My DH eats everything!

[pearlieq]

Originally Posted by mountainmist

How would you, an ADULT, like it, were your husband to patronizingly decide that YOU were eating "improperly" -- I mean, seriously, I think that you are crossing some serious boundaries here, like in a Control.Freak manner.

I know tone is hard to read over the internet, but this post sounded really angry. I don't think name-calling ("Control.Freak" etc.) is really warranted.

I don't think the OP is "accusing" her DH of anything. It just sounds like she's surprised at how much he eats and is looking for a way to accomodate him without breaking the bank, that's all.

At no point in any of her posts did I see her judge him or suggest depriving him of food. In fact, at no point in any of her posts did she ever say he ate "too much". It appears she's actually here to try to HELP the situation--to get him what he needs while still maintaining the family budget.

I just don't think the OP deserved the rant you threw at her.

[budgetmom]

Originally Posted by mountainmist

Are you certain that your husband eats "TOO MUCH" - or are you basing this upon what you and your sisters and your girlfriends consume at mealtime?

Is your husband physically active? Does he have a desk job or is up and about, all day, burning off huge amounts of calories.

Is he overweight?

If he's not overweight, then how can you possibly accuse him of overeating?

Have you ever been in a restaurant and observed how much food that most men consume at one sitting?

I think you should concentrate on feeding your husband HEALTHY nutritious food, and as much of it as he wants -- he sounds like he's HUNGRY to me, and if you don't figure out something super healthy, your decision that he's "too expensive" to feed will probably drive him to purchasing candy and miscellaneous junk food whenever he's out and about, and not in your sight.

How would you, an ADULT, like it, were your husband to patronizingly decide that YOU were eating "improperly" -- I mean, seriously, I think that you are crossing some serious boundaries here, like in a Control.Freak manner, and that this shouldn't be encouraged, it's not healthy for your marriage, and that it might be alot more positive instead of concentrating on his diet habits, that you might seriously think about getting a part time job in order to afford to feed all the members of your family, instead of obsessing over how to save pennies because the main wage earner has a bigger appetite than you - something most men do have, that's just NORMAL male metabolism, that they generally have a much larger calorie consumption than their female mate.

I am a little offended by your comment. Yes, I do feel that my husband is eating too much; and no I am not basing it off of what my sisters and girlfriends (????) eat. I am not basing it of of what I or my kids eat , either. That wouldn't be accurate.
My husband works a desk job and then he comes home and sits at his home computer. He is rarely active. He doesn't play sports or run or lift weights. He tinkers with computers and gaming equipment. That is his job, AND that is his hobby. So, he's not doing anything to burn those extra calories.
He is not overweight, well maybe a little. He has gained about 30 lbs. in the last year. He is by no means obese, though. He is about 6'1" and weighs approx. 220 lbs.
Let me give you and example of his eating. Last night I made a mexican style shepards pie. It had the following ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. hamburger meat
2 cans of kidney beans
1 onion
1 can of corn
1 can diced tomatos
1 pkg. taco seasoning
water salt and pepper
minced garlic
2 boxes of corn bread

It made a full 13 by 9 pan of food. That's what HE ate for supper last night. The whole thing. Me and my two children had sloppy joes with mixed veggies and mixed fruit for dessert.
He had a light breakfast, a few slices of cranberry bread and some OJ as he dashed out the door for work and I packed him a large container of the leftover pot roast and rolls that I had made over the weekend for his lunch.

Now, I have seen plenty of men eat that much, but all were very phisically active. I do try to feed my whole family healthy foods, and as much as they need of it to be full.
My original post was asking for low cost recipes that would feed a lot of people, because I have to cook that way in order to feed him. I don't talk down on him about how much he eats at all. I don't even think he knows that I am concerned about how much he eats (but he does know that I am concerned about what he eats after he told me about his colesterol levels), so I don't think that I am being a control freak at all. Your last paragraph suggests that I am not fulfilling my duties to my family because I don't work. I feel very offended by that. I try my best to do my part for my family, even though I do not have a "job".

