Hiding the Oreos

October 25, 2008 · 21 comments

My family played a game today called “Hide the Oreos.” As is no secret, I love me some Double Stuffed Oreos. But that’s no good for the diet. Unfortunetly, the rest of my family loves them too. Months ago we just had them in the pantry. Then my wife noticed they were getting eaten at too fast of a pace so she hid them in the back of the towel drawer. I found them there eventually, and for the last few months that is where they were “hidden.”

Then a few weeks ago I noticed there wasn’t any Oreos in that drawer but I knew we had just bought some and sure enough they had moved to the back of the rolling pin drawer. And for the last few weeks that is where they have been “hidden.”

Sidenote for stating the obvious - we are not talking about the same package!

So once again today I notice that there are no Oreos in the rolling pin drawer even though I know we have some. This time the hiding spot was not so obvious. I quizzed my son who didn’t give up much info although based on his responses to my questions he did inadvertently reveal they were hidden on the main floor (which is what I would have guessed anyway).

Then later I heard my wife make a very innocent comment when she was in the family room, “why are there clothes all over the floor? Oh right, they were trying on Halloween costumes” or something like that. Then a minute later I saw her with an Oreo. It took me about 30 seconds to process the comment and pickup on why I thought it was weird - that wouldn’t have been the first time she had seen the clothes. Aha, she was saying that as a cover for why she was in that room, when in fact she was in the room getting an Oreo.

Once she went upstairs it didn’t take me long to find the drawer they were hidden in.

This time I took the initiative and hid them in the piano bench.

I ended up letting them know where they were though. I need to find a way to stay away from them because hiding them isn’t working.

Does your family hide food from you?

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{ 19 comments }

Greg October 26, 2008 at 6:20 am: This is so close to my life its scary! My wife and I don’t play that game now, but there was a time when it was common, and it was with Double Stuff Oreos! Now she plays it with my stepson.
She’s talked to her friends about it (so she says), and most of them have played it with their husbands as well. Apparently, for women, its common for them to just eat one cookie. I don’t know too many men that just eat one cookie. Anyway, she used to complain because she would buy a package, and would only get 2 or 3 out of the whole package. That may have been because I was eating 8-10 at a sitting.
Too funny…

My wife and kids can eat two. 8-10 is my sweet spot.
roni October 26, 2008 at 6:36 am: LOL - no, but that’s because I’m the main shopper and food stocker.

After you guys buy a bag why don’t you each portion what you want to eat out of it for the week in ziplock bags. Then each person in the family can “hide” their own and since they’ve already been claimed and you have your own you may not be as inclined to search for everyone else’s.

Just a thought!

I like that idea. In theory!
Mrs darling October 26, 2008 at 12:58 pm: This was funny! I know the game all too well but not with oreos. Im not big on them but those fun size Halloween candy bars are killing me. Today Im going to ask my husband to hide them. Im feeling tired and sluggish from those things, not to mention that they are hindering my weight loss efforts.

Oh yeah, this is a hard time of year for that. I am pretty good at being aggressive with tossing Halloween candy though.
Discipline or Regret October 26, 2008 at 9:11 pm: My vice is fried bananas, but only the ones that my wife makes.

I get my wife to make them when I’m at work and eat them before I get home.

Put a coffee and fried banana in front of me and they’re history!

Take care,
Andrew

Just a plain fried banana? Never heard of that! I’ve had deep fried plantains, bananas Foster and even chocolate covered frozen banana on a stick but no regular friend bananas. The good news is those can’t just be laying around like an Oreo can.
Biz October 27, 2008 at 11:26 am: Nope, but I hide things from my husband, at his request!

It’s usually cookies or the cream filled oatmeal cookies that he buys for the kids.

Ooh, I love those creme filled oatmeal cookies. Or lemon filled.
Spartan7 October 27, 2008 at 8:31 pm: Oh hot d@m^, this is my jam!

The arch enemy in our house is vanalla ice cream and chocolate chips. That’s right, plain ol’ out of the bag, straight-up chips. I could kill a bag of chips in the span of a football, if I so fell of the wagon that far.

