Expect nothing and never be disappointed, I have been lucky with my HO’s so far and appreciate it.
As sitters, we should go with the notion “Expect nothing, appreciate anything!”
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Huge thumbs up to you. I wish all home owners were as thoughtful and appreciative as you.
As HO in a location where local, organic foods are bountiful I used to leave local wine, chocolate, crackers and cheese. After a string of vegan/dairy free/gluten free/sober sitters I am stopping. My last vegetarian sitter turned out to be on a strict Ayurvedic diet so when we had a farm box delivered bi-weekly he gave all the seasonal nightshades (heirloom tomatoes! shishito peppers!) to our sheep! 
Such a waste.
We always leave County and State parks passes and a full pantry of dry goods, oil, spices, paper goods, etc. The house is clean, the bed is comfy, the bathroom is nice, and the property and pets are wonderful. That will have to be enough to let a sitter know we appreciate them.
Personally, gifts can be thoughtful but I’d rather come home to a clean home and happy pets than half-empty bottles of weird vegan substitutes, a hot meal I have to do something with after a day of traveling, or that mini unicorn piñata you adored but couldn’t fit in your luggage. In the end, I’m just grateful when my pets are well cared for and the sitter enjoys their time here.
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Dunno if anyone is still reading after 104 replies, but, just two cents more. If I had a sitter coming I would leave some food in the fridge – just whatever I hadn’t used up – although it’s a good point to ask them if they are lactose or gluten intolerant or something. I think it’s nice to leave them a little food in appreciation that they are taking care of your home.
As a sitter, I do find it a real drag to come in tired after a long journey and find there is no food in the fridge (or cupboards!) and instead of settling down I have to go right out again and shop. Something to eat for at least the first night would be nice. After that, I would expect to buy my own groceries.
Good points that this is something sitters and owners should discuss beforehand.
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Yay for your sheep, I guess, but my heart just broke a little bit. 
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As a sitter I don’t expect HO’s to leave food for me, it’s a bonus if they do. I have quite a weird diet so bring my own food anyway. I find it much more annoying when the fridge is so full that I can’t get my food in but it’s not a big thing for me either way 
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Hello @Delta and a very warm welcome to the Community Forum and it’s lovely to see you joining in with this thread 
For reference, as a member, once your listing is completed you can also add your TrustedHousesitters profile on to your Forum profile by following the attached link, should you wish. This will then enable others to offer you helpful advice and feedback.
If you are unsure how to do this, or if you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to ask, we are all more than happy to help.
Also, remember you can use the spyglass symbol at the top of the page next to the TrustedHousesitters logo and search for any questions that you may have as they have most likely already been answered on here and of course if not then please just ask! 
Don’t know whether this would work for your sits, but I pursue only sits that are in places with grocery and meal deliveries. I’ve used such deliveries on sits, vacations and business trips, including stays at hotels.
Before a trip, I enter the address of where I’m going and can quickly see how many restaurants and markets deliver. I sometimes even schedule deliveries to match my timing. Like my flight just landed and I had prefilled a DoorDash cart, so I hit the order button and my dinner and drinks arrived just before I did. They’ll even let you preschedule for a time window days in advance with some stores and restaurants.
In some locations, such services even deliver nonfood items, like souvenirs, toiletries and first-aid supplies. Grab does that in Singapore, for instance, and it was very quick, because drivers zip around on scooters even if there’s a lot of traffic. With Deliveroo and Marks & Spencer, I even ordered a bunch of treats to a sit in the U.K., like candies, biscuits and soaps to take home as gifts, without having to carry stuff or use the car the HOs had offered me. My pet even got a chew toy and dog treats from abroad, LOL.
Food deliveries are a great way to try local foods even without leaving the house. I telecommute from all of my sits, so I spend a lot of time at the home.
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At the moment I am sitting only in the UK and driving to sits so I have absolutely everything I need with me, including basics like salt, pepper and oil. I don’t touch any of the HOs supplies unless there’s perishable stuff in the fridge. I throw out anything that’s been opened and is past its use-by date but don’t replace these items. I finish off anything which would expire before the HOs got back and I do replace these items. I certainly don’t feel that I’m not valued if there’s nothing in the fridge. For me, being fed is not part of the deal.
We took all our food, milk, booze etc as the owner just said we could use the condiments. The fridge was full but as we weren’t offered the opportunity to eat it we just watched some of it go mouldy.
What would the experienced sitters have done?
I would have probably said we noticed that xx will be out of date / rotten / mouldy before you return on xx is it ok for us to remove from fridge and dispose of it ?
If Home owner says it’s ok - how you dispose of it ( eat or throw away ) is up to you .
We have had homeowners forget in the rush of packing and contact us later to say please help yourself to the bread / veg we’ve left behind or put in freezer for us .
