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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To introduce a traffic light system in my kitchen ?

63 replies

Wishihadabs · 16/04/2013 12:15

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.

OP posts:
ImTooHecsyForYourParty · 16/04/2013 17:59

I think it's a great idea. I am going to pinch it.

With the addition of a skull and cross bones TOUCH IT AND DIE sticker.

The other day my husband cooked and ate an entire pack of diced beef that was supposed to be for a casserole for the whole family.

I did the crazy eyes that day, I tell you.

quoteunquote · 16/04/2013 18:00

we use up what is available from the garden first, I buy some veg and fruit,

we keep the larder supplies stocked, herbs, pasta, rice, flour, oats, sugar, oils, vintagers that sort of thing,

we buy or exchange for meat, we buy straight from the farmer, usually whole lamb, half a pig, beef mix, we belong to a couple of meat co ops, where you agree in advance with the farmer how much of an animal you are going to have,

meal plans work like this,

what is the protein (meat ,fish, beans, nuts) , what veg are we having with it, from what is available( what's there to much of, what needs using up), what do you want to add to make in to a tasty meal,

let them start with the meals they like, then they have to make something else, they will have more control over how the ingredients are cooked, as long as they are starting with healthy ingredients and it ends up inside them, it up to them how it tastes.

If you want them to eat a healthy diet for life, then they need to master cooking, the only way that can happen is if you let them do it.

most rejected food items, when people say they don't like something is from when the person has tried it when it is badly cooked, once you learn how to control how an item is cooked, you find a way that you like it, and your taste develops, when you don't like food, it is only because your brain has previously rejected it, it's a protection system left over from when we were hunter gathers, your brain does not recognise it as food,

In this house it is unacceptable to say,"I don't like it', A "I have not yet learnt to appreciate it " is far better as you are not brain washing yourself into never enjoying it.

If you want them to be food literate then they need to get stuck in,

mine have never had any real disasters, odd cake that the oven was too low at the start,

they always run it by an adult what they are planning, and how they plan to execute it,

but after you have shown them once, and then watched one, leave them to it, I bet they surprise themselves and you.

diddl · 16/04/2013 18:05

So he's not really using ingredients as he doesn't cook??

Sounds lazy/thoughtless tbh.

Makes himself stuff but not the kids?-that's horrible.

How has he got to 38 & can't/won't cook?

Wishihadabs · 16/04/2013 18:08

Where did I say he made himself stuff but not the dcs ? Lazy maybe and disinclined to cook but he is a lovely husband and father.

OP posts:
diddl · 16/04/2013 18:15

"he will give these to the dcs after school as well as having them himsel, instead of bothering to make them toast or oatcakes for them."

So he'll make stuff for himself in the day, but not for the children when they get in?

Or have I misunderstood?

Apologies if so.

Wishihadabs · 16/04/2013 18:25

I see what you mean. I read that as eating in front of the dcs without feeding them, which he wouldn't do. He can cook but not as quickly/efficiently as me perhaps.

I think leaving them with basic ingredients and no treats is the way to go. Allow them to get inventive. If there is no butter/cheese left make him go out to get it. He won't let the dcs starve and I think I am making it too easy for them to be lazy.

OP posts:
diddl · 16/04/2013 19:46

I mean he could easily learn a couple of simple meals to do when you're not there.

What if you're ill-does everyone live on snacks?

"I think I am making it too easy for them to be lazy"-I think that you might have it there!

Wishihadabs · 16/04/2013 19:49

To be fair he does cook (well heat) simple things. Yes last time I was ill (1 day in last 3 years) they lived on junk.

OP posts:
HorryIsUpduffed · 16/04/2013 19:51

My DH is as feeble as that usually.

"What can I have for lunch?" he wails.

I open the fridge to see three kinds of cheese, ham, salad... a bread bin full of bread ... and a cupboard with tonnes soup and 11p noodles yum.

"Um...?"

HorryIsUpduffed · 16/04/2013 19:51

*tins of

MmeLindor · 16/04/2013 22:28

But that doesn't solve the issue.

'We need X and Y for the weekends, and if it is not there on Friday evening, then you will have to go and buy it. Aren't we lucky we have a 24h Tesco nearby'.

You only need to send him out once or twice for him to get it.

Wishihadabs · 17/04/2013 08:34

No Mme Lindor. What I have done this time is explained to DH we need xyz for the weekend please leave it alone. For the future if talking doesn't work I will move the weekly shop to Saturday (not my preferred time) so that they are dealing with the scrag ends when I am at work.

I am hoping that it won't come to that as DH does appreciate the fact that I do all the shopping and would rather it didn't eat into our weekends.

OP posts:
HorryIsUpduffed · 17/04/2013 12:40

I think that's why people do tend to shop on Saturdays tbh.

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