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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Again you show your elitism while trying to shame. Try to be less of a. Idiot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

One could argue being that obsessed with other things that it takes up space from your present moment is a problem. But yes constantly centering your existence around food is a symptom of disordered eating. Food is fuel. Food is to be enjoyed. It's not supposed to be your solitary focus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Again you show your elitism while trying to shame. Try to be less of a. Idiot

Classic.

[Anonymous]

I'm like this for multiple reasons. In order of importance:

1. I like eating.

2. I like trying out new cookbooks, and NYTimes recipes. It's fun.

3. I have four people to feed, work full time, and no interest in grocery shopping more than once a week (with the occasional summer farmers market exception, because peaches). I also have to work around evening schedules. Planning is necessary.

4. I live in a budget in terms of $ as well as time. I can't just get whatever kind of takeout I want anytime I want it. So again, planning.

It probably is a form of food noise to some extent. I always have to make a very conscious effort to lose or even not gain weight. But also, can't I have my little joys?

[Anonymous]

I always plan in advance. Based on what veggies are in season and in the fridge, and also to balance what we eat. In order to get 5 veg a day plus a protein, one has to plan. I can’t imagine just eating whatever!

[Anonymous]

In the morning I think about dinner and what I need to pull out of the freezer. That's about the limit of my planning.

[Anonymous]

My 6 year old is like this. Puzzling, it’s almost like a form of food insecurity.
- we finish lunch and she’s already asking what’s for dinner.
- first thing she asks when I pick her up from school
- we discuss poverty (folks who lost their home and don’t have money) and her first (wide-eyed) question is they can’t even buy food?
- was tired the other day in the afternoon and when told to take a short nap she says she’s scared about missing dinner.
- says she will manage her finances (my words to summarize) so she can always afford food.

[Anonymous]

Kind of the opposite but while we’re eating a meal my Mom will say something like: I can’t eat dinner after this big meal or I will start my diet tomorrow or I will not be able to eat all day tomorrow after eating all this.

It drives me crazy and this kind of talk definitely gave me issues around food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

This is me as well, plus I’m the only cook in the family, so there is definitely a planning element to it too. But I don’t feel the need to talk about the next meal, which seems to be the thing the critical posters on here find annoying. I just make a plan and make it happen. If I’m feeling generous or uninspired, I might ask the rest of the crew if they have any requests for dinner, but they tend to be happy with whatever I serve them.

[Anonymous]

When is the right time to plan the next meal? When everyone is together for the previous meal seems like a good time. Should it not be until someone says they are hungry in a few hours?

[Anonymous]

I do this because of the sheer exhaustion of having to plan, buy groceries and make every. Single. Meal. I need to be planning and organized.

[Anonymous]

I do because I’m trying to lose weight and lower my cholesterol. So yeah, i need to plan what im eating most days to ensure i stay on target.

I’m also a mom and have to plan what everyone else in my house is eating for the rest of day. I call it executive functioning.

I think it’s disordered eating if you are obsessive about food to the point that it’s unhealthy, or if you are restrictive to a point that you’re malnourished.

[Anonymous]

I'm from NE Europe. Absolutely not a thing. Food I eat does not usually make me think of more food.
We ate only about 15 different things growing up. It's not like it will be different from what we just had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do because I’m trying to lose weight and lower my cholesterol. So yeah, i need to plan what im eating most days to ensure i stay on target.

I’m also a mom and have to plan what everyone else in my house is eating for the rest of day. I call it executive functioning.

I think it’s disordered eating if you are obsessive about food to the point that it’s unhealthy, or if you are restrictive to a point that you’re malnourished.

Btw I will also add that I think my eating was more disordered when I was not meal planning and just overeating and binge eating without planning. It was something I struggled with and did not want my kids - particularly my daughters - to grow up around.

Now my kids see me planning and executing healthy, balanced meals, having healthy snack foods in the house (that are not “planned” but are curated), and generally eating healthy while also indulging with them when it’s appropriate.

[Anonymous]

That's how we evolved.