Are you being careful with how much you eat?

[middleager]

I find I am already 'rationing' in my head - one less slice of bread, no bag of crisps (children might want them), using that manky old pepper instead of chucking it etc.

Kids and DH still feasting and while I want to keep things looking normal for DC, I can't help but mentally prep for what lies ahead.

I'm also saving 'treats' for when I might appreciate them more. By treats I mean normal eggs for the kids (we have six eggs) rather than biscuits etc.

Is anybody else doing this? Perhaps you've been doing it for days/weeks.

I can eat quite frugally (Veggie) but the other 3 are in for quite a shock.

DH is still rolling his eyes at my warnings about how bad it could get, so eats with no such thoughts.

Yes, most notably making bubble and sequels from a left over st paddy’s day “celebration”

I’m really scared that we will end up with proper food shortages.

yes I am. Not letting the kids waste food, trying to buy what we really need rather than more 'fancy items!', trying not to spend too much..dh doesn't seem to have got the memo and turned up with coconut water yesterday. I ask you..

To be honest I'm eating more than usual as I was starting to lose weight with the stress. I'm already a low BMI.
I'm not wasting anything though and I'm meal planning.

Yes. We are all eating very much less than we were. Smaller portions too so no waste, no snacks.

I grew up really poor though so it’s ingrained into me deep down, growing up it wasn’t unusual to have just a tin of beans and a slice of bread for the day so if it came to that I’d be mentally prepared.

It’s like Christmas. When the kids say can I eat the biscuits and I always so no you can’t they are for Xmas.
Now when my son asks I say no they are for the lock down

(It also helps that I’ve still got raging ‘morning’ sickness nausea at 16 weeks so I can hardly eat anyway).

Yes half rations here, preparing for The Purge don't watch that tv series now for god sake!!

No food waste. Anything they don’t eat in one meal is served up for the next.

Yep.

And weve stopped asking the kids what they want for dinner - it's "here's dinner"

Dh and I have reduced our portions but for the kids, we give them their usual portions.

No I am that walking meme. Eating all of my quarantine snacks in one night.

I'm trying not eat the entire of my emergency stock of easter eggs before sunday but apart from that no not really. There is not and will not be a food shortage. It's a supply chain issue caused by greed.

I think one good thing that might come out of this is less food waste. I thought I was doing ok before but now, rather than going in a bowl in the fridge to quietly die, leftover meal portions are properly packaged, labelled and put in the freezer.

Yes, making sure to:

Eat in date order
Store optimally to prevent food over-ripening
Re-serve leftovers (am giving DS his lunch in a bento box which goes back in the fridge and gets topped up the next day)

Any other tips?

We're definitely having smaller portions and saving everything for the next meal. Tomorrow's lunch is going to be leftovers. It's not so much about saving food, it's also to make sure I don't end up the size of a house given how much more sedentary I am at the moment - usually I walk over 13km a day on my commute, now I am lucky to have a 30 min walk.

Yes, but only because we're in lockdown and I don't want to put on weight during this time. We're less active, so need to eat less. I'm not worried about food supplies or anything like that. We aren't wasteful with food generally anyway, so I'm not about to start being wasteful now.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz my 5 year old can be quite fussy - but I explained to her that from now on she just has to eat what she’s given and why. So far so good. So that’s a plus.

Not yet. I have had a hell of a week (family funeral and family cancer diagnosis) so have been stress eating. Come Monday that all changes and food will need to be rationed as I think we will be in an Italian style lockdown by then.

Like a PP I'm trying to eat more. I've started to lose weight due to stress and anxiety and I started off at 7 stone anyway. I can't afford to lose more.

My daughter asked "is this a normal lunch or a weird one today?", as I served her eggs on toast for lunch... we've been having some weird-ass combinations this week, so that I don't waste things by missing their best before or use by dates.

I assured her eggs on toast was perfectly normal. But at least she knows to expect some odd combinations in the coming weeks, depending on what we can buy!

I guess I notice that the kids are more aware. My eldest, who is 18, is a lot more aware of 'rationing' as he considers it (he doesn't quite understand that we're not even close to that, but at least he's conscious- something he's not had to give much thought to until now).

I need to lose weight so watching portion sizes is a good thing for me. But I'm definitely being stricter with the children on wasting food (i.e asking for food then changing their minds).

When all this is over I hope I never stop appreciating stocked supermarket shelves

No.

Italians are still allowed to go to the supermarket even on lockdown so I'm guessing it will be the same for us. We aren't going to run out. Idiots just need to stop panic buying.

Yes, very careful. Bulking things out/smaller portions etc

Yes, much more aware of not wasting food

It’s quite lucky that I’ve been on meds (ADHD) for a few months that have stopped my cravings anyway so it’s been a bit easier