Anonymous wrote:You are correct that eating out of the common bag violates formal etiquette and best hygienic practices. Also, as a previous poster noted, COVID has changed everything, and it’s sensible to be more cautious now than before the pandemic.

That being said, eating out of the bag is not so uncommon a practice as to be generally considered barbaric. Moreover, while your kids may be exceptions, most kids are not considered paragons of etiquette or hygiene, and camp does not seem an environment that would strictly enforce either. I would not find it shocking to discover that the kids were sharing snacks amongst themselves with hands grubbier than those of your houseguest.

I have learned, that there are a lot of things that if I stop and think about them, I can drive myself crazy worrying about and futilely attempt to control, or acknowledge that despite my best efforts, life is messy, but tends to work out okay for the most part, so I may be better off in many cases to just not dwell on things too much. This seems like a prime candidate for the latter approach.

You might just get an extra bag, or even two so that you can make sure the kids are supplied separately and won’t run the guest short of snacks. Then once the guest has left, dump any leftovers of their contaminated bag. For any future visits, you can supply them with their very own bag of snacks, of serve it up for them in bowls. You might even want to preemptively serve snacks to the family in individualized bowls to establish that as your family practice.

Anonymous wrote:I’m with you, OP. It’s gross and my kids know better than to do that. I’ve seen people that stick their hand in the chip bowl at parties and I just won’t eat any. Amongst my family and friends when we host we either have tongs out or we’ll use a napkin to grab some chips, never bare hands.

Anonymous wrote:I’m with you, OP. It’s gross and my kids know better than to do that. I’ve seen people that stick their hand in the chip bowl at parties and I just won’t eat any. Amongst my family and friends when we host we either have tongs out or we’ll use a napkin to grab some chips, never bare hands.

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Anonymous wrote:I seem to recall people reaching inside a big bag of marshmellows to put them on their roasting sticks with their outdoor hands at every single camping cookout I’ve attending. Big bags of chips are open for people to help themselves. Don’t even get me started on salsa and dips.

At Cub Scouts and in my yard, a single adult with clean hands holds the bag and hands out marshmallows. No one wants a bunch of gross kid hands in the bag.

Thats weird, dude. You are eating off sticks.

We have stainless s’mores sticks that get washed and brought to camp in a carrying case. You can pick them up at Safeway or Bed Bath & Beyond.

I bet mine cooked on a stick taste better than your stainless carrying case ones.

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Anonymous wrote:I seem to recall people reaching inside a big bag of marshmellows to put them on their roasting sticks with their outdoor hands at every single camping cookout I’ve attending. Big bags of chips are open for people to help themselves. Don’t even get me started on salsa and dips.

At Cub Scouts and in my yard, a single adult with clean hands holds the bag and hands out marshmallows. No one wants a bunch of gross kid hands in the bag.

Thats weird, dude. You are eating off sticks.

We have stainless s’mores sticks that get washed and brought to camp in a carrying case. You can pick them up at Safeway or Bed Bath & Beyond.

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Anonymous wrote:Um, this is a super weird practice. Your visitor was normal, your family practice is not.

NP. Disagree. We also don't eat out of the bag in our house, just as we don't eat out of the serving bowl at meals. You portion out what you want onto your own/plate bowl and can go back for more. If a guest did this at my home, I'd do what a PP said and buy an extra bag for us/the kids. It would never occur to me to walk into someone's house and start sticking my hand into their snacks. Gross.

So you use a spoon to put the chips/popcorn in your bowl?

I'm the PP you're quoting. No, I don't put out a spoon and have not seen that done for chips/popcorn. You tip the bag and shake a portion out onto your plate/bowl, not reach inside the bag to grab your portion.

Interesting...I would never just put a bag out to serve. I would serve in a bowl.

OK, well you're changing OP's scenario in which a guest took a bag of snacks and stuck hand into it. For everyone who says eating out of the communal bag is fine, does that apply to other snacks? What about ice cream? Where do you draw the line? Just dry snacks?

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Anonymous wrote:I seem to recall people reaching inside a big bag of marshmellows to put them on their roasting sticks with their outdoor hands at every single camping cookout I’ve attending. Big bags of chips are open for people to help themselves. Don’t even get me started on salsa and dips.

At Cub Scouts and in my yard, a single adult with clean hands holds the bag and hands out marshmallows. No one wants a bunch of gross kid hands in the bag.

Thats weird, dude. You are eating off sticks.

Anonymous wrote:We use bowls to be aware of portion sizes. I eat a lot more chips if my hand is in the bag.

Seems like OP’s guest found bag on own. Rudeness starts there.

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Anonymous wrote:Um, this is a super weird practice. Your visitor was normal, your family practice is not.

NP. Disagree. We also don't eat out of the bag in our house, just as we don't eat out of the serving bowl at meals. You portion out what you want onto your own/plate bowl and can go back for more. If a guest did this at my home, I'd do what a PP said and buy an extra bag for us/the kids. It would never occur to me to walk into someone's house and start sticking my hand into their snacks. Gross.

So you use a spoon to put the chips/popcorn in your bowl?

I'm the PP you're quoting. No, I don't put out a spoon and have not seen that done for chips/popcorn. You tip the bag and shake a portion out onto your plate/bowl, not reach inside the bag to grab your portion.

Interesting...I would never just put a bag out to serve. I would serve in a bowl.

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Anonymous wrote:Um, this is a super weird practice. Your visitor was normal, your family practice is not.

NP. Disagree. We also don't eat out of the bag in our house, just as we don't eat out of the serving bowl at meals. You portion out what you want onto your own/plate bowl and can go back for more. If a guest did this at my home, I'd do what a PP said and buy an extra bag for us/the kids. It would never occur to me to walk into someone's house and start sticking my hand into their snacks. Gross.

So you use a spoon to put the chips/popcorn in your bowl?

I'm the PP you're quoting. No, I don't put out a spoon and have not seen that done for chips/popcorn. You tip the bag and shake a portion out onto your plate/bowl, not reach inside the bag to grab your portion.

Interesting...I would never just put a bag out to serve. I would serve in a bowl.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Um, this is a super weird practice. Your visitor was normal, your family practice is not.

NP. Disagree. We also don't eat out of the bag in our house, just as we don't eat out of the serving bowl at meals. You portion out what you want onto your own/plate bowl and can go back for more. If a guest did this at my home, I'd do what a PP said and buy an extra bag for us/the kids. It would never occur to me to walk into someone's house and start sticking my hand into their snacks. Gross.

So you use a spoon to put the chips/popcorn in your bowl?

I'm the PP you're quoting. No, I don't put out a spoon and have not seen that done for chips/popcorn. You tip the bag and shake a portion out onto your plate/bowl, not reach inside the bag to grab your portion.