Ibn Sacd narrated that al-Ahnaf ibn Qays said: We were sitting at "Umar’s door and a slave girl passed by, and they said, ‘The concubine of the Amir al-Mu’minin! He said, ‘She is not the concubine of the Amir al-Mu’minin, and she is not permitted to him. She is of the property of Allah.’ So we said, ‘Then what is permitted to him of the property of Allah, exalted is He?’ He said, ‘There is only permitted to cUmar of the property of Allah two garments, a garment for the winter and a garment for the summer, that with which I can perform the Hajj and the cUmrah (i.e. an ihram), my sustenance and the sustenance of my family, as a man of Quraysh who is not the wealthiest of them nor the poorest, then I am, after that, a man among the Muslims.’ Khuzaymah ibn Thabit said, ‘Whenever cUmar appointed a governor, he wrote to him and made a condition on him that he should not ride a birdhaun (a large heavy non-Arabian horse from Asia Minor or Greece), nor eat delicacies, nor dress in finery, nor lock his door against the needy. If he did that, it would be permitted to punish him.’ Tkrimah ibn Khalid and others said: Hafsah, "Abdullah and others spoke to "Umar and said, ‘If only you were to eat wholesome food it would strengthen you upon the truth.’ He asked, Are you all of this view?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘I have learnt what your sincere advice is. However, I have left my two companions on a highway, and if I abandon their highway I will not reach them in the house.’ He (Tkrimah) said: An affliction befell the people one year, and that year he did not eat clarified butter nor fat.

Ibn Mulaykah said: cUtbah ibn Farqad spoke to cUmar about his food and he said, ‘Mercy on you! Should I eat up my wholesome sweet things in my worldly life and seek to enjoy myself with them?’ Al-Hasan said: cUmar entered in upon his son cAsim when he was eating meat and he said, ‘What is this?’ He said, ‘We had a craving for it.’ He said, ‘Every time you crave something, do you eat it? It is sufficient wasteful extravagance for a man that he eats everything for which he has an appetite.’ Aslam said: cUmar said, ‘There occurred to my heart a desire for fresh fish.’ He (Aslam) said: Yarfa’ mounted his camel and rode four miles there, four miles back, buying a basketful and bringing it back. Then he went to his camel, washed it, and went to cUmar.