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Sunday, March 8, 2009

Don't eat that!

I sat down earlier today to make out the menu for the week. Happily, I could plan dinners for the next six nights using what food was already in my freezer and pantry.

Sunday: Chicken salad on biscuits and orange slices
Monday: Oven fried drumsticks and sweet potatoes
Tuesday: Grilled cheese and french fries
Wednesday: Lasagna and asparagus
Thursday: Baked potato with broccoli and cheese
Friday: Fish Fry Night!
Saturday: Leftovers

I realized, though, that we were a little short on fruit and things for lunch boxes and after school snacks. So after I dropped Annie and her friends off at volleyball practice, I popped into the grocery store to pick up a few items: apples, bananas, carrots, yogurt, popcorn and milk.

Now that should be the end of the story. Actually, if that were all, then this would be a story so ordinary that I wouldn't even tell it. But in this house, that's not quite all.

If I came home and put the fruit in the bowl on the counter, the yogurt and milk in the fridge and the popcorn in the pantry, it would be gone. In probably 36 hours. If I buy it, they will eat it.

So, I put 3 bananas and 4 apples in the bowl. I hid the other 5 bananas in the pantry behind the flour and sugar canisters.

Three of the yogurts found their way into the kitchen fridge, with the rest of them and the remainder of the apples in the refrigerator in the garage, hidden behind the bottles of water. One gallon of milk went to the inside fridge, one to the outside.

While I had the refrigerator open, I got out a Sharpie and marked "Do not eat" on the package of cheese I'm planning to use for Tuesday night's dinner. Finally, I put the two boxes of microwave popcorn on the top shelf of the pantry -- visible, but out of reach.

By the end of the night -- two hours later -- the yogurts in the fridge were gone, as was one banana and two apples. Tomorrow after school, I'll set out a few more pieces of fruit and pop one bag of popcorn.

I know it seems very controlling. And I guess that's what I'm trying to do. Control how fast my family goes through the groceries because if I don't, I'll be back at the store tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that.

What am I going to do when they're teenagers? I think I might need to invest in a walk-in safe.

6 comments:

Mel said...

Amen! If I just leave it all out...it is gone! And it's not just the kids...hubby loves to snack as well :) That's great that your family will eat the fruit...too many times I end up feeding it to the chickens or goats. With the exception of hubby taking it in his lunches, fruit and veggies just sit.

Sharon said...

I'm impressed you've already got your menu done. I'm still planning mine.

My mother hid food all over the house. I think her best places were INSIDE the grandfather clock (usually cereal boxes), as well as in the bathroom cupboard.
She also hid stuff in the coat closet under the stairs. What was clever about that was it was in a box behind the vacuum. We weren't touching the vacuum. ;)

Momza said...

Finally! A Mom who relates to me!
I do the same thing: hide food away! My kids think it's funny and make comments like:" You buy food you don't want us to eat?!"--yeah, I sure do cuz they'll eat it all up if it sits out in plain site!
I can't wait until they are parents of teenagers! Oh, and I will not even go into the mess they make now that they can cook. I'll save that for my own blog.

Marine Wife said...

heh. my sister had her husband put a blot on her pantry (up high) b/c her preschooler and toddler (the youngest 2 of 4) kept going into her pantry, plopping down and eating whatever they could get their little hands on! The boys are only 2 and 4 now. I can't even imagine the destruction they'll wreak as teens!

Marine Wife said...

*bolt is what I meant

Anonymous said...

I have the same problem here except I lack other hiding spaces. We all unload and put away the groceries so there is little chance of hiding anyway. I also the fear the day that they are all teenagers...YIKES!