Thank you, DCUM: parents and ILs weird with food

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lol my mil spent all of yesterday explaining how to cook hot dogs “ well I was thinking we’d have a big dinner of hot dogs. I was thinking we could cook them in a pan. That would be so nice, I have a big pan, let me show you how I cook hot dogs so you can learn.”

Update: as soon as she could she put away all the food so she could have the leftovers for a lunch she’s hosting the next day. Guess her friends are getting cold hot dogs lol.

This is the same lady who swiped and bagged up the honey baked ham from my Christmas dinner as soon as we all took one piece because she wanted it to serve to get guests the next day .

Not sure why she’s so cheap with food! She freely spends lots of money on other things for herself.

[Anonymous]

Lol what did she serve with the hot dogs? Any sides?

[Anonymous]

Yes, thank you, DCUM for the validation. My inlaws also serve very little food during visits and refuse to even consider going out to eat. Last time we visited, the first morning for breakfast my Ils presented each of us with a single-serving cup of fat-free plain yogurt, and the next morning was the "big brunch" of...one waffle and two slices of bacon. Lunch is always a single lunchmeat sandwich, which MIL insists on preparing for everyone herself, and an apple.

Now thanks to DCUM, every time we visit I "forget" to pack my toothpaste and have to run out to get more. Then I decide to gas up my car to take advantage of the great gas prices around there. Oh, and I can't visit without going to that great used bookstore. Honestly, before I read everyone else's stories I really did think I must be the one with the problem. My husband somehow never notices that we go on starvation diets when we visit.

[Anonymous]

Last time I visited my mother, I opened her fridge and found exactly this:

4 "Balanced Breaks" -- 100 calories of nuts, dried fruit and chocolate
Quart of 1% milk that expired the day before
Tiny tub of storemade tuna salad (fortunately, not yet expired)
4 Corona beers (she gives them to the gardeners)
Box of chardonnay

If not for that last item, I would have turned around and left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who are these people that limit food? I don’t think I am sheltered, but I don’t know anyone like this.

My MIL was like this, whereas my mom tries to get guests to eat constantly throughout the day and night.

Could be a cultural thing. MIL grew up rural, farmers, Midwesterner, grew and raised most of their own food. My mom grew up in a city, community of European immigrants. My dad says her relatives have always been like that. Both MIL and my own mom grew up pretty poor.

[Anonymous]

When you wake up at your inlaws, what would happen if you made yourself some breakfast? If someone tells me they're planning a big brunch at 11, but my child and I are starving at 8, I would go into the kitchen and make something. Peanut butter toast, even. I don't think my family or inlaws could say anything that would actually stop me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you wake up at your inlaws, what would happen if you made yourself some breakfast? If someone tells me they're planning a big brunch at 11, but my child and I are starving at 8, I would go into the kitchen and make something. Peanut butter toast, even. I don't think my family or inlaws could say anything that would actually stop me.

You're assuming there are ingredients to make something with

[Anonymous]

My parents like to order one pizza to feed 4 adults and 2 kids. No salad, wings, or other sides to go with it.

[Anonymous]

My family takes turns hosting Christmas. Keep in mind that I have 6 siblings, so my mother used to cook for eight people every day..

My mother, then n her 70s, decided it was her turn to host. For lunch for eight adults, she pulled out one small can of crabmeat, a pack of eight dinner rolls, and nothing else. I was helping her prep and asked her if she had another can. Her response, "No! If that's not enough, people will just have to go out." Mind you, she lived in rural Maine where 'going out' meant gas station food.

I convinced her to open a can of tuna as well. So eight adults had one dinner roll each and about three bites of tuna or crab.

A little later, my husband, adult nephew, and I snuck out to the gas station fir the last slice of pizza, a meatball sub with frozen meatballs, and an Italian sub. Sat in the parking lot eating.

Fun times.

[Anonymous]

Since we are talking about eating practices in families,

Does anyone in your family eat half a banana or does everyone eat a whole one? In my family, we always had a half a banana unless the bananas were small. My BIL and DH say that the only people they know who eat half a banana are my sister, our Dad and me. For my family, it is usually put on cereal.

So, are you a half a banana family or a whole one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Since we are talking about eating practices in families,

Does anyone in your family eat half a banana or does everyone eat a whole one? In my family, we always had a half a banana unless the bananas were small. My BIL and DH say that the only people they know who eat half a banana are my sister, our Dad and me. For my family, it is usually put on cereal.

So, are you a half a banana family or a whole one?

If I'm putting one on oatmeal, I usually eat half. But if I'm just having a banana as a snack, I eat the whole banana.

[Anonymous]

I've loved these threads over the years and it has made me vow to never become like this when I'm old(er)!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who are these people that limit food? I don’t think I am sheltered, but I don’t know anyone like this.

My MIL was like this, whereas my mom tries to get guests to eat constantly throughout the day and night.

Could be a cultural thing. MIL grew up rural, farmers, Midwesterner, grew and raised most of their own food. My mom grew up in a city, community of European immigrants. My dad says her relatives have always been like that. Both MIL and my own mom grew up pretty poor.

No I don’t think it’s a rural or city thing as plenty of women from both types of backgrounds do this. I think it’s a generational thing. Many of these women grew up with crash diets, smoking and restricting food during pregnancy, and Twiggy and Audrey Hepburn as ideals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When you wake up at your inlaws, what would happen if you made yourself some breakfast? If someone tells me they're planning a big brunch at 11, but my child and I are starving at 8, I would go into the kitchen and make something. Peanut butter toast, even. I don't think my family or inlaws could say anything that would actually stop me.

You're assuming there are ingredients to make something with

Or the kitchen “is open” and not “off limits”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, thank you, DCUM for the validation. My inlaws also serve very little food during visits and refuse to even consider going out to eat. Last time we visited, the first morning for breakfast my Ils presented each of us with a single-serving cup of fat-free plain yogurt, and the next morning was the "big brunch" of...one waffle and two slices of bacon. Lunch is always a single lunchmeat sandwich, which MIL insists on preparing for everyone herself, and an apple.

Now thanks to DCUM, every time we visit I "forget" to pack my toothpaste and have to run out to get more. Then I decide to gas up my car to take advantage of the great gas prices around there. Oh, and I can't visit without going to that great used bookstore. Honestly, before I read everyone else's stories I really did think I must be the one with the problem. My husband somehow never notices that we go on starvation diets when we visit.

Haha once my mil took a single serving Greek yogurt and divided it up among four little glass dishes for our breakfast.