In laws with tiny stomachs

[HumbleStumble]

Staying with in-laws (aged in late 60s). We are a normal healthy family with normal appetites (I think?). I am sick of having to "request" 3 meals a day. As far as I can work out they generally must eat a cup of tea for breakfast, a dry wafer with a thimble of cheese for lunch and a grilled sardine for dinner usually, with loud exclamations that the enormous amount consumed for each meal will see them out for the next few days.

Today I have had to drive to a cafe for a normal lunch and bought horderves "for Christmas" just to bulk up the dinner of boiled potatoes and two slices of ham. Children are ravenous. It was their choice of hosting, and I am paying for all the food (but they get to dictate the (lack of) menu!

I hope OP (and the others struggling with problematic relatives) that when next visit comes your food needs/intake while being a host/visitor are going to be taken into consideration.

Sod under/over eating and the comments. This has to stop especially where kids are involved as it’s very damaging to them.

I had to point out to elderly relatives that kids are still growing and they need food and their food intake increases every year so toddler size meal is not going to fill them up.They were a bit put off to start with(as they had good reasoning for it).I was happy to supply extra food

It’s all about control. It’s insane.

I find it horryfing that OP’s DH let his kids go hungry in order to not to rock the boat with his parents. It’s also insulting that OP bought extra food and was denied access to it.

Grabby,rude,offensive and controlling.

I wouldn’t be shy in asking “where’s stuff I bought as we’re hungry”
Conversation is much needed about the expectations,if it doesn’t happen then I would decline further visits with clear explanation why.

Tackle your “D”H OP.

My Dad is in his 80’s still has 3 meals a day and is partial to a couple of biscuits with a cuppa as well. His portion sizes seem average. He’s not overweight and in good health.

food waste is a real waste, can’t you freeze, use up, give to neighbours or just learn to reduce your cooking amounts?

Right?! I deliberately cook more than needed so I can freeze some most of the time. Or eat it the next day. I don't understand why it would be thrown out.

@HumbleStumbleyou aren’t responding to posts about your dh role in this and why you are both happy to let your children remember a hungry Christmas. I think this thread is a wind up

Excellent reply to the nonsensical emotionally manipulative post.

Hahaha, nope. I have various friends from Italy, Spain, Greece, India, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Nigeria, South Africa and Mexico and they ALL feed us to absolute bursting and then some. Don’t know where you got that idea from!

Why the guilt trip? - they are late 60s not late 80s - unless there is some underlying illness they may live another 20-30 years. Late 60s is not old as most people will be working until 67-68

"...happy to let your children remember a hungry Christmas." Alright Tiny Tim, calm down.
They may remember a Christmas where their DM ferreted away tasty morsels of food to keep them going in-between admittedly hilariously austere meals for a couple days.

Why all the cloak and dagger? Furtively nibbling on tasty morsels like some naughty escapade?
Why would your DH not just be normal and cook for you all?

Because it's a creative writing exercise and not a real post.

Loving all your descriptions. My in-laws were the complete opposite. You had to roll us out of the house we were that stuffed.

To the poster who said people eat less as they get older, I wish someone would tell that to my metabolism.😁

💯

And their Dad did…what?

Why are you being so cagey about this?

What could the man be expected to do but quietly conserve his energy and hope hometime came before he withered away?

The small portions are wrong but I personally can’t eat three proper meals a day, we eat brunch around 10.30/11 then dinner around 6 with perhaps a piece of cake with a drink around 1.30 or so. We eat heartily trust me, but I have my limits. I’ve never had a high metabolism hence being overweight

Why is this relevant to anything? You just wanted to share?

Indeed! 😅