As a sitter without a car I have experienced both the generous bounty and also the famine end of things of homeowners provisioning I have received beautiful gift baskets ,been taken out for dinner provided with lovely home cooked dinners and takeaways upon arrival been taken grocery shopping with appreciative homeowners picking up the tab for the grocery shop , been told to help myself to pantry and fridge contents and have homeowners ask me what groceries I would like them to get in for me ahead of the sit and have regularly come across sits where although owners havent really communicated too much have clearly thought about leaving basics with things like eggs milk bread bacon cheese cold meats and a selection of fresh vegetables with instructions to help myself which i really appreciate. It does help with grocery costs When clearly a homeowner makes an effort to enable you to feel well provided for and catered to at least for a couple of days when settling in to their home it does make you feel that your forthcoming efforts as a sitter and pet carer will be valued and appreciated and lubes the wheels of positivity and good feeling about a sit. I do feel a bit tentative about asking homeowners to do a special shop to purchase vegetarian type items I love to eat recognizing that it would be possibly be a less easy and convenient shop for them if they are not used to buying and finding those things in a supermarket . As a sitter without a car I do appreciate such thoughtfulness from the owners and appreciate as a basic gesture of hospitality and convenience the offer of the use of staples like oil spices and dried foods . After two years of sitting with owners being incredibly kind and generous I got a shock when a homeowner recently took everything with her out of the fridge and made no offer of even the use of tea or coffee . That was a first time for me in almost 2 years of housesitting …I was dumbstruck as it had never happened before . At the end of a sit I will always replace items that I wasnt offered to use and even replace some things like cooking oil I always leave some staples in the fridge for the homeowner to come home to like milk eggs butter cheese etc and I will sometimes make a meal to leave for the owners especially if they are coming home later in the day .I feel there is a flow of generosity that naturally ensues when the homeowner has been gracious and generous towards me I really feel motivated to respond in kind
I had that now for an upcoming sit (weeks ahead). That sounded really friendly and welcoming!
They wanted to do the shopping for a week! I answered that that was really very nice of them, but that it was enough for just over Sunday when stores are closed there.
Part of the fun of staying in a different place is to choose from the shelves in local stores. Or to get food at street markets.
So I personally hate getting stuff for people that they don’t want. What I’ve found to be amazing on my sits is when the HO or when we just do an initial supply run with the other party…take them in the car, etc. so they can stock the home how they want it stocked.
We always start our sits with a full day or two of overlap with us so that we can do a proper orientation of our dog’s routine, show them all the quirks around the house, and make sure they’re set up for success.
This takes pretty much all the guess work out of a lot of aspects of the sit for both parties.
Hello, Thank you for all of your contributions so far to this thread.
I just wanted to update the thread that there was a new conversation started, but the OP of that conversation removed their posts, therefore the replies have also been removed as the thread would no longer make sense without them.
Please feel free to continue the conversion 
What is OP?
Original poster.
Thanks. I do watch the forum but never saw what people meant by that example of alphabet soup.
Have a good day.
As homeowners, we try to make our sitters feel valued and right at home. We leave more than enough food that they don’t need to rush right out and shop after what can sometimes be a long, tiring trip to our place. Most of the time, we even prepare a few meals and put them in the freezer so that if they don’t feel like cooking, they can just thaw something. Our sitters have access to anything they want to use in our pantry or fridge, with the exception of a few ‘special’ items we cannot find where we live and have to import from elsewhere. They will also have enough paper products, garbage bags, soap, shampoo, laundry detergent, and other essentials, to last the duration of their stay (or nearly so, depending on their usage). We do, however, encourage our sitters to stop and shop on their way if they have special dietary needs, or “favorites”. And of course, whenever someone is in a new place, we understand they will like to explore the shops, go to the markets, try the restaurants, etc. So we also make sure there’s enough room in the fridge and freezer for items they bring or purchase while they are sitting. We usually list the sit for an extra day at the beginning so the sitter can get acquainted with our cat and we show them around the house and neighborhood so they don’t feel lost in a new place. On that day, we will provide dinner, too. Is this too much? Maybe. But not for a great sitter!
AH yes I recently did a sit for a homeowner who left me with so much chocolate much more than I would normally buy for myself to eat …but when the banquet is spread out before you eg with someone saying "come on ,tuck in ,indulge and be merry eg .big .blocks of cadburys bags of m’n’ms ‘chocolate biscuits’ chocolate brownies’ chocolate cake mixes …alas chocolate is my weakness …sadly when I go home and jumped on the scales I had put on a kilo and I know it was all that damn choccy …