Most home owners do leave a few things in the fridge and at the very least say, help yourself to pasta, rice, flour etc. Some are extremely generous and will even stock up with things you like and a couple of times I have been told to help myself to wine etc. I usually always take a few things with me. Frequently I have brought too much, as the home owner has left me so much. However not too long ago I was really caught out. I was house sitting at the largest house I had ever done a house sit at. A real country mansion. Took over five mins th drive up their private drive through their land. Obviously extremely weathy with full time gardener and twice a week cleaner. An extremely hot day so didnât want food going off in tha car and felt sure they would have plenty for me. Only four days and miles from any shops. There was nothing. An empty fridge with scrapings of jam etc. Empty larder and an enoumous freezer with just a few ice cubes in the bottle and a pack of frozen pastry. Another property in London so went between the two. Maybe more food there? Although I did hear from the cleaner etc. that they ate out an awful lot. Considering how wealthy they were, expensive electric cars etc. also,; they could have at least left me a few basics. I think TH should say please do leave at least a couple of meals for your sitter.
We always bring our own food, just in case.
I think asking that the HO should leave , at least a couple of meals is somewhat impolite! Why should they? Donât misunderstand me, any HO should welcome a sitter with a meal and, of course, anything that is in the house, condiments, perishables etc, the sitter should be able to use, thatâs my view anyway. Asking that meals should be left though for the sitter is rather arrogant I feel.
@Visit - speaking as a sitter I never expect food on arrival so prepare accordingly.
I have sat in both modest and multi million pound properties and have found that the amount of wealth someone has (or is perceived to have) does not directly equate to generosity of spirit.
Ken I have never sat somewhere with so little food. I do not think it is too much to ask that there may at least be some bread, milk a couple of eggs, some cheese and a potato or two. I could have at least had egg or cheese on toast or a baked potato. Bare in mind this was an expensive several million pound house, where they employed a full time gardener. They paid ther cleaning lady in cash as she left, when I arrived. Somebody who came two or three times a week. They would have paid quite a bit to have had their animals looked after if not having me for free. The lack of anything made me feel more like an unpaid slave. So, no I do not feel it is asking too much for a few basics in order to make a couple of meals. And as this was such a grand place I did think there would have been amply. I even thought it likely. It was miles from the nearest shop and the owner left in less than an hour after I arrived. An extremely hot day and I was not even offered a drink.
You forgot to mention you are also having a âfreeâ holiday! That aside what has their wealth to do with anything ? As for a few basics! Leaving a couple of meals , as you said, is somewhat different to expecting salt and pepper and perhaps a potato or two and some bread.
Sorry, I think you are wrong in even hinting at you are entitled to anything, let alone a couple of meals!!
I would add that in my view a HO should make a sitter as comfortable as is possible in every respect but that doesnât mean a HO has to do so because the sitter feels entitled!
So, this happened to us, only once. We sat in a very remote area (you had to have a car to go buy food, and no, we arenâT exaggerating, we love walking, but the road was âforbiddenâ to walk on as it was a dangerous mountain road, especially at night). We arrived at 9pm and discovered there was nothing in the fridge. We werenât told the car was broken so we would have to rely on taxis until it was fixed.
We would have gone to the supermarket should we have known that the car was broken, before arriving there, as we assumed there would be a car to drive (there was in the initial agreement, but things happened) to the nearest supermarket or food shop, or restaurant, that night. We did land at 7.30pm so our main priority was to rush to the house.
This was the only time we felt a little stuck, food wise. We managed to find a bag of pasta, a can of tuna and had a fabulous evening observing the moon with the cats and the dog.
I could be ranting on the forum about not being told about the car situation+arriving to a remote location with no food, but why would I do so? This house was stunning, the pets were amazing, and being flexible is part of our pet sitting journey. There is no way in the world we would have paid to stay in such property, so we were able to let that little inconvenience not affect our experience or expectations.
The more I read about these food related discussions, the more I realise that food seems to be the biggest issue in this pet sitting adventure. It never was to me, until I started reading these discussions. Some homeowners will leave champagne (yes), a full shop, cakes, etc. and others will leave bread milk eggs (which vegan sitters wonât touch, by the way, not everyone drinks milk, or eats eggs, sausages and bread!). Some leave nothing, either because they never eat at home, or because they finished their food before leaving on holiday, which I do when my home stays unoccupied.
