To wonder if I am greedy or do some people serve really small portions?

[TheHouseOnTheLane]

I don't think I'm greedy....I'm a slim person...size 10-12 UK and 5 foot 6.

I don't binge or anything but when I eat a roast dinner, I do want more than 2 potatoes!

When MIL cooks anything she always seems to underestimate amounts....so there's for eg 2 potatoes per adult and one per kids...not a lot of meat and two other vegetables....curry...she'll do enough rice so people get two dessert spoonsfull.

That's not enough is it?

And no...they're not big spuds, MIL isn't poor either....she's very generous with everything else!

It does sound a little stingy... your MIL is probably like mine, she can't bear the idea of any food being wasted, so would rather cook too little than too much.

Better than my mum though who cooks masses of carbs and we all overeat!

My mum does this too. She doesn't have much appetite herself and assumes everyone will feel well fed on the same amount she eats.

I work on the assumption that I will never succeed in changing this so I take my own snacks.

They do.

I once went to an evening informal gathering, arrived at 6pm and at 9pm were given one slice of a takeout pizza. Apparently there was a couple of extra slices in case any of the men were very hungry. Not good when lots of alcohol was being served. We couldnt leave until 11 when we stopped off st a drive thru on the way home.

My mil on the other hand loads plates son high it's sould destroying. No one needs a pile of mash, burgers and lasagne.

As she has gotten older, my mil's appetite has decreased,and she serves tiny portions and bizarre combinations as well lol

Soul destroying.

I know a few people like this - I'm a hungry Horace so I tend to bring some rice cakes or crisis when I visit them. I don't know why they're not hungry - they're not skinny, though, I guess they just don't need much. My sister, for example, she eats tiny portions of dinner, but loves things like milk and cake. She's just not a great lover of food food. Goes without saying she has a great figure and lovely skin

These people also serve a main course on a side plate like they think that's normal - my sister would give me a couple of small new potatoes and a spoonful of salad on the kind of plate you'd have for bread and butter. SO HUNGRY.

Sounds ok to me tbh. 2 potatoes plenty for a roast.

We have some friends we stay with a couple of times a year who eat tiny amounts. She is one of those people who forgets to eat though so I guess it's not a high priority for her.

When they come to us though, they eat huge quantities and always have seconds. We are self confessed greedy piggies though so maybe we are wrong and they are right.

Thank God! I thought I must be a right trougher!

Thing is that MIL always says "Hmm....I should have made more..." but NEVER DOES!

Laurie God you're one of THEM! I eat 4 or 5!

I always make more than necessary when we have people over - the embarassment of guests going hungry outweighs my hatred of waste.

Two roast potatoes is a "shit more people have turned up than I realised" portion

laurie Sounds ok to me tbh. 2 potatoes plenty for a roast.

.... no.

just no.

I can never understand how people 'forget to eat' - I would actually love to be one of those people - I can think of two occasions in my whole life where I have purposefully 'missed' a meal (and one of those was when I was doing a sponsored fast ).

I do have a problem with portion size as I love to eat, when I have successfully lost weight (which I frequently need to do) it is mainly because I drastically reduce my portions, I do think in general, many of us serve and eat much more than we really 'need'.

I think 2 is fine tbh. It's not like your only having potato for dinner. With meat, and a few different veg it would be a full plate.

Haha I could have written your post. If we go for curry my in laws order one naan bread... Between 5!

When DH and I first got together, I asked him to pick up some potatoes to go with the fish I was cooking for dinner. He came back with two new potatoes. Two! One new potato each!

I don't eat a lot of roast potatoes, so two would be plenty for me, but I do like loads of vegetables. I like a right big plate of food in the evening. So I try to pile it high with greens and a carb like squash rather than spuds. Eating porridge on the train right now

I only eat two roast potatoes, but also have meat, a Yorkshire, mash potato, and 3/4 bits of different veg

When I cook dinner I put everything out in serving dishes for people to help themselves. I only like a small portion generally, and hate it when we go to the in laws and they plate up in the kitchen and pile it high.

The thing is, any excess if you make what turns out to be too much, isn't wasted, is it? I have an array of plastic containers, including a couple of 'plates with dividers and kids' that can take a roast dinner and go in the freezer - leftovers most definitely do not go in the bin, and 'fear of waste' is no reason for my guests to go hungry!

Not kids of course - lids!

As others have said above I've noticed that a relative serves smaller portions as their own appetites naturally drop off. We used to go and stay and have tons of food cooked, with leftovers cooked up for breakfast and lunch. These days we will be promised that there will be plenty of veg but then get shocked looks if we want more than a spoon of peas. If seen eating a slice of toast with mushrooms and a spoon of scrambled eggs at 8.00 am I now get comments that I couldnt possibly be hungry at 1.30 pm.

It's not a problem and we work around it as we have lots of independent time when we visit. It is interesting to see tho and it is natural to use your own hunger as a guide when deciding portions.

Also if you have been invited for dinner you often let yourself become hungrier prior to the meal than you would at home.

My MIL is like this too her idea of a large lunch is one slice of toast and a tablespoon of beans. She once served 2 12" pizzas between 5 adults and 2 dc - and half the pizza slices were kept in the kitchen as leftovers!

She also doesn't seem to learn that she needs to cook more food, I think it's a combination of her appetite getting smaller as she gets older plus in her head my dc are still toddlers (they're 11 and 9) so they get the tiniest amounts of food imaginable. We very often have to slip out for a secret mid-afternoon cafe visit to keep them going.

Some of these not skinny people who serve small portions may snack heavily at non-meal times.