How to say no so that food is not wasted?

hu hu.. I understand what you mean kevchua! My mum still stays with me, but those days when both my paternal and maternal grand mothers were still around, we always face this issue.. and let me share what my mum and dad did... In order not to offend anyone (see ah, MIL issue is always there no matter what), so my dad will tell my paternal grand ma, and my mum will do the vice versa.. every time when they gave us food, they will take.. but in a smaller portion.. and leave the rest with them.. so, meaning, we took (in order to oblige) and we save (coz we know we cant eat much).. and both my parents will tell both their mother that we don't cook, and if they want to give so much, then they better follow us home.. so they can cook for us! muahaha.. a good trap to have my grand parents over to our house (and we loved to have them) or if we are 'force' to really take it, we then will distribute to friends.. my mum will pack and bring to work the next day, and give it to her colleagues some.. so we share.. this way, we are able to have the best of both worlds!!! you see, we do not want our grand parents to be 'hurt' for us not taking the food, and we do not want to waste.. so, having little, or a small portion helps.. with no alternative, sharing with others can also minimise the wastage.. does this help?

I don´t think it's possible to get your message across without offending them, but that's okay. Sometimes you have to offend people in order to stop a behaviour that's totally contrary to your values. There are basically three steps: Describe in a couple of words, and clearly, the behaviour (you giving us the food), then talk about yourself, with emphasis in this case how it makes you FEEL to throw the food away (all those starving kids in Africa, it's not right to throw food away) and then describe the possible consequences if they don't stop doing it (you might just as well throw it into the bin right now.) The trick is to talk as little as possible about them, and focus on you yourself, again, how it makes you feel. I believe this way you have the best chance to get the message across. But again, they might still be offended, consider you and your husband as ungrateful, but I guess you have to decide whether you can live with this temporary discomfort (it will pass, eventually.) If not, just keep the food LOL

Is it already cooked food or is it like canned food? You could donate food to your local food pantry. Or if it is something that can be frozen stick it in the freezer for a time when you need a quick meal. We have 3 kids and things get crazy here so it's nice to have something already made and ready to go. So I don't usually turn down food. Though for some reason my mother in law decides to clean out her cupboards and give us the expired food, like we are so desperate for food we'll risk our health to eat it. A few months ago she gave us some canned food that expired in 1992. I had to laugh, I explained to my daughter why I had to throw it out and she asked me if Grandma was trying to kill us.

Hi, kevchua My husband and I have the same problem when we were newly married. My mother-in-law would pack the extra food for us mainly because she also does want to waste it. There are only two of them in her house and they do not eat a lot. This especially becomes a little problem when she has a get-together in her house and there are a lot of left-overs. Anyway, I asked my husband to talk to her after most of her food packs stayed in our ref for several days...um, even weeks You see, we go off work late most of the time and both of us would be too hungry and too tired to cook that we would just eat out. To solve my mother-in-law's problem of extra food, we just promise her to have dinner in her house the next night and the next night after that until the left-overs are gone. On our part, we save a little because we do not have to eat out anymore, plus, we have someone who would prepare dinner for us Have a nice day!

Hi kevchua, Since it is your family and it sounds like you all get along well, how about sitting them down and having a serious talk with them and being completely honest about what you are feeling. It could be that they are worried about your health and happiness and their way of caring for you is to buy you food. Why not ask them to give something else, if they insist on giving you something. Whatever it is you think you could use, money, clothes, house supplies, etc. THis way they won't feel that you are saying no constantly and you get to not waste anything. Another idea is to suggest that they create a "saving account" for you. As parents I know they want what is best for their children, but we as children have to teach them what it is we need now as adults. Good luck to you in this and I hope you find a happy solution to please everyone.

I might suggest dropping by a local food bank, or homeless shelter, and or soup kitchen or even just giving it to someone on the street who looks like they may need some food.

I am not sure how to answer that one because I am married with 3 kids and my mother-in-law is living with us so when we go to my parents and we have a big dinner and there are leftover they always want to send some home with us and we always say yes. Now there have been a few times that we have said no but normally we take the leftovers home because that is a meal for us and thats good. Now we make enough money to buy groceries but ever little bit helps.

Hello! My parents are the same way with buying me and my fiance things . Most of the things we use and can last . Like coffee and pet food! They wanna do things for you so just tell them what you might like more or be able to store away and take the time on using them . With food my fiance will eat anything and everything so nothing goes to waste . Sometimes, my fesh fruit and veggies go to waste and that is why i give them away to my bro and his gf .

Maybe you could give them to the dogs at your place if you have any,so that their belly will be full and they will even guard your house when you are either at work or somewhere. Then the other option is that you can always share the food with neighbors, it is a good approach of a neighborhood too and being a good neighbor to the others.

Unfortunately I have a view that even if I don't waste the food & save it, what is the use of it? it's any which ways going to end up into waste because where ever you go, food will always be made in more quantities. Even if I don't take food in my plate, that food is going to go waste because it will be come extra. So if I take a little extra food, may be I could eat it if my stomach allows me. This is my point & hence I always take food which I seems enough for me because I don't like the idea of taking food again & again. So what ever I take first I eat it & if I cannot eat full, I'll leave it. Happy Lotting

You should take it and then give it to charity to help feed the people who need food. And soon of the food you cold freeze or can you take it to work and give it too some of your friends at work.

Hi Kevchua, Rather than throwing away the excess food, it is better to give some to the poorer people. Never throw away foods !!Not a good habit. There are so many poor people in this world and they could not have enough food for themselves. We are quite lucky to have enough food to eat everyday, I don't see the point why have to throw away the excess food if we can share it with other people. It is a good deed. Let's have a nice talk with either your mum or your parent-in-law,that you can't finish up so many foods,Just take your own portion back home.rather than you throw them away when it gets rotten. Maybe you can consider sharing with your neighbours some of the foods that you may not able to finish up yourself. happy mylotting !!

One thing I do often-because of cost and I don't to waste food-is freeze the leftovers. This way if you have a taste for it later, you can take it out of the freezer and it's already cooked. You just have to warm it up and enjoy.

Well, this happens in our case too.. we take some and give it to the servants children for they are very poor. Rather than throwing away, take somthing for you on the same day you got home and give the rest to them. I call my servant to remind me to give her the foods.

Well if you do not take it they are going to feel offended, and hurt. You could give it to someone else that needs it. or you could freeze some of it for a later date.