Hellobee Boards

Ugh, we have this issue. My mom and, for the most part, sisters, are grazers like you said. Last night we didn't have dinner and I went to bed feeling starved! My MIL's side - ugh. She has only a few items she can make. Enchiladas that are just meh, taco salad (gross), and pasta with mushroom and/or the Newman's own "Sockarooni" (peppers in it) pasta sauce, which I hate. And she still makes. Knowing I hate it. I generally eat rolls at their dinners. My FIL's side is lebanese and it's a lot of lamb and, IMHO, gross food. He and his sister though always (ok, USUALLY) really consider me. Aunt's lemon salad (salad with a lemon dressing) is great and FIL usually makes me grilled chicken, and then there's often potatoes, etc. I'm just a really picky eater so I try to choke down what I can!

My ILs eat gross, processed boxed crap or fast food. We went over there for Easter, and I offered to cook. They said they had it handled. "Handled" to them meant a family size deal from KFC. I didn't eat anything since I was having to watch my salt intake in my third trimester.

I've learned to make a side that can double as a meal for me in a pinch when they do this.

I know what you mean! I usually bring the dish anyway. Especially if it's a holiday dinner and say that it wouldn't be a Christmas/Thanksgiving/Easter dinner for us without _____. MIL doesn't seem to mind anymore and even eats some of what I bring now.

This is why I'm bringing 4 dishes to my in laws tomorrow for 5 adults and 2 toddlers lol. My MIL is only having ham, canned baked beans and green bean casserole. I'm hungry and pregnant so I just offered to bring a good amount of food

Nope!

I always plan to go out so that I can order what I want, or pre-eat, or plan time afterwards to pick something up!

I'm very open when it comes to food so no problemos in the food department here. Meanwhile, my parents aren't too big on some of MIL's Khmer foods. But if MIL is making something I don't like or I have a preference, I can tell her and she'll accommodate! Love her!!

This is a huge issue for me, especially since we lived with my ILs for 9 months last year. My ILs are big meat and potatoes people. My MIL thinks potatoes are vegetables. I swear she has like a 20 kilo bag of them in her cellar at all times.

I'm a fairly healthy eater (used to be vegetarian) and make a ton of from scratch/home cooked meals. About half of MIL's food is processed.

I survived by trying to eat small portions of her food and offering to cook. However, she's the kind of person who has the pork roast in the oven at 8:30am with the timer set so that it cooks itself before anyone has a say in the matter.

No dinner?!! That's crazy!

I fortunately like my ILs cooking even though they use more bacon grease than I do.

We have problems eating w/ my in-laws. (Husband is included in this as well -- he doesn't get how his mom and stepdad or his dad eat the way they do). Mom and stepdad are the worst offenders. They will only eat very standard american fare. I've never even seen DH's stepdad eat any food that is green in color. No veggies! He eats like a small child who is a picky eater. No spicy foods can go anywhere near their palates. Our funniest story is that DH's mom and stepdad refused to go anywhere near a bottle of Newman's steak sauce -- even though it looks and tastes exactly like their beloved A1, just because the label on the bottle looked unfamiliar to them.

DH and I on the other hand are more in the foodie camp. We eat all kinds of foods from cultures all over the world. We love spice. We love incorporating fresh veggies into our meals. Eating with either of his parents is a challenge to say the least!

Hah, this is funny to me because I'm at the in-laws right now and we are not going to be eating dinner tonight. I'd honestly give any family a lot of leeway during the holidays - the host (particularly the mom) can feel a ton of pressure when people are staying over and more people are coming over for Christmas dinner, it can just be a lot easier the days leading up to Christmas to say "everyone for themselves" and not do a formal dinner meal. I don't mind one bit. We have pretty different food styles, but I just offer to make a couple of dishes that I like that I can keep in the fridge and heat up whenever I'm hungry. I feel like if my mother in law were required to put a formal dinner on the table every night leading up to Christmas she'd go crazy. With so many people milling around it can just make more sense to do the grazing thing, even if you are normally a family that does a formal dinner every night (like we usually are).

our major eating issue with my in-laws is that dh and I like to eat dinner usually between like 6:30 and 7:30, and my fil sometimes won't come home from work until 9! By that point we're starving and grumpy, plus we usually go to bed by 10:30 or 11 and I get major heartburn if I eat that soon before bed. My in-laws are night owls though! you'd think that when we're visiting he'd make an effort to compromise, but no...super annoying!

fil also has a bunch of dietary restrictions because of a health condition, and I'm a vegetarian, so it can be hard to find things that work for both of us. usually we have separate main courses, but dh is usually the one doing the cooking when we're with them so he always has me covered

Lol, I need snacks and meals. My ILs don't snack, so I used to bring cereal bars and eat them in hiding!