Edited when moved for relevance
I just LOVE this thread, thank you so much @Marian7 for asking this question.
THS has changed a LOT since I joined in 2018.
HOs picked me up from the airport, made me a meal or bought me dinner on arrival, and told me to make myself at home and help myself to anything.
Houses were immaculate and there was always a supply of toilet paper, cleaning detergents tea * coffee and necessities for the duration of my stay.
I STILL find these beautiful people on the site but they are few and far between 
One HO drove me to Waitrose and paid for my shop.
One HO still fills the fridge with basics I love every year (coconut yoghurt etc!) and stocks the pantry with quinoa and lentils for me. She tells me to EAT EVERYTHING!
Lately I have included the fridge in my first conversation with HOs, making sure they will throw away meat & dairy products, and leave at least a clear shelf available for me.
During your first chat with HOs you can ask:
- Will there be x,y,z on arrival?
- Where is the closest corner shop where I can stock up on x,y,z on my way to your house?
- Is it ok if I use tea, coffee, spices, herbs, oils (etc)
- Anything else relevant and important to you!
Sitters and HOs are each in charge of creating a great experience for themselves, so we both need to come to that first chat with clear questions, and able to articulate our needs and expectations — only than can we decide if this is the right exchange for us.
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Hi @STH
I’ve found many great homeowners that have treated me amazingly but I think as a sitter you need to do DD via reviews and asking questions. I accepted a sit early on as a sitter where the HO put post it notes saying do not touch including salt and pepper! Thought it was a bit OTT.
I would not interpret that as “and nothing else”.
On my last sit I used milk and cheese from the fridge. And today on my last day I left fresh milk and cheese. And some other stuff too. I ate their bread, and I left knäckebröd. And some other stuff I did not worry about, just made sure that they would not go hungry.
Interesting topic !
There is a part of me that is saying that if the owner of the house is leaving, the fridge might be empty because of not wanting to throw away food. Also, not knowing what lifestyle or dietary restrictions the sitter has. Could be a tricky situation ! Another part of me ( my values ) is always to leave something behind, even if I assume that we should be responsible for our own food, I would do the same as I wish to be treated. So If I was the house owner, I would discuss with the sitter to see which food they would like before I let them in !
At the end of the day, I think it’s a mix of deeply personal values and reasoning and communication ( if not shy ) could go a long way 
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I’ve done over 30 sits npw and never arrived to an empty fridge. If there is milk in there, it would be silly to let it go off…
It can vary considerably in what owners leave and say you can eat. I have completed over 50 sits now and has ranged from asking me what foods I liked and filling the fridge with fish and chicken, cheeses etc. a huge fruit bowl and plenty of vegetables, to empty fridges and cupboards and nothing at all to eat. Most do say help yourself to whats in the cupboard such as rice, pasta and condiments. A few will say help myself to what is in the freezer also. I would never take anything from a freezer unles told I could though. A few home owners have said to help myself to wine or have left me a few bottles. Not a big drinker though, so would be no more than a glass with evening meal. Yes, communication is the answer. It may be that your sitters had done a couple of previous sits, where just told to help themselves to anything and had just assumed it was the same with yours. And I do like hiouse sits where they grow lots of home produce and I can pick my own, or would just become over ripe and go off. And I love collecting fresh eggs.
I wouldn’t personally feel offended if they don’t leave any food in the fridge. I actually prefer to think that they’ve timed it perfectly before going on holidays to avoid throwing food away. I’m aware that I will need to do my own shopping but simply because the agreement is that - looking after their pets while you stay at their house. That’s the way I see it.
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This falls into the HOs can’t win category. I could do some digging and find a forum thread where people do nothing but complain that the fridge is too full and there is no room for the sitter’s food – which by the way, THS reminds HOs to leave room for sitter food. There are also threads where sitters complain about the rotting perishables that they have no interest in, or the offensive smell of deli meats bothering vegan noses. ETC ETC.
Having come back to rotting fruits and veggies, I now try to clear out anything before I leave since no matter how much I tell sitters to help themselves, few do. There will still be some basics in the fridge. I warn sitters that nobody in my home drinks milk and as I don’t know their dietary habits, they might want to bring some if it’s something they care about. This has nothing to do with my not valuing sitters, as my spouse who is usually watching from the livingroom as I am literally on my knees scrubbing the floor before their arrival can attest.
If I’m able to ascertain that a sitter likes say wine or chocolate, I might gift a sitter something. I really wanted to leave the last sitter a gift card for a local grocery that had an excellent NY style “bodega” breakfast but veganized – as we’d discussed that store. They didn’t have gift cards, so I wound up leaving her cash and a note asking her to please by herself the vegan breakfast. I hope she wasn’t insulted.
Maybe we all need to be a little kinder and less judgey of each other?
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