To want to hide food?

[Bellebill]

I’m sure this happens in other households but it’s starting to really get on my nerves now...
my husband who is quite a tall big fella and naturally eats more than me (and so he should what with daily calorie intake) seems to eat all the food! I’m talking cereal, multipacks of crisps etc. I’ll eat a uite a normal size bowl of cereal but his will be a mountain of special K etc so that a box will have gone in maybe 3 days (!) and he eats a packet of crisps (maybe more than one) every day if they’re there! Don’t even get me started on biscuits! I won’t necessarily eat crisps every day but maybe every couple of days I might fancy a pack, but he will never stop to think maybe he should leave a pack for me since he’s already cleared 5 out of a 6 x multipack! It’s driving me mad and I’ve started to think I might hide food for myself so that when I fancy something it’s actually there rather than racing to eat something as soon as it’s bought! He challenged me when I moaned this evening “well what am I supposed to do?” Baffles me how selfish men are!

Please tell me I’m not alone and you too live with greedy pigs?!

[allotmentgardener]

My dh eats everything in sight. He is always hungry. (He trains alot)
If I buy treats he just eats it all the day its purchased and when I fancy something a day or 2 later it's gone. Apparently I should have eaten it if I'd wanted it .
Now I hide stuff. Haha! And then he gets miffed when he sees me chomping on something nice I've previously hidden.

[Whatsername7]

My dh does exactly the same. It pisses me off too and I do hide food. Last Easter, DD7 got a ridiculous amount of Easter Eggs. Over the Easter holiday, she did the typical kid thing of opening most of them and having a small amount of chocolate from each. The packaging was driving me mad, so I condensed all of the eggs into one big box and put the bars of chocolate into her treat box which we keep in the cupboard. Dh ate every single bar of chocolate. About 2 weeks after Easter, dd asked if she could have a bar, only to find that he had eaten them all and she devestated. I was furious. He'd had at least 4 large eggs of his own that he had inhaled in 2 days. He'd eaten a shed load of the cakes dd had baked with her egg chocolate, then he sneaked more. To me, kids food is off limits. It might have taken her 6 months to eat but it was hers.

[AlaskanOilBaron]

I'm not sure I'd be looking for any deeper meaning here, I'd just buy more food. Is money an issue?

Can you get a food delivery in?

[Prequelle]

Why don't you just both do a little mini shop and buy snacks for yourselves? You have a stash and he has a stash. You both leave each other's alone. This is what me and dp so.

[FrogsAreMean]

I've loved reading this whole thread and the one overwhelming thought on this whole subject is....thank fuck I don't live with a selfish greedy bastard of a man.

[Icantthinkofanameohno]

I think it's a bit odd to not let him eat what he wants - if he's hungry he's hungry - but cant you just implement a rule where he has to replace everything when it's running low? Or give him his own cupboard with his own food in it. I have a huge appetite so I kind of feel for him - eating a huge bowl of cereal for breakfast, and then a packet of crisps and a couple of apples everyday as snacks doesn't seem like much to me at all? And I'm average size/weight.

[Margot33]

We all have our chosen crisps, chocolates and biscuits for the week. Think this would be better for everyone as in, if one eats all of their snacks...its gone! If my husband ate a whole packet of biscuits in one day I would buy 7 x cheap packs of biscuits e.g.30 pence each and tell him these are yours for the week, don't touch the kids ones. My husband has a cheap 20x multipack of crisps, if he runs out then he has none left. Whereas I and the kids all have a 6 pack of crisps each to last the week.

[CheshireChat]

We use Bring as a shopping app, it's great.

Also use Pantrify so I know what's in the cupboards.

[RainbowWaffles]

I agree that if budget is an issue then everyone should have an allotted share, that is fair enough and if he ate someone else’s then it is greedy. There should then be default low cost foods that someone could eat if they were hungry. Otherwise just buy more so there is enough. I wouldn’t class cereal as a treat though surely it’s just a breakfast food?!

