Is this normal eating behaviour?

[lucyboop]

I'm a 30 year old woman, I havd been single the past three years, however, have been seeing someone the past 4 months.

During my time single I developed a habit where I would cook a meal, eat half of it, then put it in the kitchen and pick at it for the rest of the night. So if I was going to the kitchen to load the dishwasher I would have a couple of bites, going to make a cup of tea - another couple of bites. Sometimes I'd finish it, but usually I wouldn't.

Anyways been with my guy for four months and when we cook together, I make a conscious effort to sit down and eat a full meal (even though that's a struggle for me to do all at once), although I usually end up leaving half on it and feeling hungry later on in the evening and just ignoring it.

However, he works later shifts so sometimes he will come over to my house around 8 and half my dinner is still sitting in the kitchen. When he questioned about why he couldn't put it in the bin, I explained to him that I usually liked to have half in one sitting and the other half over the course of a night.

He thinks this is very bizarre and nothing he's ever heard about before. So I'm wondering, is it all that unusual? Number 1 I couldn't eat it all in one sitting. Number 2 I get hungry later on so I have that to pick on otherwise I would snack.

AIBU?

No she’s not

shes serving herself 50% more than she knows she will eat EVERY SINGLE TIME instead of doing the logical thing and just giving herself what she will eat.

she then is insisting that cold lasagne and wilted room temperature salad tastes nice - it doesn’t

normal habits would be serving yourself an appropriate portion, then having an actually tasty snack later when you are peckish

nothing about this is normal- it screams food issues

My friend who used to be anorexic does this, but I don’t know anyone else who does.

@KettrickenSmiled I didn't diagnose an Eating Disorder, I said suggested it may be indicative of disordered eating. Not the same thing, and I stand by those comments. Also not all snacks are junk, and they don't have to be eaten mindlessly. Indeed, taking two bites of food every time you go into a room isn't exactly mindful eating, is it? If OP was prepping some additional food for the fridge that she planned to go back to later that would be a different thing. Her use of language around comfort etc is also concerning.

Thing is I think she did say that she usually doesn’t finish it all. So it is out of the ordinary to continue to cook more food than you know you will eat

I mean op not coming back could also possibly mean she was put off by being told she’s disgusting to be ‘grimly picking’ at ‘congealed food’ and it would make people sick to even be in the same house as her because she eats chicken salad in two portions.

Cold lasagne tastes good 😃And salad won't wilt in a couple of hours, unless her kitchen is boiling.

Lasagne and salad is a much healthier and more filling snack than most "snack foods".

I think the very fact you have had to ask may signal that something isn’t quite right. I mean it’s certainly unusual. I couldn’t do it myself. I like my food hot and fresh. Certainly some dinners I would find disgusting to eat cold.

OP, how do you manage breakfast and lunch? Do you eat them all at once? Or is this the only meal you’re eating?

This thread is bizarre with the extreme hyperbole by posters making things up

I like my food at room temperature,so I have to cook it and then let it sit there until its cooled down!

Cooled down before you eat? I think you mean disgustingly left out to congeal before you grimly pick over it, sickening every other member of your household.

Of course it's not, if you're happy to come back to that food to eat later that evening, or another day.

How is is any different from batch cooking?

Leaving it on the side to pick over is the odd bit to me. Why not just serve yourself half at dinner time, then sit down properly later to eat the other half as supper?

Oh come off it, how is making 50% more food than you'll eat EVERY SINGLE DINNER TIME and then picking over it all night different to making multiple portions of a meal which you plan to cool, store appropriately and eat at a later date? Some people will argue anything on this site

I can't relate to not scoffing my entire dinner portion at once
Mind you, I'd bet that you are slim whereas I am not!

How is it the same as batch cooking? She is only cooking a solitary portion of food at a time and eating half of it.

I sometimes save half for the next day but really wouldn't fancy picking at cold dinner all night.

Some people will argue anything on this site 😂😂😂😂😂
I know, right?

The amount of frothing & self-righteous "ew, that's WEIRD" from the food police on this thread about somebody else's entirely harmless eating habits has been hilarious.

I can understand the attraction of this but sadly my scavenging pets would not permit it!

I often do this. I don't think there's anything wrong with it. I eat until I feel full but then after an hour I might feel hungry again. If I don't fancy it I'll put it in the fridge and eat it the next day. My dh would finish a meal even if he wasn't that hungry. I'm normal weight and my dh isn't.

I have started doing this as well so no I don’t think weird!

Sometimes I was ending up binning the rest of my tea and having toast before bed anyway, so just started keeping any leftovers to nibble on through the evening. Although it does depend what the meal was.

Isn't this just called grazing?

OP, you do it as a 'comfort' so to me that says that you need this behaviour, to know that your food is available for you, when you want it so that you don't need to overeat more than you want at any one time.

The niggling thing for me is that your fella wants to impose his behaviour (putting your food in the bin) because he deems it waste whereas you see it as your other half of dinner. It's his behaviour that needs to change, not yours. He needs to accept that your food is to be left for you to eat/throw out/whatever - not for him to manage.