diff --git a/taskvine/src/manager/vine_manager.c b/taskvine/src/manager/vine_manager.c
index a9ca71d52f..44be61e1d2 100644
--- a/taskvine/src/manager/vine_manager.c
+++ b/taskvine/src/manager/vine_manager.c
@@ -114,6 +114,9 @@ See the file COPYING for details.
 /* Default value for how frequently to check for tasks that do not fit any worker. */
 #define VINE_LARGE_TASK_CHECK_INTERVAL 180000000 // 3 minutes in usecs
 
+/* Default value for how frequently to allow calls to vine_hungry_computation. */
+#define VINE_HUNGRY_CHECK_INTERVAL 5000000 // 5 seconds in usecs
+
 /* Default timeout for slow workers to come back to the pool, can be set prior to creating a manager. */
 double vine_option_blocklist_slow_workers_timeout = 900;
 
@@ -3947,6 +3950,7 @@ struct vine_manager *vine_ssl_create(int port, const char *key, const char *cert
 	q->max_task_stdout_storage = MAX_TASK_STDOUT_STORAGE;
 	q->max_new_workers = MAX_NEW_WORKERS;
 	q->large_task_check_interval = VINE_LARGE_TASK_CHECK_INTERVAL;
+	q->hungry_check_interval = VINE_HUNGRY_CHECK_INTERVAL;
 	q->option_blocklist_slow_workers_timeout = vine_option_blocklist_slow_workers_timeout;
 
 	q->manager_preferred_connection = xxstrdup("by_ip");
@@ -5201,16 +5205,11 @@ struct vine_task *vine_manager_no_wait(struct vine_manager *q, const char *tag,
 
 // check if workers' resources are available to execute more tasks queue should
 // have at least MAX(hungry_minimum, hungry_minimum_factor * number of workers) ready tasks
+// Usually not called directly, but by vine_hungry.
 //@param: 	struct vine_manager* - pointer to manager
 //@return: 	approximate number of additional tasks if hungry, 0 otherwise
-int vine_hungry(struct vine_manager *q)
+int vine_hungry_computation(struct vine_manager *q)
 {
-	// check if manager is initialized
-	// return false if not
-	if (q == NULL) {
-		return 0;
-	}
-
 	struct vine_stats qstats;
 	vine_get_stats(q, &qstats);
 
@@ -5315,6 +5314,25 @@ int vine_hungry(struct vine_manager *q)
 	return min;
 }
 
+int vine_hungry(struct vine_manager *q)
+{
+	if (!q) {
+		return 0;
+	}
+
+	timestamp_t current_time = timestamp_get();
+
+	if (current_time - q->time_last_hungry + q->hungry_check_interval > 0) {
+		q->time_last_hungry = current_time;
+		q->tasks_waiting_last_hungry = priority_queue_size(q->ready_tasks);
+		q->tasks_to_sate_hungry = vine_hungry_computation(q);
+	}
+
+	int dispatched_since = q->tasks_waiting_last_hungry - priority_queue_size(q->ready_tasks);
+
+	return MAX(0, q->tasks_to_sate_hungry - dispatched_since);
+}
+
 int vine_workers_shutdown(struct vine_manager *q, int n)
 {
 	struct vine_worker_info *w;
diff --git a/taskvine/src/manager/vine_manager.h b/taskvine/src/manager/vine_manager.h
index 4b669d03dd..b6951937f5 100644
--- a/taskvine/src/manager/vine_manager.h
+++ b/taskvine/src/manager/vine_manager.h
@@ -176,6 +176,12 @@ struct vine_manager {
 	int file_source_max_transfers;
 	int worker_source_max_transfers;
 
+	/* Hungry call optimization */
+	timestamp_t time_last_hungry;      /* Last time vine_hungry_computation was called. */
+	int tasks_to_sate_hungry;          /* Number of tasks that would sate the queue since last call to vine_hungry_computation. */
+	int tasks_waiting_last_hungry;     /* Number of tasks originally waiting when call to vine_hungry_computation was made. */
+	timestamp_t hungry_check_interval; /* Maximum interval between vine_hungry_computation checks. */
+
 	/* Various performance knobs that can be tuned. */
 	int short_timeout;            /* Timeout in seconds to send/recv a brief message from worker */
 	int long_timeout;             /* Timeout if in the middle of an incomplete message. */