I have to hide the vanalla ice cream, frozen yogerts, etc from HouseHold six … I use them for my protein shakes and she kills it. Of course, there are only two freezers in the house, so the options are limited.

I could find myself loving some Oreo munching, too, but we just don’t buy them anymore.

I’m actually a lot better with the ice cream now. When I do have it I eat too much of it but I don’t crave it like I used to.
Sadie October 28, 2008 at 10:45 am: This is why I just don’t buy the Oreos! I am an Oreo fiend. It’s terrible. If they are in the house, I am going to eat them, and not one at a time. I have wonderful willpower - but not with Oreos. I have to tell my husband that if he wants to buy sweets he has to buy something that I don’t like.

I guess I’m not the only one with this problem!
Laura-Junkfoodaholic October 28, 2008 at 12:22 pm: Yes! I have to hide Snickers, Milky Ways, Reeses Peanut Butter Cups and just about any other chocolate from my husband. While the rest of the family can eat just one “fun size” bar per day, my husband will eat ten or more! So he asks me to hide them from him. Same thing goes for ice cream except he asks me not to buy it at all since there’s no way to hide it! Oh yeah, he doesn’t like me to make cookies either since he’ll eat so many, he’ll make himself sick. No will power!

Sadly, I’m pretty much right there with him. One fun-sized bar per day, really? Dang.
steve@weightlossweapons.com October 28, 2008 at 10:58 pm: John I think we need to get you to look for Osama (I heard he has lots of double stuffed Oreos). Your investigative skills are great.

I do the same thing but my vice is chocolate chunk cookies. My wife’s favorite line in “No, there for the kids” and then it’s 2 days of tearing the house apart searching for them.

OOh, the Pepperidge Farm’s one? Those are tasty!
abimars October 29, 2008 at 2:37 pm: lol, I couldn’t stop laughing, for me my forbidden treats don’t even get home. My husband and I do the weekly shopping together, I put the treats in the shopping trolley but by the time we get to checkout they’re gone and I’ve never caught him taking them out! i think he knows I’ll sniff them out if they get home.

lol, at first I was thinking he was eating them before you got to the checkout! I used to do this as a kid when I went shopping with my parents - I would push the cart and conveniently have a bag of some sort of bulk candy up near me that I could sneak a few eats of while shopping. Yes, I guess that was stealing now that I look at it in hindsight. But tell me you don’t eat a grape or two while picking out fruit!
Groovybabe October 29, 2008 at 3:06 pm: Hi John, I just checked my blog and saw you left a comment so I thought I would pop by and see what you have been up to. I’m glad to see you’re still at it. I am too, I am back under medical supervision and am thankfully losing again. I’ll blog about it in a moment.

My family don’t hide food from me but I do sometimes ask them to! I know there are certain foods that I cannot be trusted with and its for my own benefit that I dont have access to them. Generally I try not to buy foods that I cannot control but there are times when it is unavoidable - like bread for school lunches and potato chips too. The bread I freeze so it takes forever to be able to eat and the potato chips are put away in my sons room - who has so much more control than me. I’m just worried about the message it gives him having him aware of my food compulsions…

Great to hear from you again! The problem that I have found is that with the kids we buy a lot of small bagged goodies for treats, packed lunches, etc. Not only are those expensive on a per ounce basis (we are paying for the convenience) but they make it very easy to cheat. Controlled portions only work if you stick to one bag.
Dawn October 30, 2008 at 8:10 am: I’m the food hider, I confess. But now that I’m in the weight loss mode I’ve not had much of the stuff in the house and I’ve told hubby and kids no junk either. Now I find ice cream wrappers and candy wrappers in the car/van lol. But at least I’m not tempted anymore.

To be honest, this is the best solution - what’s bad for us is obviously bad for our kids. We are trying to be better but it’s tough.
Roni October 30, 2008 at 9:59 am: Even though you found my comment completely useless! LOL j/k I linked to you today, hope you don’t mind…
http://ronisweigh.com/2008/10/thursday-thoughts-vii.html

-Roni

Linking is what makes the blog world go ’round. Thanks!
E October 30, 2008 at 8:15 pm: Haha what a great story.

