To introduce a traffic light system in my kitchen ?

[Wishihadabs]

Bit of background; I WOTH 2 days a week, often involving 1 night away, often Thursday or Wednesday. I do all the food shopping/meal planning and quite a bit of cooking /prepping whilst I am at home on Monday and Tuesdays. AIBU to colour code the food so they don't just help themselves to stuff I have bought specifically for something else ?

I am thinking along the lines of ;
Green sticker-yes please eat me up
Yellow- have some but don't finish me
Red- If you eat this you need to replace it.

Dcs are 9&7 DH is 38, but an eat to live person IYSWIM will just eat what ever is in front of him.

Slap, get a grip, it will never WORK

sorry but no, and no again.

Tell your DH he is now chef, and leave him to it, mine cooked at 9 and seven, show them junior master chef, and leave them to it.

leave a pile of ingredients that need using up, tell them to google the 'recipe , the ingredients' and plenty of suggestions will come up.

If you do need to save ingredients, put them in a tupperware at the back with NO on it.

Sounded like quite a good idea to me!

I like it! Worth a try at least :)

I think it would work well in any kitchen, where there are teenagers who eat and eat until the fridge is empty. I'm tempted myself.

Would the labelling take a long time?

Good idea in theory. I doubt it would work though. Some children would swap the stickers around.

Some children would swap the stickers around.

I was about to point this out...it's why OP needs to ditch the stickers and get some permanent markers in different colours.

I'd use normal white labels, and put days on things that matter eg FRIDAY on the chicken for Friday's fajitas. Things that don't have stickers can be assumed to be fair game.

Or have a designated "help yourself" cupboard/fruit bowl and everything else needs to be checked.

Thanks for the responses. Stickers are mainly for DH TBH. The dcs do not help themselves to food without asking first.

They do help with cooking but that is usually at the weekend as more time. They have aftersschool activities most nights and homework. So usually have cooked something earlier.

Fruit bowl and bread bin are fair game obvs.

Why can't he look at the menu plan and not touch the stuff that isn't on the plan for that day?

Well Mme Lindor I could go down that route, but I feel like I spend enough time planning what everyone will eat already.
I would need to write down permissible snacks and what DH would eat for lunch. I thought the stickers would be less hassle TBH. DH is well meaning and cooperative, he just CBA to think about which food to eat/give the dcs and if something looks tempting and easy will use it.

Liking the idea of a NO tupperware. My Mum used to hide food and I didn't want to go down that route.

Why can't you ask dh what he wants to cook on the days you're not there and buy in food that he knows he's going to use? Or better still, let him sort out what he needs and tell him to only use the food he's planned to make.

I would hate to be told what I could and couldn't eat in my fridge ! Let them have what they want and just have something else for tea

Maltseers they can eat whatever they like as long as they replace it. Why should I have to go shopping twice because DH can't be bothered ?

he needs to do the cooking when he's home, and replace what he uses.

Exactly living, this is just a way of communicating which foods would need replacing.

Can you put the things you want him to leave alone in tubs or tupperware containers, and tell him that anything in them is off limits?

Or you could colour code the tubs. Things in red ones are off limited, things in green ones are okay to eat.

Anything not in a tub or things in tubes and cartons and jars need to be replaced immediately if they are used up or only have a little bit left, so milk and tomato paste and mayonnaise etc, that you can use in lots of dishes but only use a small amount of each time.

This is like people who rig elaborate barriers all over their houses rather than spend a little time training their dogs not to go upstairs and on the sofa, then spend their lives negotiating pointless barriers.

In this house what ever there is a glut of, and needs using up, is used by whoever cooks the next meal,

everyone cooks at least twice a week, they just look at what there is and tailor it to what ever they fancy,

put the energy into training the adult and the child, because once trained no further effort required.

Why not ask DH what he wants to cook and eat the nights he's in charge, and then you buy accordingly? And put a note on fridge to remind him what he's agreed is the menu for those 2 days.

Or else, yes, he buys and cooks for those days himself.

Need to go soon, so will say thanks for all your help. To be clear I am talking about things like unopened packets of bacon/ham( for weekend meals, dcs have school dinners), multi-packs of chocolate bars (for weekend bike rides) and using up all the butter or cheese.

Quotuunquote I think you have hit the nail on the head as to why I am hesitating, I would love that to be the case.

Any suggestions how to implement such a system ?

Oh, and while I haven't yet completely trained DH in the art of BUYING the replacements, I have trained him (and now the au pairs) to at least write up n the list I keep on fridge door anything that they finish. I try to get them to write it up when it is NEARLY empty, but if I at least know it's gone - I can replace.

When/if these things are used up unnecessarily I have to go shopping again at the weekend to replace them.

Biddy pop we do have a list on the wall. I also try to discuss the meal plan with everyone at the beginning of the week. DH just isn't interested (sigh)