Do you know someone who is always planning their next meal?

[Anonymous]

I am kind of like this. I just enjoy food so it's one of the things about my day I most look forward to. Also to me it makes sense to plan meals while I'm eating a meal because it's a related activity. If I'm eating breakfast, it's easy for me to think "okay I'm doing something pretty light and fruit/veggie focused for breakfast, so I'm going to do something heavier and more protein heavy at lunch." Also if the next meal requires any prep, it makes sense to think about that while I'm already in the kitchen. It's very easy to quickly prep some veggies for a dinner stir fry after washing my lunch dishes, for instance. It is inefficient to wait until later to figure that out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Common in South Asian households IMHO and anecdata. My mom is always asking about the next meal. What do you all want to eat? What should I make? Ufffff!

Also, she makes everything from scratch. Beans have to be soaked overnight, protein needs to be marinated overnight, yogurt set overnight, dough kneaded overnight, peas shelled overnight...just a whole lot of prep work.

Omg, this was my Indian mom, too. It was exhausting but delicious. But I have nonstop food noise - not so much planning like she did - and am coveting GLP-1s to stop it.

LOL. Also, whats with the "Super Frying" days? Once they put the oil in the kadahi to fry something, they will fry things to feed an army and also freeze stuff. A simple request for onion pakodas on a rainy day will see my mom frying extra pakodas to put in a Kadhi, then fry the small puris for gol gappas, then fry badas for dahi bada, then make nimkis for tea, then make more nimkis to distribute to all the aunties in the neighborhood. Then use the leftover oil to fry the onion masala.

Then non-stop hosting happens - book club, tea party, kitty party, festivals, surprise parties, badminton party, karaoke party, yoga party, neighborhood party, bridge party, friends, family...all of it to just use up all the fried stuff.

[Anonymous]

My retired mother does this and it’s definitely not to get a head start on prep work - she eats out for every meal.

[Anonymous]

Sheepishly raising hand...

It's a joke in our family. I love to think about meal planning. It's partly just practical - if I need to pull something out of the freezer, or pick up some extra ingredients on my way home from work, then it's helpful to have thought about it ahead of time. I also plan dinners for a week at a time, to minimize the number of mid-week grocery runs. But it's also partly just that I love cooking, and love thinking about cooking. I don't think I'm disordered, I just have fun with it. Same reason I spend so much time on this board.

[Anonymous]

My middle eastern husband is like this. Yes it drives me crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do this. But because I’m responsible for feeding the family, so I need to think ahead about anything I need to get or what I need to start cooking, or if I have to defrost something.

Same

[Anonymous]

It’s a luxury to not have to think about the next meal. The food doesn’t magically appear on the table and reservations don’t make themselves. The people without a care in the world are the ones who get annoyed by this.

[Anonymous]

It’s a basic human trait

[Anonymous]

I do this! I'm Easter European. Over half of my phone conversations with my mom have always been what she's making for the next meal, next weekend dinner party, what the kids want to eat when they visit, what I'm giving them Friday so she doesn't make the same thing Saturday. It was hard to get food back in the home country that there was a ton of planning and also cooking took longer and more things made from scratch as my mom and grandma showed love through feeding their families. I saw this and absorbed it and I've been in the US since 11. We are about to leave for vacation and I'm planning what I will buy and cook. And I generally get enjoyment out of all of it and having 1/2 day to make a nice meal. But yes the food noise is so so intense in my head all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My retired mother does this and it’s definitely not to get a head start on prep work - she eats out for every meal.

Exactly. I think people are purposely being obtuse claiming it's about meals planning. At least from my interpretation of the op. Even if you are meal planning you don't have to discuss it at the table in that moment. In my experience the people who do this are greedy, suffering from food addiction or maybe in the past were food insecure. Not meal prepping.

[Anonymous]

I am that someone, but only since having three boys and a big eater husband. It feels like I have to think about feeding everyone constantly!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a luxury to not have to think about the next meal. The food doesn’t magically appear on the table and reservations don’t make themselves. The people without a care in the world are the ones who get annoyed by this.

It's funny when people hop on their high horse to scold others while not realizing their entire post reeks of luxury and privilege.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a luxury to not have to think about the next meal. The food doesn’t magically appear on the table and reservations don’t make themselves. The people without a care in the world are the ones who get annoyed by this.

It's funny when people hop on their high horse to scold others while not realizing their entire post reeks of luxury and privilege.

Uber Eats isn’t how everyone gets their meals, fyi. Cooking from scratch takes time, but you wouldn’t know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For example at breakfast they are sitting with a full meal a full plate and they are planning lunch. Is this some kind of disordered eating?

DISORDERED? Wow what a leap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My retired mother does this and it’s definitely not to get a head start on prep work - she eats out for every meal.

Exactly. I think people are purposely being obtuse claiming it's about meals planning. At least from my interpretation of the op. Even if you are meal planning you don't have to discuss it at the table in that moment. In my experience the people who do this are greedy, suffering from food addiction or maybe in the past were food insecure. Not meal prepping.

Wow judgmental.

Even if it's not for meal prepping, why can't it just be because they enjoy food and like knowing what they have to look forward to? Unless someone has a weight problem or an eating disorder, this seems fine.

I love playing tennis and often when I'm finishing up a hitting session with one of my tennis partners, I'll bring up when we will play next and try to lock it down so that I have it to look forward to. Because it brings me joy. I have a friend who loves travel and he's always planning his next vacation during his current vacation, collecting ideas and even starting to look at flights or hotels on his plane ride home. The food thing seems no different. It's a way to expand the pleasure you get from food, by planning good meals in advance so you can look forward to them when you are in between.

This is not "greedy" or a sign of an addiction. I think it's mentally healthy.