No food in the house.... Again!

[Anonymous]

I'm going to lose it and don't know how to address this in a professional manner. This is the 2nd time this summer that I've gotten to work is there is pretty much no food to feed the kids. Last time we made it work and they ended up eating pop tarts, hawaiian punch, ramen & canned mixed veggies. This time we're looking at toast with butter & milk for breakfast, and probably ramen with canned mixed veggies for lunch. It's not uncommon for them to have a limited selection but this is ridiculous. Here's the part that has me pissed- they went shopping this weekend and bought new lamps, new wall decor, new throw pillows, new curtains and a new rug. MB was all excited to show off her freshly redone living room but there is NO FOOD in the house. I'm talking about there being 1/2 a gallon of milk, 1 loaf of bread, ramen, canned veggies, peanut butter (which the kids are allergic to), a big bag of candy, and condiments. And if I take the kids out it will be on my dime since MB & DB won't reimburse me. Any suggestions on how to handle this professionally because right now I just can't...

[Anonymous]

MB here and I just don't understand how/why people would do this.

I would be very direct with them. Can you email them and say "Dear so and so, I see very little in the house for the kids to eat. It looks like all that is here is ramen, canned veggies, and toast. Can you let me know what you would like me to do?"

Then see how they respond. Maybe you can suggest Giant/Peapod delivery or something. You could offer to make a list or even put together a weekly order for them that they could just sign off on (with their credit card of course). Or you could say that if they want to give you some money you would take the kids to the market for them and stock the fridge.

But really I think their behavior is inexcusable and if I were in your shoes I'd hate to be put in that position, and your bosses should be prepared for you to leave.

I really don't get it.

[Anonymous]

Nothing in the freezer? No pasta in the pantry? Nothing?

[Anonymous]

This makes me so angry! I used to work for a family who had a very specific list of approved foods for in their daughter's lunchbox: a veggie, fruit and then something like a sandwich, peanut butter crackers, whatever. The only problem was that they never had fruits, veggies or anything for the main course. I ended up making the kid pancakes one day to take to school with her!

It's obviously even harder when you have to be concerned with allergies. I would probably send them a text and ask them (nicely) what you should serve the kids for lunch. This just really gets to me because yes, it is annoying to go grocery shopping, but when the kids are at home with a nanny all day there is no other option but to eat at home since they aren't willing to reimburse you.

[Anonymous]

Just deal with it today and when they come home ask what they'd like you to serve tomorrow based on what is in the house.

[Anonymous]

I always go to the grocery store on my way to work on Mondays, because I know there won't be any food! I walk in with a bag of food and the receipt for MB.

[Anonymous]

My previous NF used to do the same thing to me. I would text and ask what they would like you to do for the 2-3 meals you need to serve. Also, ask them to leave you a note each day of what they would like DC to eat. You would think any parent would have thought through their meal plan but some parents just do not slow done to consider what is in the fridge. I do not suggest taking on meal planning responsibility though because you wont have any control of what gets eaten outside of you hours. In my case, all the food was brought to a pool party over the weekend!

[Anonymous]

Wow! Former MB here. I can't believe there are people who do this. I used to stress out so much making sure there was appropriate food for the kids, to the point of cooking breakfast every morning and handing it to my nanny to feed to the kids.

[Anonymous]

OP Here
Thanks for all the suggestions everyone! We made it through the day and when DB got home in the afternoon, I filled him in on the day and politely asked what they would like the kids to have for breakfast, lunch & snack tomorrow. Magically, we have food in the house again! I'm thankful this summer is almost over (it's a summer position) and hopefully we'll make it through without another one of these times. If we start getting there again I'm going to try the same tactic of asking what they would like the kids to eat the following day since it worked so well

[Anonymous]

OP, glad it worked out.

They sound kind of like my SIL and brother. They HATE wasting food and only buy things they know they will eat before they expire. Sounds like the parents don't care if their kids eat ramen/canned veggies/toast. I know when my SIL gets to the end of their pantry, they are eating some interesting mixes of things. Just a personality quirk that my brother kind of goes along with. They are never OUT of food, they will just go down to the last can in the cabinet before buying more.

Not exactly how I'd choose to live, but hey the kids are happy, healthy, and fed so can't judge too much.