Emotional eaters (EEs) find connection and comfort through food, often using it to self-soothe or express care for others.

Emotional Eaters | Preferences

EEs lean toward nostalgic comfort foods—dishes that provide familiarity and ease. Slow-cooker meals, such as chili or stews with lean meats and legumes, simplify preparation, allowing them to nourish themselves and their loved ones with minimal effort. Often, recipes that include adjectives like “cozy” and “lazy” or indicate emotion, like “marry me” recipes, will draw in emotional eaters.

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• Tuscan “Marry Me” Butter Beans

Soothing textures like “creamy, buttery, soft” will also appeal to those who eat emotions first.

Food Waste Challenges

While emotional eaters tend to experience the most joy from eating, they are also prone to wasting the most food. Emotional eating is frequently unplanned and driven by feelings rather than hunger. EEs’ intense emotions—whether excitement, stress, or exhaustion—can sometimes lead to impulsive food decisions. They may overserve or overorder in an attempt to maximize sensory pleasure, often resulting in uneaten leftovers. Feelings of guilt after overeating may also prompt them to discard leftovers to remove temptation.

When cooking for others, a deep desire to satisfy loved ones may lead to over-purchasing and food waste. Stress or overwhelm can further prevent proper food preservation, amplifying the cycle.

Making Change | Emotional Eaters

Here are some achievable goals for emotional eaters wanting to reduce their food waste.

• Avoid Impulsive Grocery Purchases: Buy only what is needed to avoid excess food that might go to waste due to emotional overbuying. For example, using Instacart instead of going to the store may be a good way to start sticking to a grocery list.
• Improve Food Storage: When you store food properly, you can extend the shelf life and reduce spoilage. If this is difficult for you, consider buying frozen meals or ready-to-eat meals at the grocery store until you have a better handle.
• Practice Mindful Eating: With the help of your doctor or a nutritionist, practice mindful eating. This can help avoid overeating and help you get a better sense of your preferred portion sizes.
• Identify Emotional Triggers and Patterns: Be more mindful of the stressors that lead to overshopping and waste. Being more aware of your patterns is the first step to improvement.
• Reduce Food Waste Through Self-Awareness: If you’re not great at recognizing expiration dates, try sticking to canned and/or frozen food until you can improve.

Also worth considering:

Emotional eaters sometimes channel their feelings into food. An inventive way to build a better emotional relationship with food (aside from connecting with a specialist or therapist) could be volunteering at a food bank. If you love cooking, but can’t finish your food, try baking a casserole for a neighbor or friend. The key is to find a way to express your care through food without wasting it.