Wife Cooks 2 Roasts So She Can Take Break From Meal Prep, Thoughtless Hubby Just Gives Them Away

Let’s be real: even the best couples can short-circuit over the simplest things. Nobody nails communication 24/7, and misunderstandings pop up no matter how much you love each other. What counts is how you recover and get back to facing life as a team.

One lady turned to an online community to share how she’d cooked two roasts, hoping to stretch them over a few days so she could take a break from kitchen duty. Wiped out, she took a nap, only to discover everything had gone off the rails when she woke up.

More info: Reddit

Despite what romantic comedies tell us, even the closest of couples sometimes get their wires crossed

Woman in a kitchen carving a cooked roast, reflecting hours spent preparing the $50 meal, looking focused and thoughtful.

Image credits: user18989612 / Freepik (not the actual photo)

One woman who wanted to take a break from cooking big meals carefully prepared two full roasts with the hope of using them over a few days

Text about wife spending hours cooking $50 roasts and husband giving them away, leaving her shocked and upset.

Text in a black font on a white background expressing frustration about cooking roasts overnight for meal prep and storage.

Husband gives away $50 cooked roasts wife spent hours preparing, leaving her shocked and upset.

Text excerpt about wife upset after husband gave away $50 cooked roasts she spent hours preparing, highlighting food waste issue.

Wife hands over cooked roasts to husband outside gate, showing shock after $50 roast given away without consent

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Exhausted after all the meal prep, she decided to take a nap while her husband watched their kids

Text about wife shocked after husband gives away cooked roasts she spent hours preparing, no roast left for dinner.

Text about husband giving away $50 cooked roasts wife spent hours preparing, leaving her shocked and upset.

Text highlighting a wife's frustration as husband gives away her $50 cooked roasts despite her time-consuming effort.

Text update clarifying sister made chicken noodle soup from scratch with given ingredients as a planned meal.

Couple arguing in kitchen over cooked roasts husband gave away, wife shocked after hours of cooking a $50 meal.

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While she was asleep, her husband and the kids ate part of the roasts, then gave what was left to the woman’s sister and her family

Text excerpt describing a wife making pizza from scratch and a fridge accident involving cooked roasts she prepared.

Text excerpt discussing a husband apologizing after giving away cooked roasts that wife spent hours preparing.

Text excerpt discussing relationship roles and a husband’s decision about cooked roasts that shocked his wife.

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Waking up to discover all the food gone, the woman made sure her husband knew he’d messed up, but asked an online community if being mad at him made her a jerk

After hours of chopping, seasoning, and babysitting two giant roasts, the original poster (OP,) an exhausted parent, finally had a plan: cook once, eat for days, and take a well-earned break from constant meal prep. With over $50 in ingredients and a night of effort invested, the goal was simple: stock the fridge and reclaim a little peace.

Worn out the next day, OP gratefully accepted her husband’s offer to handle the kids so she could nap. But while she slept, things quietly went off the rails. Her husband served some roast to the kids… then handed the entire remaining batch to her sister’s family, leaving nothing but an empty pot and a baffling explanation.

OP woke up hungry, expecting leftovers, only to find the meal completely gone. Her husband insisted it wasn’t a big deal, claiming there wasn’t space in the fridge, despite the stack of zip-top bags sitting right there. Since OP doesn’t eat meat, she hadn’t even tasted the roast before discovering she now had to cook dinner all over again.

She wasn’t angry, just stunned into silence. Sure, she could have spelled out that the roasts were meant to last several days, but who gives away $50 worth of food someone spent all night making? In an update to her original post, though, OP says her husband has since realized he made a stupid mistake and will check with her first going forward.

To be honest, OP’s story is way too common, like, painfully common. Experts have a name for it: the invisible mental load. But just how big of a problem is this really? And what can actually be done to change it? We went searching for answers.

Person slicing a cooked roast on a platter surrounded by herbs, mustard, and autumnal side dishes.

Image credits: freepik / Freepik (not the actual photo)

The pros over at SpacesTherapy break it down perfectly: the invisible mental load refers to all the unseen but heavily felt labor involved in managing a household and family – work that almost always falls squarely on women’s shoulders. This dynamic includes three distinct categories: cognitive labor, emotional labor, and mental labor.

Cognitive labor covers all the practical tasks required to keep a household running, basically all the logistics. Emotional labor involves the emotional workload of maintaining a healthy family, like worrying about how the kids are handling school or whether your partner is stressed. Lastly, there’s mental labor, which is essentially the combo of cognitive and emotional labor.

The good folks at Hearth explain that this unequal split can have serious implications for women, impacting their mental health, career opportunities, and even their sense of self-worth. It reinforces outdated gender norms and breeds resentment and frustration within relationships that could otherwise be healthy.

So, what can overloaded moms actually do to shift things? Start by making a list of every task and responsibility you manage. Sharing concrete examples can help your partner truly grasp the extent of the load you’re carrying, and that can go a long way towards making the division of labor more equal.

It’s probably time for OP to have a chat with her hubby about everything she takes on, right? That’s how the invisible becomes visible, after all. Would you agree? Should OP have just let her husband’s mistake slide, or was she right to be upset? Share your thoughts in the comments!  

In the comments, readers seemed to agree that the woman was not a jerk for being annoyed and that her husband was the only one at fault

Screenshot of a forum conversation where a husband gives away $50 cooked roasts his wife spent hours preparing, causing shock.

Conversation screenshot showing discussion about giving away cooked roasts and eating leftovers within a family context.

Reddit conversation where wife is shocked as hubby gives away $50 cooked roasts she spent hours preparing.

Comment expressing being livid after spending hours cooking roasts that were given away without permission.

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Reddit comment discussing husband giving away cooked roasts that wife spent hours preparing, highlighting frustration and value.

Reddit comment criticizing husband for giving away cooked roasts wife spent hours making, highlighting cooking and meal prep issues.

Reddit comment about husband giving away $50 cooked roasts, wife shocked after spending hours preparing the meal.

Screenshot of a Reddit comment discussing a husband giving away $50 cooked roasts his wife spent hours preparing, causing shock.

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