Individual Snack Bins
Every single person in our house has their own bin on the
pantry shelf Bruce built me. They are almost all plastic baskets I bought from
TJ Maxx that were about the same size. Rex’s is a canvas dinosaur bin that came
with a hamper set he got for Christmas a few years ago. It was supposed to be
a laundry basket for a small child, but as Rex is 16 and taller than me, it certainly
did not work for that anymore. It might hold two whole T-shirts!
The idea behind this started years ago when we finally discovered that Bruce had celiac’s disease. Those who might not be familiar, this means he cannot eat any gluten or wheat products. It makes him so sick and uncomfortable that he can barely move for three days. The easiest way I can explain it is that it is really close to lactose intolerance, but there is no Lactaid to fix it. Sucking it up and just suffering like most people (that I know) do who are lactose intolerant and they want to eat ice cream, is not really an option for him. (Rex is like this with his lactose intolerance, but it is the rest of us who suffer when he is complaining about stomach aches.)
No, it is not a hipster thing, a fad, or a weird diet he
likes to follow. Bruce's younger sister and our daughter, Rose, have it too. For
the first 30-some years of his life, Bruce was convinced it was lactose, and so
avoided dairy at all costs. Fine with me as I have a severe dairy allergy and
must avoid it if I want to stay clear of the EpiPen. While that strategy worked
for me, as mine was an allergy and easily diagnosed, Bruce was still always
uncomfortable and bloated.
After some elimination diets and a few rather uncomfortable tests at the doctor’s office, we finally figured out that he could have the cheese on the pizza, just not the crust! After detoxing his system from the decades of gluten abuse we needed to make sure he did not get knowingly "glutened" again. Enter the gluten free snack bin. At this point we only had one bin and it was clearly labeled so he knew that everything in there was checked and was a safe food.
Later when we found out that Rose had the same issue, we got her a bin too so that they could each have their own things that they liked and knew were safe. Different tastes after all, and they knew they could just grab from the bin and did not have to worry. Now, since Dad and Rose had their own bins of snacks, Char and Rex needed some too. No one could run at the Oreos and end up not saving any for anybody else, if they each had their own package.
And so, there it began. I would be able to get each person things they liked, and they did not have to worry about someone else eating the snacks or food bought just for them. Last but not least, I got one. I was, and am still not, a big snacker, but it is nice to know I can have something if I want it, or I can save it for when I do. Rex bought me a container of cotton candy a few weeks ago, it is still there and doing fine, but no one else will eat it on me and I know it will be there until I am ready.
I also got myself a Snackle box. It has eight compartments and I can weigh out different foods and snacks and fill it for myself for the day. It is helpful for me because otherwise I might just forget to eat anything. It also has mini forks and spoons and a handle for easy carrying on trips and stuff. I have used it on a few picnics to keep fruit safe and separated.
I do not know if this suggestion would work for every
family. I know it has saved us a lot of grief and arguments. Any parent who
has had to deal with a few kids complaining that their sibling ate their food
or got more Oreos than they did might understand me here.
I was recently reflecting on the lack of need for snack bins in a few years. Rose is at university and Char is in technical college now. With Rose in her dorm, there is one less person in the daily operations in our house. Soon they will all be on their own and it will just be me and Bruce and we really will not need snack bins at that point, but I think we will keep them anyway. It is just so convenient to have all the things we know we can snack on at any given time in one place.
Most nights when we are
sitting on the couch together Bruce will get up and grab something from his bin
to snack on, and if I want something as well he can just grab something from my
bin and he knows I will eat whatever is in there. It is a very sweet gesture from an ADHDer. It means he was hungry and thought of me, that I might need a snack too. It may as well be a big mushy "I LOVE YOU" neon sign and I appreciate it for what it is each time.
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