Gransnet forums

Food

Bored With Eating

(118 Posts)
Mel1967 Sat 23-Mar-24 22:01:54

Does anyone else get bored with eating or is it just me??
I cooked dinner tonight, normally my favourite, and just picked at it and ended up throwing it away.
This isn’t a new thing.
I find food boring and is just something I have to do.

KaazaK Mon 25-Mar-24 17:15:29

My late husband was a dreadfully fussy eater so cooking meals was a nightmare. Now I’m on my own I rarely cook - my fridge is virtually empty and my freezer is full of dog food. Only do basic meals. Poached eggs and advocado, smoked haddock and veg. Salads in the summer. I’d rather spend money on getting my nails done than food! I only buy what I need as I need it so very little waste. I do eat fruit and take multi vitamins.

MissAdventure Mon 25-Mar-24 16:48:13

DonnaB5959

Well - due to oral cancer surgeries, I am no longer able to swallow. I would LOVE to be bored with eating!!

Donna

That must be very hard to live with.

I'm so sorry. flowers

karmalady Mon 25-Mar-24 16:43:51

I am never bored with my food and never need to throw any away. I have what I want, which is always basic and simple these days. I use good ingredients such as fresh organic veg and fruit and the taste alone is wonderful. I don`t use sauces or anything to disguise the taste

I live alone and choose to eat this simple way, back to nature and I bake or cook everything from the raw ingredients. I love eating this way, prep is easy. I do sometimes make a batch of ready meals, just the protein part like lamb casserole

I eat breakfast, lunch and a light tea. I start at 7 and tea is usually by 4

Scarlettsnan Mon 25-Mar-24 16:35:21

Yes I eat to live nowadays
No joy in eating 🤷‍♀️

M0nica Mon 25-Mar-24 16:32:41

As I said before, I love food and eating, less talented as a cook, so enjoy that less. So over the years I have built up a library of recipes that are tasty and quick and easy to prepare and batch cook.

I could not live on ready meals, I find their bland taste, and texture and funny manufactured consistency quite off putting.
For two years, while official carer for an elderly relation, I would drive some distance to his house to visit his care home and get his house cleared and sold and I usually stayed the night after visiting him. On my way back from the care home I would nip into Sainsbury's for a ready meal for my supper. By the time I had walked up and down the ready meals looking at the delicious pictures on the packing and knowing what a disappointment they would be to eat, I would completely lose my appetite and end up with a bg of grapes or cherry tomatoes, or eat nothing at all.

Amalegra Mon 25-Mar-24 16:31:05

I too have little interest in food and just eat because I have to! Living alone now doesn’t help and I no longer enjoy cooking when I used to love it. I try to eat healthily but don’t really have much appetite. I am currently trying to ‘enrich’ my diet by eating higher calorie foods which are still nourishing. I have lost more weight recently and don’t want to fall below what is healthy. I am currently having medical treatment and need to be fit and strong for it.

Babamaman Mon 25-Mar-24 16:02:27

I tend to eat at lunch time - never hungry in the evening after my afternoon cuppa.
Don’t enjoy the preparation any more

DonnaB5959 Mon 25-Mar-24 15:53:04

Well - due to oral cancer surgeries, I am no longer able to swallow. I would LOVE to be bored with eating!!

Donna

Debbi58 Mon 25-Mar-24 15:33:31

Me too, I just can't be bothered with cooking or eating anymore. I do make myself eat obviously, usually salads or scrabbled eggs. Whatever's easy

littleowl Mon 25-Mar-24 15:32:15

Yes. I would quite happily live on cheese sandwiches and a packet of crisps every day. I only enjoy eating when I go out for a meal, so no washing up or preparation.

cc Mon 25-Mar-24 15:26:03

I love cooking and usually cook from scratch but my husband is a carnivore who likes simple food so I rarely cook anything very exciting and can get bit bored eating his favourites.
Like many of you I don't bother so much when I'm on my own, so when he's away I happily admit to buying a chow mein ready meal for a change.
My mother lived alone for almost thirty years after my father died and was never bored with the "proper meals" she cooked for herself, but I've a suspicion that when I'm very old I might develop a ready meal habit. Some of them are very nice - though I do always read the nutritional and ingredient information on the back.

pooohbear2811 Mon 25-Mar-24 15:02:38

I know the feeling. I have a swallowing problem and live on pureed mush and no matter how interesting it looks when I dish it up for hubby mine just looks like a pile of cat puke time it is on my plate.

