I like to ask if there’s any food they will need consumed while they are gone to keep it from going to waste during the meet and greet. The homeowners usually point out specific ‘areas’ to help themselves (pantry or fridge). One said to feel free to sample the alcohol while another made a point to say that it was off-limits. Another even bought some specific items and said they were for me (ginger beer, etc) after asking what I liked to drink. Sometimes I will ask for a shelf to be cleared in the fridge to use and for anything they wouldn’t mind me eating to be placed on that shelf. One time while using the offered Sodastream I used a flavor bottle and replaced it before leaving as there were no specific instructions for ‘helping ourselves’ and they had higher end specific products.
How long are your sits usually? I think it is quite different if someone is sitting for a week or for 3 months.
I find it frustrating on a week long sit if the home owner has left the dregs for all those items and don’t think it should be the sitters responsibility to replace them. On longer sits I totally agree and would buy my own supplies.
When I say use anything, I mean use anything. For a week long sit I wouldn’t expect anything to be replaced. How much can one person eat and drink in 7 days?
For a longer sit however I would be more specific what to use and how much and ask for replacement of basics like milk, flour and coffee.
I leave a basket of fruit, coffee and milk for the sitter and would love it when I wouldn’t have to do shopping right after returning home.
There’s no such thing as online orders for groceries here 
For a week sit I would think that not too many basics like milk, coffee, dry noodles, flour…etc) will be gone and that there would be enough left for us when we return. That’s why I wouldn’t ask for a replacement.
On longer sits I would assume that shopping would be necessary anyway so buying replacements should not be a problem.
You get the same kind of basics in every supermarket here so if you just got what you used it would be fine with me. For example, I only have fat reduced milk (3%) so I would expect not to have it replaced with full fat cream 
You don’t have to take pictures of the kitchen. I just recommend to use easily available technology to remember which items you used if you want to replace them, that’s all.
In a country where you don’t speak the language and additionally can’t read it this is a really good tool to get around.
When I am in an Asian country and use public transport I always take a picture of the train station‘s name in case I don’t remember on the way back.
I always try to make it as easy as possible for any sitter so if there is no replacement it’s ok…only coffee and milk are really essential and for the first cup after I return I don’t care if it’s the same brand I normally buy, as long as it’s there.
I always take a photo of the brand of milk, bread and anything that we might use up. We generally replace food items regardless the length of the sit. I also take a photo of the pantry in case I need to move items around in order to make space for ourselves. Then I can put everything back exactly as it was. It works for us.
@anon39388349 that’s a great tip about the train station name!
Years ago I stayed with a friend who was teaching in Japan. While she worked I visited places by train. The different train routes were all run by different companies. To purchase a ticket, you had to press the button labelled with the train company name, then select the price you needed to pay. There wasn’t such a thing as a return ticket, so I would repeat this process on the return journey.
This system worked fine until I visited a castle in a small village. It turned out that at thissmall station, the buttons on the ticket machines were only labelled in Japanese and not also in the Western alphabet. So which button was the “Hanshin” line? I tried pressing each in turn to see which had the correct ticket price as an option, but 2 buttons showed the price I needed to pay! I knew if I purchased the wrong ticket, I wouldn’t be able to exit the barriers at the other end and could be stuck in the station!
I found an employee and tried to explain my problem to him. He spoke no English, and my Japanese was very limited, so I took him to the ticket machine and mimed pressing the buttons, shrugging and saying “Hanshin?” while looking puzzled. He kept nodding & confirming “Hanshin!” This went on for a while. He obviously had not made the connection that I couldn’t read the buttons!
Eventually I resorted to Japanese. I pointed at the buttons and said “Kanji, Hiragana” (2 of the “alphabets” used in Japan). Then I pointed at myself and said “Romanji” (Japanese name for our alphabet). I could see the penny finally drop as the employee realised that I couldn’t read the Japanese alphabet,. He showed me the Hanshin button and I bought my ticket.
This was long before smartphones, and probably also before I had a digital camera. I will definitely be taking pictures of station names and buttons should I visit Japan again!
I’m with you on the idea of using my phone camera for so many things. I do take photos of what’s in the fridge, as I choose to replace things, and with items that are as close to the same as possible.
For those who set up the bed with multiple pillows etc., I also take photos of how the bed was made, so that I can replicate it for the homeowners. Many of us have far different ideas on what’s comfortable and/or what looks attractive. I realize it’s not earth-shattering if I do it differently, but I like to return the home to the way I received it, especially when homeowners go to great lengths to make things attractive and welcoming. I want to welcome them home too.
It’s a difficult one, do they mean empty my cupboards, I don’t mind or use a pinch of salt every other day?
I find the Americans very generous. I tried to replace the wine that was in the fridge (told to drink it if we wanted to) and the lovely homeowner ran out after us waving the bottles in her hand. She was genuinely hurt that we did it. I could go on and on about their generosity but I won’t. The British are much more subdued. A bottle of wine will be left on the table and the fridge shelves will be sorted out to long life food and eat me please or I’ll go off. I just love opening large larder cupboards to see what I can find. Something from my childhood? Or something I’ve heard of but never used. The smell as you open it is so sublime. Love it.
Garden produce is another matter. Faced with a well stocked kitchen garden and orchard I can get carried away, apple chutney, fruit pies of all kinds, jams to fill your face with quiches and flans. I’ve tried marrow and ginger chutney for the first time this sit. Iimage|666x500
I’m always fair though. I take 50% and leave 50% behind. We are having the second half of a rhubarb crumble I made yesterday tonight and even though I say it myself it tastes yummy.
