In the freezer, in butcher paper, labeled "turkey necks and liver". I keep some behind a collection of diet supplements that DH would never think to touch. More in the freezer under a pile of frozen bags of hamburg meat.

Ha! When our kitchen was under construction, one of my kids asked in a worried tone, "Mom, will there be a lot of hiding places in the new kitchen?" I asked him did he mean for treats and he said yes!

If I tell my kids to stay away from an unopened bag of treats they do, but once a bag is open everybody starts to sneak a few, and with 5 kids it isn't long before the bag is empty.

I have to say that it is not too hard to hide stuff from my kids. That said, I have to change hiding places periodically to keep them guessing. Right now I have marshmallows hidden inside my salad spinner. I also have a deep pantry, and the kids can't see what is at the back of the highest shelf-- but then it's hard for me to reach the treats, too.

When I find I have a big surplus of treats (after Halloween, Christmas, Easter) I toss them in the freezer and we enjoy them later at a party.

I knew I'd love the answers. My main problem is that my kids are now taller than I am, and can see everywhere. I truly don't want to keep them for myself (really truly) just want to be able to bake those cookies, or even just bring a treat out on a dark day when everyone has been hunkering down over homework for too long. Our house is small - guess I'll have to think about the salad spinner! I also love the "turkey necks and liver" idea.

Hestia_Flames

Dare I say? If you have boys, put them in a "women's products" box. You can even camouflage the top with actual products. I know someone who does this with all kinds of things because it works on her husband too.

I have another friend who puts both things like the chocolate chips, which are for a specific purpose, and treats that she wants to dole out slowly in double plastic bags. She puts those in slightly grubby old boxes like the ones that hold extra photos, unfinished projects and other clutter, and puts them in the linen closet in the master bedroom. Larger things, like doritos for a party, go in holiday decor cartons in the garage.

If they're not sneakers, if they're like Morton5's kids who will obey a mandate, can you just set aside a small cupboard of "don't you dare" and another one for "snack if you must, but eat a piece of fruit first"?

Plllog, my kids are most definitely sneakers. The mandates I give are rare and need some sort of reason, as in, "Don't touch this box of candy because we are giving it to Grandma." If I gave more mandates they would just be ignored and it would be bad for my morale.

Well clearly I need to take notes, because I could swear I'm losing my mind when it comes to chocolate chips. I buy them, and then a week or three later will get around to making cookies only to discover that there are no chocolate chips in the house!

We do have a hiding place the kids haven't found yet. We have a bread box built into an awkward shallow corner in our kitchen. A few months after the kitchen was done, we discovered a small little open nook above and on the far side of the cabinet. You really have to crane your neck to see it. We stash our coveted Canadian chocolate bars there when kind family members bring them down for us!

I think for the chocolate chips, I might try stashing them in rarely used bowls or pots.

Oh! Morton, here I was thinking there were kids who didn't open things if they were told not to! Okay, yours are normal. Normal is good. :-) So much for the don't-you-dare cupboard. I'm used to kids who ask before they open stuff, but like with yours, once the bag is open it's fair game.

Problem is, once you reach a certain age, you can't recall where you hid things. I've come across treats in the oddest places, that I'd lost long ago. Like a whole bag full of s'mores supplies, for the new firepit. I recently found Hershey bars covered in white, rock-hard marshmallows and stale grahams behind my holiday disposable tableware a good year or more after they'd been hidden.

But for the most part, if I say off-limits, they're good about respecting that. Like morton5, I pick my mandate battles carefully, though!

Save the box from the kind of really healthy multi-grain cereal that nobody but you will eat and that you don't even really like yourself, and store the secret stashes of goodies in there. It's the same principle as sue's "turkey necks and liver" method, but it keeps items in the pantry where you need them.

I open a cabinet, stand back, and throw to the highest shelf. There is always room because it's too high for anything. That way, I have to use a chair or summon the spouse if I want the chocolate chips. Not really hidden, but it slows me down.

Oh, you meant hide from someone else?

Thanks all! My kids are usually quite respectful, but sometimes those little chocolate chips just go missing. There are many great ideas here, and the best part of this is that I will laugh every time I go shopping, remembering these answers! Very creative.

Hestia_Flames

I've got to find a better place for my baking chocolate (bars). I had it in the freezer on top pullout-drawer (FD) behind a bag of walnuts and a big container of leftover German Chocolate (coconut/pecan) frosting, and under a bag of plastic ice cubes. DH found it and has been eating them! When I discovered the pillaging, I bought a 6-pack of Hershey bars and put them in the pantry, but he hasn't touched those. I guess he prefers dark chocolate :( Maybe I have to wrap them in parchment paper and a ziploc bag and label them soup bones (we don't eat liver)?

My kids don't sneak anything - they're too short to reach! But the cereal box idea sounds good.

I have forgotten hiding places too - just this Easter I was trying to find chocolate I had stashed for the kids' baskets, couldn't find it in freezer or cabinet over fridge, I finally found it in last year's Boy Scout popcorn canister on top shelf of pantry! But the worst isn't really a *hiding* place, just misplaced in all the confusion. When we moved 2 yrs ago I brought my jewelry box, family silver, baby photos, etc. that I didn't want in the house under construction (had people here til the last minute!), or the movers to handle, to my mom's house. I know I got everything back from her, but I just can't think of where my jewelry box is. Probably buried in the master bath linen closet since it's not in our WIC. I didn't put it on the dresser since we'd been making wall/ceiling repairs in the MBR and keep moving the dresser. At least I know where my engagement ring is since I never keep it in the jewelry box. I guess I'll find the rest of my jewelry when we finish the bathroom?

Before we had drawers in the lowers I used the cabinet where all the prep equipment was. Had to put the treats for lunchboxes behind the graters, food processor, stack of measuring cups, or they would be gone by Monday when I needed them (DH!).

