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I think of it like this: imagine all the food that is stressing you out was stacked up next to all the other food that she had during her whole life before this became an issue. Now imagine if some of the food that is being wasted now was able to have been enjoyed little by little years and decades ago. Maybe this is one of her regrets in life? Maybe she wishes she indulged herself (or had been able to). I say give, nurture, be affectionate, love her in any way you can while you still can.

P.S. If dementia is involved I believe in adapting to my loved one because adapting and learning is over for them.
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This may come from depression-era mindset where the person needs a lot, else they don't know when they can obtain it again - or maybe never. This is almost bordering on OCD behaviour.
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This sounds familiar to me, too. We could not keep a plastic lid and container set together; food was left in fridge without plastic wrap; bought multiple packages of flour and sugar and pasta which all went unused. Also my mom continued to cook 'for an army' in spite of the dwindling number of housemates. It was never a cup of dry rice, rather, you just make the whole bag, and then you end up wasting most of it. There was no winning on this.

When we had to move mom out of her house we took a huge amount to be donated to a local women's shelter, but that was mostly canned and packaged or frozen food. With these kinds of sweet foods your mom wants it's now or never.

You can either continue to let mom go shopping once a week, or you can curtail it. (And why are you shopping 5 or 6 times a week?) Maybe she just wants to be out and about? What about mall walking? No buying!

Is there an activity that you can get your mom involved in, to redirect her? What about baking a cake or cupcakes or cookies once a week? It can be from scratch or a mix, it doesn't matter, but maybe that is something she might enjoy?

Otherwise, is she still able to walk or do any sort of exercise?
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Yes. She's old and should eat whatever she wants to. As long as it's her money she's wasting and not yours, so be it. Sorry, living with a similar situation and I have had to resign myself to it too.
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How old are they? My grandparents lived through thw depression and many other food-insecure times. They had two fridges and a freezer. It took me years to figure out why. My mom picks EVERYTHING at the store too since her own home was sadly understocked right before I moved her in here. Mine never was and she lives here now. Maybe you can steer her to the more non-perishable items? It never hurts to have a backup. Also I purchased a bunch of plastic takeout containers for when I know we can't eat, say, a whole chicken. Just shred it up, cover in broth (stops freezer burn) and freeze. You can save the bones for stock too.
You might also try something I do for myself, set her her own spending limit for "treats" and give her a calculator. She will have to make a decision instead of being impulsive.
Otherwise just know that your pets are probably really happy about the situation :D good luck!!
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Make sure to feed Mom something filling before you go shopping, if you can.
Sounds like you need to start making some decisions for her or refuse to take her with you.
I am finding my Mother is returning somewhat to her childish ways so I treat her like a child when she acts like one. Not my favorite thing to do !
Hope the best for you.
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As caretaker for my mother for over 7 yrs, I couldn’t keep up with all the outings she wanted to make to get some items from the supermarket. Finally I put a stop to the madness and once a month I have her make me a list of what she wants. I order the groceries on-line with a favorite store and I go pick everything up and deliver it to her house. We put the food away and I make notebof what she has duplicates of, so I don’t order it again next time. And that’s it. Once in a while she needs more salad ingredients, but I pick it up and bring it to her. It was becoming compulsive - and now we don’t have the anxiety of her need for having things in the house that she doesn’t need. No duplicates either. And I am much calmer and not running for her anymore.

She used to walk to shopping where she used to live and when I cleaned out her house when she sold it, there was so much food waste - with duplicates and triplicates on everything. 2 freezers filled with so much meat and she never made any of it!
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