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.

No because I'm underweight. However we are being careful with using up everything in the fridge even if it's weird combos of food, and not wasting any.

Fair enough. I get the point if there are shortages at present. I'm really surprised tho. In Ireland that was the case for a day or 2 but now it's all fine. I mean you can't get everything but there are plenty of alternatives.

As for the worry about being out of work, sure I get this, sorry. It just wasn't mentioned as a reason upthread.

I really hope it calms down.

I'm having to absolutely force myself to eat, it's a combination of anxiety, upset and not being able to visit the shops for the foreseeable. I've lost weight that I can't afford to lose.

Made a soup today of all the leftover bits of veg that were past their best in the fridge & found a tub of frozen cabbage, cooked it all & blended it & it tasted amazing! So pleased with myself

Have definately stopped snacking as I want to save what we have for the dc or as an odd treat over the coming weeks.

I'm overweight anyway so not a bad thing & maybe it'll be the start of better habits.

@EarringsandLipstick unfortunately there really are. I've had friends over the last week struggle to get milk, bread, nappies and Calpol. And these are people with no financial worries, transport and time to drive round to multiple shops to find what they need. I don't want to exacerbate the problem. We've even switched our DS to reusable nappies overnight (which we tried when he was younger and didnt suit) so that we can donate the ones we have to people who really need them. I'm at home for the foreseeable due to pregnancy and heath issues so want to do the little I can to make the situation better (or at least not worse!).

We are trying to live with what we have for as long as we can as DH is right in the danger zone. Definitely trying NOT to go to shops and so we are eating less to make it last longer

We’ve not done any panic buying. We’re shopping as normally as we can. The only change we’ve noticed is we’re being much less wasteful and a little more inventive.

There is not going to be a food shortage. Nobody is going to starve. Please stop this. People have enough worries right now without Mumsnet piling them on by the truckload.

Yes, partly to reduce waste as much as possible and partly to need to go out and shop as rarely as possible.

I had lunch and dinner combined in one meal which was one sandwich of cheese and chicken and a1/3 can soup -then some pineapple pieces.

We never waste food and wouldn't cut down because we don't gorge. The DC werd never picky particularly ( their dislikes were respected) and never pandered to. DS now 25 dislikes mash, mousse, choc ice cream, DD 21 dislikes cooked tomatoes and onion.

Leftover supper has always been tomorrow's lunch or part of It; a chicken carcass has always been stock bones.

@Dramadrama That's true but I have to sit in an office every day and my DS has been at school every day. I'm not going to big supermarkets, they are packed with people and no food.

Yes definitely. Serving up portions rather than having huge servings and a free for all. Also I’m throwing away any food left on plates rather than finish the little one’s meals just in case we are incubating Corona, so I would rather put smaller portions out than end up throwing food away.

I’m rationing to breakfast lunch and dinner with a mid-morning snack and a mid afternoon snack just one item each. I have a large family and I normally put out a lot of food for them to help themselves.

Yes, I've started to be very careful, although we fortunately have plenty in and a reasonably stocked 'Brexit box' of tins and pulses in the loft to fall back on. DS has been warned that he's going to have to forget about being fussy for a while and eat what we can get!

Sorry to hear that @KatnissMellark that definitely sounds worse than Ireland at any point 🙁

Nah.

No need, though I'm being stricter about planning and using in date order and using up the ends of packets and pots because the freezer is too full to just throw stuff in because I couldn't be arsed with it.

I've eaten well, this week, but lost weight with a combination of worrying and walking a hell of a lot more and with heavy bags because I'm no longer doing my thing of walk to the shop and get the bus back - I'm walking both ways and it's uphill coming back, whichever direction I've headed off!

@EarringsandLipstick I'm hoping it won't last long. Assuming once all the panickers have their stash, stock will be replenished and then bought at a normal rate.

I’ve been unable to get bread for 3 days now. I’ve been to 5 large supermarkets (Asda/Tesco/ Sainsburys/ Morrisons x2) and also 2 local co-ops and a few small cornershop type places.
I do have some flour and yeast in so technically I could make bread but I want to save it for lockdown. There has also been no flour or yeast available in any of the shops near me for 2 weeks now so I couldn’t replace anything I did use now.

We have been eating as normal at the moment. All extra treats have been stashed away so DH and DD don’t know about them. They are for a lockdown situation or if we end up self isolating for 14 days. Similar to Christmas food. I start buying things in from November and they get stashed away until needed. DH is the type to polish off an entire pack of biscuits in one sitting, followed by 3 packs of crisps and two yoghurts - all as evening snacks after he’s already had his dinner. He’s naturally slim so it doesn’t show on him so he never thinks he’s overeating. I have been keeping an eye on what’s being eaten more now so I can keep on top of what we still have and what we might need to replace to keep our food levels at a good 4/6 supply.

We are being more careful than usual to use everything up, i.e. we usually do a leftover vegetable soup at the weekend, but it's every couple of days now. DH likes a 3 course meal at lunch as well if he's home but we've agreed to stick to soup, bread. We are in isolation due to corona symptoms and although people have kindly offered to pick us up stuff, I'm very aware that that means we are sending other people into potential danger (busy supermarkets), so we are using everything we can at home. (Also have back up stock of tins etc in case the next supermarket delivery doesn't come, as has happened to some friends.)

I could lose a few kilos, and the children could do with learning to eat what is put in front of them. They're already eating things they wouldn't normally and wasting less, so that's good in the long term too.

Yes, we have had homemade veg or lentil soup for lunch for the last 3 days. Tea has been making sure we are eating anything close to use-by date.
Am trying to keep things like pasta and sauces in the store cupboard and not use yet.
We had scrambled eggs on toast for tea with quorn sausages and grilled tomatoes. The children and I loved it- DH looked less thrilled

I saw someone today empty a shelf of shower gel! Shower gel! He must have had 30+ lots of it.

The government and supermarkets have been clear that there are no food shortages
But who wants to risk going to Asda and catching CV? Full shelves are pointless if people are too scared to go shopping. They want to stay in their houses and they know there won’t be enough delivery slots to enable that.

Our Co-op had bread, milk, eggs, all the basic stuff today. No disinfectant or wipes but everything else.

DH is the type to polish off an entire pack of biscuits in one sitting
I’m amazed by the greed of some people’s DHs. Imagine having to hide food from an actual adult so he doesn’t scoff it all.

I’m eating more than usual 😫 enforced wfh and well stocked cupboards.

Heard about the “freshman 15” being replaced by the “quarantine 15”, that’s definitely me.