[pearlieq]

Originally Posted by budgetmom

It made a full 13 by 9 pan of food. That's what HE ate for supper last night. The whole thing.

Wow! Really?!?

Does he eat lunch during the day? Does he snack?

When I pictured what you were describing with your DH, I was thinking he was like mine. My DH, who is a big guy and who could definitley stand to drop some weight, could easily put away about half the pan, but would never finish the whole thing.

Has your DH been to the doctor recently? Maybe they could check out his thyroid and/or blood sugar. If he's THAT hungry, maybe something's wrong.

[budgetmom]

Clicked on submit before I was finished with the post. The answers to you questions are edited into my last post.

[JanH]

Budgetmom, I don't think it is wrong for you to be concerned about your DH's health. I went through the same thing when my Hubby ended up with high blood pressure. It was job related. However, we did modify diet and I do encourage him whenever I can. I do bug him when he works too many hours on too many days in a row. He says he appreciates me reigning him in or he'd ruin his health cos he's a workaholic. He doesn't consider it nagging, he considers it caring about how he feels and about his overall health. Recently, he was on some medicine that made him feel awful. I finally told him I thought he needed to reevaluate this med and his doctor took him off. He feels much better and has thanked me several times. I think trying to find ways to fulfill your DH's food needs while trying to maintain your household accounts is admirable. I'm sure you do the same thing when taking care of your own needs. Weighing what you need to do with what the budget says. I'm just learning to cook again, and we only have two people right now. So I am not much help on the food issue. But maybe if you cut back a smidge each meal, then he'd get used to less and it will still fill him? My Hubby did that on a year long job he did on his own. He ate less at meals since he had to fix them and got used to it. Now I fix him too much and he doesn't eat it.

[PrincessPerky]

Please avoid hotdogs and spam and the like if he already has high cholesterol...

And a 13X9 pan is more than I would eat..which means it is a lot

I would not recomend trying to 'sneak' your husbands helath habits without his knowledge, though I would go for helping him without his express consent...My stock phrase is somehting like 'honey I think we need to work on 'blank'" with blank being a bad habit we both need help on, sometimes I am more in need of it, sometimes him, either way we are in it together.

Now I do not ever recomend telling someone they eat too much..seeing as most people tell me I do But eat too much junk, eat more meat than needed..or eat at the wrong time (should be all day not a huge fill up at dinner) and 'not enough excersize' sounds..bad, but family walk sounds fun..silly stuff like that.

Once you have his knowledge, then go right on ahead and sneak his habits to closer to the ones you want to insitll in your kid, you and your husbands example will mean more for her adult eating than what you allow her to eat now anyway.

Try storeing half the pan for lunch immediatly....when he is done with the other half, offer more veggies, or bread (especially that oatmeal bread considering the cholesterol). BTW try cooking the meal you mentioned with less beef..still should taste great (sounds delicious) but less fat. If his sodium is high you might want to look at frozen veggies instead of canned, though yeah they are more expensive, I know..trust me I know! the more I convince my DH to eat veggies the more I have ot buy! but health is reason to spend

We have our kids alternate, you can have more of anything when you finish the firsts...so more meat or grain requires more veggies..though it is no certain thing weather the veggies are last or the grain...but the point is variety, and they see when Daddy or mommy avoids it..so DH has started to eat more veggies, not just the single serving I put on his plate. been 5 years of that though, his family doesn't even believe in a veggie a meal..so we call it progress!

[LuxLiving]

Originally Posted by JanH

I never learned how to make soup. I'm gonna try this one since it is getting cooler. well--relatively speaking--cooler for our climate.

JanH - I made some soup today and posted the recipe over on my blog.

Gone To Pot Soup
an original recipe by yours truly


http://luxliving.savingadvice.com/20...-to-pot_15926/

Thanks to you and tinapbeana and all the soup talk I got soup hungry!

This was particularly good soup as it's now four and a half hours later after we had it for lunch and I'm still feeling good and satisfied from it!

[JanH]

Thanks Lux!