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As much as I hate to admit it and exercise regular self-denial, I am old. All the signs are there, my date of birth for one, right in the middle of WWII. There are maybe ten of us born in 1943. Actually 2.9 million of which about 50% can still read HD.
I take the occasional nap-unintentionally though. I bother people by engaging in conversation and telling stories, my grandchildren call me Pa. Actually nowadays my children do as well.
But the most obvious sign – as long as I don’t look in the mirror- is a decline in my appetite. It’s not a clinical thing or extreme which can happen, I just fill up with less. Actually it’s common for older people to eat less, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as “anorexia of aging.” That sounds rather dire, but the fact is as people age, their metabolism slows down and they often become less physically active – note nap reference, meaning they require fewer calories to maintain their weight.
The only things about me that are as physically active as in my younger years are my typing fingers – both of them.
All this has resulted in a fridge full of leftovers, much from restaurants. Tonight my dining choices include leftover Chinese or leftover eggplant parmigiana. It’s been a busy week. I’m going with the Chinese as it’s a day older than the Italian.
Unless we are in a fine dining establishment we have taken to asking for take away boxes before being served. We put the soon to be leftovers in the boxes before we eat. It’s neater that way. I haven’t figured out how to successfully and discreetly unbox if we miscalculated and want to eat more.
We have not and will not split an entree although we do order one desert on occasion often at the urging of the server – better one than none. Last week we went to dinner with cousins. Connie and I each ordered a meal and cousins split a salad. I was embarrassed- yeah, I know, why? It made me feel like a glutton with my chicken gumbo meal. If you are going out to dinner, have dinner.
Have you noticed there is very little food you can buy just sufficient for two? I understand why, but it’s still annoying and it helps to add to leftovers. We like cranberry sauce with chicken dishes, but you can only get a 15 oz can. They used to make a can half that size, but no more. So now after a chicken dinner, the plastic wrapped dish with cranberries sits in the fridge until we figure out what to eat it with – or throw it out.
I was looking for Cheerios the other day. All they had were the family size box. I’ll be eating honey nut Cheerios for six months, long past the “Best By” date – an estimate of declining taste quality, not safety.
The cohort life expectancy, which attempts to account for improvements in mortality over a person’s lifetime, says for people born in 1943 it is 71.7 years. Good thing those “use by” and “best by” dates are bad guesses.
Getting old can be frustrating.
For me the weirdest thing about getting old is that parts of my body ache that I didn’t even know existed.
We are blessed at HD to ponder questions like this when in certain parts of the world including the U.S. some people go hungry when there is enough food so that doesn’t happen. But I may be getting political again.
Nothing political about hunger.
My CCRC, listening to the residents, has recently started offering smaller portions for some meals. You can order a four ounce instead of an eight ounce steak or piece of salmon, or a small rather than a large salad, for instance. I doubt many restaurants would do this, as Americans have become accustomed to huge portions and doggy bags.
What’s wrong with ordering one entree to split for two? My wife and I do this all the time whether by ourselves or out for dinner with friends. We both eat very little (I had weight loss surgery 8 years ago) and we still have leftovers after a restaurant meal due to the huge portions generally served. Our friends know we do this and some of them have even started to share a meal at restaurants also. We always still split the check evenly regardless of what our friends order. The toughest part was agreeing on what to eat/ order but we have generally found that to be pretty easy after 45 years of marriage.
I just think it is unfair to the restaurant. They make their money on meals served to people taking up the available seats.
Plus unless a person doubles the tip based on what is spent, it may be unfair the server as well.
That’s irrelevant to the customer though. If the restaurant doesn’t want that kind of business they need to make it known. Going out to eat isn’t charity for the business owner.
That’s rather harsh.
We already discussed that here. I suppose you think no one should ever eat alone, except at a bar. After all, they’re taking up half a two top. I disagree. I don’t eat out as much these days, but I have certainly eaten out alone, and not just when I was traveling.
Who said anything about a person eating alone? One person, one meal. Many times two are seated at a table for four. That has nothing to do with the topic. If a person is eating alone do they often ask for half a meal? I doubt it.
You are complaining that two people eating one entree deprives the restaurant of the revenue from two people eating two entrees. So does one person dining alone at a table for two. More so, since two people may order two appetizers in addition to the one entree.
Exactly my point. R. Quinn, your “complaint” is not valid. We are not depriving the restaurant of revenue at all. We often order appetizers, salads and drinks. If the restaurant charges for sharing a meal ( which most rarely do) we don’t complain, we pay it.
Plus, I believe entrees are the least profitable part of the menu. Drinks and desserts have much higher mark-ups. If I am eating with a friend we sometimes share a dessert (but not the entree). Does Dick have a problem with that as well? If we weren’t sharing we wouldn’t order dessert at all.
Don’t hear much about your appetite shrinking as the calendar turns, but it is real. A king size meal will leave you feeling queasy, so skimpy meals, more like grazing, are the way to go. Interestingly, after a few years your clothes will be loose and with some resembling drapes, so update to a smaller size as the weight is probably gone forever…nice post.
My wife will often order a side salad and an appetizer. This will often add up to a higher cost than just an entree, but it is a better portion size. We’ve also noticed some restaurants are offering small and large plates.
I do the appetizer and salad thing, too. Sometimes just the salad and add a protein, if that’s an option. A whole meal with huge entree is just more than I can deal with sometimes. Even if it looks/sounds good at the time, my stomach complains later.
