How many courses at dinner?

dandy-candy

We usually just have the main meal at dinner, and occasionally an hour or so later might have a bit of ice cream if there is any in the freezer.

I notice a lot of older cook books have menu plans that start with a soup. Although it would be more time consuming I'm wondering if it would be cheaper as my husband usually likes a big helping of meat, but if I could fill him up a bit with a veg soup first then maybe he wouldn't eat so much as his main!

Do other people here serve more that one course at dinner?

kathrynha

Most of the time we have just 1 course, although the fruit bowl is available all the time.
About once a month on a Sunday I will do a pudding.


Only time I do a starter is for special occasions.

For saving money I fluff out the meat with other stuff like veg in curries, spag bol, chilli etc. and for a roast dinner I do plenty of side dishes and always plate up the meals.

C_J

It's rare for me to do a starter for just an everyday supper, but the exception is that I'll very often make onion bhajis as a starter when we're having curry.

We definitely eat far less of the main course when we've had a starter so maybe it's a good idea. It somehow feels a bit special to have two courses too, even if the first is just soup

pigpen

My OH often has something while I'm cooking.. a sandwich or cereal and still has double my portion of food..

Islandmaid

We rarely make a starter, special meals like Christmas, or a romantic evening maybe would have the 3 course treatment, but I would make a dessert for Sunday lunch, or if we were having a lighter evening meal, such as HM soup, then I would make a pud for those who want it.

Anne_Marie_2

When we were kids, we always had soup with bread, main course and sweet. The soup was always a filling one, made with broth, split peas or lentils.
I always served soup and then a main course when I had children, and if there was room afterwards, would be ice cream or yoghourt.

Nowadays, unless entertaining, it's usually just one course.

DigForVictory

One of the godfathers is on a tight budget but even when five of us descend (incl three teenage boys), he serves soup. Home made, real ingredients (almost always acknowledging what has been eaten in the previous week) and delicious. His freezer has bones & carcasses awaiting the soup pot as well as the impressive joints of meat bought when on promotion.

We visit him willingly, whereas other relatives don't seem to get that the boys judge on repletion not style. We try to take things he enjoys that he won't buy for himself, like kippers, but the most successful house present so far has been reference cookbooks for cake decoration.

Try your man on a good soup then the main course, but definitely have something liquid to heat & eat in an hurry - protect your plans!

[Deleted User]

Portions used to be considerably smaller than they are today, I've some cookery books where the standard amount of meat to serve 4 adults was 12 oz so 3 oz each which is something like 75grams. The soup course and pudding were needed in everyday life to fill the gaps so you weren't hungry. Norfolk and Suffolk used to serve a dumpling with gravy or a Yorkshire pudding with gravy as a starter and things like steamed puddings and custard or milk puddings like rice pudding or semolina were often served as they were relatively cheap. There wasn't the snacking back then so sweets were an occasional treat, crisps were only available plain and such a rare treat if your parents went out for a drink we kids would get a glass of orange squash and a packet of crisps outside in the car park, we weren't allowed into the pub. Fish and chips were the only available takeaway in our village and again rarely had but lovely when we did. We had a bakery but bought cakes were only for birthdays or really special occasions although sometimes I'd be sent down to the bakery late on a Saturday afternoon for a bag of 'stale cakes' as there was no opening on Sundays and they had to get rid of the last of the days bake. Bit of a lottery as to what you got though but always a treat.

[Deleted User]

Mrs Lurchwalker thats spot on My late Mum always gave us either soup followed by dinner or dinner followed by a pudding but never all three I still do the same and I love making soup as its so cheap and nourishing.As a child of rationing crisps were unheard of in our house and it was three meals a day plus a cup of cocoa if you were lucky before bed.Very few sweets at all because of rationing and even then we had to share I still slice a Mars bar up in wafer thin slices, and did so when my children were young.My grandsons always ask me to slice them up for me and they too share their sweets if they have any.

I think if my old Mum was alive today she would be horrified at the amount of food actually consumed in the street We were only allowed to eat at the table unless we were having a picnic meal outside in the summer.Today you see people eating or drinking whilst they are walking along and I wonder why they haven't eaten before they came out.The only outside food I will eat on holiday is usually an ice cream with my DGS, usually when we are on the beach.

The streets seem to be littered with take-away cartons discarded.I just wish folk would learn to take-away their rubbish as well,or at least put it in a bin

meritaten

as usual Jackie I agree with every word - I think part of the obesity problem is not that people are not eating 3 square meals a day - but they are also eating the equivalent between meals! I know people who will have breakfast or lunch but then buy a pie or pasty or baguette to munch on for elevenses! do that a couple of times a day every day and you are piling on the calories and the pounds!

LameWolf

I agree about the discarded food cartons. It breaks my heart to see the amount of rubbish when I take the dogs out.:(

To answer the OP - we don't have a starter because I wouldn't be able to eat my main course if we did. We have just the mains (Mr LW has twice what I do) then a small helping of dessert an hour or so later, if I can cope with it -I can't always. I never snack between meals.

Just as an aside, one thing that amazes me is that so many people are unable to see a film at the cinema without consuming a giant sized container of popcorn.