Buy enough food for everyone and bring it or don't vacation with this family.

Or divide out breakfasts and lunches as well.

You've got no other choice unless you want to create drama or lose friends.

If it's not about money then you're just a control freak and need to get over yourself.

Pancake mix and eggs are cheap. Feed the kids. Who eats in front of others and doesn't feed kids?

I can't even imagine cooking bacon and not sharing. It's like you are taunting them! It's BACON for God's sake. BACON.

OP, and I mean this kindly, if you are going to sweat the small stuff like this, don't go. it won't be fun. But if you can do an Elsa and learn to let it go, you'll have a much nicer time and not feel the grudge so much. It's just food. Take plenty, figure out a bacon schedule if you want it every morning, and enjoy yourself.

Anonymous wrote:this thread has potential

(You are amazing.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t imagine making bacon in a shared house and not making enough for everyone.

All the bacon was gone on day 1 and we have several more days to go.
Is it hard to understand?

It's hard to understand why you wouldn't just bring enough bacon for everyone. You're cheap. Thankfully I don't have friends like you, nor do I do this to my friends.

NP. I really don’t get it. I’m not even rich but I would gladly spend an extra $100-200 to bring more food to share, rather than tell a kid they can’t have any of what I’m eating. We always have more food than we need.

Food really isn’t that expensive, especially junky vacation breakfast and lunch food.....

If this is such a problem, why not travel with just your nuclear family or get your own little cabin near the rental house and just meet for dinner?

Anonymous wrote:It may seem like a silly question but it’s a real struggle for me.

We’re renting a large cabin/lodge in a state park for Labor weekend. There will be 3 families, total 10 people.

We agreed to alternate cooking dinners for the whole group. I explicitly said that I’m bringing breakfast and lunch food for our family only and don’t intend to to feed others for breakfast and lunch.

However, I said that too on our precious weekend together and my friend’s kids ended up eating literally all our breakfast food. Its awkward when our family is eating breakfast and the other kids ask if they can have some of it too and their mom doesn’t say anything. These are not little kids, they’re 11-13 years old.

Anyway, I’m trying to avoid the same situation. What would be an assertive way to handle it?

I don't know why this thread is multiple pages. OP, there is no way to ensure that the other kids (or adults) won't ask for your food. The assertive way to handle it is to say no when they ask.

"Oh, yum bacon! Can I have some?"
"Good morning Larla! I'm sorry, I made that and the families agreed we are only cooking for each other at dinner. Your mom or dad should know what breakfast food your family brought."
"But I want bacon."
"If your parents want to get some for tomorrow, the market is down the street."

Go over the menu ahead of time even if you are only going to make it for your family. Eg. you plan to bring Capn crunch cereal. If the other families want Capn Crunch they should bring it too.

Bacon - plan on enough for everyone everyday but families take turns making it. There is no way you can expect to make bacon just for your family in a shared house.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look OP, just bring more food. If you eat it all the extra, great, if you have leftovers, bring that home too.

You are adding unnecessary stress. Kids act like vacations are snow days and eat all the food in a day. Mine have done this. I don't vacation with other families but mine certainly do this when we go somewhere.

Oookkkk. Question: does it mean you are comfortable getting up in the morning, going through other’s people’s storage box and taking their items to cook breakfast for yourself? Is it something you would casually do?

Because it should be a two way street.

I’m not connecting the dots here.

Anonymous wrote:Bring more food!
Sorry, but I think the awkward thing is eating in front of people without being able to offer some.

+1
This is so opposite of what I was raised with culturally that it makes me literally uncomfortable to even read as a question!

If it bothers you, don't go. My guess is food is just the tip of iceberg and other things about these people will irritate you while you travel with them.

And that's fine, it's not anything wrong with you. It just means you are not compatible as a co-traveler or housemate for these people.

OP, something in your story doesn’t add up. Where are the other parents when kids ask for your food? You said they are still finishing their own breakfast at that point, so are the parents around? What do you see them eat? How little do you budget for your family that feeding other kids a slice or two of bacon finishes your entire supply? I admit, I over buy food when on vacation and I have never had a situation where food was an issue. It just isn’t. I am confused by this whole arrangement. This should be East, as someone said Google doc and pool your food. Split costs. How awkward!

Anonymous wrote:I think everyone is missing the part where the other families don’t share their food with OP. So it is like a double problem: their kids eat OP’s food *and* their own food. And the other families don’t bring extra food, so When OP runs out of food, they starve.

I guess what everyone has in common is extreme frugality. Bring a fishing pole and hand it to the other family’s kids when they ask for your bacon.

We're not missing it, we just don't believe it. Of course they had food left over if their kids all ate OP's food. Bet she never even said "hey, we ran out of x, y, and z because we fed your kids with ours stuff while you slept in". Or whatever.

The whole plan sounds stupid and like a problem in the making.

Oh, wait....

Anonymous wrote:Gather the Moms for an in-person meeting and decide what will be made for dinner each night so there aren’t duplicate dinners. Then, list out all breakfast, lunch, and snack food people will eat, and split it up. If there’s something extra you want to bring that you think only your kids will like, bring extra just in case. You can also split up who brings dishwasher detergent, sponges, wipes, laundry pods, trash bags, etc. Just spending an hour or so organizing things saves a lot of duplicates.

Not just the moms, the adults. Its not the moms' job to serve everybody else on vacation.

Anonymous wrote:Gather the Moms for an in-person meeting and decide what will be made for dinner each night so there aren’t duplicate dinners. Then, list out all breakfast, lunch, and snack food people will eat, and split it up. If there’s something extra you want to bring that you think only your kids will like, bring extra just in case. You can also split up who brings dishwasher detergent, sponges, wipes, laundry pods, trash bags, etc. Just spending an hour or so organizing things saves a lot of duplicates.

Gather the moms in 1957? WTacttualF??

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t imagine making bacon in a shared house and not making enough for everyone.

All the bacon was gone on day 1 and we have several more days to go.
Is it hard to understand?

It's hard to understand why you wouldn't just bring enough bacon for everyone. You're cheap. Thankfully I don't have friends like you, nor do I do this to my friends.