Wife Is Hoarding Supplies
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Anonymous
| My wife has been really worried about the current supply chain crisis and has been buying in bulk. We live in a smaller home and don’t have a lot of space. She has spent so much money buying in bulk for 1-2 years. She does buy what we will eat, but there is no way we will go through all of this stuff before it expires. I’m getting really annoyed. |
Anonymous
| Where is it being stored? Is it taking a bedroom? Is it blocking space in the garage? If I were visiting your house and not peeking in any closets, would I quickly pick up on her being a hoarder? |
Anonymous
Household and food items. It has taken over the extra closet, coat closet, guest bedroom, and now my office. We don’t have clutter everywhere, but we don’t have a pantry and use the walk-in closet in the guest room for storage. |
Anonymous
Yeah, you need to shut this down. If it’s taking over actual rooms like an office or guest room, that’s a problem. |
Anonymous
| Under the bed storage totes? As long as she has a system for expiry dates, it may be fine. |
Anonymous
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I would start with the household items. Come up with a plan together with what you would do if you ran out. For example, if you ran out of paper towels, you would cut up some old t-shirts and wash as needed. Etc.
Then move onto food. |
Anonymous
| I doubt this stuff will expire. Canned goods last an insane amount of time |
Anonymous
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1) Expiration dates are a joke. Big Food wants you to toss out perfectly good canned and dry goods.
2) Most of my relatives are farmers, and they have been telling us to get ready for much less food availability next year. I used to keep 3 months of food on hand but I've increased it to 6 months. 3) Order seeds and get ready to garden in the Spring. |
Anonymous
| What is she afraid of? Is she following the Chinese government advice? |
BlueFredneck
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Does she seem to have some idea of how much you use in a given month, and a goal for each sort of supply? Or does she simply buy what's on sale, without regard to rate of use, or whether you'd actually use it or not?
Unlike 19:21, I don't feel like taking my chance with canned goods well past their expiration dates, although I might let a month or two after the expiration slide if it's not leaking or bulging (the bulging is the really bad sign). (Best by generally means you've got a bit of wiggle room, but consume by means you need to eat it by the date listed.) |
Anonymous
But man, they can taste bad. We finally used the canned carrots that dh bought “just in case” at the start of the pandemic. It was awful. Good enough if I were starving, but not something I intend to eat on any regular basis. Op, can you help her see that the supply chain crisis means a shortage of choices, not a shortage of items. You may not find the exact brand/flavor/size combo of what you are used to getting, but acceptable substitutes will be there. Either smaller or larger packages, or a plain flavor, not the exotic seasonal one you were looking forward to. Manufacturers are trimming down their product lines to focus on producing the best-selling, most popular items. Do you have a sense of where she is hearing this from? I only ask because I have some elderly relatives who think the same way. My cousin visited them and said their small house is overrun with toilet paper and paper towels because they’re convinced a huge shortage is coming. |
Anonymous
Dang and I was about to open a can of corn that's more than 10 years old. Seriously. |
Anonymous
Corn is one of the best canned vegetables as far as retaining taste and texture. Open it up and take a look. We are going thru all our canned goods that have expired and tossing or using as appropriate. |
Anonymous
Agree. Corn is typically fine. And I’ve heard good things about canned potatoes, surprisingly enough. Carrots though? No, just no. |
Anonymous
| Just stock up some peanut butter and relax. You can live on the stuff for months if needed. |