Anonymous wrote:I have the reverse problem, my MIL's house has a huge walk-in pantry filled to the hilt with every type of juice box and junk food imaginable. Fortunately, my MIL has learned to get Sensible Sippers and other no sugar added juices, she has started buying organic snacks and potato chips fried in avocado oil, more fruit.... But man, once your kid has a Gusher, there is like no turning back. Family meals are like 7 sides and 4 types of protein on the grill with enough leftovers to feed us twice over.

When they visit us it's 3 giant meals out to eat everyday, I feel like I'm rolling around by the end of the week. I love them, and I love going out to eat with them, but they definitely overdo it EVERY time not just once in a while.

Anonymous wrote:We have this problem too OP. Last time we visited, my ILs had other family members over for dinner plus us, so 6 adults and 3 kids. They cooked one package of chicken, one can of green beans and put out 8 rolls because "the kids could split one." It is most definitely not a financial thing. We had just arrived from the opposite coast so hadn't been able to do our usual stop by the store to get actual food trip. I ended up with one chicken wing, one half a roll and 3 green beans because at least I could go out later and get food while the kids needed to go to bed and I'd rather they have the food.

And, on the opposite side, my ILs eat everything that's not nailed down when they visit us. To the point that if there are ingredients I need for dinner that night I have to put them ina stapled shut bag in the fridge and write "Dinner for 3/5/17" on it or else I will get home from work to find that the meat I intended to cook for dinner is gone or they ate all 10 tomatoes that were supposed to be for the salad. I have no idea where they put the food. And they say things like "we never eat as well as we do when we vacation at your house." Um, yea, because normally people control themselves and budget and don't polish off 5 containers of raspberries in a day!!!!! Who can afford that?? Certainly not me, now I only buy bananas and oranges when they come because they quadrupled my grocery budget for a 5 day visit!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
This is so true. Older people eat so much less and forget that this is not how they used to eat. I am also surprised by all the posters that have no problem going into a MIL's kitchen, stocking it with extra food and helping themselves, etc. I think that is a pretty rude houseguest.

I am very sympathetic to the poster, my mother is the same way. She has completely forgotten how much more kids and younger adults eat. She is no longer accustomed to cooking for more than two people or having people in her kitchen. She is definitely a control freak, but I also understand how difficult it is for some older people to shift gears. Every rattling of a wrapper, every time you open the fridge to look for something, she is in the kitchen in a flash to "help".

I don't have a great solution for you, but my approach has been: to realize this will be an issues so I try to focus on the other parts of the visit and not think about food too much, use it as an opportunity to lose some weight, feed the kids snacks on outings outside of the house, offer to take them out for dinner at least once a trip, offer to do more of the cooking so the portions are more appropriate. That combination gets us through, but meals and food in general are definitely not a highlight of the visit.

And we stay with her because she really wants us to.

Children and grandchildren are family. They are not houseguests.

Then they hurt my feelings by going out to eat