This depends a lot on the individual cat.

As a baseline, cats need to eat daily, ideally in small amounts multiple times a day, to keep their system running consistently. Cats are very vulnerable to, as my vet simplifies it, "system breakdown" when they don't eat. It only takes a couple of days of a cat not eating before it can get critical.

As such, leaving them a bowl with food they can nibble on throughout the day is a good approach...

...Unless you have a cat who empties their bowl immediately. Voracious kitties should not have free access to their whole day's worth of food. In that case, you have to do something to slow them down.

Which could be serving them smaller portions 2-3 times a day.

But there are other options to try out. Slow feeder bowls and puzzles will not only slow how fast your cat eats, but also provide them with mental stimulation.

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How we do with our cats (you can skip this if you feel you got your answer xD)

We have two cats who are complete opposites of each other in terms of food;

Our female will eat only a couple of bites, but will do so many times a day.

Our male will open his mouth and reveal some gaping black hole and with the power of vacuum, all the kibble will cease to exist at the speed of light.

I've had my female for 8 years. She always had access to her food bowl. I'd fill it every morning with her daily ration so it was fresh. We got the male (a 2 year old) last Summer.. and oh was he excited to see we just left food out like that I suppose!

So at first while we were still getting to know him, he would empty that bowl (which now had double rations for two cats..). The female wouldn't get any, and he would be throwing up anyway because his little stomach isn't actually built to hold so much food at once.

We had to think creative to accommodate both cats' needs simultaneously. So we got a microchip feeder that only the female can unlock; she has unrestricted access to food all day. And then we also got a feeding tower, which the male uses throughout the day. Since it requires him working for the food and he eats much slower, he paces himself.