Plate up or self serve?

I plate up. We’re a small family and I know exactly what everyone likes.

Decanting into serving dishes means more washing up, more dishes that need warming up when oven space is already short, more delay before we start eating so more time for the food to go cold.

If anyone wants another roast potato or pig in blanket or whatever, they can still have it - they’ll just be taking it from a cooking pan rather than a serving dish.

I carve up a plate of meat and put in centre of table on a large meat platter so Turkey and glazed gammon then roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings and mashed potatoes go in the hot buffet server and pigs in blankets, stuffing, sausage meat and various vegetables all go in serving dishes on the table. 2 jugs of gravy a turkey one and a vegetarian one. DH is a vegetarian and has his own lentil loaf he cuts a couple of slices from and he has it Boxing day too. Everyone serves themself everything. People take what they want. I hate having my meals served up on a plate for me because I like lots of carrots but no Brussel sprouts, no parsnips but lots of peas etc.

Self serve. And not just at Christmas, this is how we eat. If left to it, my husband would serve me a humongous plate of food and I wouldn’t be able to eat more than a quarter of it.

Well you take small amounts first and can always come in for seconds (or thirds).
Although asking before you take the last is just polite.
There will always be morethan what is eaten, but any leftovers are stored in the fridge and eaten on christmas day when nobody wants to cook anyway.

Self serve but with an initial limit of three pigs in blankets per person - you can always get more but otherwise DD1 would have ALL of them.

Plate up, I do for my eldest who is disabled and would struggle to wait if there was a queue of people serving themselves in the kitchen, or if everyone was pushing at once it would be too much. We normally have Xmas dinner at my parents’ who are used to our preferences, and I do roasts over the Xmas break.

Does anyone else get anxious with self serve? I’ve been thinking about this and wondering why I do (I do get anxious easily though…). I think part of it is navigating ‘shoulds’, eg, as I taking too much/leaving enough for others, will I be hungry or too full, if I don’t take enough now, will any remain etc.

I think I prefer others to plate up for me, that way I know what I’m working with and can just get on and eat it.

Having said that, it depends on how well people know you as to whether they get quantities and options right.

Someone else plating up for you at home isn't giving a shit about the visuals. I care about the visuals

We always plate up.

Our kitchen or table isn't big enough to do anything else

Restaurants plate up to a set layout they create when they put the dish on the menu specifically to make it look appealing.

Someone else plating up for you at home isn't giving a shit about the visuals.

I dish up. I find it much easier that way to make sure we have the right quantities. I can’t make loads too much as we have a small oven so I cook enough and then have bits and bobs people can snack on after if they’re still hungry (no one ever says they are).

We plate but our kitchen is like a restaurant kitchen so we have hot plates (from a warming cupboard which can be set at anything from 40 to 100°) and restaurant heat lamps to keep the food warm. There's only ever 4 of us and it's done to order so everyone gets exactly what they want. I've been to self serve Christmas lunch and the luke warm food and congealed gravy is what prompted the restaurant equipment in our kitchen.

We're having Fondue so thats pretty self-explanatory.
Otherwise always self-serve. It's the norm in Germany.
I honestly don't care about food waste in Restaurants but I do at home.

I wouldn’t like to walk round an island in a weird queue. Surely if you do that, plates can only be warm (not hot) and by the time everyone has made their way to the dining room, it will all be cold?

It depends who for us - just the two of us, we’ll serve onto plates. If we have guests, we’ll put everything in warm serving dishes on the dining table.

Self serve with 2 x the options at each end of table to avoid reaching / wait

How do you cope with going to,a restaurant?

I plate up meat and roast potatoes, stuffing balls and pigs in blankets, everything else is self serve on the table because everyone wants more or less of different bits. I also hate watching the food go cold while I negotiate with people over the parsnips.

Turkey carved on the island, I generally serve that out but with guidance for serving size. Everything else on the table. Generally a big dish of the roasted things and another dish or 2 of the steamed bits all in the middle of the table (goes back in the oven before we eat to keep warm) plus jugs of gravy, bowl of pigs in blankets, dish of bread sauce etc.

Self serve, wouldn’t dream of anything else, we do this for every dinner even with close family.

I always get people to serve themselves. I have no idea how hungry someone else is.

Also wondering how you cope with restaurants Hoppinggreen?

Definitely self serve

I plate but in consultation so everyone gets what they want - but we usually only have six of us. Food is then left on the worktop in the kitchen while we eat in the dining room so people can go back for extras!

For normal meals we put dishes on the table and help ourselves but for Xmas dinner all the dishes go on the kitchen island like a buffet.

How big are people's dining tables that they can fit all those serving dishes on?! Ours seats 8 and is a standard width but there's no way we'd be able to fit everything on there.

Plated but it’s only me, DH and DC’s so I know exactly who likes what.