One has to wonder why people on budgets can't seem to come up with simple, obvious solutions on their own...


https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...=.02581c945652


Q: Dear Miss Manners: Im a single mother of two wonderful daughters. As I go to school full time and work full time at a "just until I get through school job, money is exceptionally tight.

When purchasing food at the grocery store, my thoughts are always, "How many meals can I get out of this? Usually I purchase food that I can prepare relatively cheaply with enough to have leftovers and meals to take to work or for my daughters school lunches. Things like potato chips and cookies are for "filler days when we take sandwiches to work/school.

My daughters know this and are very judicial when they snack. They might have only a handful of chips or one cookie, when they might actually want half the bag of chips or five or six cookies, because they know it goes for our lunches for the week.

The problem that Im having is when my kids have friends over to spend the night. I make a dinner, and theyll take large portions but not finish them. I watch them throw food away and think, "That could have been my lunch for Monday. Or they will ask for a snack and take large portions, much more than necessary. Sometimes a whole package of cookies is eaten in a night, and were stuck for the rest of the week without sweets.

We have bottled water to take with our lunches, and I constantly find the friends will want a bottle of water, drink half of it, and then throw it away, or worse, drink only half a bottle, leave it somewhere and get another. As my daughters and I always refill the bottles, not only are they wasting the water, they are wasting a bottle I might have refilled two or three times at work.

How do I address this behavior with my daughters friends? Am I going beyond my limits as an adult to stop a child from taking larger portions of food if I know they wont eat it all? How do I address another persons child when I ask them to only eat one cookie or tell them they can only have one bottle of water?

I dont want to be the "food police, but every time I see my daughters friends wasting food, I cant help but feel a little upset. I know that they probably dont know theyre doing it, and many of their parents make much more money than I do, so Im not sure its my place to correct their behavior.



A: Dole out the portions for your young guests, telling them that they are welcome to seconds if they finish. Put cookies in bowls and water in glasses instead of leaving out packages.

Miss Manners is pleased to say that this solution not only solves your problem €” but is also correct (and has the added bonus of quieting naysayers who are opposed to the extra step of dirtying dishes). Food and drink packaging should never be seen outside of the kitchen.

Now you have a practical reason to overcome your very legitimate fear of being inhospitable to guests and offensive to their parents.

(end)



Plenty of people asked in the comments: "Why would anyone on a budget be buying bottled water?"

Another said: "Better not to buy chips and cookies in the first place. A bag of carrots is cheaper and more nutritious."

(Or, as Moliere wrote in 1668, when the title character in the hilarious play "The Miser" was having guests and giving orders to the cook: "Serve them food they hate!")

On the flip side, there was a similar letter to Ann Landers in 1965:

https://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=MT19650607.2.80

Unfortunately, I suspect the reason the writer wasn't already doing what Ann suggested was that her husband would probably be angry at her if she did - and his boorish brothers probably would be, too! Sad.



Lenona.

On Tuesday, December 20, 2016 at 12:26:39 PM UTC-6, wrote:
>

> https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...=.02581c945652
>
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You must have a 'thing' for Miss Manners.

On Wednesday, December 21, 2016 at 8:57:30 PM UTC-5, wrote:

> >
> You must have a 'thing' for Miss Manners.


She's easily one of the best living wits in the U.S. - what's not to like?

On 12/22/2016 1:05 PM, wrote:
> On Wednesday, December 21, 2016 at 8:57:30 PM UTC-5, wrote:
>
>>>
>> You must have a 'thing' for Miss Manners.
>
>
> She's easily one of the best living wits in the U.S. - what's not to like?

Agreed, though her children write some of the columns, too.

nancy

On Thursday, December 22, 2016 at 12:05:35 PM UTC-6, wrote:
>
> On Wednesday, December 21, 2016 at 8:57:30 PM UTC-5, wrote:
>
> > >
> > You must have a 'thing' for Miss Manners.
>
>
> She's easily one of the best living wits in the U.S. - what's not to like?
>
>
But can she cook?