I know this makes me sound horrible but I really resent having to cook for him when I am not going to be enjoying it, but as his carer he is not safe to let loose in the kitchen on his own and I find it less stressful to do it for myself than have him in under my feet.

Don't think it would bother me if I never ate another meal again.

Beau1958 Mon 25-Mar-24 15:01:13

Try and appreciate your food. I wish I could swap your stomach for mine any day. I’m on a very restricted diet for life due to narrowings in my small intestines from radiotherapy. What I would do for a decent meal !!

queenofsaanich69 Mon 25-Mar-24 14:59:26

I’m bored to death with cooking,been doing it for 61 years.

chrissie13 Mon 25-Mar-24 14:57:29

No, never, I'm always looking forward to my next meal!

Mirren Mon 25-Mar-24 14:56:55

Me too !
I think part of my problem is that I try hard to keep my weight under control.
I am a healthy weight, after losing 3 stones some years ago .
I find it easy enough to stay around the same weight now but this is only because I have learned to limit my intake.
The downside of this is I eat a boring healthy diet.
Despite WW producing many interesting looking recipes I just can't be bothered

DrWatson Mon 25-Mar-24 14:48:23

For Downtoearth, and M0nica, it sounds like you have a gluten problem! My sister suddenly developed issues with bread, maybe 20 yrs ago, moved to 'gluten-free' on doc's advice, and that greatly improved things. And these days the gluten-free ranges are far superior.

She even makes her own bread, uses Spelt flour (which has some gluten, but it's BETTER gluten?!).

GrauntyHelen Mon 25-Mar-24 14:42:02

I get like that and when I do I order from a local food prep place who deliver delicious ready made meals they have a range of about300 dishes I pick a week's worth of dinners things Id not usually have and the variety breaks the boredom After a week I'm back to normal

Janet24 Mon 25-Mar-24 14:25:56

I understand your boredom with eating.I used to enjoy most things but eating alone now my husband has died is tedious. I am using good quality ready meals ,some of them are quite small .I find it helps to eat with a TV programme on so I do not focus solely on the food.

Robin202 Mon 25-Mar-24 14:21:06

Yes I and my OH both seem to have lost our appetites (since retiring 4 years ago) more so in the last year or so. We do cook, but often feel we cant be bothered and nothing really inspires us foodwise anymore. As for eating out - standards seem to have dropped and prices risen so much higher, we often feel that’s a waste of money now too.

ReadyMeals Mon 25-Mar-24 14:18:38

I wish! I really need to lose some weight but have no willpower.

BrandyGran Mon 25-Mar-24 14:14:27

I agree that our taste buds aren’t as good when we get older. I enjoy my lunch best. I make a picnic on a plate -salad sandwich, 2slices Marks ham rolled up, 3 cherry tomatoes, small amount of walnuts, 6 large crunchy sweet grapes and a chocolate ginger biscuit with tea to finish? Yum yum! I do get tired of dinner though and sometimes cereal with sliced banana appeals more.

Lollipop1 Mon 25-Mar-24 14:12:41

You either live to eat or eat to live and you join me in the category that eats to live. I'm tired of perusing restaurant menus and finding nothing I really want. Maybe we just haven't found that special something yet. Oh I don't know, if I lived alone I'd survive on Rice Krispies and wholemeal thin toast and marmalade.

grandtanteJE65 Mon 25-Mar-24 14:07:09

If you never feel hungry, and are otherwise fit, try taking twice as much exercise as usual.

It doesn't matter whether you go out for a walk, wash floors or play tennis or swim. Any physical activity should increase your appetite.

If you are bored with eating and or cooking, try buying a completely new cookery book - recipes from another country.

I don't know if this will work, because I love both cooking and eating and have never fathomed the "can't be bother to cook just for myself" attitude, as I am always starving as dinner time approaches.

AuntyTrouble Mon 25-Mar-24 14:06:44

No can’t say I’m bored with eating, some days I eat more than others, some days I cook, and others I eat snacks and ready meals. I used to find when cooking for a family I’d just not fancy the meal after the time spent making it. Maybe try a few added spices or different cuisines to see if that sparks more interest in food?