At least you know what’s being hidden from you! I love opening up a cupboard or a weird drawer and finding food that someone didn’t want me to know about. Though I’ve been known to stick “my” ice cream in the garage freezer so I guess its only fair…

But the hiding backfires for me-I always end up wanting the secret stash I’ve discovered more than I would’ve if it were just in the pantry!

The last pack of Oreos we bought we actually just put out in the open in the pantry and I’ve been able to control myself better with them out in the open. Very interesting…
HalfMan October 31, 2008 at 9:27 am: This is quite amusing. I have in the past asked my wife to hide things only to go looking for them. I no longer do that. What was more common was that I would buy a bag of candy and hide it from the rest of the family, except my wife. The kids still knew. (How sad that I was trying to hide candy so that I could eat it all.) I would eat way too much while in front of the computer. Thankfully, I don’t do that anymore either.

I replace eating in front of the computer or television with sunflower seeds in the shell. I learned to break the shell with my teeth, get the seed out. Then I spit the shell into a bowl to clean up later. Don’t get me wrong, this was no substitute for chocolate, but a replacement activity for eating. In addition, I eat small meals throughout the day which eventually knocks out the “feeling” of hunger in the evening. Together, these helped me break that cycle. In fact, I don’t even use the sunflower seeds anymore.

HalfMan

I used to be a “seeder” when we went fishing but it’s been years. Based on your comment I’ve gone out and bought a pack.
Cynthia October 31, 2008 at 3:41 pm: If you really want to avoid the Oreos… you need to get them out of the house. If they are in the house, trust me, you’ll have the urge and you’ll find them, sooner or later.

Maybe, if the rest of your family is not dieting, perhaps you could get them to agree to have their Oreos outside the house? Even if they have to buy a package and split it into ZipLoc baggies or something. I think there are snack sizes available though.

Not that the Oreos are healthy choices for them either, but at least the temptation will be removed from YOU at home. I like to think of my home as a safe haven from junk food these days. Yes, I’ll still sometimes indulge, but if I do, I have to go out to get it… and I will only buy in a small portion size.

You are right, but the way I look at it is that there will always be things on which to cheat and I can’t hide from them forever. So as part of a life-changing approach I simply need to learn how not to eating tempting things that are presented to me.
MizFit November 1, 2008 at 5:35 am: no and especially NOT THE DOUBLE STUFF (drool) as they value their lives

what is IN that STUFF which make is so alluringaddicting?

Sugar. And more sugar.
Cynthia November 1, 2008 at 10:25 am: It’s true there will always be stuff to cheat on… in my home though, it’s all healthy real food so at least if I cheat, I’m not filling my body with trans fats and sugar. Whatever here I might cheat on gives me some actual nutrition. Outside the home… well, I try not to go shopping hungry and that helps a lot. Parties, I try not to go hungry and just partake of a little of everything to taste.

My parents used to hide stashes of junk food from me… I always found them though. Perhaps if the stashes had not been there, I might not have grown up with an addiction to Doritos and other such savory goodies in the first place.

Right now, it sounds like the “game” of finding the cheats is just too fun for all the family! I think it’s great that so far, you’ve been able to resist the pack of Oreos out in the open. That might be the solution for you! For one thing, when they are out in the open, it will be more likely that your family will know if you are taking them… and that bit of social pressure may make it easier for you to stay away.

I have to say I like having them out in the open again. Thinking about having to hide food doesn’t make me feel good.
asithi November 3, 2008 at 6:47 pm: I am glad that I do not have this problem. We barely get junk food anymore in my home. But I think it is easier when you do not have kids because you have less people in the house wanting cookies and chips. When we in the mood for cookies, I make a batch. But since it requires more effort than a trip to the supermarket, my husband only ask for them once every other month or so. No big deal. I am the one that is always suggesting that I make some brownies or cake for him. Yes, I do not like to eat the “bad stuff” alone.

I think training yourself to snack on things you have to make would be great - when there is effort it is easier to control, that’s for sure.