I found myself alone in a motel in a southern state in Christmas day.
The only food I could find was a can of chef boyardee at a shady convenience store. It had a pop top so I could open it.
I had to tear apart the plastic cup in the motel room to use as a spoon.
I grew up very poor in Greece, and my mom used to give us a slice of bread that had poured white sugar on it, and... olive oil. It was many years later that I realized that these were deconstructed donuts.
The day my mom passed after a 2 year battle with cancer. My wife and I were running all day, from something like 5am. We finally get home about midnight and realize we hadn't eaten anything at all that day. We look in the cupboards, fridge, etc and there is absolutely nothing but a single can of chef boyardee ravioli. We were so tired, we stood at the kitchen sink eating them cold, right out of the can. About half way though the can we both started crying as we hadn't let the emotions touch us yet. So through our tears of grief, we ate cold ravioli out of a can.
Condolences, that really sucks.
There wasn't sad food to go along with it but, my wife and I had a very similar experience. My nephew passed away after 3 months of trying to repair a heart defect (HLHS specifically). My SIL, her husband and, her other kids had been living with for the past six months because we lived near the hospital he was treated at. Their extended family spent a lot of nights with us as well.
The day after he passed away, they all went home. My wife and I are child free so we were just alone in this quiet, empty house that had been loud and crowded since we found out our nephew was going to be born with a bad heart. The weight of the past months hit us all at once and we sat there sobbing for what felt like hours. It's been like three years and I still get teary thinking about it.
It's tough when you have to be there as support for others. You realize you never had time to process things and then it all hits at once. This was nearly 20 years ago now and it's still one of the worst feelings. I'm sorry you and your family had to go through this, and I hope healing has happened for all involved.
A full plate of pork ribs (almost) I was out to dinner with my gf and her parents (first time I had meet them) at a fancy restaurant, and her Dad was paying, big guy, didnt say much, picture Ron Swanson but bigger and bald. Anyways I love pork ribs and as soon as i saw the menu i had to have em, altho as soon as i ordered them i realized they were a full serving (not a half, so one whole side of pig!) And that it was the most expensive item on the menu, it was at this point i knew i had f'ed up. I tried my best but could not finish this behemoth plate of beautifully cooked pork rib cage while under the scrutinizing eye of one red faced, barrel chested, potential farther in law. I sent a half eaten plate back to the kitchen only to turn round and see the look in his eye that said i was nothing but a waste of money to him and that i deserve nothing less than the colossal meat shits that was coming for me. We then went home and i couldn't even hug my gf in bed as my guts set about the task of converting 3 pounds of pig flesh into a glorious song of digestion featuring frequent trumpet solos for my gf to enjoy into the night...we lasted a month
Honestly, frozen peas (heated) pair well with Mac and cheese. Maybe sad, but delicious especially with sriracha.
Nah, that ain't sad, I straight up made this the other night because it's comfort food for when I'm being lazy. Got my bowls and posted up in front of the TV and watched cartoons, best meal of the week.
I had to do an elimination diet before testing for food allergies. For two weeks I had a cup of rice for all three meals a day. Now I really like rice but on one of these days I had to attend a working catered lunch with some coworkers. It was incredibly embarrassing eating my small cup of rice in this meeting while all my coworkers had an amazing catered lunch. I got a whole lot of "you're really committed to your diet" comments.
Went to visit my gf in college once a few hours away. On the way back I put every penny I had into my gas tank in hopes it would be enough and it barely was. While at the gas station I mixed some ketchup packets, salt, and hot water for “tomato soup” because it was all free.
Not good. Just watery ketchup. But it was a hell of a lot better than nothing. It did help that I snagged a few packs of crackers for texture.
Big mac for christmas dinner. My wife was at the hospital at the time, heavily pregnant with our first child. There were some complications wit the pregnancy too. Didn't wanna leave her there alone so I sat there with her. She had to eat hospital food and I snuck out to McDonalds, with her permission I must add. Sat in my car at the car park, listening to radio and eating the saddest burger ever.
I remember it well. My student loan payments had just started, and we were already struggling to make ends meet. My lunch every day at work for a week was a pack of instant ramen and an expired multivitamin. That first meal absolutely crushed me. I like ramen every so often, but having to eat it out of necessity really changes everything. After the income based repayment finally kicked in after a few weeks, I was able to upgrade to a $1 pack of tuna and some crackers.
I am not looking forward to October.
Oh you've just reminded me of my saddest meal, when I had no money. All I had was dried pasta, half a jar of pickled onions, a tin of baked beans (British ones not sweet) and one crust of a loaf of bread. Cool, I can do baked beans on toast. Toasted the bread, heated the beans in a pan. As I took the pan off the heat the handle and the pan decided to take that moment to part ways, and pan and beans fell to the floor. Floor was filthy, and we had a rat issue as well as a pet cat, so scraping the beans up wasn't an option. I cried. I was so hungry Ended up cooking the pasta and putting some pickled onions on. Tried to eat it, couldn't, cried some more, and then went to a friend's house to beg to be fed.
I can't actually eat instant noodles now because I survived on them back then. Used to be able to get 10 packs for £1 in a shop near me, and I probably ate them at least once a day.
I went on a tour of Malaysia with a cheap Chinese tour company once. Food in Malaysia is AMAZING but you wouldn't know it from this tour.
They'd take us to these warehouse-like empty restaurants on the edges of towns and would serve us the worst Chinese food I ever had by a mile. I love Chinese food, but this was just soul-crushingly bad. And because we were basically stuck with staying close to the bus, we had no choice but to eat there.
Two dishes stand out in my mind. One was stir-fried lettuce that had so many block spots it looked like a pointillist work. The other was a mapo tofu that looked so awful, I couldn't help thinking the chef had broken it up by chewing it and blowing it out of his nose.
I couldn’t help thinking the chef had broken it up by chewing it and blowing it out of his nose.
Good god, now there's a visual...
it depends on whose perspective.
i had rice and mayo for dinner once. just a bowl of rice with a huge dollop of Japanese Kewpie mayo on top.
my gf thought it was the saddest thing ever, i thought it was delicious.
Raw block of tofu, no seasoning. I was depressed, and that's all I managed to eat
Emotionally: Ice cream as a kid once. Offered to me after being denied it the day before as punishment for something I didn't do. No amount of ice cream can ever make up for having no way of defending myself against false accusations. No way to avoid punishment because I was guilty until proven innocent. Its a shit feeling.
In college I'd make my 'special potato stew' which was a pack of ramen and a pack of instant potatoes
Well, if we're doing crappy food and unhappy circumstances I have a few.
One was when my brother and I were in our late teens and lived alone, and spent all our money on alcohol and drugs. We'd buy 2-3 whoppers on dollar Whopper day, which was fine. In between though occasionally I wanted some food, so I'd deep fry batter made out of flour (nothing else) in a saucepan and eat it with ketchup.
When I was in 4th grade, one time I had been arguing with my mother and stomped off. Hours later she said dinner was ready. I came and one of the dishes was something like mashed potatoes. I asked, is this mashed potatoes? She said NO, it's mashed TURNIPS. I figured she was being sarcastic. I grabbed some mashed potatoes and when I tried them I was AAAAAGH wtf is this! Oh. It was mashed turnips.
Then there's all the bizarre things I've eaten in light of having Celiac disease and Type 1 Diabetes, such as a hot dog with raw cabbage and Tabasco sauce for breakfast. I also lived in my car mainly at campsites for 2-3 years, so I'd eat stuff like roasted chicken from a mason jar, straight out of the cooler with a pickle and a jalapeno.