CROCKERY SIZES IN THE 1960's?

anguk

After reading this thread I decided to go and measure my dinner plates.

DD & I use cheapy plates that I got from Ikea and they're just over 9in but my OH prefer 2 other plates that I've got (I think DS bought them from Debenhams) and they're 12 & 13in! :eek:

Portion size is very important, I've noticed that when my OH is in hospital he always loses weight, despite having cereal & toast for breakfast, soup & sandwiches for lunch and dinner and pudding for his evening meal. But when he comes home he puts the weight straight back on (and more) and I'm sure this is mainly down to portion size because his plate at home is bigger than he gets in hospital. Plus in hospital you get your evening meal at about 5.30pm then nothing else until breakfast.

OH desperately needs to lose a few stone so I'm going to follow the hospital principle, smaller portions on a smaller plate. Although I will have to find some healthy snacks for him to eat in the evening because that's the one thing he would complain about in hospital, the long gap between evening meal and breakfast.

Cereal portions are another thing, in my house everyone tends to use a soup bowl when they pour the cereal out of the big box! But if I've bought those individual cereal portions when they're on offer 1 box only actually fills a small bowl.

darkblue_2

Plus in hospital you get your evening meal at about 5.30pm then nothing else until breakfast.

To be fair, he has a point about moaning. That's a long wait until breakfast, unless he falls asleep at 8pm!

I generally have my evening meal at 7pm.

Bronnie

I had a china tea set on my wedding list 30 years ago and it's probably been used half a dozen times. Earlier this year, I put it in the cupboard with the everyday stuff and have started to use it.

There really is no point in keeping it for "best", it's pretty and I might as well enjoy using it. I don't know that future generations will particularly cherish them. I don't really care any more that my crockery doesn't all match anyway!

The china cups are too small for me for tea, I like a mugfull, but my DD and I have been using them for desserts this summer. The cup and saucer look very pretty with strawberries and cream or a dollop of trifle and are a sensible size portion. The saucers are fine as a little plate for a cake or scone etc and I've been using them this summer when we have those "picky" kind of suppers, where you have little dishes of this and that with bread and cheese, IYKWIM!

This kind of china is surprisingly durable and resists cracking and chipping far better than much of the cheapo supermarket stuff. I'm far happier using up what I've already got than wasting money buying new.

....and I've still got my mum's 2 teasets in reserve !

Agapanthus

ceridwen wrote: »

My other bugbear is that I do like a glass of wine with dinner and I have some glasses of "standard" size - ie the "old" size of 125ml - but I can't find wine in the "old" strength (ie 8%/9% proof) - as these days wine tends to be around 12% proof.

I bought some bottles of non-alcoholic wine (google for alcohol-free wine) and when I want a weaker glass of wine I dilute the strong wine with that. It makes a very pleasant drink, I find.

I'm with you on the large glasses - particularly in pub measures. 175ml is a lot more than a standard 125ml glass, while a large glass of wine is 250ml - the equivalent of two standard glasses. Very few pubs will serve you a standard 125ml glass.

ceridwen

Bronnie wrote: »

I had a china tea set on my wedding list 30 years ago and it's probably been used half a dozen times. Earlier this year, I put it in the cupboard with the everyday stuff and have started to use it.

There really is no point in keeping it for "best", it's pretty and I might as well enjoy using it. I don't know that future generations will particularly cherish them. I don't really care any more that my crockery doesn't all match anyway!

The china cups are too small for me for tea, I like a mugfull, but my DD and I have been using them for desserts this summer. The cup and saucer look very pretty with strawberries and cream or a dollop of trifle and are a sensible size portion. The saucers are fine as a little plate for a cake or scone etc and I've been using them this summer when we have those "picky" kind of suppers, where you have little dishes of this and that with bread and cheese, IYKWIM!

This kind of china is surprisingly durable and resists cracking and chipping far better than much of the cheapo supermarket stuff. I'm far happier using up what I've already got than wasting money buying new.

....and I've still got my mum's 2 teasets in reserve !

I think its nice to have something "pretty" to eat food off myself - and why not?:D

Different people will have different things that they think are pretty - but each to their own on that. Personally - I like blue and white crockery on the one hand or something thats pure plain white on the other hand - but thats just me.

