Increase in portion sizes?

thriftmonster

Has anyone else noticed this?

I have a selection of BeRo books dating from the 1970s onwards and in the first one I have -the weight of one egg for a sponge pudding feeds 4. In later ones the weight of 2 eggs feeds 4-6. This could be the equivalent of doubling a portion size.

In the same vein I have a Marguerite Patten book from the 70s where 1 plaice fillet is seen as plenty for 1 person, but in contemporary books, portions are always given as 2-3 plaice fillets per person.

Were we supposed to fill up on more veg etc - which would be a lot healthier? I have to admit I find it odd when I read some current celebrity cookbooks and they tell me to get 2-3lbs of meat for 4 of us.

Interested to know if anyone else has noticed this........

Magentasue

I haven't noticed it but I remember finding recipes that said they served four were enough for me and OH before children! That said, children today (hark at me gran talking) are getting bigger portions if they eat at fast food places so maybe it's a bit of both. Older recipes a bit meagre, today's a bit over the top?

Then again, OH is always banging on about how Wagon Wheels used to be the size of real wagon wheels.

annie-c

I don't follow recipes very often (though I have a huge pile of recipe books...:rolleyes: ) but I tend to ignore the portion sizes if I do. In restaurants I would think nothing of eating an 8oz steak, for example, but when I make spag bol I always bulk my recipe out with lentils and veg so that each (large) portion has no more than 3-4oz lean meat in it.

Olliebeak

When cooking anything with minced beef, I find that 250gms is plenty between OH and myself - often with some left over to be frozen for jacket potato toppings - depending on what I've mixed with it (onions, peppers, kidney beans, mixed beans, ratatouille, mixed veggies or lentils).

When I buy minced beef, stewing steak, diced/minced turkey, I always buy packs of 500gms, but then split them into two 250gms amounts, put into small bags and freeze. Liver I buy in packs of 750grms and divide into two small margarine tubs (just fits nicely) and freeze.

Lesson learned after freezing 500gms of minced beef, and then having to defrost and cook the whole darn lot. Which OH then finished off during the evening by 'scaving' behind my back :mad: !!! Have to say that this was BEFORE I learned to cook extra, cool and freeze into portions before he could get at it :rotfl: .

LameWolf

Often I find that if a recipe says it serves 4, if I make half the amount (ie enough to serve 2), it's quite sufficient for the two of us for two days. Admittedly, I don't eat very much, but Mr LW has a pretty healthy appetite; but he never complains that I haven't given him enough to eat.

Butterfly_Brain

I too halve the meat in a recipe and bulk out with veggies, broth mix etc. Meat is a horrendous price so I tend to stick to chicken or mince. I love beef stew but i had a look at the price of Braising steak today and had a hissy fit, what gets me is stewing steak is nearly as expensive as braising steak and to look at some of the packets - it is not fit to feed a dog!