Why do elderly Americans tend to hoard possessions and food?

[Astronuc]

My dad does this and I have no idea why. Berries turn into mush when you thaw them. They still taste the same but they have a texture like that of baby food.

Berry season goes from May until July, maybe into August in the NE US, although some berry bushes may have shorter seasons. During berry season, we pick fresh berries for pancakes, or serial, or eat them right of the bush. But if we want berries in the winter time, i.e. out of season, we have to freeze them like turbo mentioned.

Now interestingly, I was talking to a friend's sister who lives on perhaps the largest berry farm in NZ. She mentioned that they discovered that if their raspberries are cooled to winter conditions, e.g. they get snowed on, and then experience a warm period, the berries will flower and bear fruit, i.e. a second harvest! This is news to me. I don't know if it is feasible where I live, but I'd love to try it. Our berry season is basically the summer. On the other hand, NZ is looking really attractive now - with ocean, beaches, mountains, and a nice little cottage and orchard in an alpine. valley.

 

[turbo]

My grandmother did the same. I always wondered why.

If you think back to when fruit was not always available locally except in season, it might have seemed quite an extravagance to have a bowl brimming with fruit on your table. Wax fruit probably seemed like a bit of opulence to people who had lived through the Depression and had experienced times of want. My grandmother kept real fruits and berries around, in a time when such things were so expensive that you bought them one orange at a time, one grapefruit at a time. The food in today's produce departments may not be the tastiest or the freshest, but 45-50 years ago, it would have shocked you to see such variety at the grocer's.

 

[turbo]

Berry season goes from May until July, maybe into August in the NE US, although some berry bushes may have shorter seasons. During berry season, we pick fresh berries for pancakes, or serial, or eat them right of the bush. But if we want berries in the winter time, i.e. out of season, we have to freeze them like turbo mentioned.

Berries start with strawberries in about June followed by blueberries and raspberries (they overlap), during which time the blackberries start ripening - and the wild blackberries here last right into late September, early October. They are cheap healthy food, and we freeze them because other methods (making preserves, ect) involve using extra sugar, pectin, jars, etc. It we want berries for cereal, we go to the freezer, open a big zip-lock bag of berries and crumble them into a bowl. We freeze them dry and they don't harden into a block. The blackberries are a bit soft when they thaw, but are not mushy like they had been cooked, and they are great on cereal.

 

[Astronuc]

Berries start with strawberries in about June followed by blueberries and raspberries (they overlap), during which time the blackberries start ripening - and the wild blackberries here last right into late September, early October. They are cheap healthy food, and we freeze them because other methods (making preserves, ect) involve using extra sugar, pectin, jars, etc. It we want berries for cereal, we go to the freezer, open a big zip-lock bag of berries and crumble them into a bowl. We freeze them dry and they don't harden into a block. The blackberries are a bit soft when they thaw, but are not mushy like they had been cooked, and they are great on cereal.

IIRC, my strawberries came in during the later part of May. Down in the Carolinas, I think they are available by April. My blackberries were gone by September. I lost 7 canes to a deer so I surrounded the blackberries with mesh and was able to salvage a decent amount - but then a rabbit found a way in and got a bunch of berries. The rabbit then started to hang out in the raspberry patch (but he'd leave when the dog was around). I'll be re-doing the beds in the spring to make them more secure.

 

[Moonbear]

It's worst with some holocaust survivors. A lot of them are obsessed with food, but some collect all sorts of stuff. After http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Solomon" I was collecting used toys and garments with the rest of the kids in the Kibbutz for Ethiopian immigrants. In one of the houses we entered there were rooms filled with all sorts of containers. The old guy who lived there never threw anything out, there were stacks and stacks of food containers - mostly useless disposable dairy product packs. We took as much as we could carry and threw it in the rubbish when we were out of sight.

I actually think this hoarding behavior is more a symptom of age-related neural problems. We attribute it to those who survived the depression or holocaust mainly because they are the people who are a large part of the elderly population right now. I've seen this across quite a spectrum of elderly though. What's impressive is that in most cases I've seen, they are incredibly organized about it. Stacks and stacks of saved newspapers in one corner, shelves of canned food they bought on sale (even if it's long outdated) all together, organized by type and brand, grocery bags all piled up together in another place, plastic food containers stacked up in another...and sometimes you see it with animal hoarding too...the elderly person who has 20 or 30 cats that have overrun their house, but they keep taking in more. It goes far beyond canning vegetables for winter or saving re-usable things.

 

[Rach3]

I've never been fond of wax fruits or vegetables, my mother always kept a bowl of wax fruit on the coffee table.

A couple of weeks ago, there was a sampler plate of crackers in a store. I tried one, it was really tough and gummy, slightly metallic, I keeped trying to bite through it - no use. Closer inspection, it's not free samples, it's a plastic display.

 

[mbrmbrg]

A couple of weeks ago, there was a sampler plate of crackers in a store. I tried one, it was really tough and gummy, slightly metallic, I keeped trying to bite through it - no use. Closer inspection, it's not free samples, it's a plastic display.

Good Lord, Rach, no wonder you complain about American cuisine!

 

[Rach3]

Good Lord, Rach, no wonder you complain about American cuisine!

Eh, it was in Tokyo.

 

[Rach3]

I actually think this hoarding behavior is more a symptom of age-related neural problems. We attribute it to those who survived the depression or holocaust mainly because they are the people who are a large part of the elderly population right now. I've seen this across quite a spectrum of elderly though. What's impressive is that in most cases I've seen, they are incredibly organized about it. Stacks and stacks of saved newspapers in one corner, shelves of canned food they bought on sale (even if it's long outdated) all together, organized by type and brand, grocery bags all piled up together in another place, plastic food containers stacked up in another...and sometimes you see it with animal hoarding too...the elderly person who has 20 or 30 cats that have overrun their house, but they keep taking in more. It goes far beyond canning vegetables for winter or saving re-usable things.

Aren't you maybe generalizing a bit? Most elderly geezers I know don't have these hoarding habits, even the more senile ones. I thought this behavior was psychiatric in nature, and started closer to middle age.

 

[Moonbear]

Aren't you maybe generalizing a bit? Most elderly geezers I know don't have these hoarding habits, even the more senile ones. I thought this behavior was psychiatric in nature, and started closer to middle age.

Did I say ALL senior citizens do this? I referred to a neural problem...hence, psychiatric, yes. I was just saying that when you see this, it's not likely just related to having survived the holocaust or depression as a child.

 

[Yonoz]

I actually think this hoarding behavior is more a symptom of age-related neural problems. We attribute it to those who survived the depression or holocaust mainly because they are the people who are a large part of the elderly population right now. I've seen this across quite a spectrum of elderly though. What's impressive is that in most cases I've seen, they are incredibly organized about it. Stacks and stacks of saved newspapers in one corner, shelves of canned food they bought on sale (even if it's long outdated) all together, organized by type and brand, grocery bags all piled up together in another place, plastic food containers stacked up in another...and sometimes you see it with animal hoarding too...the elderly person who has 20 or 30 cats that have overrun their house, but they keep taking in more. It goes far beyond canning vegetables for winter or saving re-usable things.

http://www.la4seniors.com/hoarding.htm" is compulsive behaviour, a symptom of anxiety disorders. It has many causes, including stressful life events.