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Download the Food Idioms List & PDF Worksheets
View the updated web-version of the food idioms list in the table below.
The idiom worksheets and games are also free to download.
- Download and print the PDFs.
- Use the materials for interactive learning activities in class.
- Students can also complete the worksheets to review or for self-study.
Food Idiom Worksheets for ESL Students
Worksheet A: Defining Idioms & Writing Sentences with Idioms
Worksheet B: Reading Idioms in Context & Describing Meanings
Fun Food Idiom Games for the Classroom
Food Idioms Checklist (for BINGO)
48 Idioms and Phrases About Food
*Updated: November 2021
| Idiom / Phrase | Meaning | Example Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| apple of my eye | an adored person | My precious daughter is the apple of my eye. |
| bad egg | a troublesome person | Bart is the bad egg of the class. He is always throwing paper airplanes. |
| basket case | erratic or panicky | She became such a basket case when she discovered her ex was at the party. |
| be nuts about | really enjoy | She is nuts about her new boyfriend. |
| beet red | embarrassed or angry | Darren went beet red when he saw the scratch on his car. |
| big cheese | an important person | Where is the director? I want to talk to the big cheese. |
| bite off more than one can chew | take on more responsibility than what is manageable | He was multitasking and getting stressed, so I told him not to bite off more than he could chew. |
| bitter pill | something unpleasant that must be accepted | Awarding the trophy to her enemy was a bitter pill to swallow. |
| born with a silver spoon | from a rich family | Sara was born with a silver spoon, but she became a drug addict. |
| bread and butter | necessities or main points | Tell me the bread and butter of the article and explain the general idea of it. |
| bring home the bacon | earn money | Louie brings home the bacon while his wife takes care of the kids. |
| butter someone up | be really nice to someone | You had better butter me up if you want a raise in salary. |
| cheap as chips | very inexpensive | This cup of coffee was only 50 cents. Cheap as chips! |
| cook the books | dishonest accounting | Let's cook the books so we can avoid paying higher taxes. |
| couch potato | lazy person | Don't be such a couch potato and do some work for once! |
| cream of the crop | the best | The team has the cream of the crop of draft picks. They will probably win the cup soon. |
| cry over spilled milk | get upset over something insignificant or about something irreversible | I know you forgot your phone, but there is no need to cry over spilt milk. You can live without it for an hour. |
| cup of joe | cup of coffee | Let's get a cup of joe at Starbucks. |
| cut the cheese | fart | Who cut the cheese? It smells awful in here. |
| cut the mustard | meet expectations | George's work ethic didn't cut the mustard, so he got fired. |
| dog-eat-dog world | competitive | American political debates are a dog-eat-dog world. |
| dog's breakfast | very messy | Her mother was upset because her son's room was like a dog's breakfast. |
| doggy bag | food taken home after a restaurant meal | My girlfriend barely ate her dinner so she asked the waiter for a doggy bag. |
| egg someone on | to urge or provoke someone | The hockey player tried to egg his opponent on by dropping his gloves. |
| freeze your buns off | be very cold | You will freeze your buns off in Antarctica. |
| full of beans | energetic | The elementary students are always full of beans. |
| gravy train | high pay for minimal work | Government workers ride the gravy train while sitting at their desks doing nothing. |
| hard nut to crack | difficult to understand or persuade | The criminal was a tough nut to crack. He never revealed any of his accomplices. |
| have a bun in the oven | be pregnant | Mary has a bun in the oven so she can't drink alcohol. |
| have your cake and eat it too | want more than you need | Frank is married but he also wants to date other women. He wants to have his cake and eat it too. |
| heard it through the grapevine | hear a rumor | I heard it through the grapevine that you were getting nose surgery. |
| hot dog | show off | What a hot dog! He's stickhandling the puck around every player! |
| hot potato | a controversial subject | Trump's last Tweet was a hot potato in the news. |
| in a nutshell | to sum up | In a nutshell, she is sick because she drank too much last night. |
| make from scratch | make with original ingredients | My wife made me a delicious omelette from scratch. |
| my cup of tea | something enjoyable | Musicals aren't my cup of tea. I prefer regular movies. |
| on a silver platter | receive benefits without working | Tom gets everything from his parents on a silver platter. He even got a new car for his birthday. |
| on a silver platter | whole-heatedly or easily | He was offered the new job on a silver platter, but he didn't take it. |
| out to lunch | crazy or distracted or confused | That guy is so out to lunch. He is difficult to get business done with. |
| piece of cake | very easy | The final exam was a piece of cake. |
| piss in my cornflakes | to annoy out of spite | She always pisses in my cornflakes because of what I did to her last year. |
| pot calling the kettle black | to hypocritically criticise | Donald says the news is fake but that's like the pot calling the kettle black. |
| put all of the eggs in one basket | rely on one thing | He dedicated all of his time to baseball. If he puts all of his eggs in one basket, he may not have an alternative career to rely on. |
| smart cookie | an intelligent person | George is one smart cookie. He got 100 percent on all his tests. |
| spice things up | make more exciting | Sara spiced up her room by hanging paintings on the walls. |
| spill the beans | reveal a secret | Who spilt the beans about my brother's surprise birthday party? |
| take the cake | especially good or outstanding | His slapshot definitely takes the cake. It's the best in the league! |
| take with a grain of salt | don't believe it is completely accurate | I always take whatever I read in the news with a grain of salt. |
Extra Examples of Food Idioms in Use
Do you want to read more examples and sentences with food idioms?
Try entering the expressions in a corpus database or language app.
We highly recommend the following corpus resources and tools: