I have teenage boys. I hide fancy chocolate in a tampon box.

Yes. From my dh. I like sweets in small amounts. He eats large quantities at once. I bought a couple of large bags of M&M Easter eggs (like regular m&ms but bigger) back in February and still have one bag left. I eat maybe 5-6 at a time once a week or so. He would eat the entire bag at once. He also thinks everything has an “expiration date”. If I am saving something and its been a few weeks, he thinks it is fair game.

My kid binges cheese. We hide that.

No, but my family doesn’t excessively eat this stuff.

Do they overeat on the stuff and it interferes with their healthy eating? If so i’d hide too. If they eat within reason, just you eat less, then just buy more of this stuff so there is enough for all to snack on them.

Anonymous wrote:No. I won’t necessarily put it in obvious places - so I put candy in a cabinet that everyone knows about but put fruit in the bowl on the counter versus vice versa.

I had an eating disorder for all my teenage years and most of my 20s so hiding good behavior in general is very triggering for me. I have concerns around whether food hiding might also indirectly cause disordered food patterns in kids. Not saying it will but this is a concern of mine.

Hiding food*

No. I won’t necessarily put it in obvious places - so I put candy in a cabinet that everyone knows about but put fruit in the bowl on the counter versus vice versa.

I had an eating disorder for all my teenage years and most of my 20s so hiding good behavior in general is very triggering for me. I have concerns around whether food hiding might also indirectly cause disordered food patterns in kids. Not saying it will but this is a concern of mine.

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a huge snack/junk food eater, but like to have some cookies/chips/ice cream in the house for the times I do want something.

Unless I hide it (or buy a flavor no one else likes) the rest of the family will scarf it daily until it's gone... so there's nothing left when I go looking for a treat.

I feel like a crazy person for hiding food. Am I the only person who does this?

Yes from my MIL who has cognitive decline. She wont eat anything other than sweets. I made two zucchini bread loaves for my family one Sunday and by Tuesday she had eaten 1.5 loaves. At night. Cookies- she will eat them all. 5, 10, 20- doesnt matter. She once at an entire half of 13x9 cake at night. The next day she has issues and sleeps all day or has diarrhea.

She will decline most foods and will begrudgingly eat breakast and dinner with us because we make her so that she doesnt lose anymore weight. I buy 6 different fruits every week, there is cereal, milk, yogurt, snack bars, ensure shakes, we always have leftovers so it isnt a matter of access.

She had a terrible childhood and I think she reverts to that state, especially at night.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I hide food from the kids. Asking them does not work. It just leads to long, angry talks. What actually works best I have found is not eating the item in question myself. I just told DDs that the end of summer means no more ice cream or cookies or candy in the house. I will not buy it for them or myself, there will be no need for the discussions or rationing. They are unhappy but we are all healthier.

Yikes. That's pretty harsh. Ice cream, cookies and candy are not inherently bad. Unfortunately I think your approach means you are raising kids with disordered thinking about food.

Anonymous wrote:Honestly this is eye opening why people should just stop buying junk. Clearly it is addicting and many people can’t eat it in moderation- as noted here. Just stop buying it or buy a very small portion, eat one and let whoever eat the rest. How often do you really need a Little Debbie cake?

I hide multigrain crackers, not junk. DH eats them as if they were chips. I have them with hummus, in relatively small portions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why dont you just ask them not to eat it? How old are your kids?

OP again and my husband is by far the worst culprit, actually (but he'll share with the kids when he's helping himself).

If I point out that he finished something off, his response is that he didn't think I wanted it.

My DH's response is that "food is for eating, what did you buy it for?"

He will plow through a family-size bag of tortilla chips in a single day.

I've started to keep food in my home office.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I hide food from the kids. Asking them does not work. It just leads to long, angry talks. What actually works best I have found is not eating the item in question myself. I just told DDs that the end of summer means no more ice cream or cookies or candy in the house. I will not buy it for them or myself, there will be no need for the discussions or rationing. They are unhappy but we are all healthier.

Here comes the food issues in your house.
Hiding food? That's ridiculous.

You are not a good parent you are controlling and will cause eating disorders.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why dont you just ask them not to eat it? How old are your kids?

OP again and my husband is by far the worst culprit, actually (but he'll share with the kids when he's helping himself).

If I point out that he finished something off, his response is that he didn't think I wanted it.

+1

I hide food because I hate having to police pantry items.

Honestly this is eye opening why people should just stop buying junk. Clearly it is addicting and many people can’t eat it in moderation- as noted here. Just stop buying it or buy a very small portion, eat one and let whoever eat the rest. How often do you really need a Little Debbie cake?

I agree it shouldn't be necessary, but it is in my family too. If I put a note on it, it won't be touched, but I wish people had more self control on shared items.

I have great success putting things in the produce drawer.

Anonymous wrote:Why dont you just ask them not to eat it? How old are your kids?

OP again and my husband is by far the worst culprit, actually (but he'll share with the kids when he's helping himself).

If I point out that he finished something off, his response is that he didn't think I wanted it.