A lighthearted post around the refrigerator! So! in almost all my sits the home owner have invited me to eat whatever I want from the fridge.
I seldom actually do this because I mainly eat plant base foods and well I buy my own. This then does leave me with a recent thought that perhaps that is RUDE! not eating what has been left in the fridge (perishables). Should I just chuck it out when it goes off or leave everything exactly as I found it. … what is taking it to the extreme and what is not enough - is there such a thing …
Then there is the sit who does not leave any instruction about the food in the fridge - again - leave it to rot or eat it or clean it out… or replace the goods that have perished ?
I occasionally eat veggies that will go off, and bring my own butter mayo etc etc - but would like some feed back (excuse the pun ) what do you do?
I am part vegan . Because intestinal problems, no dairy, no gluten, moderate sugar. If someone asks me before I arrive any favorite foods , My response is do you have coffee. Most of the houses will let me know and ask which kind of creamer. At that moment, I tell them, will bring mine because of dairy free.
So nobody will leave me any junk and unless I see a jam jar from 2000, nothing to clean hopefully.
Most folks have invited me to help myself to whats in the refrigerator - some have even invited me to raid the freezer for specific things - a recent HO encouraged me to try the pork chops and sausage from the pigs that had been butchered last fall. I did - and it was delicious.
But I do limit myself to things likely to go bad while I’m there.
Some folks ask if they can stock up on anything - dark roast coffee, crusty bread (not the squishy stuff in plastic bags) and some cheese so that I can have breakfast the first morning and not have to go to the grocery store too early.
I did a sit that ended on easter and was invited to help myself to anythings EXCEPT the chocolate easter eggs and bunny. Of course.
One thing I’ve discovered sitting in the UK - they mainly sell potato ‘crisps’ (chips in the US) in 6 packs of individual serving bags. Good way to avoid binging on a big bag of something unhealthy.
Hi @Bonnie this is a really good question that I am sure many, many sitters are in a quandary about how to handle. As pet parents, we always tried to rid of the fridge of most perishables, with the exception of salad makings, cheese, condiments and some dairy, but always, always asked the sitters if there is anything they need, perishable wise, to get them started with the sit. Whatever we did leave was free game for the sitters to eat up so it didn’t go bad. I don’t think we ever had anyone tell us they wanted anything left for them, and the only time we had ANYTHING disappear from our pantry was two bottles of wine. We had given them a bottle in their welcome basket, along with breakfast bars, fresh fruit, cookies and some chips to give them something to start with before they had to head out to the store. And even though they drank the two bottles, it really was no big deal as we probably had another 60+ in the dining room. LOL…we love wine!
@Bonnie, my husband and I are plant based eaters too. We usually bring our own food and let the HO know our preference so they can adjust their expectations. I would hate for them to leave food specifically for us that we would not consume during the sit.
I don’t take fresh items to a housesit anymore - instead, once I arrive I do an audit of the fridge/bread store. Some things I’ll then put into the freezer, some I use if open and need to be used in a specific time, or has a ‘use by’ date before the HO returns. I make a list of everything that I have done, including the reasons why I used it. If it was something that I would have normally taken with me/purchased, I’ll replace the item and state this on my list.
We do our best to eat all the perishables and my girlfriend even sometimes drinks the cow milk etc. even though she wouldn’t buy it herself and gets intestinal pain. I think it would be not so nice for a HO to return to a fridge full of rotten food, although not all HOs are so considerate when it comes to leaving the fridge in an acceptable condition (which seems especially odd to a foodie like me, but everyone is different).
Throw away all rotten food, freeze good food which you don’t like eating, and eat all the perishables which you like. That’ how I do it. By the way, personally, I eat about everything, so I don’t do the freezing part - but I think it is a great suggestion that Andrew made above - for all the vegetarians, vegans, kosher-eaters, allergy-sufferers, top-notch gourmands and alike!
I eat up all perishables that the home owner have left in their fridge and one day before they come back, I go shopping and buy the same or similar items for them, so their fridge, fruit bowl and bread box are filled with all the items they like, just perfectly fresh!
However, I don’t touch any non-perishable foods at all, except of maybe some little bits of condiments, spices or cooking oil. The same goes for body care and cleaning products - I bring them with me and don’t touch the HO’s, except for what is needed to keep their pets happy and clean.
Thanks for all the feedback. from now on going forward I will ask the HO to free some space in the fridge for my goods and to be clear on what they expect me to do with the food they leave.
Yes, I agree that some fridges are not in a great condition. either no space to put my own purchases in OR just not very organised or clean. I really helps when the sit has space made available so that things could be kept separately too.
We hate wasting food, so of course, if there are perishable foods in the fridge, we try to use them up. Before the Owners get home, we buy essentials that we used up, like eggs, butter, bread. It really depends on the timing of the arrival of the Owner and how long they traveled. Are they arriving at night from a long day of travel? OK, then make sure they have goods to make breakfast and coffee the next morning, and then they can go to the grocery store. If they arrive home at 4 pm but have just traveled for 15 hours, then we would ask what they would like us to buy so that they can make a quick meal before they sleep.
My current HO said i could eat whatever i like from the fridge as it’s left over from Christmas. A lot of it i can’t eat due to weird allergies and the rest doesn’t look too good. I’ll freeze what I can, eat what i can and bin/compost the rest.
But the several half bottles of red wine that she offered and the unopened bottle of white that she put in the fridge for me are most welcome!
I clear out anything that’s open and will rot or smell
if I know I can’t easily replace something, I don’t use it
if it’s a non-perishable that would clearly keep (and isn’t super basic like oats or something), I generally won’t open it
I use condiments, spices, etc. That would not make sense to buy for a sit
And then generally at the start of sits, I will just ask explicitly HO what foods, etc are off limits and I will tell HS what is off limits at ours (such as my specialty teas). I ask that if they use something up, they replace it so that we’re not left without at least some once we get home and to not use it if they don’t think they’d be able to replace it (I.e. it’s clearly a specialty item).
When in doubt, I just ask and then encourage HS to ask if they’re unsure.