Guess a lot of people don't have dining rooms today? Holiday candy I put in the lower china closet cabinets. No one ever seemed to go in there. The trick is to not let them see you get it out! :)

I hide them in an empty oatmeal box, and sometimes I even pull down the box of cookie cutters and put them in there. If your kids aren't likely to start cleaning the kitchen, you might also try something like an empty Brillo box hidden in plain sight under the sink.

I love this thread! My kids are grown and gone but my DH loves to sneak the chocolate chips and then there are none left for cookies. So I hide chocolate chips in a rarely used stock pot in the pantry. It's tall and barely fits on the shelf so you have to actually pull it out to see what's inside. Works pretty darn good! I love the cereal box idea and the brillo pad box ideas too.

I remember as a kid the cupboard that held the choc chips had a key lock on it! My mom did it to keep the 12 kids from ravaging them....of course -desperate times call for desperate measures so I remember a couple of times my siblings just unscrewing the cabinet door from it's hinges and getting them that way :)

I have a container for open chips and the rest are stored in the pantry. The container has a handful left and has been like that for at least a month. I really wonder why no-one is finishing them off.

I also have two snack drawers where the kids can go for snacks. They are NOT allowed to take food out the pantry. They KNOW that is where I keep the stuff I need for my business and heaven help them if Mom goes to bake for an order and the supplies are gone.

I though I had the only kids that couldn't keep their hands off the sweets, LOL! I hide choco chips in an empty coffee can toward the back of the cabinet. Have hidden pop tarts (just so they don't eat all in the same day) in the back of the dog treat cabinet.

My mom had a row of old (dusty!) baskets along the top edge of her very, very tall upper cabinets. It wasn't until I was a senior in high school that I learned that was where she kept her stash of dark chocolate bars and candies for herself! You had to drag a chair over and stand on the counter to access it, so it was a pretty great hiding place.

I have to laugh. I was a Home Ec teacher and you wouldn't believe what kids would eat if they got their hands on it. I had to put locks on my cupboard and there was a rule that NO ONE went into the refrigerators withpout me asking them to or they never cooked again. I had to put out exact amounts of just about everything. This is too funny. Keep them coming.

As a kid, the pantry had a trap door to the attic. We always knew there was good stuff stored up there, but no one had the guts to really explore.

My hiding spot is in the travel luggage. :)

fori wrote: I open a cabinet, stand back, and throw to the highest shelf. There is always room because it's too high for anything. That way, I have to use a chair or summon the spouse if I want the chocolate chips. Not really hidden, but it slows me down.

Oh, you meant hide from someone else?

LOL!!! Yeah, I do this. Actually, I have a "hoarding" quirk where I like to save things that I really really like and eat them a bit at a time, over time. As a child, I used to save my Halloween candy because I got so much joy out of just the thought that I *had* it and wondering which piece I'd eat next. It's a great quirk to have for avoiding weight gain *but* it gets unfortunate when I take too long and the good stuff goes bad and I feel guilty for money down the drain. :-)

I hid large items like chip bags and marshmallows in the washing machine. NO ONE else even knew what the inside of that looked like, except me and the hamster. We had one of these large hampsters who was an escape artist (wire cage), and would find her way into my washing machine. I have no idea how, except maybe through the bottom? I'd find her happily knawing on the clothes in there, trying to make a nest. Then one day I openend it, and found she'd ripped open chips and my machine was a greasy mess. I went to Petsmart the next day and put down for one of the more expensive totally enclosed hamster cages!

The bigger problem these days is hiding DD's laptop, and the family computer modem/router when she is punished.

I can tell you where NOT to hide it. Before my husband's diet, he hid a candy bar in the automatic ice compartment of our fridge/freezer. When we had company and someone was putting ice in their glass through the door dispenser, the candy bar came out with the ice right into their glass! The good thing is I think that embarrased my husband into dieting, and he has lost almost 30 pounds!

Thanks for the chuckles. I really needed them this afternoon. I've been working on a fundraiser that may have just gone bust earlier today. Picturing the antics here is much more enjoyable than wishing a pox, a major flea infestation or bedbugs on a certain person.

I generally don't hide things. I do put things like Halloween candy that I buy early in cabinets away from what is considered available, but it isn't really hidden. Christmas gifts -- well, anything special will be hidden. ;-)

I don't have to worry so much about my children, it's that husband of mine. He will find it wherever I hide it. It's as if he has a hidden camera--or a dog's sense of smell.

One time I had a box of absolutely delectable french chocolate mints that I was hiding in my desk drawer. One late evening, as I was settling in to do some research, I reached for my full box of chocolates and opened it to find rocks in all the little compartments. There was also a note that said, "Please forgive me, honey, I love you..."

The rat. ;^)

Plllog, you may be on to something here...moving OT from hiding spots to terrific marketing ideas...maybe those boxes of "women's products" should come with a bag of chocolate chips in them. Talk about a convenience product! That's where my next million will come from...

ROTFLOLTIWP!!!!!!!!!

I don't need to hide from my kids, it's my husband.... I can nurse some chocolate or a box of Girl Scout cookies for a month, but if he finds it, it lasts 2 days, max.

My favorite spot takes a "Purloined Letter" approach -- right on top of my desk next to the kitchen, in a fabric box labeled "To Be Filed."

So far, so good....

My Mom's best hiding place was in the den on the bookcase behind the encyclopedias. I was in my late teens before I found it, and that was only because I was looking for a place to hide something myself. Great minds think alike I guess.

I can still just put everything up high - we are all under 5'6" - but I think that will change as the kids get older. When we reno the LR it will have a wall of shelves so I will propbably use Mom's old trick. No encyclopedias any more but I think chick lit ought to do.