Darn Bread!
 

Hello everybody. As I mentioned in my first post my DH works nights in a bakery. Ever since he started working there he's had a habit of bringing home leftover unsold breads and baked goods. I don't really care about the sweets but bread is my downfall. When I wasn't actively trying to lose weight I loved the fact he brought food home but now his actions are hampering my weight loss. I've tried telling him to ease back on the take-homes, at least when it comes to the bread, but he tells me that it helps with the grocery bill. I'd agree with him except that I don't usually eat the sugary sweets and pastries he brings home, and bread isn't really a food shopping bank breaker.

I can resist the siren call of the loaves for only so long before I give in, toast a few slices and slather them with butter. Then I drown in guilt and resolve to be super strict on my diet the next day. Then the next day comes and, whadaya know there's more nearly fresh bakery bread, courtesey of the man I love.

Yes, I'm a hopeless case. I know that.

I know it's up to me to stay strong and resist, but sometimes I really wish DH has a different job.

Can you maybe compromise? Ask him to bring home only whole grain breads and leave the rest at work? If he brings home anything else, slice off a bit for the family to use and put the rest in the freezer?
I don't know if breads fit into your plan, but I calorie count and whole grain breads fit nicely. Instead of butter, try to find another topping -preferably with some protein in it. PB, hummus, lowfat cheese, etc.

CountingDown, asking DH to just bring home the healthy whole- grain breads and freezing the loaves is a great idea. Thanks loads. Bread is neither on. nor off my diet since I'm just trying to limit calories at this time (I ain't succeeding, but I'm trying lol).

I'm also going to ask DH if he can limit bringing home bakery leftovers to one or two days a week.

I go to the day-old place on purpose! I like the Orowheat Master's Best winter wheat. I freeze it, and just take out what I need for the day.

My DH brother used to work for a bread company. He always gave us lots of goodies. Now he is retired, so it's not a problem, but I sure do know what you are talking about.

If there's something you really can't resist eating, it makes the most sense to make a place for it in your diet. Perhaps your breakfasts could be a slice of whole grain bread (with margarine! no butter! too many calories. The Brummel and Brown Yogurt Margarine is great.) with some scrambled egg whites. Or lunch could be a lovely green salad with chicken and one slice of bread. Make room for it, otherwise you'll stay in this cycle of binging and feeling guilty forever.

I'm a carb-o-holic and that would just kill me!! OY!!

Maybe he could drop them off at the local food shelter and give some of the bread to them... esp. with the holidays around the corner. I think those types of places can't get too many perishables, but it may be an option.

Good luck, I feel for ya, sister!!

Originally Posted by aymster:
Maybe he could drop them off at the local food shelter and give some of the bread to them... esp. with the holidays around the corner. I think those types of places can't get too many perishables, but it may be an option.

What a great idea! (And if he won't take them to a shelter, maybe you could do it while he isn't looking. :) )

There are other things to put on bread besides a ton of butter... Maybe you could use one of those flavor sprays on lightly toasted bread. That would save on some cals. But mostly, bread has high cals also. So, one slice is probably plenty all by itself.

Good for you for trying hard to limit eating it--but if you can't, then it has to go out of the house somehow, I'd think.

Donating it sounds good!

Jay

Did you know that BIRDS LOVE BREAD (so do dogs); my aunt picks up day-old stuff to feed her birds. She actually keeps whole grains for herself, some for her family, and the rest goes to the birds ... literally!

I totally know how the bread thing can get out of hand. I even go overboard with whole grain bread. If your hubby can bring whole grain, at least it would be better for you and more likely to fill you up. Maybe you can spread fruit over it instead of butter? That's a really hard situation...I know if it were me, I would have a hard time resisting lots of yummy bread. Good luck, I hope you find a solution to the problem.

Now Leeda it looks to me like you are below 200... :woohoo:

Jay

Oh, Jay, you sure know how to perk up my day! :) Thanks for noticing!

I see you are in the 140s, big congrats! :carrot:

Perhaps take it one step at a time?
Don't put butter on the bread but something healthier like cucumber slices with a pinch of salt, or tomatoes, or fat-free cottage cheese. This will at least lower your calories.
You can also make great oven pies with bread. It is a bit like lazania but with bread instead of pasta. And you can put lots of veg into that :D

There are healthy ways of eating bread

Ask your husband to hide it from you! Weird, but it works. My fiance loves having Nutella around, but it's the one thing I really have a hard time controlling myself around, so I ask him to not tell me when he buys it, and to keep it in a random place that I probably won't find. Out of sight, out of mind :)

Homeless shelters will be thrilled, and may even be able to pick up the bread from him. If there isn't a local homeless shelter, there will still be homeless folk, and most likely people who work with the homeless folk and who would be willing to distribute the bread for him.

