# Guy food or wife food? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 20, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139 "2009-08-20T23:17:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/1 "2009-08-20T23:17:39Z")
Here’s the dilemma: The wife is gone until Monday. The fridge and freezer are full of food she prepared for me, including a wonderful beef stew. It would be a shame not to indulge in this largess. She’s a very good cook. Very good. But part of me wants to indulge in the food I don’t get to eat anymore. You know, things like BBQ meatballs and Tater-Tots, washed down with canned beer. Onion rings. DefCon 7 chili, with onions and more onions. That kind of stuff. I’m hungry, and I haven’t decided on dinner yet. HEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLPPPPPPPP!!! ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/2 "2009-08-20T23:39:23Z")
Why not eat all of it? No one is going to say anything about your portions. (The Wife was away with the Girls for a week this summer. It is the only time I can eat my sardine and onion sandwiches.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/3 "2009-08-20T23:42:20Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > DefCon 7 chili That sounds [really, really mild](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEFCON#Levels). How about DEFCON 0 chili? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/4 "2009-08-20T23:44:23Z")
Eat your guy food now and her stuff for that last two days. It’s your chance to get drunk and eat what you want, then wake up the next day realizing you can’t do it anymore. You then have a couple days to recover before she comes home. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/5 "2009-08-20T23:46:26Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Why not eat all of it? No one is going to say anything about your portions. Yeah, I don’t see the dilema. Eat it all! ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/6 "2009-08-21T00:08:45Z")
I’m in temporary bachelorette mode, which means eating things that Mr Capy won’t generally touch (mostly southern style stuff-- grits et al-- and Hawaiian comfort food (loco moco, spam musubi, etc). ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/7 "2009-08-21T01:21:49Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > Why not eat all of it? No one is going to say anything about your portions. > > (The Wife was away with the Girls for a week this summer. It is the only time I can eat my **sardine and onion sandwiches**.) How YOU doin’? Mmmmm… ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/8 "2009-08-21T02:27:57Z")
Being a wife myself, when I went away for a few days, I would prepare something to leave in the refrigerator for Mr. S. that I assumed he could heat n’ eat. Sometimes he’d figure it out and live off the wife food, other times he’d order pizza or just eat a bag of Doritos. I learned to not go overboard on the home cooking as there was a 50-50 chance it would just sit in there going stale. But I felt guilty if I didn’t prepare him something to eat, whether he wanted it or not. So try to make a dent in the meals your wife left for you before she gets home, it’s really conducive to marital harmony FYI. Not eating what she prepared for you is on the level of leaving your-dirty-laundry-piled-on-TOP-of-the-hamper, annoyance wise. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/9 "2009-08-21T02:30:50Z")
The obvious solution, as noted above, is to eat everything. Time it so you run out of food a day early, and order pizza for your last night of culinary freedom. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/10 "2009-08-21T02:42:44Z")
Isn’t one of the key requisites for guy food not having to cook it yourself? You’re good either way you go. ---
**Author:** ![Serenata67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/serenata67/32/10646_2.png) [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/11 "2009-08-21T03:19:10Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > Eat your guy food now and her stuff for that last two days. It’s your chance to get drunk and eat what you want, then wake up the next day realizing you can’t do it anymore. You then have a couple days to recover before she comes home. That sounds like something I’d do… my fiancee is a chef, so he always cooks. I’m a baker, so I can make a mean cheesecake, but dinner, that’s another thing. When he works a week solid of dinner shifts, I end up going crazy the first night eating all my favorite crap… then feel like crap the next day and end up eating left overs he made. ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/12 "2009-08-21T03:39:06Z")
> [@](#): > > But part of me wants to indulge in the food I don’t get to eat anymore. You know, things like BBQ meatballs and Tater-Tots, washed down with canned beer. Onion rings. DefCon 7 chili, with onions and more onions. That kind of stuff. Maybe I’m dangerously naive, but why don’t you get to eat those things anymore? Why must you eat only things your wife approves of? I have been in a relationship for four years now, and I can’t recall a time where my SO forbade me to eat something.:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/13 "2009-08-21T03:42:50Z")
