My Disordered Buying

With a home remodel project approaching, we had to tackle emptying our kitchen pantry and backup food storage in our basement — Not ever a fun task.  As I was working through items that needed to be moved to a temporary location, I was noticing that I had a number of items that were barely opened and some expired.  

It’s not uncommon that I find a potential new item in the food store that looks to be safe for my son.  After an initial read of the list of ingredients and allergen statement, I will snap a few pictures of the packaging and have plans to thoroughly research it. I’ll call the manufacturer, get feedback and approval from my son’s dietician and gastroenterologist on safety, and then if the item checks out to be considered allergy-friendly for us, get to a place of buying it and feeling comfortable to have my son try it; small bite after small bite spread out over a number of days.  

It’s quite a process to try something new. And it’s this process that leads to items that I have yet to research and then at times a disordered group of items I’ve purchased that eventually go beyond their expiration dates.

I’ll admit having been through many anaphylactic reactions and EOE flares with my son, those stressful experiences sit in my mind not far from the surface.  My utmost priority on any day is avoiding a reaction.  There’s the practical aspect of going through vetting the safety of an item, and then there’s the autopilot in my brain that is constantly assessing the emotional aspect of a reaction or flare.  

While I know how important it is to introduce new safe foods to my son, especially now as a teenager, I do see this disordered buying habit from a glass half-full perspective.  There are those new items I find that make a difference, like a key ingredient to a new meal he can eat that is similar to what his friends are eating, or a holiday dessert that saves me prep time that is the highlight of our holiday dessert spread.  

In the midst of our busy family life, I’ve started a better system of buying and vetting new items in a more orderly versus disorderly fashion.  I now have a dedicated notebook to record notes from my phone discussions with manufacturers and the dietician and gastroenterologist, and a dedicated bin to place items in that are fully vetted.   I can use this notebook and bin like a to-do list to accomplish and look ahead to find a day that works for my son to try something new.  I hope I’m not the only one with this disordered buying habit, but if you’re like me, join me in finding more order to your buying!