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?

Krampus - the 'you can't possibly be hungry!' comments are familiar too. When my dd2 had a kids lunch of chips and nuggets at lunch time, MIL took me to one side at tea time and explained she wouldn't cook her any dinner as she understood dd2 couldn't be hungry after all that lunch.

I forget to eat but was brought up in a household where we were not fed properly due to neglect and abuse.

It's left 4 of the siblings with terrible over eating and binge eating issues and periods of morbid obesity the other sis has been borderline anorexic and I luckily just have disordered eating patterns. Sometimes I will think cripes DS home from school and I haven't eaten anything yet.

I only ever have two spoons of rice or pasta. I'm 5ft 4 and a decent weight for me is around 9 stone though I have been as small as 7 stone.

I do actually have a ton of food available if we have guests, as DH says you eating your bird seed again Precious in reference to the small amounts I eat. The amounts DH and DS eat make me feel ill, they are both very slim.

2 roast potatoes! I would do at least 5 per person and then a few more for good measure! We are all slim and we would all eat 5 or 6 each!

I have a friend who I don't visit any more, as she is just so stingy. And I should say, they are loaded. They've got a big beautiful house and lots of money. The last time we went it was December and freezing, and yet she wouldn't turn the heating on. We were shivering through dinner. The meal she served up was like a kids portion. Our wine glasses sat empty for at least 30 mins before top ups. There was one side salad between 4 people. When we got in to bed, the sheets were so cold, we made that awful "ooh ooh ooh" sound. Never again!

two roast potatoes?!!

When it's Christmas I count 5-7 per person and use two trays!

I'd only have 2 roast potatoes but I'd have 3 other types of veg and a truck load of meat.
My mum used to cook too much potato and meat and never enough veg - but I do the cooking when we visit now so there isn't an issue.

Do they snack a lot? People are amazed at how much I eat (I'd have at least 5 roast potatoes!) but I'm a size eight, I don't snack between meals though. DH is the opposite, also slim but eats tiny portions then snacks all day. He says he's a grazer.

My dear dead dad used to serve smaller portions when he infrequently cooked. His food was lovely, too. To be fair, he'd had his adenoids taken out as a boy in the "septic focus" craze, and couldn't taste very much.

I think it sounds fine. But if it's a problem, just ask her if you can have an extra potato next time! She won't know unless you say something.

I guess it depends on the size of the potatoes! Two jacket potatoes would be fine... ;)

MiL tends to serve very small portions of main courses, and particularly tiny amounts of vegetables (two standard pizzas or two carrots between six people ) but that's because she expects everyone to fill up with dessert.

The only problem is that the DCs and I are used to filling up with the main thing and lots of veg, and none of us can stand the kind of puddings she makes, which are mainly stuck in the 1970s (trifle with artificial cream, 'cheesecake' also with artificial topping etc). Luckily she has a toaster, or DS would starve (and I also offer to shop/cook while we stay with her).

Me too. I go out with friends for a meal and they are full up and I'm still hungry

My DGran used to do this. My DPs used to take DGrandad (and DSis ) out for a drink and leave me with DGran. I was happy to stay as she taught me to cook, but I only later found out they were all filling up on nuts and crisps whereas I'd spend all day hungry.

My SiL seems to have her portion control dial set to minimum. I'm not a big eater, but if we go to their house for a Sunday dinner type meal, we try to have a big breakfast first. She writes down her portions on a piece of paper so e.g. 7 people = 3.5 carrots, 14 small potatoes, 7 spoonsful of peas, 1 pint of gravy etc.

To be fair, there's kind of just about enough, but absolutely no seconds and there's a bit of anxious checking that each of us has helped ourselves to the correct amount of each item. You couldn't have one less potato but extra carrot for example, because that would mean someone else got no carrot at all.

The thing that's surprising is that both she and BiL are overweight.

My mum serves very modest portions.

DH's mum does the opposite - huge, huge portions.

DH's family are overweight.. My family isn't.

About half of adults are overweight. That suggests to me that there are a lot of people out there who've completely lost sight of what constitutes an appropriately sized meal.

Incidentally, when DH cooks for the family we always end up with loads of food waste, because he over caters.

My mum never chucks anything out. She has nothing left over after a meal - it all gets eaten.

I think this is a very good thing and something to aspire to.

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

WHAT? I have 4-5!

My mum is the opposite, she doesn't have a huge appetite and constantly goes on about maintaining her weight, but when we visit always wants to fatten us up!

DM has become increasingly stingy with portions and also weird combinations as she's getting older.
MIL serves around nine different types of veg but tiny tiny amounts, she always crows, you must of really enjoyed that, as there is never enything left. And this is after DH had a word as she was still serving toddler portions to three teenagers.

I sure they both think we're gluttons when they come here, although there is rarely much left.

I'm one of those people who would only eat 2 roasts with dinner BUT I come from an Italian background where it's mandatory to make enough to feed an army for four people so there's always enough for seconds / thirds / leftovers

I do hate it though when I go to a restaurant and get served a mountain of food that I'm never going to be able to eat - and then the waiter asks if I didn't like my food. I feel like a recalcitrant child!

I agree we've probably got used to too-big portions.

However my MIL serves a small pot of potato salad (hummus sized pot) as all the carbs to feed 10 people. That's not 'normal' by any definition.

Ah yes, the fallacy of "that's lucky, it's all gone so I made just the right amount!"

nope, we're all still starving.

I guess it depends on the size of the potato. I cook roasties by cutting a baking sized potato into 4 pieces, so I probably would only eat 3 of those as part of a roast, but I notice the fashion is for much smaller roasties now (maybe half that size), so yes, maybe 4/5 of those. Also depends what else you eat. I would only eat 1/2 slices meat. Some people eat much more than that.

bimbly that's it exactly - the fact that there's no leftovers reinforces their thinking that they've got it spot on .

are we talking 1 potato or 1 half? I think 1 whole potato is plenty with everything else

Only 2?

4 or 5 more like, the roasties are the best bit!

2 spuds?! My 6mo would happily take on 2 spuds
But as other pp have said, your MIL is probably one of those who would rather cook too little than too much and see it wasted.
My mum is a "feeder". I had a baby shower, with about 12 people invited. My mum made enough buffet to feed 50 everyone ended up taking plates home.