Portion sizes (meat, fish and other protein)

meritaten

OMG! My OH would think I was trying to starve him if I only gave him two sausages! unless it was with four rashers and two eggs and not to mention the side of mushrooms, tomatoes and fried bread (and occasionally black pudding)!
Sausage and mash means four sausages for him, a mound of mashed potato and a green veg in a moderate serving and loads of onion gravy!
One reason we dont do ready meals is that the portions are soooooo measly!

Pazu

Hi Mardatha
Just wanted to say how sorry I am that times are rough for you especially when you were so kind to me. Can't help with the portions as we're vege here. I would go with the idea of cutting the sausage or chicken up and serving it with cheaper stuff in a sauce or stew. At least that way small portions are disguised.
Pazu

suzybloo

We usually have a pound of mince to do 4-5 portions depending on what is in it, if its onions diced carrots, diced turnip and then I put doughballs in for the last tewnty mins it would do 5 definately, possibly six. It would be served with MAsh. Sometimes instead of doughballs I would serve white pudding or flaky pastry. Sausage wise Hubby has three if they are stewed with liver or served with ..... as above doughballs, pastry, white pudding etc. If they are as a fry up he would have two, two rashers, fried egg, black pudding and beans, I would have one sauseage, one rasher and everything else the same. Chicken wise he always has the leg, and possibly some of the 'pickings', with the usual veg. Fish wise the slices I buy from the fish merchant comes in at about 3 slices per pound.... so roughly 5-6oz, served with peas/beans and chips. I only have one course but he always has two, so it would be soup or pudding with the above, Soup is generally home made, puddings vary from sponge and custard, HM rice pudding, etc. He is not overweight at all but does have a very manual job. His piece box daily has two rolls, four slice bread, two pieces of cake/Tea bread, two choc bisc, HM sausage roll/scotch egg, quiche and packet of crisps. FIllings for his pieces are salad - thank goodness the lettuce is coming on!!!, cheese, egg, coldmeat, cold mince!!!!eeek, jam. SO we are quite a bit for shopping in a week, but I cannot cut back as it would be unfair given that he leaves the house at 5 most mornings and is not back until 7 at the earliest most evenings, so we could not manage on anything like these menus either.
We were just discussing portion sizes the other day, and like you, what they are portraying in these made to fit all menus would not suit our family circle/lifestyle. I also think that location has a lot to do with portion sizes especially in the winter, if you live in an area that is colder, harsher, it may be that energy is burnt in just trying to do daily chores, keeping warm etc compared to somewhere that is much milder.
Saying that though I am now reducing portion sizes (especially for myself) and increasing the veg and also setting out bread and butter more often than ever before.
Hope you turn the corner soon Mardatha,

Suzy

GreyQueen

Hi Mardatha and I'm sorry life's knocking you about a bit; this weather is appalling and enough to make anybody want to crawl under the duvet with a huge stash of chocolate and have a major moodie. Take care, hun.

I'd consider a mere 2 sausages a light snack, not the protein component of a main meal and I don't have to excuse of a manly appetite (am just a strapping 5' 11" female who keels over if underfed.:o)

Second or third the advice about spreading chunks of sausage (or other protein) among good ballast such as pasta/ beany things to bulk it out. Good peasant cooking the world over is hearty and filling but light on the expensive meat element.

I've had sausages for tea as we'd had a c*ck-up with going out for the day without taking the intended stuff from the freezer and we bought "Riverway" brand Lincolnshire sausages from T*sco today at two quid for 12 and very nice they were indeed. We had 3 each (4 at table tonight) and lots of tatties, steamed carrots and 2 cans of baked beans ........told yer I was common, din't I? All adults with good appetites and no one went hungry. Persuaded Mum to get 2 more packs which she'd split into freezer bags as they'll eat them at 3 per serving per person.

In my childhood, we ate toad-in-the-hole lots of times with the batter eking out the sausages.

:eek: Ahem, if anyone wants to try some rude food, a pal of mine has a party trick of cooking mini toad-in-the-holes in bun tins with a portion of sausage positioned vertically in the middle. Shan't say what it looks like (children may be present) but it's certainly good for a laugh.............:rotfl:

ginnyknit

Really all i can do is echo what everyone says. The weather must be getting you down, Im sure a dose of sunshine is desperately needed for you. As for portions, me and Oh have 2 sausages each with veg and a pile of mash and gravy. If Oh was his old self he would need 3 or 4 sausages tho. You need a filling meal especially in the winter up where you are or you would fade away. Even if I do macaroni cheese theres a good few rashers of bacon or whatever meat is around plus oinion and sweetcorn ( if theres any left). these meal plans are ok but you have to tailor them to your needs and would probably for most people cost more than they suggest. Hugs ginny

mardatha

i feel a right moany old sow now. LOL - sorry!! I think I've lost my sense of proportion and need to keep the heid. Some of the prob is he cant eat a lot of carbs... and some of the problem is that I havent done a proper shop or menu plan or meal for weeks. Just lost all ooomph. But it will come back cos there's no bloody option. If I did a proper meal with a pudding then I dare say the smaller portions woud be more acceptable. And I think they are making them smaller to get the cost down and promote their eating plans. So need to try to do a sensible well priced menu plan and stop trying to be miss perfect. LOL Am not cut out for it!

ginnyknit

You are not moany! you needed to talk and we were all here for you. Am sending you a bucket of sunshine (borrowed from GQ) and a my hopes that you feel more like your old self soon. You are always first when I need a friend so right back at you mate:hello:

bluebag

mardatha wrote: »

i feel a right moany old sow now. LOL - sorry!! I think I've lost my sense of proportion and need to keep the heid. Some of the prob is he cant eat a lot of carbs... and some of the problem is that I havent done a proper shop or menu plan or meal for weeks. Just lost all ooomph. But it will come back cos there's no bloody option. If I did a proper meal with a pudding then I dare say the smaller portions woud be more acceptable. And I think they are making them smaller to get the cost down and promote their eating plans. So need to try to do a sensible well priced menu plan and stop trying to be miss perfect. LOL Am not cut out for it!

I don't have an RV, I am the proud owner of a Sarcastic Saggitarian! I don't know what sausages look like worn as earrings, but should I put just two on the plate I may well find out.LOL.

I give the old boy a good helping of meat as I can manage, he would quite happily live on meat alone, his cholesterol testifies to that so I have to be inventive, luckily he likes beans and pulses so I chuck loads of those in with stuff. ( got to keep the cholesterol down somehow)

I am a tiny srawny wretch, but even I have three fat sausages, and that's in toad in the hole too.

Sending you some super mojo missus, it's all that rain that's doing it, you got rust on the brain.:)

Softstuff

We'd normally have 2 thick sausages each. But we're not big on meat here, and I generally eke it out with things like beans, chickpeas, lentils etc. The sausages I cooked the other day we only had 1 1/2 each, but they were real monsters that seemed to swell rather than shrink as they cooked.

I don't get those meal plans online either. There's never enough ballast for us, since I'm always padding meals out with grated this or that and a good serve of starch on the side. But then again I couldn't meal plan this way in any case, since I buy whichever fruit, veg and meat is cheap so that dictates what I cook. If I find a couple of aubergines cheap, I'd make moussaka, but I'd never put that in a meal plan with full priced veg.

bluebag

Those meal plans are for the Borrowers!