# Largest amount of food you've eaten at once
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [December 29, 2008, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042 "2008-12-29T05:13:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2008, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/1 "2008-12-29T05:13:36Z")
Have you ever eaten a whole bag of Hershey Kisses in one night?
Have you ever eaten 8 fazoli’s breadsticks with dinner?
Finish off one box of cereal?
Please tell. And, why, if you’d like to.
I’m excluding eating contests here. And I’m talking about times when you were an adult, not a child.
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### Author:  [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2008, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/2 "2008-12-29T05:19:52Z")
How are you defining “child” for the purposes of this survey? When I was a teenager, I once (and only once) managed to eat three double-chili cheeseburgers from Tommy’s (popular chain in the LA area) in one sitting. No, it was not a contest – I really thought I was that hungry. Yes, I was ill afterward. No, I never attempted anything quite that foolish again.
I’m pretty sure that when I was 20 and first moved away from home, I managed to finish an entire pizza (Domino’s) on my own.
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### Author:  [@Lawn\_Gnome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lawn_Gnome)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2008, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/3 "2008-12-29T05:29:58Z")
A few weeks ago I consumed three platters at steak’n’shake each with two sides along with 2 large milkshakes and several glasses of water in one epic sitting. It cost about $25 I think, not including tip.
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### Author:  [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2008, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/4 "2008-12-29T05:34:14Z")
Twenty wings. three 12oz beers, 1/2 18" Meat Lovers pizza, One pound of Hot Dogs and buns. I had just strung 600 yards barb wire fencing. Five strands and a lot of posts. Powered post hole digger, but still a lot of work
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### Author:  [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2008, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/5 "2008-12-29T06:46:40Z")
I had three breakfast burritos this morning.
Last night, I had dinner at my house, and then went to dinner at the family of a high school friend.
Night before last, I had three plates at an all you can eat place, and then went to a family friends’ and had another plate.
I usually gain about 15 pounds over Christmas break. Thank Og rugby season is immediately following!
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### Author:  [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2008, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/6 "2008-12-29T08:58:21Z")
I’ve finished off an entire large pizza a time or two. Large pizza + 1/2 a 2 liter bottle of pop.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2008, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/7 "2008-12-29T11:11:52Z")
When I was in my early 20s I remember finishing off a fully-loaded 16" pizza, followed by a half gallon of ice cream, and I assume some sort of liquid. I don’t know why my stomach didn’t burst (or reject it).
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### Author:  [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2008, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/8 "2008-12-29T11:21:50Z")
Boiled shrimp. Once I get started I can’t quit, and the next day my ankles look like my thighs from all the mercury.
Kroger has learned not to leave it out on their sampling shelf, 'cause I’ll just keep finding excuses to go back to it, and once as I polished off and didn’t realize it, I heard this plaintive little girl’s voice whining: “Mommy?, That **man** ate all the **shrimp**!”
Didn’t linger long in the store after that…😃
Q
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### Author:  [@MissMossie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissMossie)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2008, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/9 "2008-12-29T11:24:41Z")
I once ate twenty-six chicken nuggets in one sitting. It wasn’t officially an eating contest, but my best friend and I do occasionally get over competitive and he said he could eat more than I could. We ended in a tie.
On a less competitive, I ate half of an eighteen inch pizza once. That was a lot of pizza.
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### Author:  [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2008, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/10 "2008-12-29T11:26:22Z")
How do you not feel completely miserable? Is it worth it?
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### Author:  [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2008, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/11 "2008-12-29T11:32:41Z")
An entire bag of Oreos or Keebler Chips Deluxe (never Chips Ahoy!) or an entire one of those frozen Pepperidge Farm layer cakes over the span of 2-3 hours.
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### Author:  [@MissMossie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissMossie)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2008, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/12 "2008-12-29T20:36:37Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#):
>
> How do you not feel completely miserable? Is it worth it?
For the chicken nuggets, I did feel completely miserable. It was worth not backing down to my friend though. We’re way too competitive. We’ve been known to play a game he made up called “Foot on Newspaper”. The rules are simple. Place a sheet from a newspaper on the floor. Each player places one foot on the newspaper. You may do whatever you want to get the other player(s) off the newspaper except injuring genitals. The last person with a foot still on the newspaper wins bragging rights. Yeah, we’re that stupidly competitive. The chicken nugget game hurt a lot afterwards, but it was worth it.
