I am totally OCD on the measuring thing! If I measured it - it's mine.
As far as the food in the house goes, I am fortunate that most of us eat the same way. BF eats like I do and cooks with me - we buy enough quantity of the same things for both of us.
My girls have been brought up to eat anything I give them. (One of their favorite dinners is stuffed green peppers with couscous, tomatoes and black olives. For them, I'll put some mozzarella cheese on top when I bake.) Yes, they are kids and would happily eat chicken nuggets every day, but I don't let them. I'm sure when they go to their dad's house, they eat those things. But at my house and for my example, they eat healthy foods 90% of the time. But for snacks - yes, I allow goldfish or graham crackers or tortilla chips into the house and have no trouble resisting that myself. I know they aren't great for them, but it's not too bad. When I see the girls naturally gravitate towards the extra fruit I have on hand for them, I smile. I really don't have any snacks or food on hand that's just for me. The things I like to eat are bought in enough quantity that there's no need to hoard it. The only exception is probably the almond milk. I love it and my girls have decided that they do, too. But at $3/half gallon, it is scarce. I've had to just flat out tell them to stay out of it and ask permission.
For instance, to make sure that I'm at the 100 calorie mark for pretzels, I painstakingly count out each of the 41 pretzels lol. My bf will sometimes casually come over and take a few and I'm like...seriously? Now I have to go get 3 more pretzels. lol
^^^ This!!!! LMAO!!! But the only difference with me is that I make DH get me the 3 pretzels!!
I think some responses took the original post out of context but it could just be me. I would never ever tell my husband he couldn't have anything in the fridge or the cabinet, it's our home and our food. But I surely will not go off plan using him as an excuse because he ate something that was my "plan approved" food. He doesn't ever do it on purpose and we have a better plan in place now that I am a few months in. I am sure it's harder for bigger households and ones with children. But I totally get what the OP meant.
I'm lucky in that my family is incredibly supportive. I only have one kid at home now, and she always checks with me before eating something I might be saving for myself.
DH works at home one day a week and before he had lunch last week, he called me to check if there was anything he shouldn't eat because I was saving it for a meal.
If someone wants a particular food and adds it to the grocery list (which they can do on their phones), then I will buy it. But I do prefer they don't eat Thursday night's dinner for a snack!
I am possessive of anything I've measured out, though. If I have a quarter cup of raisins, I don't want to share them--they're mine. Prior to me starting to weigh and measure everything, we always dipped into each other's snacks--a family thing that all of us did to each other. It's taking a bit for DH and DD to realize they can't do that anymore because I've got a set portion size.
We don't seem to have a "eating my snacks" problem because I don't allow myself many snacks :-) and much of it is dried cereal with fresh fruit or raisins. If they wanted my melon and prosciutto, though, we'd have a talk--but they'd totally accept the idea "I need this much for snacks between now and <next grocery run>. You can have the rest and I'll buy extra next time."
Feeling possessive may actually be biological too. Some anoretics will hoard food (without eating it) for this reason.
I totally relate. My favorite snack is dried wasabi flavored peas. I measure out a quarter cup (which is so little) then a hand goes in my bowl. I have to replace those peas from the bulk container, even if it was one pea! Lol. But most of the time I am in the clear cuz I live alone.
