Xmas Dinner - Plate up or Self Serve?

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  • Dormouse1940
    Dormouse1940 Posts: 484 Forumite
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    Goodness me it's a minefield! I never knew!


    Oddly, was discussing this with the boyfriend the other day- normally for a roast we have everything in serving dishes and we help ourselves, but we have extra people round this Xmas so space round the dining table will be a bit (and couldn't fit 5 adults in the kitchen at the same time either).
    for this reason we reckoned it'd be much easier to plate ip everything together and keep additional plates on the table to a minimum.


    I never realised it was such a big thing for some people though :S
    Living thriftily ;) most of the time
  • Spendless
    Spendless Posts: 24,150 Forumite
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    Depends on how many you've got coming and the space available. My mum would plate it up with everything she was cooking and tell you to leave the items you didn't like, so there was no this one doesn't like stuffing, they like stuffing but not sprouts etc.

    I've either plated or used our hostess trolley. It's a side one that remains on, so I don't know how the food would end up cold when serving from it?
  • suki1964
    suki1964 Posts: 14,313 Forumite
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    image-2.jpg

    That's our Christmas dinner. All on a large platter with pasta bowls used for veggies


    Sorry it's sideways. Using the phone and can't edit it to turn
  • Izadora
    Izadora Posts: 2,047 Forumite
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    We haven't got the space to have everything in dishes on the table but the kitchen/dining room are quite open plan so everyone picks what they want while a couple of us plate it all up and then leftovers are all left on the breakfast bar for everyone to help themselves to more of anything as they fancy it.
  • tizofus
    tizofus Posts: 1 Newbie
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    Many times buffet-style dinner means that there is no set table, and you sit. I have a bakers rack in the dinning room set up for self serve drinks.
  • rach_k
    rach_k Posts: 2,236 Forumite
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    Why does plating up for people keep things hotter?

    Our roast dinners go in hot dishes in the middle of the table, then everybody serves themselves the nearest thing to them, then passes things along. Surely it's quicker to have 6 people serving themselves than for one person to serve 6 dinners? I suppose for things that can stay on the hob (with it on!), plating in the kitchen might make sense but most of our food come out of the oven/off the heat to rest/drain so that doesn't apply.
  • Silvertabby
    Silvertabby Posts: 9,023 Forumite
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    edited 18 December 2018 at 2:34PM
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    My mum always used to 'plate up' - and I hated it. Despite my saying that I loathed sprouts and soggy mashed carrot, and didn't want 8 roasties, she would insist on piling everything onto our plates until they resembled multi-coloured Mount Everests. ("Because it's Christmas"). Then, when we failed to clear our plates, she would moan about us 'wasting good food'.

    I plate the turkey and put the rest in serving dishes on the table - but mum still tried to pile sprouts onto my plate ('because it's Christmas').
  • heartbreak_star
    heartbreak_star Posts: 8,286 Forumite
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    Amused by the resurrection of a four-year-old thread haha!

    Serve yourself from pans/cooking dishes. The cook needs a rest too.

    (Although if I had to cook Christmas dinner, we'd be at the local carvery!)

    HBS x
    "I believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another."

    "It's easy to know what you're against, quite another to know what you're for."

    #Bremainer
  • sillyvixen
    sillyvixen Posts: 3,615 Forumite
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    My mum always used to plate up Christmas dinner, she knew who ate what veggies ... I can't get my head round this, I serve 5 veg types and I will eat all - but the only common ground is sprouts. I put Turkey, potatoes , pigs in blankets and parsnips on the plate and everyone helps themselves to veg from dishes so they get what they want, gravy is also on the table in a vintage boat but extra is available from the Pyrex jug if necessary.
    Dogs return to eat their vomit, just as fools repeat their foolishness. There is no more hope for a fool than for someone who says, "i am really clever!"
  • Sea_Shell
    Sea_Shell Posts: 9,376 Forumite
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    Sometimes plating up is the only way to stop some people getting in quick and taking way too many Roasties or Pigs in Blankets. At least you can get things fairly equal initially, and then put the "seconds" in dishes. I was left with no PiB one year, as I was last on the "pass the dish round the table".
    How's it going, AKA, Nutwatch? - 12 month spends to date = 2.31% of current retirement "pot" (as at end March 2024)
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