The pizza, oddly enough, wasn’t that bad. We were watching a Mythbusters marathon (the first time I had ever seen the show, I believe) and it was eaten in a two hour time span. I felt very full afterwards (believe it or not, I’m a pretty slim woman), but I wasn’t overly uncomfortable.
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### Author:  [@JustAnotherGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustAnotherGeek)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/13 "2008-12-30T00:49:47Z")
I have also eaten an entire pizza. On more than one occasion, IIRC. There’s always my “Pre-Thanksgiving” dinner that my buds and I have been doing continuously since junior year in college. I’ve slowed down a bit in recent years, but I would easily estimate that a few years ago, I ate 5-6K calories. (It’s a multi-hour affair.)
Recently, I was taken to the [Nordic Lodge](http://www.nordiclodge.com/) in Charlestown, RI. It’s a (IMO) very high end all-you-can-eat dive. The lobster and crab legs were great, but the prime rib was _divine_. I managed two lobsters, a serving of Alaskan king crab legs, two thick slices of prime rib, and a variety of other stuff (salad bar, soup, dessert, etc.) The best part was that I didn’t pay a dime on account of winning the election bet.
As for why, when I was in college, I was often that hungry, especially if I hadn’t eaten much that day. As for more recently, it’s because the food was just that damn good.
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### Author:  [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/14 "2008-12-30T01:10:36Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#):
>
> How do you not feel completely miserable? Is it worth it?
Assuming this is a general question, it’s because ever since high school, I’ve only eaten once a day. I know it’s bad for me, and I should eat more often, but I’m generally too lazy to make my lunch the day before, and too hurried to make it in the morning. I try to get a snack before rugby practice, but I usually eat most of my calories afterward.
Most of the things I personally listed were just in the last few days, and weren’t a big deal to me.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/15 "2008-12-30T01:17:15Z")
The biggest meal I can specifically remember eating was the Outback porterhouse (approx. 417 lbs. of beef), the salad, baked potato, and bread that came with it, and my share of the Bloomin’ Onion we got for an appetizer. And three or four of the giant-sized glasses of sweet tea I finally made the waitress realize would save her a lot of refills over the course of the night after her third refill of the regular-sized glass she brought me to start with.
And maybe dessert. It gets blurry.
I spent days recovering. I said for the first time in my life with no irony whatsoever, “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.”
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### Author:  [@CAT\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CAT_1)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/16 "2008-12-30T02:02:37Z")
I am sure I have polished off a few pound bags of peanut M&M’s in my day. And by the looks of me, it is no surprise. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@CAT\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CAT_1)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/17 "2008-12-30T02:05:59Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#):
>
> (approx. 417 lbs. of beef),
Did you forget a decimal point?
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### Author:  [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/18 "2008-12-30T02:15:11Z")
I did [a gallon of milk in an hour](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=309498&highlight=gallon+milk+hour)
Purely to fight ignorance … _burp_
Way back when I was young, an exboyfriend and I split a bushel of blue crabs. There is maybe a tablespoon or so of good meat on a blue crab if you dont eat the funky innards and stick to actual muscle tissue. I also remember helping polish off the remaining 8 lobstersworth of tail and claws at a party once so we didnt have to figure out how to keep them overnight with no way to keep them at the safe temp range. We each had 8 lobsters to deal with. I also could do a pound of chocolate in a couple hours … but then I was playing fullback on the school varsity soccar team, and in the winter competing at cross country skiing - something on the order of 5-10 miles a day of running/skiing between events and practices.
MrAru just confessed to regularly eating an entire 9x18 tray of turkey enchiladas when he was a teen and had hollow legs. He used to bicycle everywhere and was also heavily into sports in high school [football, track and swimming]
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/19 "2008-12-30T02:26:28Z")
> [@CAT\_1](#):
>
> Did you forget a decimal point?
Nope. I was exxxxxxagerating.
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### Author:  [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-amount-of-food-youve-eaten-at-once/479042/20 "2008-12-30T02:30:43Z")
A friend’s wedding.
They were Chinese. There were about a dozen course of the best Asian food I’ve ever had the pleasure of consuming. Everything from abalone to spare ribs. That’s the proper way to start a marriage: with food so good people talk about years later.
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