I’m familiar with the 6 or 9 oz glass of wine 🍷🍷 😃
You forgot to mention the excitement of science experiments discovered in older leftovers/takeout/doggy bags. I have changed my routine to get up a few minutes earlier on trash day so I can avoid the issue.
Freezing everything possible in portions is our friend. Right now there is a Mexican, indian, Italian meal for two in the freezer and several soup bags. Along with many other things. Just came back from a long trip and homemade chicken noodle soup was ready to eat in 15 minutes. An additional drawer freezer near the kitchen is invaluable. You would be surprised how many things are freezable, even fresh items.
For that purpose, I highly recommend Souper Cubes, which come in various sizes (2 cups, 1 cup, 1/2 cup, and even smaller for cookie dough or fresh herbs). I freeze leftovers in them; once they’re frozen, you pop them out and put them in a freezer bag, then thaw them once ready to reheat. I have a fantastic turkey chili recipe I make in my Instant Pot; it makes nine one-cup portions, and I use my Souper Cubes to freeze them. The business is run by a delightful young couple, and they have a website and Facebook group for recipes and other ideas.
Save the cranberry sauce for peanut butter sandwiches; it makes an extraordinary combo. Better yet, make your own cranberry sauce with fresh berries in the fall and it can keep for months in the fridge. Sugar, water, berries, boil (10 min) — you will feel like a chef and your grandchildren will love the popping sounds as the berries burst!
I love cranberry sauce, but have never tried it with PB. Thanks for the 4th tip. I make a big pot of cranberry sauce each Thanksgiving for the family trip, using my grandmothers old recipe. It is from a 1900s era Fanny Farmer cookbook and uses a double-boil method, only adding the sugar at the end.
Please post the cranberry sauce recipe, if your grandmother would have approved of sharing.
I couldn’t agree more – and if you want to be even more sure you won’t have to throw out cranberry sauce from the fridge, buy frozen cranberries and use a smaller amount, leaving the rest frozen.
This is how one day of the week goes for us every week during the summer (for you that don’t know, in New England that’s both July and August). Anyways, we live a half hour from the beach (not the shore, for you New Jerseyites, I’m sure Dick has trouble using the right term if he doesn’t remember where he’s currently residing). Anyways, on Sunday each week we look at the forecast for the upcoming weekdays (never on the weekends if your retired), and pick the best day’s weather to head out (aside-the water is considered warm once we clear 60 degrees, and on the rare day or two it gets to 70 it’s considered bath water). Anyways, we pack up two tuna sandwiches, a family size bag of Cape Cod potato chips (I’m talking to you again Dick), and a couple of diet sodas, and our books and off we go for the day. Afterwards it’s to our favorite seafood restaurant to split a fisherman’s platter of fried scallops, and clams (That’s whole belly, NEVER strips, that’s for outsiders), and a beer each.
Otherwise more times than not when we go out to eat it’s sitting at the bar with each having an adult beverage. Start with sharing two appetizers, and if we want more, additional appetizers until satiated. No leftovers.
I haven’t been on a beach at the “shore” in 40 years. People here think I’m nuts.
Did you know Cambells now owns Cape Cod PCs? I think they changed them. Kream and Kone?
You don’t go to the beach? Why do you summer on the Cape then? Just to remind you of NJ traffic? 😂
The beach at the “shore” Jersey shore. We go to Hardings Beach.
We get 2 entrees also and use the leftovers for the next day. We still try to do batch cooking as we can. The freezer is our friend. We haven’t noticed a smaller appetite yet. Chris
Good idea to get the doggy bag first.
We also make sure we are the ones putting the food in the containers.
I think that you might have a couple more years(3) of life experience than I. Than being said, I have been waiting for the lessening of appetite to kick in. Perhaps it hasn’t happened yet because I am still walking 3-5 miles daily. I have no doubt it will happen. Does your diminution appetite help you avoid the afternoon chocolate chip cookie snack? Or, what about some seasoned Pistachios?
My spouse has memory issues, so I have to do all the shopping and food prep. For various reasons we don’t go out to restaurants much. Even so, trying to plan meals for two and dealing with quantities of ingredients while trying to avoid waste is a challenge. When I look in the freezer, I often see the tupperwear container with about 5 tablespoons of garbanzo beans. No date. Where did it come from? Could I use it to make soup? Better keep it for a bit longer….
I have some good news for you though. Cheerios are forever! Just keep the bag tightly closed between bowls. And, a sealed never opened bag will last for years past the use by date. Likewise, GrapeNuts, Raisin Bran, and some others too; just another example of American ingenuity.
Don’t forget the Cheerios dust at the bottom of the box. 😉 Chris
I pour the dust into a coffee mug so that I don’t miss any by using a spoon…Sorta like the dust at the bottom of a big jar of Biscotti Cookies from Costco…it is wrong to let any of that goodness go to waste.
Good to hear.
“Have you noticed there is very little food you can buy just sufficient for two?”
Try “for one”. Even recipes are sized for at least two. I once complained to the New York Times cooking section about that but it didn’t do any good. America’s Test Kitchen does have a cookbook for singles, and says you need a different technique for some dishes.
What is your life expectancy at your current age?
7.82 years, but i could always make a change to gain a few as a woman.
LOL Dick, that should have garnered a few red arrows.
Curiosity, do you find yourself losing weight or is it a kind of balance, where you maintain your weight eating less?
I wish i was losing weight.
I cannot agree more about portion sizes at restaurants these days. Anytime I go out to eat, that’s typically enough to fill me up for the whole day. It’s pretty crazy.