This food discussion is quite interesting from an international travelling platform perspective: food is highly cultural so to expect a certain staple, is interesting to me. Obviously if you travel within your own country, I understand, but even in the UK and the USA, where people have diverse diets, depending on the region they are in, their cultural background, their fitness habits, etc. what is considered âbasicâ to them is not necessarily to me. I wouldnât know what to do with rashers and sausages, and some sitters would probably not know what to do with quinoa and tempeh.
So no I donât think we need to expect food. Is it nice when they do leave some? Absolutely. But thatâs simply a bonus.
What is nice also, is when a homeowner enquires about our eating habits: on our end, as sitters, we ask if there is anything they are allergic to that we shouldnât bring to the house such as peanuts, and we mention that if there is any meat in the fridge when they leave, we will be freezings it for them, as we are pescatarians, this way we make sure they donât BUY meat or charcuterie for us. To know their allergies also helps if we want to bake them something at the end of our stay.
This is my opinion as a pet sitter. I expect nothing from the HO food wise.
If I was to welcome a sitter in my home, I would (and that is only me) want them to be welcomed by untouched fresh or dry products. I can monitor my fridge enough to not leave them half eaten veggies or old mouldy cheese by the time I leave on holidays, but I would certainly want them to be fed on arrival, and for the next morning, even though a grocery store is 200m from where we live.
Thatâs me, and honestly, it doesnât make my sit better or worst. Itâs just my style of pet parenting and my style of receiving humans to stay in my home. I mostly want them to feel relaxed, happy, and give my pets attention while we transition from us being around, to them only, being around. And also get familiar with their surroundings without having to think about finding the nearest bakery in the morning, while walking the puppy dawgâŚThe fact that I have been travelling my whole life, and living abroad also helps with being more sensitive to travellersâ needs and situations. Not everyone is the same, and I am fully aware of that.
This conversation could go on for a while, as I believe everyone (PP and Sitters) all have different perspectives, and opinions, likes and preferences on the subject, but after so many years and so many different sits, HO and pets, I can guarantee you that this food subject is the least of my worries, and I hope other pet sitters feel the same, because itâs such a detail compared to the grand scheme of things! Iâd rather have no food than an explosive dog on the leash, with whom I am stuck for 2 weeks, or a mean cat that attacks me on the sofa, or a filthy and mouldy home.
No, cleaning comes first!
Food may be second.
And then somewhere down the line, the petsâŚ
I probably should have worded it as âfood seems to be bringing the most passionate debatesâ 
but I agree, cleanliness is a close one, at least, lately, in the forum exchanges
I would always reciprocate the thoughtfulness of owners leaving some basics and I message them a few days before return asking if I can get them anything specific in addition to this.
We donât expect HO to provide any food for us .
However, if the HO already has salt and pepper and cooking oil , herbs and spices in the cupboard we do appreciate it when they say help yourself to these .
Not everyone cooks at home so we wouldnât expect the HO to go out especially and purchase these for us .
HOs receive an e-Mail from THS saying they should throw out all opened or perishable food before the sitter arrives. Most have said I donât like to waste food , help yourself to the veg, cheese, bread , biscuits that we havenât finished but if you donât want it - pop in freezer for us to use later or throw it away.
If we do eat these we donât replace them as they would have been thrown away anyway.
If itâs a long sit and we use up all of a particular commodity (their salt for example) weâll replace it before they come home .
If itâs a short sit and only a few grains were left we do not feel the need to replace with a full container.
Not everybody cooks for themselves at home, we have never been cooked a meal by the HO and we donât expect it and we would not cook for the HO on their return . Weâre not professional cleaners, gardeners or chefs but we will take good care of the home and pets and treat them as if they were our own .
Weâve often received a welcome bottle of wine on arrival . Which we have appreciated.
We will leave a âwelcome home â card with some highlights of our stay with their pets .
We donât feel the need to buy a gift for the HO for the privilege of looking after their pets - nor do we expect them to give us a gift .