@Mrs. Sketchbook: I do the same thing!

Nope. My IL's don't eat lunch, and I don't much care for my MIL's cooking most of the time. She makes and freezes her Christmas dinner in early December, and then just warms it up in the microwave. Same for birthdays, she'll pick up a storebought cake a few weeks in advance, and freeze it. So strange to me.

I usually pack a jar of peanutbutter, a bag of flat outs and some fruit in my suitcase when I come visit.

They don't like anything I make. And MIL never takes me up on any offers to bring something. So I just show up , bring nothing, and stick to the foods I like. Thankfully she usually has plain stuff like green beans & mashed potatoes. DH & I don't eat pasta salad, deviled eggs, etc that she fixes for SIL.

Oh my, YES. I'll eat their food, and holiday meals aren't *too* bad, just more processed and a lot more white stuff than I would normally eat. And my parents-in-law will politely eat what I cook, but most of my BILs, not so much. I don't think I cook anything really weird, just yummy, interesting stuff. I have a full spice cupboard that I use the heck out of- I don't think they even owned a container of black pepper before I came into the family. When they visited with some of my younger BILs in tow last summer, my MIL told me that I didn't have to cook them anything fancy (trust me, I wasn't), they'd be quite happy with their standard fare of potatoes and/or noodles and chicken patties (like, the breaded ones you can get in big bags at Sam's Club). Gaaaaaaaaah! My MIL is pretty much the only one who will eat fresh or any interesting take on veggies. Most of the kids are super picky when it comes to veggies, usually based on looks, they very rarely actually try new things. Gaaaaah!
And then there's the part where I have something of a complex when it comes to food and our budget. I plan and budget so that I can buy some "special" foods that I then stretch out and add to different meals for some variety. Feta cheese, that kind of thing. There are certain things that I don't buy too often and when I do, Farmer Man knows better than to touch them if he sees them in the fridge because he knows I have a plan for it and it will disrupt everything if he eats it, lol. But in the IL's house, MIL will go out and buy special (read: junk) food for family get togethers and so on. She will write "do not eat" on the grocery bags and hide everything under her bed or in the back of the closet. Not that it does any good- the BILs still living at home (teens up to mid 20s) know where her hiding spots are and will find it and eat. Then she has to go out and buy more food before the original event. Now, I know teenage boys have legendary appetites, but OMG, I find this HIGHLY disrespectful. Extremely so, I cannot even tell you how much this bugs me. Of course, I was raised with pretty minimal junk food and candy, if it was in the pantry we knew our mom had it on hand for a special occasion and didn't touch it. Basically, we rarely snacked between meals (and we ate what was put before us) and when we did, the only thing we helped ourselves to was leftovers in the fridge or fruit/veggies or buttered (homemade whole wheat) bread. So when my BILs steal my MILs groceries, grrrrrrr, just seems so wrong. I might feel differently about it if they bought some junk food of their own, or ate their veggies, or something. Oh, oh, and then there's the part where they habitually eat and drink (DH does this too) whatever junk food is available just because it's there and it tastes good, not because they're hungry or anything. And they're all freaking skinny and wiry. As a girl who's been on the definite chunky side ever since puberty and who is very conscious of everything she puts into her mouth (in a healthy, Whole30 way, not an eating disorder way), this makes me crazy too. Lol, enough venting?

My inlaws eat fast, usually don't go for seconds. They eat just enough to survive (that's my perception, they probably are really full though). I am a foodie, like to have seconds, and like to talk and linger at the table. So basically, I eat much less than I normally would when I am at my inlaw's. I don't go for seconds because I don't want to be the last one eating and have everyone waiting on me while they clean up. Also, I don't want to look like Ms. Piggy.

@Mrs. Sketchbook: @scg00387: when we get to the in laws house for our annual week vacation, we go grocery shopping and hide our snacks in our room, too.

The eating style isn't what differs between us... but the quality of food does. I'm used to home cooked meals (and a huge feast during the holidays) but the in law's food is usually from a box and not your normal spread that I look forward to (spaghetti from Olive Garden?).

Dh is used to frozen/prepackaged meals and I like to make the meals from scratch - it's something we struggle with.