One of the frustrations about having all the kids home over the summer has been keeping food in the house. I buy groceries and in two days it seems like it's gone! How do you go through two loafs of bread, two boxes of cereal, and a whole gallon of milk in two days?
This last time I got groceries I started by making a menu with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and afternoon snack on it. Made my list for the store based on the menu.
A wonderful thing happened when I hung the menu on the fridge...the kids stopped asking me, "what's for lunch, what's for supper, blah...blah...blah". Which by the way I hate being asked what the next meal is going to be. Jim learned early on when he would come home from work to NOT ask me what's for supper. That question immediately puts me in a fowl mood.
Another wonderful thing happened from the menu...my kids stopped getting into food on their own. They're not allowed to get into any food without asking but that didn't seem to stop them. The fact that there's a snack on the menu and they know they will be getting one and what it's going to be has made them less naggy about getting food to stuff their faces with. Plus, if they do get into any food without permission then their snack gets taken away for the day.
I bought a bag of chips, thing of cookies, and a couple kinds of crackers for snack times and a week later there is still some left of each! I had to stop the other day and try to determine if time had stopped or if I was in an alternate universe because we still had food in the house! I love it!
Now here it is the end of summer...kids going back to school on Monday and just now got our food consumption under control. Well, better late then never.
