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?!

He sounds greedy. He shouldn’t be eating crisps every single day, that’s an unhealthy treat food that you only eat occasionally. He definitely shouldn’t be eating a full pack of biscuits, that’s a shocking amount of sugar! Perhaps he needs some advice from the GP on healthy eating because he clearly doesn’t understand portion sizes and can’t distinguish between food and treats. If he’s hungry get some healthy snacks like rice cakes. If he’s not hungry enough to eat a rice cake then it isn’t real hunger, it’s greed. And definitely hide the treats!

I'm the one in our house who eats the food. It is so annoying to just be eating as usual and have something every day or couple of days and be complained at that something isn't left when it's been there for days. If you wanted it then fucking eat it... I'm not going to just leave everything until his lordship decides that he would like something and then I may partake.

Buy more in.

@VelvetPineapple that’s my view on things! I won’t eat treat foods like crisps / biscuits every single day but I’ll buy some in but by the time I go to have a treat on maybe day 3 or 4 it’s all gone! Even if I was to buy more in, that wouldn’t resolve the problem as he would view it as some sort of invitation to eat more....! 🐷

Can't you just buy smaller quantities more often?

Me and DH have some foods that are our own and then the majority is shared; I’ve never thought about whether it’s weird or not but it started with us both wanting snack food for work and not wanting to run out of it if the other one ate it.
We can eat each other’s but if I finished off the packet of DHs crackers or crisps or whatever I’d get him some more fairly quickly and the same for him with my chocolate.
My new problem is DSD eating an entire packet of biscuits before I’ve even had one so I may resort to hiding some stuff!

Personally I exercise 3/4 times a week, I have a very active job and I tend to go out for a long hike once a week. I easily eat 5000 calories a day yet have dropped 2 stone this year.

Cool story, bro.

Hide a stash for yourself, then buy a limited supply of snacks that DH has access to, but don't put yourself out to keep it topped up if he eats too many.

He shouldn't be filling up on crisps and biscuits, from a health and cost point of view. Just make sure there's plenty of bread and butter for toast. If he's genuinely hungry, he'll eat it.

My DH is like this too but is not overweight at all, he can just eat whatever he likes. I am 6ft2 myself and do like to graze, but just make sure there are healthy snacks and tell him not to eat my chocolate when I have it. If you tell him the same and he does then he needs to go out and replace it

Have you actually spoken to him about it? I once made a spiced lamb mince and hummus thing with 1kg of lamb, which to me = 8 portions so we would have loads leftover for packed lunches & another dinner. Went to grab lunch from the fridge the next day (I work from home) and it was ALL gone. He'd "snacked" on it while washing up! SNACKED ON 750g OF MEAT. We had words about the food budget and now he ensures he buys stuff like cheese and biscuits to fill him up rather than mindlessly consuming expensive meat/scarfing my lunch. (And I'm less parsimonious with portion sizes & try to recognise that his 12" and 3 stone extra body probably does need more food than me. Having said that, if he brings wine gums into the house a mysterious person whose name sounds like schmurritofan does consume them all...)

Have an actual discussion with him. Buy more of the snack foods to ensure you don't run out, but he should be buying more substantial, calorie-dense foods that actually sate his hunger. Crisps aren't actually filling unless eaten with something like hummus for protein. Nuts are filling. But talk to him. Point out each and every time that you went for a snack or treat that you'd bought and it was gone.

I had this problem with DH and DS

We now have "tuck" boxes. 1 each.

If you by something for yourself or get given gifts, they go in the tuck bix. All goodies from shopping are split into boxes, and that's where treats are. That's what you havr. Once it's gone it's gone.
Other boxes are out of bounds.

If cake is made, it's kept in the cake tin and is free for anyone who fancies it.
We will all have at least 2 pieces though, as one will be just after its made, and then a slice will be had for dessert.

We have a jar of digestives and/or custard creams that is free to have. But these only get restocked every couple of weeks.

My DH is exactly the same. It does lead to me overeating bc I know that if I don't eat it ASAP it won't be there when I go back for more tomorrow. I'm overweight so it's not exactly helping me try to moderate my diet.

Dh doesn't get it and thinks that if he wants it - why shouldn't he have it? Especially as he is not overweight. If I just buy more - he eats more. If there's none in the house then he won't replace it, he'll be happy to do without. He will, no joke, eat an entire pack on crisps or biscuits in one sitting.