This thread has got me thinking a bit and I've looked out a blue and white Italian pasta bowl I have - which I think is probably about the right size for a "correct" size bowl of pasta and its sitting there right now (awaiting tonights dinner finishing cooking...) and I have duly measured out 75grams of pasta for the sauce....errr....<cough> I've been doing 4oz of pasta for myself and calculated out today that thats 115gram.....:o:o

I headed up into the loft to see what I've got left after decluttering - and...darn...darn...darn have decluttered the espresso cups I had by the look of it - so will have to do my "experimenting with an espresso cup measure" in my "standard old size wineglasses". I googled how much an espresso cup holds and came up with the answer of between 20-35ml of liquid:cool:. Well my wineglasses hold the old standard size of 125ml (with appropriate gap at top) and that comes to 4oz for instance of dry lentils...hmmm....

I certainly think there are some very pretty mini cup and saucer sets around and they would look very nice with a bit of pudding in them:D

Another thought I have is those little mini Chinese dishes that some of us have. I have got a set of mini Chinese blue and white dishes that might just do nicely for mini size pudding helpings:D..dont know what they are actually meant for in Chinese cuisine terms...but...hey...a bit of repurposing does no harm...:D

seraphina

I also think nowadays in addition to extra servings, people expect far fancier food every day. I think it's easy to get the idea that we should all be eating Nigella styleee every night - it's almost impossible to find a cookbook that has, what I consider to be, normal healthy everyday meals, without lashings of cream,butter or cheese....

I do weigh out pasta and rice religiously as I find it so difficult to judge a portion size - for the two of us I do 4oz dry rice, for example, and MrS hasn't complained of short measures yet.

ceridwen

seraphina wrote: »

I do weigh out pasta and rice religiously as I find it so difficult to judge a portion size - for the two of us I do 4oz dry rice, for example, and MrS hasn't complained of short measures yet.

Right - so, according to that, then 2oz dry rice would be one persons measure then? Wow - have I ever got some re-calculating to do....:cool::o

I've just got this thing in my head that I must be generous to guests and no-one is to leave my table hungry - but I really really do need to recalibrate when it comes to just feeding myselt alone....

Only plus point is that I've obviously not got a metabolism/thyroid/etc problem or something - because, with the amount I eat, I would be the size of a house by now if I did....:rotfl::rotfl:.

I admit to really liking food and its quite a hobby of mine - though I'm a "fussy biddy" about what I eat in some ways...I'm one of the first to be there with saucepan and wooden spoon at the ready to try out a new recipe or sample a new food (as long as its vegetarian in my case...)....so really really got to persuade myself that its okay to be "mean" with servings if its only me thats eating them.....<cough>

Kitcaboodle

We picked the smaller Denby plates for our wedding list & use them. Good for me, as it helps reduce my portions. Not so good for DH as he just goes back again quarter of an hour later for another plate full and then follows it up with a big bowl of yoghurt & jam!

ceridwen

Kitcaboodle wrote: »

We picked the smaller Denby plates for our wedding list & use them. Good for me, as it helps reduce my portions. Not so good for DH as he just goes back again quarter of an hour later for another plate full and then follows it up with a big bowl of yoghurt & jam!

Had a quick google and guess that means you are using what they call "breakfast plates" at 9" size then...

DH would eat more than you - as I think a womans calorific needs are about 1900 per day and a mans 2400 per day. Its somewhere in that region anyway and you may be a diddy little woman and hes a particularly tall man - which would increase the difference between your needs in that respect too...

*************

I'm still sitting here asking myself how I feel about the 75grams of pasta I had at dinner today...compared to my normal 115grams...hmmm...well...I'm not hungry...I could "eat a little more" as the saying goes....but its got to be a good idea to do this. I've had all I need - just not all I want...

LameWolf

What an interesting thread; and certainly food for thought, if I may put it that way.:o

tcr wrote: »

My parents, grandparents had two lots of china. Rough & tumble stuff for day to day life ... the dinner plates were either 9" or 10" ... but they also had their "wedding china" for "special occasions" and it was that which had 12" dinner plates. The wedding china was invariably kept in a glass cabinet, my parents never once used theirs ... I guess there was nothing special to ever celebrate in our house !

It's quite sad, really, when you go into charity shops and discover really old fashioned wedding china which was lovingly looked after, but never used ... and now totally unwanted.

Mr LW inherited two "decent" dinner services from him Mum; we use them whenever we can think of an excuse, as he says it's daft to have the stuff just sitting in the cupboard, unloved.

darkblue wrote: »

But is it really the plates fault?

I heard of a diet of using children's cutlery, which is based loosely on the same principle. It's about when you feel full compared to clearing a plate.

Did anyone else have the experience I did as a child, of never being allowed to leave the table til your plate was empty? I'm sure that contributes to many people feeling they have to eat every morsel on the plate.