In thinking "no more weekly shop until we have used what's in the cupboard/freezer".

[Codandchops]

DS moaning that "there is nothing to eat".

No! What he means is that the cupboards are devoid of crap food and that he cannot graze.

Just surveyed cupboards and we have pasta, rice, several tins of soup, a tin of three bean salad plus various sauces etc. The freezer has beef mince, a small beef roadting joint and lots of frozen veg. We also have potatoes and a few fresh carriots. In these times of austerity I
feel sure I could feed us for several days on
all this. Okay so I need to buy milk and possibly some bread or bread flour but quite honestly I don't think we need to rush off to Asda/Sainsburys/Tesco do we?

DS aged 9 disagrees and would have me down the "crap food aisle" in no time.

Amazing how much good food can be in a house but still have a 9 year old whinging.
So it's Spaghetti Bolognese for dinner this evening, soup for lunch and yogurts. I think that's good - okay so I might need some fruit but beyond that it's "store cupboard" week.

"I need to do this. For me it's not DS who moans, it's that I actually get panicky if the fridge/freezer/cupboards aren't crammed with food. I really need to let the feeling pass though as could do to run stuff down to save on some needless spending."

Are you me? My late husband used to say that I was turning into my mother for doing that. My freezer is permanently full, my undersink cupboard stuffed to the very gills with bleach, washing powder and cleaning sprays, my grocery cupboard full, but still I have to restock each week to ten days.

I'm a bit tlike that though, so I dont think it's an age thing. Is he a type of autistic spectrum person who wants to eat the same foods over and over? If so they I do think you need to give him some leeway.

We do this every now and again.

I was eating the last piece of ryvita so excited to go shopping the next day

I bought Ben and jerrys and ate the whole tub myself in one night lol

We have tried this and failed. What happens is that we dont get any shopping then come tea time we're eating toast as still dont want to eat what shite is at the back of the freezer and end up ordering takeaway come 9oclock as we are starving!

titty- that's what DH wants to do. I offer him several variations of stuff I have in the freezer or cupboard and he wrinkles his nose and says "Chinese?"

Grahamtribe - yesyes to the cleaning cupboard and also upstairs I have a draw full of toiletries. I know where the issue comes from (childhood related) but I can't help it!

My DS is autistic too so I am always running out of the same stuff he eats over and over. (DS's food shopping list: bananas, apples, potato and carrot waffles, cheese pizza, brown bread loaf, potato waffles, ketchup, dried apricots, squeezy tube yoghurts, jam, cereal, cordial). I have to go shopping for his stuff but buy food for me too when I don't need to as there is loads left in!

tiity - thats exactly what we do try to use the food, realise we hate it and order takeaway . Why i keep buying food we dont eat I have no idea - I have issues there!

I bought Ben and jerrys and ate the whole tub myself in one night lol

That reminds me, my DP was shocked last night when I said I'd never eaten ice cream straight from the tub (there was only a little left). The idea never occurred to me!

YANBU at all! I make my family do this. I top up staples like milk ( have actually thought about buying a cow so much of it do we consume), bread, potatoes etc but there is loads of food in this house! I always keep in frozen veg too so we can actually make a proper meal with the "no food" we have!

I have just had last nights tea for my lunch, we made too much and it was only enough for one so it's now inside me!

My life was changed when I realised you could freeze both milk and butter!

I have realised today that we have no money in our current account (money elsewhere but I'm not touching that) as a result of unusual spending this month on things like a new mattress and decent pillows and a leaky roof. As a result we are eating the freezer until payday on 28th. I'm a hoarder with a stockpile and we have chickens so if we can't do it there is something wrong. It will be boring but we'll cope - although I have no doubt that there will be moans coming from all directions!

Right, I need to read this thread properly but off home now. Marking my place!

We had to do this recently, our fridge-freezer died and we were having a new kitchen so we didn't want to buy a new one before that, so we ate what was in our (rather full) cupboards. We had some really odd meals. Lots of lentil and tinned tomato and onion soup (which we liked) but then we got onto the back of the store cupboards, food which had travelled around various houses and decades with us. Odd vegiburger mixes from those health food coops that probably closed down in the 80s. All sorts of ends of packets of rice.

It was OK but since the new fridge freezer came we just buy things we can throw in the oven. so it made us lazier in the end. but the cupboards are less crowded.