this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2023
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Not to mention that if you're depressed, preparing healthy food can be a huge struggle because of the effort involved in acquiring ingredients, cooking/preparing the food, and cleanup afterwards.
Also often not mentioned is the planning required before going shopping and the amount of food wasted when cooking for one. Like if getting out of the house is already such a huge chore it becomes impossible to also add planning the groceries plus if half of it is going to be wasted anyway there isn't even any cost difference. What incentive is left except some abstract ideal to live a healthy lifestyle.
Yeah,planning is terrible. I forget to put meat out of the fridge all the time! When I remember it's almost time to cook. About the expense difference, I'm poor in a poor country in which ironically raw and fresh food is cheaper than processed food so luckily I'm forced to cook and be healthier. I lost 18 pounds since I lost my job because I stopped buying meals and processed junk food when doing groceries. If I wasn't broke I'd say it was a blessing in disguise.
Before I got student assistance I had to work while studying as well, I had to pay for the more expensive prepared food because I didn't have the time to plan a meal, cook it and clean up and all that, even if my depression + undiagnosed ADD combo would have allowed it. People don't know that being poor is expensive in ways they wouldn't think about. This is in a rich country as well, getting fresh ingredients typically is cheaper here too but people forget that the cost of preparation might not be affordable to some.
Oh man, it's so hard cooking for one. Pretty much every meal I make is a week's worth because it's just me and it's so much easier to cook multiple servings at once.
Oh yeah for sure. I also have issues with OCD, specifically around food contamination and safety. It makes it damn near impossible to eat leftovers for me for the last few years.
I waste more food than I'd like, but I just can't bring myself to do it. Hence falling back on getting prepackaged, single serving meals, which aren't often healthy at all.
That fucking sucks dude I was able to get out of the depressive rut, with like massive amounts of help, wouldn't know what I had done if I had developed OCD as well.
Yeah OCD is a bitch. Along with bipolar I and PTSD, my life is an absolute nightmare at times.
how about freezing leftovers? if you have an even remotely new freezer it should work just dandy without much quality degradation.
relatedly is frozen ingredients, especially stuff like peas that you can just stir into your meal and let that reheat them. Very easy way to add some nutrients to your diet.
The problem is that OCD is irrational. Once something has been opened, I literally can't eat it again without my brain going into an obsession about getting food poisoning or something.
My brain will be like, "I dunno, what if the power went out while you weren't home. Or while you were asleep? Who knows if the food is still good?"
I literally can't keep anything around that requires temperature control, so I mostly get what I'm going to eat that day. It's really frustrating and exhausting.
I won’t pretend to understand what you go through but I’m strongly sympathetic.
Question: from your perspective, would taking a course or two about food safety, so that a person thoroughly understands the science behind food spoiling and becoming toxic, would that help in any way with some of the thoughts/fears about eating leftovers? I fully expect you to say no, and I would definitely believe you. But I’m still curious about your perspective.
I took several in college, which made the issue much worse tbh. Now I know for sure that if x food product can spoil in a time frame that I'll not be around to verify that my refrigerator was working the whole time, then I just can't do it.
It's the same cycle as if your poor, you end up having to buy the worse deals in groceries because you have to buy cheap overall, thus keeping you poor and unhealthy. Having depression causes you to be unmotivated to cook healthy and you end up eating crap, making you feel crappy, and keeping you depressed.
Yep. I recall working all day serving tables, feeling sick, and I could only afford the blister pack of 2 generic benadryl for $3.99 at the gas station until I got some more tips. There were many little things like that that added up.
This is exactly it, I'm not depressed because I eat shitty processed food, I eat that shit because it's the only thing I have the energy to deal with.
That’s correct, and also it’s a vicious cycle because poor diets enforce depression on a biological level as well.
I'm depressed, heating up frozen nuggies right now
call me crazy but I find washing the dishes and vacuuming very therapeutic
If it works for you and doesn't hurt you, then enjoy it. I struggle to even shower sometimes when I'm really depressed. Imagining going to the grocery store and everything else involved in making healthy meals is incredibly overwhelming.
to each their own. i’m sorry you’re struggling with depression.