[ReanimatedSGB]

I think there's often an issue of male entitlement. The problem is that these men will eat far more than their fair share with no consideration whatsoever for the rest of the family. When the household is on a tight budget, to have a man who eats multiple portions of everything means other family members are going short. Some men don't seem to comprehend the fact that sometimes they will actually have to endure being a bit hungry, because the alternative is for their children to have to skip a meal as Dad has eaten their share before they got anywhere near it.

[FuckertyBoo]

Thank you

[blueskiesovertheforest]

FuckertyBoo it's called "That shopping list" - it's a free Android app. It's simple and reliable but there are plenty of other apps available obviously.

[FuckertyBoo]

Oh I like the sound of that app @blueskiesovertheforest! Would you mind telling which one you use?

[blueskiesovertheforest]

We have a shopping list app and whoever finishes or eats the last but one of something big, or when something it's normal to eat several of is running a bit low, or the last butter is opened etc puts it in the list. List is on everyone's phone. If you're old enough for a mobile you're old enough to participate in housekeeping via an app...

I hate the idea of asking permission to eat in your on home because my mother was absolutely neurotically controlling about food and weight which led to secret eating, "stealing" food and siblings with serious eating disorders.

The problem with not eating the last one is there's one of everything left - one crisp, one slice of ham, one biscuit... Not very helpful when 2 or 3 or 5 of you are having a cup of tea and you want to put biscuits out, or when 5 people need a packed lunch.

Shopping list app and meal plan casually together and display meal plan. Works for teens and adults alike.

[Pinkbells]

As long as he's generally eating healthily otherwise and is not overweight then just buy more of it so there's enough?

[FuckertyBoo]

Thinking about it, dh and I have our own crisps, as we like different flavours. If he, or I, wants to eat a whole family packet in one sitting, it’s fine. Obviously, not a good idea health wise, but it doesn’t affect the other person...

We sort of do the same with chocolate actually, now that I think about it. He has his and I have mine. I would never have to actually hide mine though, as we don’t eat each other’s treats.

[GucciDay]

I don't hide food, I've never lived with a man who behaved like this. None of my children would tolerate it either.'

Well good for you. Clearly some households are different. I keep the best biscuits hidden, for my own personal use. I don't think this traumatises me or anyone else.

[Stealthymcstealth]

It's selfish, especially if they are eating food meant for children, my DH sometimes fancies jelly but because it is a treat we get in for our son he won't touch it, even if we got in extra he still wouldn't a bit daft seen as it's not a matter of budget or making sure there is enough left but preferable to the greedy sods who don't know how to share!

[FuckertyBoo]

Well that’s why I asked barb. I know some people are like that; if you don’t stuff ALL the treats in your face ASAP, there’s a chance Someone Else might have some too. I think it must be some sort of disordered eating.

But I wonder if that applies here, as, tbh, 1-2 bags of crisps per day, 2 apples per day and a large bowl of cereal isn’t really that excessive imo.

[BarbaraofSevillle]

Like if you bought a bigger box of cereal or two bags of crisps, would op get a look in

Probably not. Many people just can't have treaty food in the house without compulsively eating it. If you buy more, it's very likely that they will just eat more within the same timescale.

[FuckertyBoo]

By “if you bought more” I didn’t mean the op should go and replenish the stuff he’s eaten btw; I meant if you plural bought more in the first place, would it last longer or would he eat more so there was still none left for op in the same space of time? Like if you bought a bigger box of cereal or two bags of crisps, would op get a look in?

[jamiecooks]

chocs posh

[jamiecooks]

I sometimes hide food as my OH chomps through everything. We had 18 bags of crisps, of which I had 2 and pointed out to him he’d eaten the rest. He was apologetic to a point but said “but you knew this about me when we met”. So now I hide stuff. Had to hide chicks from my MIL too - she babysat a few times and commented how I could save chocolates without eating them. Turns out she’d been helping herself over the course of a few weeks to the very push chocs I’d been bought for my birthday (which hadn’t even been opened). Wouldn’t have minded as much if it was not standard dairy milk but come on! So it clearly runs in the family. I now hide food from both of them. It’s likd being a bloody student again

[CheshireChat]

Oh and why the hell should the OP have to go out and buy some more- he's the greedy fucker he should be inconvenienced otherwise why would he stop