Oops, forgot about the gin project, flavoured gin, strawberry, raspberry, black current and 8; a few weeks sloe.
Actually we mainly sit in France we are going with our car so taking quite a lot of things with us (including coffee as my husband is a bit touchy about coffee !!).
As @anon39388349 says :
we would certainly take some rice, noodles, flour in the cupboard if we are on a 1 to 2 weeks sits and if we are invited to (which we have always been). In this case we would not necesserly replace it, except if it is the end of the box.
So that drives me to the dish-washing liquid : we never use the dish washing machine so we need liquid. But when OH use washing machine there is usually very few liquid in the bootle. So I think, out of 18 sits, we bought 16 bottles of washing liquid. It is not a problem as it is quite cheap, but it always make me lough… Yes I am a happy person ! 
It can be difficult to replace something with it exact copy. Once we were staying to a lovely lady who have cooked a fantastic curry when we arrived. She said, « yes do use the left over of the curry powder ». What we did. And we really wanted to buy this curry powder for ourselves as well as to replace it. It was in France, and we are french, so we thought : easy peasy ! let’s go shopping curry ! It was not so easy ! We had to visit every single shop around 20 km to eventually discover it was coming from a little supermarket we wouldn’t have excepted ! So I can imagine how difficult it is to look for some butter in Vietnam @anon36831737 
!!
I must say we never replace toilet papers… we never stay very long though. Le longest was 5 weeks, OH were americans : they had huge quantities of everything in theirs cupboards, probably 100 rolls of toilet paper… never seen that before (except in shops !) ! So we did not replace… hope we did right 
Aah, toilet paper. Now there is a topic. I love to see lots of spare toilet rolls when I arrive, and I would never replace them. There have been a couple of sittings where there were only a couple of rolls in the house and we had to buy some after a day or so. It’s funny, but you remember these incidents.
I have bought many a bottle of laundry detergent for the homeowner and have also replaced toilet paper and sometimes paper towels. My last sit used expensive “organic” tp so I just used my own. Have toilet paper will travel!
I’m a diabetic so usually bring my own food. I also bring my own coffee. If the owner says help yourself to some wine I may have a bottle. I leave milk in fridge and buy a loaf of bread of the same brand they leave me.
During our initial tour of the house, when we get to the kitchen, I always ask,”is there anything you want us to eat or don’t want us to eat”.? Then there is no question. We always try to put ourselves in the homeowners position. How would I treat a sitter. If I say help yourselves to everything, That’s exactly what I mean. I would never expect anyone to replace toilet paper, laundry detergent, normal pantry items. And, I would make sure there was plenty on hand. Most HO we’ve dealt with, and we’ve been extremely lucky, are so grateful to have us, they want you to be as comfortable as possible. Really treated like good friends or family. We do take pics of the bed to replace all the pillows… we always ask if there is anything we can get for their return. You also need to “read the room”. Every sit is different.
I will follow what owner suggests. Usually they say help yourself to anything.
I have had the experience of finding a lot of mouldy food in the fridge on the day of owners departure and a lot of out of date food in cupboards, so it is wise to be careful
Our sitters are here for a long sit, usually two months or longer. I clean out the refrigerator, just leaving things they can use such as condiments. And I empty the freezer stuff into the chest freezer in the garage. I also clean out the cupboards for them to use. However, with things like toilet paper, paper towels,flour, sugar, etc., they can use what we leave and expect them to replace if they use it up so that there is some for us when we return. What I don’t like is coming back to one roll of toilet paper, after I’ve left enough for them to use over the summer. We also leave enough bags of dog food so that they don’t have to buy more.
Welcome to our community forum @naalehuretiree and for contributing to this conversation. It puts an interesting slant on the topic to discuss supplies on longer sits.
It sounds like you are generous and thoughtful and hopefully sitters are mostly respectful of this. We’ve done a lot of longer sits and always make a list of things to restock at the end so our owners have replacements if we use anything up (and make a note of brands), although on long sits we tend to replace as we go. We, like many others, chat about this on handovers so there’s no mismatch of expectations about what can and cannot be used.
Thank-you for making space… it’s very considerate especially for long sits… we’ve often had no freezer space and that is always appreciated particularly in more remote locations 
Enjoy connecting and we look forward to seeing you around the forum. Merry Christmas 
yes agree on this. It is a big difference if the sit is a long or short stay. I have a few recurring sits who often say use whatever you want and I don’t feel obligated to buy a whole new pack of what ever as i only use as you say a toilet role or a pot of sauce ( the sit who has this has a stash and i think often forgets how much they have ) so i always check the dates and use the most close to needs using !
But the minimum that i think most sitters wil use is just taken as I would’ve used this if I’d been at home attitude by the HO so totally don’t bother about replacing. But as I say this is on a number of my repeat sits ( had some now for 4-5 years ). But even then i still use the minimum and often make something for them when I know they will be traveling and /or traveling home late. Most appreciate not have to cook when they get home.
If you cannot make it next time they’re away, give me a holler!
As a sitter I’m happy if they leave me some bread milk cheese eggs and bread.I usually take my own coffee and tea with me I try to leave them the same.just the basics to keep me until I can shop.I don’t drive so carrying things as a single person not always easy.always take a rucksack for heavy items.