OP - I either hide things for myself or sometimes buy 2 and label one for him and me. If I'm explicit that one is his and one is mine, he respects that. There is no other way - if something is in the cupboard it's fair game.

There's a box of chocolates under my couch at the moment . In the past there might lived a box of chocolates under the hat in my wardrobe as well.

Would it help if you designate a do-not-touch-orI'll-break-your-finger tin for yourself and put your portion in there?

I sympathise mines the same wouldn't think twice about eating all the biscuits I buy for the kids and if I buy 2 packs he'll just eat twice as many he's the same with everything in the house on a really tight budget it is not fun!

@adacoleman he's a grown adult not a bloody toddler, what a fucking weird post to make 😳

Do the women cook all the meals in your world and baby their husbands?

"DH I bought myself this multipack of my favorite crisps/chocolate/whatever, but want to work through it in my own time. Please don't touch them. There are plenty of other things in the cupboard you can help yourself to"

It depends partly on your budget, if you can afford to buy more food or not. I think a pack of crisps a day is absolutely fine. I would have that a day. And I can't believe you're complaining that he eats two apples a day. But if you've told him not to eat all the crisps and he still does, that's not on.

Strikes me that this is just a form of male entitlement? It's there, I want it, I'll eat it. Don't care if my wife/partner/kids need or want any of this stuff, I want it so I'll eat it

I had this with a teenage son. He would eat 4 or 5 bags of crisps without even thinking about it. We made a " rule" that if he was actually hungry
( i.e. likely to eat multiple packets of crisps) then he had to make a sandwich to have with the crisps. It worked and he agreed that it was healthier for him and less frustrating for me..

I have to hide food, it drives me mad to come back and find things gone especially if a) I was saving some for DDs packed lunch b) he has left the empty packet for me to tidy.

DH can of course eat if he is hungry but he doesn't manage the food budget and so sometimes he doesn't realise that once something is gone that is it for the week. I also like to know things are there on the rare occasion I fancy choc/ biscuits/ crisps. He will eat all the best flavours and leave the rest for others. He has been a lot better since he has been on a health kick but generally speaking if he knows it is there he will want to eat it. He could choose a sandwich or fruit but will choose something like a chunk of halloumi which in my head is the food equivalent of gold dust and must be rationed so everyone gets a fair share.

Once in our early days of living together he ate a whole quiche which I had planned to use for dinner. Could not understand why I was annoyed- I think like a previous poster said he did not grow up having to ask permission to eat anything at home whereas my mum knew exactly what was going to be used and when.

To be fair to him he does buy stuff himself now if he can't find where I have hidden stuff. I think he is a bit more respectful now I have told him that I am meal planning etc.

Don't care if my wife/partner/kids need or want any of this stuff, I want it so I'll eat it

Also don't care whether or not the family can afford the excessive consumption. I see the 'just buy more' crew are on this thread as usual. Well what if they can't afford to 'just buy more'?

So as well as the OP being annoyed because she doesn't get any of the treats herself, she's potentially also trying to balance a budget and ensure that they can buy enough actual food to feed everyone while one member of the family is stuffing himself with a potentially endless amount of expensive treats like pop and crisps.

Why is he incapable of going to the shop to replace it?! That's the real question?

My DH eats a lot of crisps. Pretty much all of the crisps. But he always buys more.

YANBU. I have three DC who demolish everything within a couple of days so I also have to hide food away and think nothing of it.

I don't agree at all with the 'just buy more' brigade.
He's filling himself up with processed junk food, if you buy more then he will eat even more 'treat' food instead of eating more healthy food at meals times.
If he wants more junk (cereal & crisps etc) I assume he can go to the shops and get himself some more......(never gonna do that coz he's looking for the easiest option).
Get yourself a secret stash op sod never getting anything as a treat again just because your dp is a selfish glutton!

Yanbu but just hide it! I have stashes of stuff everywhere. I buy flavoured coffee pods for a treat which my dh would ‘treat’ himself to twice a day until they were gone. So I now hide one in a mini teapot, salad spinner, popcorn maker - I never know where I’ll find one and since I do all the cooking dh won’t find them either.

I put notes on things (not necessarily food) like ‘I’d put this back if I were you’ and more threatening ones if needed. Crazy I know but very effective.

there really is no need to hide food.
they shouldn't be so selfish.

do tuck boxes - it works and is a good 'half way house'.