We will maybe cut some flowers from the garden or other touches to make it feel welcoming for their return and we will ask if they need any groceries for their return .
I do hope THS review this advice to throw out opened / perishable foods. It is just so wasteful. In my opinion it would be better to advise HO and sitters to discuss how they wish to manage this as I realise that some people donât like the idea of using up someone elses opened or perishable goods but many will be quite happy and would prefer this to the unneccesary waste.
We have done 70 sits since 2019, thereâs been quite a few repeat sits, I can count on one hand, how many times we have had a meal or food left over that makes up a simple meal, rarely there is bread, even if stale for toast. I usually find the left over foods in the Green Bin to go out at the next collection. People can be funny about leaving opened products behind. We always bring enough to throw to together some simple, quick meals until I know when I can get to the shops. I would have no problem if in your case here (especially if you had to rely on public transport) I would ask the HO leave some bread even if stale just for some toast, just so you have something until you can get out to the shops. I also donât like leaving the Pets, they are already aware that their Owners have left, they are wondering are they coming back? when are they coming back? who are you? on HS we have been to before the Petâs know us however I take into account if one has passed etc, we had one recently where itâs Brother/Bestie passed the week before and it was grieving, it needed some extra love, so I was in a position to bring a few days of food so we could give him the attention he needed. sometimes HO are not thinking that far ahead, they are stressed out getting sorted for their trip and what they need to do and when they get home and they just donât think about it, some donât value HS at all and thatâs sad, cost of living is affecting nearly everyone and we are seeing in the last year, especially this year, lots of changes in the sits and it is also clear by our repeats too, not as much on the pantry shelves or fridge/freezer, changes from branded products to unbranded, be it pet food/treats, cleaning products and foods, nearly every HO has their heating set to 2 times a day for about 2-3 hrs at set a 17, these were sits when we first started had their heating on all the time (except summer) at it was always at 21, they had every branded food and product, not any more. If I know a HO is getting late, I will ask them if they want to me to get them Milk and Bread, most of the time they say itâs fine, I offer to cook them a meal and leave it on the stovetop, before Lockdown, I always got a " thanks, that would be great" I donât get it so much anymore. It could be we are plant based eaters idk.
I figure when we do our first overseas HS, I will have built up a good enough rapport with the HO that I will feel comfortable asking them to leave a loaf of bread and some basics for us, I will offer to do the same for them on their return.
Happy Sitting.
Thank you, me too. Although Iâll remember next time to bring milk and bread home with me. We arrived home at around midnight to find no milk in our fridge. No worries though.
Oh gosh I didnât realise how lucky weâve been. At every sit (admittedly not as many as your impressive count) we have been left basic items and often are asked what weâd like which is good as we donât use milk so that would be wasted. One set of home owners who are now firm friends even went to the trouble of getting us a sour dough loaf from a specific bakery as we had mentioned we had bought one on a previous sit 3 month sit for them and really liked it!
Awe super sweet the sourdough, the ones who have got items in for us, have gone the whole deal, Vegan treats for the Teens that we have never had or Oat Mil and Bread. The Repeat HS I think because we are plant based and I make nearly everything we eat from scratch too, I ask if they have a food processor and if they do they will leave it out for us, If I have room in the car I bring it. Maybe if we were not plant based it might be different, idk.
House sitting is great though, never ever did we expect we would still be HS and clocked up so many, so many friendships and experiences, invaluable for our Teens who were just Tweens when we started, now nearly adults themselves and just fantastic for them on every level, so much learning and a clear understand that everyoneâs âhomeâ no matter what shape, size, location, country is their " castle" and they are all different.
Happy sitting x
How mean and inconsiderate
Not necessarily: it depends how the questionâs worded.
I always shop before I go over to the house sit, just in case. Usually it costs me about $75-$100 a week for groceries. But owners who are not thoughtful are not good participants in this program in my opinion. After all, they are getting free services and I do not go site seeing when I house sitâŚI stay at the house. I also clean their home before I leave and do all the laundry (a $100-$150 or more value or more). I also like to leave them a nice note or a little gift. Itâs called appreciation and respect. Itâs not a given but it should be.
I have been on housesits where the HO seems to ignore this part of the pre-sit checklist.