Soldier preps a year’s worth of dinners for wife before deployment

A solider prepared over 1,000 dumplings for his wife ahead of his year-long deployment. (iStock)

The way to a man’s heart may be his stomach but one devoted husband has proven that women's love can come from a man who can cook.

Yin Yunfeng, a solider in the Chinese army, pre-cooked a year’s worth of dinners for his busy wife to keep her happily fed while he is deployed, reports the Daily Mail.

Yunfeng, who is stationed in a remote location in Tibet, only sees his wife once a year. On a recent visit home, he noticed that Zhao Mai, his wife who works as a teacher in China’s southwest Guizhou province, was often too busy to make herself dinner when she got home.

Instead of handing Mai a year’s supply of take-out coupons, Yunfeng took matters into his own hands, cooking 12 months worth of dinners so his wife would be able to enjoy homecooking every night while he’s away.

“The food he prepared is enough for me for one year and every time I think of this my heart is warm,” Zhao Mai told the People’s Daily Online (translated via the Daily Mail).

Included in the haul were 150 liters—about 635 cups-- of Mai’s favorite noodle soup; over 1,000 dumplings and dozens of stir fry dishes. Yunfeng made so much food that much of it had to be stashed in the freezers and fridges of neighboring friends and family.

“You’re so focused on your work and have so much to read when you get home that I want to make life easier for you,” the devoted husband explained in a simple note to his wife.

In addition to the meals, the soldier also hid sweet treats and snacks throughout the house—telling her he would give her clues to their whereabouts in a series of calls and notes over the next year.

“I have to admit his food packages help keep me going and it’s great to know that he loves me. In some way every time I have my meal I know he is with me,” Zhao told the People’s Daily Online.