Maria, I feel your pain. I’m going through this with my elderly father. It’s not a new problem, he used to do things like this when he was younger…as a teen I remember him taking used tissues out of the bin and reusing them. He does things like this behind our backs, in a sneaky way….retrieving food from the garbage bin and sometimes even hiding it in places where we will find it (eg among clean plates or in the pantry). Alternatively, he’ll hide it in his closet (we found a block of butter from the garbage bin among his pj’s one day!) Sometimes he even serves thrown out food to guests, when we’re not around.

He admits to having issues with saving things (he grew up during the Depression but was born to a wealthy family). But no amount of trying to explain the health hazards get through to him and he doesn’t seem to care about the family tension it causes. I have a health condition that makes his behavior dangerous to be around, so it can get overwhelming and exhausting trying to keep track of things he’s doing. He has also admitted that it’s a vindictive / control issue. Because in my father’s case this is not a dementia related behavior I’m not sure what we can do about it.

Hi Maria, I don’t know that this is an eating disorder such as compulsive eating or scavenging specifically, unless it’s an old behavior. If it’s a fairly new compulsion, you might be dealing with dementia. I would definitely call in a social worker or therapist who specializes in working with elderly populations for an assessment. You could google “Adult Protective Services” in your county and call them to find a case worker.