My children have NO respect for the cost of food. This morning alone we wasted 1 cup of cereal, 2 waffles, and opened a third bottle of maple syrup. I should probably mention that I'm a foodie freak that buys all organic. The food waste in this house is killing me. I bet that I could shave $500.00 a month off our grocery bill if we just ate what we fixed for ourselves.
I buy four six packs of organic soda (yeah I know I'm a freak, but, it is the HFCS I want to avoid) to last this family two weeks. Which means that the big three are allowed to have about one can each every other day. My children hem and haw and cry over this completely unfair policy DAILY. So, as I have pointed out to them it amazes me that I have to pour out half cans of soda every time they drink them. I even suggested that they share two cans among the three of them by pouring the soda in glasses...all of my children looked at me like I had just sprouted a second head.
There are the little things too, like does one child really need a half a cup of ketchup for four chicken nuggets? Last night I found an open bag of chips (a major treat around here) on my kitchen floor. I threw them out. No telling how many the animals licked or what bugs might have been attracted to the easy feast. Yuck. In a storm of tears and temper tantrums my children demanded that I replace their treat because it was so unfair for me to throw it away. Uh yeah, sure kids, I'll get right on meeting your demands.
What I am going to do is spend some time coming up with a plan. I want to teach them about conserving and saving. Throw any suggestions my way, they will be appreciated. When I think I have a valid approach, I'll share it. Maybe you guys can help me find the flaws in it before the kids do.
Open A Drawer
3 months ago
I'm of no help, except by way of empathy. Food wasting is a major source of parental frustration around here, and we too try to buy organic, no HFCS, no hydrogented oil, etc.
ReplyDeleteI'll be looking at responses you get too!
The only thing we've come up with is to eat their leftovers ourselves. Not the best solution, but on some days, if I didn't do this, I might not eat at all, so in a quirky way it's ok.
The worst is the half-full cereal bowls after breakfast. Makes my husband CRAZY!
Good luck with that--
Let your kids know that you are not the only uncaring mom out there. I too abuse my children and deny them HFCS and red dye. I even make them share pop. (gasp). One. Between the three of them. They don't even notice if I add enough ice.
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