them all!

OP posts:
midgetastic · 27/07/2023 15:09

Deferred pleasure

Something possibly innate - sone children can resist a sweet for the promise of 2 in 5 minutes , sone can't

I would love to know if it is related to ability to save and financially plan , ability to plan for future

HighEndGrifters · 27/07/2023 15:11

Don't eat sweets, but I am a demon saver, does that help. Grin

gingerguineapig · 27/07/2023 15:12

I find it easier with wrapped sweets or boiled sweets. When I am at a motorway service area I buy a couple of tins of travel sweets (they are quite difficult to get elsewhere although garden centres sometimes have them) and I can ration myself to four of them a day.

I can also buy things like wrapped mint humbugs and stick to four of them a day.

But if you give me a bag of skittles or fruit pastilles or something like that, it's much more difficult to control my intake of them. I won't eat a whole bag though as that would be very piggy. If I have a tube of fruit pastilles I will eat half the tube.

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ShowOfHands · 27/07/2023 15:12

I still have Christmas chocolates left. Haven't finished a single box/tub yet.

I've never liked over eating or feeling stuffed. DH sees an all you can eat buffet as a challenge, I see it as a waste of time.

I eat a biscuit or a couple of sweets and then put the packets away.

gingerguineapig · 27/07/2023 15:13

(that's a normal small tube not the big ones you get at Christmas :) )

juneybean · 27/07/2023 15:14

No haribo for example goes in one sitting. I am a binge eater though.

TastesLikeStrawberriesOnASummerEvening · 27/07/2023 15:14

I have selection boxes left from Christmas, but am terrible for crisps/cheese/olives etc.
I just don't have a sweet tooth.

Pkhsvd · 27/07/2023 15:17

I can make things last like this; I think a lot of my enjoyment comes from looking forward to it. I was also brought up like this; we’d never be allowed to eat 2 bags of crisps or 4 biscuits all in one go and my parents didn’t do this either.
The idea of the sickly feeling of eating them all puts me off.
@midgetastic im very much a planner; financially and in life generally. On the downside I struggle to remain in the moment at times and enjoy it

Wilkolampshade · 27/07/2023 15:21

Well I don't really have a sweet tooth, so yes, with no difficulty at all.

Crisps, however.....

Original poster
largeprintagathachristie · 27/07/2023 15:32

Right, I’m going to ration myself, three sweets per night, and see if I can do it. It would prolong the pleasure and avoid the gluttonous feeling.

I suspect I’ll need to take three sweets out of the bag, reseal the bag, and then move to another room. No just digging my hand into the bag.

Managing money-wise, I was awful, unfortunately, in my 20s and 30s; totally succumbed to the here and now and didn’t plan. I’m good now but learned the hard way. Career also unplanned and haphazard. Hmmm…

OP posts:
girlfriend44 · 27/07/2023 15:34

can you not exercise any self control, sounds abit greedy also?

LMNT · 27/07/2023 15:36

girlfriend44 · 27/07/2023 15:34

can you not exercise any self control, sounds abit greedy also?

Oh bog off with your self righteousness.

My husband, the freak, can eat half a chocolate bar.

gogomoto · 27/07/2023 15:36

I managed to make a large box of Belgian chocolates last 2 weeks but only because they were so rich more than 3 at once was sickly

EmmaPaella · 27/07/2023 15:37

I trained myself not to want sweets aged about 16. Now I sometimes have e.g. a Colin the Caterpillar if the kids are having some. I can have a bit of chocolate or biscuit with a cup of tea and that's it.

Cheese, crisps, and hummus, on the other hand...

EmmaPaella · 27/07/2023 15:38

largeprintagathachristie · 27/07/2023 15:32

Right, I’m going to ration myself, three sweets per night, and see if I can do it. It would prolong the pleasure and avoid the gluttonous feeling.

I suspect I’ll need to take three sweets out of the bag, reseal the bag, and then move to another room. No just digging my hand into the bag.

Managing money-wise, I was awful, unfortunately, in my 20s and 30s; totally succumbed to the here and now and didn’t plan. I’m good now but learned the hard way. Career also unplanned and haphazard. Hmmm…

Same OP. I am in a totally random profession and was always terrible with money, hence no credit cards. So I am proof that not eating sweets can be done!

YourMommaWasASnowblower · 27/07/2023 15:39

I can’t. I have a bag of peanut M&Ms that came with the food shopping an hour ago and they are all I can think about. The second they are opened they will be gone. I don’t buy sweets often for this reason!

Original poster
largeprintagathachristie · 27/07/2023 15:43

girlfriend44 · 27/07/2023 15:34

can you not exercise any self control, sounds abit greedy also?

Holier than thou, I see!

OP posts:
Original poster
largeprintagathachristie · 27/07/2023 15:46

If they’re not in the house, the problem’s not there. Which I suppose is the answer but these sweets (from my childhood) ARE in the house.

OP posts:
CatsOnTheChair · 27/07/2023 15:56

Sweets, or savory stuff, i can leave.
Chocolate, otoh, is gone once opened.

TheNoodlesIncident · 27/07/2023 16:18

I can do it OP, in the manner you describe. Open the bag in the kitchen, take eg three out, put them in a little bowl, put a clip on the opened bag and put it away in the pantry. I have the items after dinner, like a sort of pudding, and try not to think of them at any other time (not easy to be honest, I'm often thinking "I'll just have one with my lunchtime cup of tea").

I know other people who just can't do this and once the desired object is in the house, they have to have it and can't ration it out. But I think not taking the bag into the living room with you does help as it stops that absent-minded repeated dip into the bag. Sure you could go and get more from the cupboard, but you're giving yourself another chance to say "No, stop" if you have to get up to go and get them. You still need willpower but you're making it less easy.

That works for me but I know it wouldn't for others.

Also, DH and I both want to know what the desirable sweets are, and are they available in Crete? Wink

PimpMyFridge · 27/07/2023 16:21

Sweets and chocolate can sit around for weeks here. Just not that bothered so can't claim I have an iron will power. I was the same as a kid and would have to be reminded to eat my Easter eggs to make room for the Xmas chocolate that was soon coming... Drive my sister mad, she thought I did it just to piss her off... I didn't though that was an added bonus (she wasn't very nice to me)

Trumporange · 27/07/2023 16:23

Don't hate me but I have gargantuan self control. I think it might be in our genes as my dc are the same.

We can make a large box of chocs last months. Can take one biscuit and put the rest away, no problem at all.

We are all good at saving money too.

We have our faults mind you!

Trumporange · 27/07/2023 16:25

Oh and another one, no matter how much we want to see what happens next in a TV drama we're really enjoying, we'll switch off and wait if eg it's getting a bit late or if we decided to only watch an episode a week.

CastaniaBlush · 27/07/2023 16:25

juneybean · 27/07/2023 15:14

No haribo for example goes in one sitting. I am a binge eater though.

I can literally take a sweet or two from anything EXCEPT for Haribos.

I am not sure what they put in them to create a frenzied reaction in me...

Haribos are heavenly and also little bloody devils.

SquitMcJit · 27/07/2023 16:28

I can do this. My problem is the opposite - I feel panicky if stuff isn’t available. So I have no problem having things in the house, I need a stash to dip into - and it doesn’t make me eat it all in one go at all.

I think it must be delayed gratification. I am also a planner (but not a very good saver…)