"Treats" Going Missing-

In my house snacks are just that. Snacks. So they aren't going to be used for planned meals. I'm not going to be using the bag of pretzels in the pantry for dinner. So it doesn't really matter if my husband eats some or not.

The only problem we have had is with cheese. Every so often someone slices off some cheese from a brick that I was planning to use for a recipe. So now I just say the Monterey Jack is for enchiladas so don't eat it and that solves the problem.

I handle it by trusting my husband to be an adult. So I talk to him - hey, I need to leave those potato chips for the kids' lunches, so don't eat them all. Okay.
The end.

If for some reason something is off limits to my husband or my kids I will tell them that it is off limits and they will respect that. Of course, off limits items are specific and occasional items, not things that I just regularly keep on hand. I would prefer that they eat the treats rather than have stuff sit open for weeks or months. I'm not sure how taking open packages to the office is a solution. Then you just have co-workers eating your treats instead of your family enjoying them!

I have one of those rubbermaid tubs for the floor of the pantry. Anything that is not fair game goes in there.
For the fridge - I have reserved the bottom right crisper drawer. They don't even look in there anymore.

I think communication is the most important. So I have trained them to tell me when something is almost gone. We have a sticky post-it note pad and pen on the fridge so when they have "almost" used something up they can write it down. Then I can decide if I need to repurchase based on my meal planning and schedule.

I guess this has just never been a problem in my house. With the exception of something that was specifically bought for a party or something, I would never tell my husband what he can and can't eat. He is an adult and can control his own food intake. My kids know they have to ask before eating anything whether it be a treat or an apple. Ok the 1 exception is my 2 year old that will eat anything she can get her hands on but we don't usually leave treats where she can get them! :)

I also tend to keep enough food in the house that if we are out of one thing, there is always something else to offer up to a guest.

Maybe your husband needs his own treat supply so that he doesn't have to steal the ones that you are counting on for guests.

Why on earth would you be proud of wasting food. Other than the chocolate everything you listed would have freezer burn or be stale in weeks or months!

We eat what we open and then open something new. No waste that way and we have a good idea what we need to buy next time.

Sorry having trouble getting over the ice cream!! I would never serve guests one month old hairy, taste like the freezer, gross ice cream. Maybe your husband is trying to keep you from embarrassing yourself with guests.

Hide stuff from him, too. I hide stuff in my dining room cause my hubby never ventures in there except for the occasional formal meal.

I also bring open stuff to work. Win-win!!

Since we've always worked from home, my husband and I have had to work out how much of any special treats he gets. Since his metabolism allows, he gets to eat 2/3 or more of any treats in the cabinet. I'm fine with that, but he's not good at noticing that I haven't taken a single one of those yummy whatevers, so he's likely to eat them all.

Unless, like H Looloo, I push them to the back of the pantry or the fridge, maybe stack something else on top. Since he can't always find an item that's right under his nose, he doesn't even know they're there, and so he's delighted when I pull something out of nowhere for a dessert. It's been working for the past 20 years.

My grandson, now 8, has been wonderful about knowing what's hands-off or wait-till-later. He has asked permission since around 4 to get a treat, and seems basically content when the answer is no. But he's one of those kids who doesn't have a strong attraction to food in general.

heh. in our house, i'm the one who sneaks the treats. since i'm usually the one who buys them too, i have to give myself stern talkings-to!
when the boys were home there would be a cupboard where the free-for-all treats lived. but i've had little food hoarder issues ever since i was a kid, and i get disproportionately upset if something *mine* goes missing, so i simply stash mine out of sight.
i remember my husband coming across my stash in the linen closet about 10 years ago, when both boys were still at home but old enough that not to have rules about what and when they ate. he said to me kindly 'you know you're allowed to eat candy any time you want, right?'
i shrieked back 'DON'T TOUCH MY STUFF! DON'T LOOK AT MY STUFF!'
and hid it in my lingerie drawer.
now that it's just the ol' man and me, i've finally quit hiding my treats. but i still can't resist shoving my organic dark chocolate bacon sea salt cracked black pepper bar to the very back of the cupboard. just to be safe.
:) khairete
S.

For us, if it's on the counter, it gets eaten faster. If its in the drawers, it doesn't. Except for now, we reorganized the kitchen so all of the chips and cookies are humped together, and the kids are scared to go near it!
Hehehe :)

B.,

The only "kids" in our house prefer Milkbones to cookies, so it is just my husband & I dealing with treats.