I’m also surprised at how many women would actually make sure there was food prepared for their husbands. Huh? What is this, the 50s? Are there really guys out there who can’t cook well enough to sustain themselves and must have their wives plan out/create a week’s worth of meals?! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/14 "2009-08-21T03:49:18Z")
> [@statsman1982](#): > > I have been in a relationship for four years now, and I can’t recall a time where my SO forbade me to eat something.:dubious: So, you haven’t become attuned to the LOOKS yet? Dude, you better start pretending you are or you’re screwed. (Note the lack of a smiley) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/15 "2009-08-21T04:02:15Z")
Guy food kicks wife food in the balls. Eat what you want! ---
**Author:** ![statsman1982](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e79b87/32.png) [@statsman1982](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/statsman1982)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/16 "2009-08-21T05:05:52Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > So, you haven’t become attuned to the LOOKS yet? Dude, you better start pretending you are or you’re screwed. (Note the lack of a smiley) I’m well tuned to her “looks.” In fact, I fancy myself as a pretty sensitive guy when it comes to women’s feelings. I can tell if she’s nervous, angry, or sad just by her facial expressions. And when I finally drag out of her what the trouble is, it has never been about what I’m eating. It’s always about something I said or did (or didn’t do). I’m not saying that women don’t have this kind of power over what men eat, but I don’t understand it. If the man doesn’t have serious dietary restrictions for diabetes, high cholesterol, or food allergies, I don’t think it’s any of a wife’s business what her husband eats. The same thing goes for husbands: Don’t make your wife eat man food if she doesn’t want to! ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/17 "2009-08-21T06:31:25Z")
Eat a bit of both. Indulge a little, but make sure you get rid of at least 50% of her food. Throw some out if you have to. ---
**Author:** ![SurrenderDorothy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/surrenderdorothy/32/1221_2.png) [@SurrenderDorothy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SurrenderDorothy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/18 "2009-08-21T06:51:32Z")
Eat the guy food. That’s what I do when I’m home alone. I’m perfectly capable of cooking real, good food and I’ll be going back to being on my own most of the time soon, but everyone being out of town is cause for celebration. And that celebration involves eating a dinner of bagel bites and “fancy cookies” at 11:30 pm in front of the TV and watching the freakshows on TLC or the “100 longest celebrity toenails” shows on whatever channel those are on. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/19 "2009-08-21T08:42:55Z")
If you don’t eat any of the ‘wife’ food, be prepared to say _“But I saved that to eat with you!”_ With the right tone of voice, that should get you lots of points. ---
**Author:** ![Eureka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/74df32/32.png) [@Eureka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eureka)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2009, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139/20 "2009-08-21T11:36:13Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > I’m also surprised at how many women would actually make sure there was food prepared for their husbands. Huh? What is this, the 50s? Are there really guys out there who can’t cook well enough to sustain themselves and must have their wives plan out/create a week’s worth of meals?! A friend of mine who cooks for her husband on evenings when she goes out to eat with girlfriends does so because he has health issues which are not improved by eating crappily or not bothering to eat. They’ve been married for somewhere on the order of 20 years. Some of the other women in the group laugh at her, because she’ll cook for him when she’ll only be gone for one meal, but it makes her happy and improves the quality of life for both of them. * * * My mother, on the other hand, would be inclined to fix/plan meals for a week for my dad because he’s gone from the house for twelve hours at a stretch and who wants to go home and cook stuff after a long day’s work . . . But she’s learned that if she provides stuff for about half the dinners, that’s plenty, because Dad will scrounge something she didn’t think of about half the time anyway. * * * Admittedly, neither of these women work full time outside the home, and my mother was raised in the 50’s. But I don’t think it is neccessarily infantilizing someone to attempt to provide them with good, easy to prepare food when you expect to be gone. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guy-food-or-wife-food/507139.md?page=2)