Serving meals, plated? serving bowls?

Pitlanepiglet

I'm interested in what others do about serving food.

We like to eat together (me, OH & my elderly Dad) and now I'm back home full time (I've been working away all week) it's fairly obvious to me that OH and Dad eat too much when I put the food in serving bowls on the table (I may do as well )

It leaves me with a bit of a dilemma, I like bowls of food as it means that everyone can take what they want and nobody feels obliged to eat everything. Sometimes if Dad isn't feeling very well he doesn't eat very much but as a war baby, he feels obliged to clear his plate so plating up isn't ideal plus it leads to waste. Also when OH's elderly mum comes she is really put off by a big plate of food but will eat well if she can take small amounts.

However, I often cook double amounts for two days but a couple of times they've eaten huge amounts which means that there isn't enough for the next day (although in portion terms there was more than enough IYSWIM?).

I suppose the answer is to cook double amounts but only put the right amount for each day out?

I'd be really interested in what others do.

MrsE_2

We plate some & bowl some.

For instance, if its steak, chips & salad, I would plate the steak & some chips & put excess chips in a bowl & make a bowl of salad.

hot.chick

I plate, but there's only two fo us -

Kitchenbunny

For the 2 of us I tend to put things on plates and to make sure we don't have too much on each of our plates I put a separate portion in a bowl. Generally I'll keep that warm and if either of us fancy a bit more then we can. Most of the time though, what's on our plates we eat and that's enough.

HTH

KB xx

jcr16

depends on the meal really.

were a family of 5 and always sit at the table for our meals. we are lucky to have a huge table, so even if we put all the food in the middle still lots of room to eat comfortably.

the family do enjoying the food in the middle, and serving themself's, and i do find they this way they eat lots better.

one meal we love in bowls is chilli con carne. were have a bowl of chilli, rice , tortilla chips, cheese and wraps. Yummy.

stiltwalker

Again, depends what the meal is, if we're having a selection of dishes like a curry or chinese or thai where I tend to do a bit overboard on the number of dishes I put all the bits in bowls in the centre. If it's a meat and veg or a pasta dish I serve up on the plate (but there are usually leftovers or seconds). If it's something with salad it' a bit of both, I'll put the something (quiche, chop, pasty whatever) on the plate an put he bowls of salad stuff in the middle of the able.

cooking-mama

Family of 4 here(2 adults, 1 teenager,+ 1. 12yr old) I always plate up on the dinner table(excess is kept in the kitchen rather than in bowls on the table)...I portion size in accordance to needs..OH has the biggest and youngest has the smallest portion...I have to do it this way otherwise there would be a big problem with portion control in this house(myself included)...anything left over is kept in the pot/dish its cooked in and if anyone is still hungry they can help themselves(otherwise i take it to work for my dinner the next day)

rosieben

yes, I'd keep tomorrow's half back in the kitchen if only a couple of us I used to plate up, but I love it when the family is here and we have serving dishes and can make the table look nice.

Vaila

if its just us (mum,dad,brother and i) we plate up our own food , as firstly we are a family of vegans,vegetarians and omnivores and also it allows everyone to take what they want. this is done in the kitchen before we eat at the table
but when we have guests we usually bring the bowls,plates etc to the table and everyone dishes up their food themselves there

Rebob

2 adults and 1 teenager here. I plate the dinner and keep a bit extra in the kitchen for incase someone does want a bit more. The excess it put in the fridge as soon as everyone has had enough and then I make something to go with it for the following days dinner.

bluebag

I always plate the food, we even have our own favourite plates. Very sad.
I insist vegetables are all eaten, but you can please yourself about the rest.