Originally Posted by Esofia:
Homeless shelters will be thrilled, and may even be able to pick up the bread from him. If there isn't a local homeless shelter, there will still be homeless folk, and most likely people who work with the homeless folk and who would be willing to distribute the bread for him.

Unfortunately in the US it's not permitted for shops to donate bread to homeless shelters. This is a liability issue; the food is thrown out because it's "old," or has an implicit health hazard by FDA/USDA guidelines. Shops that donate this bread to homeless shelters could be held liable for any food poisoning or other harm brought to individuals to whom it's given.

Kind of an absurd regulation, as the food is usually still very fresh after one day at the bakery/shop, but the idea behind it is to ensure that food given to homeless shelters meets quality requirements. (One of those well-intentioned regulations with bad results, as opposed to the bad-intention regulations against homeless people, though the US does have those too unfortunately.)

When I worked for a restaurant right out of college, we were not permitted to give the food to homeless individuals outside the shop. I would usually take the food several blocks from the restaurant and give it away there (the idea being it was then "me" giving the food away as an individual rather than the restaurant, who was then liable), but I don't know if that actually was "ok."

Perhaps the husband could stop by a shelter and give it away on his way back home, but given the quantity of food, the presence of labels and other identifying information, and the husband's role as an employee of the company, it might still be a problem.

Seriously? Not great. In the UK, some supermarkets have official deals with local homeless shelters whereby they take the food that is past its sell-by date but still within its use-by date. And of course there should be more of them doing this, the homeless shelters are still all strapped for both cash and food (two of my friends have worked in homeless shelters).

Hmm. What else could be done with leftover bread?

Agreed. I think that there are ways for places to donate to homeless shelters, but it involves bureaucracy and red tape. Just giving "old" food is a no-no. I understand in theory the reason why-- that homeless people deserve the same health regulations non-homeless people do-- but in practice it leads to a lot of waste. And as much as a I am grateful for food-safety regulations (especially living in India where there are none!!), I think there's got to be a middle ground between no food safety and throwing day-old bread out!

What about limiting your hubby on HOW MUCH he can bring home. Like - say 1 or 2 loaves a week. So, he can still bring SOME home, but not over do it? Any friends or family that would be interested in it, too?

I have to say, I know there are other things to put on bread than butter. BUT, My goodness, a piece of toasted bread with some melty butter is perfection!

That said, I feel bad for you! I purposely DO NOT buy seeded good kosher NYC style rye bread because I will literally eat it in a day. With the butter of course! There is just no other way!

If you look at his argument on saving grocery's ask him how many loaves a bread you as a family would normally eat. Probably 1, possibly 2. Then tell him to limit it to that.

If he brings home more.. feed it to the birds!! or start a compost :D

But, man that is pretty horrible! :D I wouldn't survive on eating right either!

I used to work for a cake bakery, so I completely understand where you are coming from. I suppose if the bread is still in date, you could give it to a church. I know someone around here who does that. Once a week he donates "leftover" in date bread to the church. People come by during the week and take what they want. Do you think he could do that?

(Hehe pssst the OP's post is nearly four years old :D :p) Lots of great suggestions though, I'm a carb-o-holic myself

Give the bread to neighbors or if you work take it to work, I'll bet coworkers would be delighted. I once worked with a guy who had a moonlighting job at Otis Spunklemeyer, he would bring in the mistakes, we all loved to see Dan coming with his mishapen cupcakes. I wasn't dieting then, should have been but wasn't..

Originally Posted by FireFlying:
(Hehe pssst the OP's post is nearly four years old :D :p) Lots of great suggestions though, I'm a carb-o-holic myself

HA that's awesome! I just saw new posts and figured it was current! LOL :dizzy::dizzy:

Originally Posted by FireFlying:
(Hehe pssst the OP's post is nearly four years old :D :p) Lots of great suggestions though, I'm a carb-o-holic myself

LOL, oops! I do not understand why people initially respond to posts that old.... but then again I didn't pay attention to the date and responded too so, haha. Moot point I guess. Anyway thanks for letting us know before we get too wrapped up in the Great Bread Dilemma of 2007!

I am sure the replies will be pertinent to somebody.

Originally Posted by indiblue:
LOL, oops! I do not understand why people initially respond to posts that old.... but then again I didn't pay attention to the date and responded too so, haha. Moot point I guess. Anyway thanks for letting us know before we get too wrapped up in the Great Bread Dilemma of 2007!

HA and then wonder why the OP wasn't responding to all our great ideas!! :dizzy::dizzy: