The Good, the Bad, And the Ugly - household edition

concordancia

As you make changes to your lifestyle, how do other members of your household impact you?

The Good:
-DH eats very well. He has veggies and eggs for breakfast most days. If he runs out of spinach, he might have oatmeal, instead. One day a week, at most, we share pancakes or french toast, made with whole grains and topped with fruit. He has a salad for lunch every single weekday and even on weekends if we haven't discussed lunch plans before he makes it in the morning. He is generally a very good influence.
-DH is very active. Sometimes, this is bad as he wants to walk at the pace that his longer legs and healthier back prefer, so we do our workouts separately. But usually, this is great because we can go a long hike or bike ride together on the weekends. And he is off it at the moment, but we can usually enjoy dancing together, as well.
-DH called me yesterday morning with a suggestion for where I could stop for lunch and what to order because he didn't realize that I had taken a salad with me. It was done in such a way, I think even if I had been looking forward to fast food and french fries, it would have nudged me in the right direction.

The Bad:
-DH has very limited skills in the kitchen. I cannot just tell him "Please take care of dinner." At best, I can tell him what to make, from a limited selection of things he can figure out on his own. He was in charge of dinner once a week one semester when I had a night class. I got home from a full day of teaching at 9:30pm on the third week of the semester to hear him ask "What's for dinner?" At least he actually likes to do the dishes.
-We have a roommate, so we only have half the refrigerator and half the freezer. I can cram in just enough to get us through almost two weeks, as long as we fit in some canned veggies somewhere along the line. For the first half week, every meal is a game of tetris.

The Ugly:
-DH is near the bottom end of a healthy BMI. He also has extremely low cholesterol, which doctors tend not to worry about, but probably indicates some kind of absorption issue (hmmm, wonder if that has cleared up since we found some trigger foods for him?). He is also physically active. He has to eat sooo much just to maintain weight that he gets tired of eating at meals and needs to take a break and find something else to eat an hour later. Last night, I sat there watching him eat three servings of dumplings while we were discussing the future of human settlements in space. Last weekend, I made a zucchini bread and I was able to fit one slice in before it was gone. He is eating right for him, but it can be hard to watch sometimes.
-DH and roommate agree on two things: the kitchen is too small to be shared (because they have clearly never had to share. Even if we agree to work together, DH stands in the middle of the work surface, rather than to one side or the other, leaving me to work on 1/4 of the surface while he takes the middle half) and they must have a cooked breakfast every morning, as a question of mental health and routine, as much as nutrition. And so, they have split the morning between them, begrudingly allowing me time to microwave a cup of water for coffee, if I ask nicely. Except I don't know the last time roommate used her time and even DH is slipping more and more often. So now, the kitchen sits empty for four hours most mornings and they both want the kitchen when it should be free for me to fix a snack or my lunch. But it is nigh on a breach of contract if the kitchen is not available when they want it, interfering with their mental health. I wasn't even home at that time yesterday and I still had to hear about the problem. The good news is, I don't remember the last time I had to ask permission to microwave a cup of water in the morning.

Machka9

Can you set up an additional fridge and microwave in another part of the house?