There are times when we end up with a lot of sweets,etc. in a short period of time, esp. around the holidays. That's when I say "We will save 2 servings each for ourselves, & the rest goes to the office!" Because seriously, we just don't need to consume that much food.

As for snacks & sweets that we purchase, my general rule is that it needs to be "high maintenance". For example, ice cream is high maintenance - I have to get out a bowl, spoon, chocolate sauce, wait for the ice cream to soften a bit, it all needs to be prepared in the kitchen... as a result, I only have it occasionally.

A package of cookies, or bag of chips, on the other hand, can be set next to me on the couch & mindlessly consumed. Before I know it, one serving size has become the entire package!! Not good.... so we tend not to buy them. Or if my husband does, he is thoughtful enough to hide it from me, & bring out a couple cookies as a surprise snack. It's all I get, so it's all I eat.

I'm trying something new for our lunches - I bought a couple snacks (Chex puppy chow & specialty potato chips), along with snack-sized ziploc bags. The plan is to open the snacks & portion them out into the ziplocs. Then, take one for lunch each day. We'll see how well I do at not grabbing all the ziplocs out of the cupboard when I am bored & watching TV! =-)

Wish me luck... T.

Find the things that don't tempt him an keep stocked on those. I'm the one that cannot have the stuff around. My husband is allowed to buy vanilla ice cream because it does not tempt me. So thats our "for guests stocked treat."

Ask your husband for one thing that does not tempt him or find things that freeze well and need defrosting to eat, like home make cookies or single servings of cake. I find if its in the freezer and its not chocolate ice cream I can generally resist anything that needs defrosting first.

I push certain things all the way to the back. My husband "loses" things in the cabinet and freezer all the time. I'm good 'cause I don't eat that stuff. When I bring out treats for guests to enjoy, he is surprised and thankful. I don't tell him where it comes from, and it never occurs to him to dig deeper. Occasionally, when he's jonesing or when I want to do a random special thing, I'll fish something out for him. I never tell him where it comes from. I just tell him to mind his business.

F. B.,

I plan our meals and it is so frustrating when a key part of the meal is eaten. I also understand how it is to not be able to resist treats that are around, ha ha.

What I do is put pantry items that are not "available to the family" or are being saved for something up in a cabinet above the fridge. It is too high up for anyone to really check. If it is a refrigerated item, I write on it with permanent marker. For example, I might write "for family party on Friday, do not eat!" That has worked very well for us.

I have to hide the treats. To make it clear, we eat plenty of treats around here, nobody is deprived. But if it is out, it WILL get eaten. If it is out of sight, then nobody craves it and searches it out. I ask the same of my husband- when I am trying really hard to cut the sugar, I just ask him to please hide any treats he happens to buy and make sure I am unaware of their existence.

Can you tape a note to the item?
"This bag of m&ms is for company, do not open. "

In our home, if I purchase something for a recipe, I tell them and they are fine with that.

But I have been known to have food here for my business and so I leave a note saying, this is for "client".. To make sure we are all on the same page.

This is why I hide from all Girlscouts! I make no eye contact at the grocery store when they lurk outside. I have no will power when it comes to certain types of sweets. Your husband is probably the same.

We just don't buy 'snacks'. If DH buys ice cream, he buys the pint size and we just eat it over 2 days. I am on your husband's side on this one. I won't eat it if it is not in my house.

If I buy something for a specific purpose like a recipe, to serve to guests, packing lunches, etc. I tell the members of my household Do Not Eat This, I need it for _____. And no one eats it.

One habit you might want to adopt is not opening packages unless you're ready to use the contents. In general, don't save opened/sampled containers to use for guests.

Wow. Can honestly say that the "snack situation" at our house isn't nearly as complicated as it seems to be at other people's houses.
If something is sitting for a few days, I take it to the office. Or we eat it. Or we pitch it. What's the big deal?

We have a situation where my husband buys certain things, insists no one eats it, he doesn't either and six months later we are throwing it out.Now we buy more than one, keep the one for him and chmpchmp to our hearts content on the others. Simple.

As I mentioned in my last post that I have been the one eating too much. I like to leave the item in the trunk of my car. It is out of sight/mind until I need it.

I also buy things I do not like, so the kids have their favorite snack items.

How about locking them in a room?