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?

My mil does tiny portions because she is on a "diet" which means she eats tiny main meals and snacks constantly on cheese and crackers (unsurprisingly she hasn't lost any weight). We keep asking for bigger portions (dh and I are both slim) but it never happens. We have resorted to taking our own food to hide under the bed and eat late at night when we're really hungry.

The worst meal ever was a finger sized piece of salmon, five marble sized sprouts and one and a half new potatoes each.

There was an absolutely hilarious post once about someone's relative who's portion management went something like:

'I only eat a little so all the women will have lady portions like me, the children eat almost nothing so I dont need to worry about them, so jsut a big (ie normal) portion for the men'

This would result in her serving 3 of her birdlike portions to a family of five hearty adults/teenagers who would be left eating their own legs by the end.

I had an ex boyfriend once whose mother was like this. She would put the food out in the middle of the table and you would have to do some quick mental arithmetic to work out how many potatoes you could take, so that you didn't leave anybody else with none .
There would usually be about two mini new potatoes each, a teaspoonful of peas or some other veg, and the main item, like a small piece of chicken, or a quorn sausage for me as I'm veggie. It was excruciating. I am a self confessed greedy guts though, and I love my carbs, so I would just fill up on toast later. The whole family was very slim though, so maybe she had the right idea??...

we have more than 2 potatoes because it's cheaper than the meat. We have a smaller serving of meat than most might (about 70-80g for adults) and make up the rest with potatoes and veggies.

My MIL is like this.

I do get that it is difficult to cater to a different number of people than you are used to.

I am very good at cooking the right amount for my family, and pretty much never have any waste, and usually have enough leftovers, if I am planning for them, to make another meal.

If I have people visiting I tend to rather overcater, MIL tends to undercater. It is usually just about enough, but as someone mentioned up-thread, it is a strain when you are serving yourself (particularly since, as guests, we go first) trying to take the right amount, so that the people after you aren't left with a really pitiful portion.
I always end up taking much less than I would usually serve myself, and there is usually never anything left for seconds. I think everyone else is doing the same, taking a polite amount.

I think when you are catering for guests or a big group, there should be leftovers. It's not the same as cooking frugally for a normal, everyday meal, you should try and make it a bit hearty and celebrational when you have visitors, imo, and you don't want people holding back, or being embarrassed to take the last potato or whatever.
If all the food disappears, that means there maybe wasn't quite enough available.

And I'm from an Irish family, my mum was horrified when I told her about the small portions at my boyfriends house, but then she thought a large bowl of Irish stew with a hunk of bread and butter was a nice afternoon snack

Two roasties sounds like enough to me if you also have meat and veg. I think our idea of what's a reasonably sized meal has changed over the years. She's hardly starving you!

Gosh, two potatoes is actually offensive!

My grandad is an excellent cook but as he has gotten older he tends to eat smaller portions. The last time I went for tea, mum and I finished in record speed, still ravenous, while they took a further half hour to clear their plate.

Also I work in a school, and portions are disappointingly small - a small potato and a spoon of beans apparently constitutes lunch

2 roasties

told Df that and he was omfg - he gets at least 7/8 per roast dinner and im probably 5ish

and when have friends over, i mentally think maybe 5/6 each - would feel awful if they were still hungry or finish meal in minutes

got some this weekend and i will do lots of roasties as cheap, filling and i love them cold with salt

but yes some do serve tiny portions of food

Jello I couldn't ask for more as there's none left! I'd be robbing someone else's if I grabbed!

Mil is a very good cook so it's doubly heart-breaking!

Sparkly I know! My nephew...being only 2, doesn't let MIL's habits stop him....she got a punnet of strawberries out of the fridge intending to give him one....that's what she does, offers the kids one strawberry....and then she did something else....meanwhile he had the lid off and at almost the whole punnet!

When she came back she couldn't think where they'd gone and was astounded that he'd scoffed them all!

That is so stingy, a roast dinner is a good filling thing! My mum is the opposite, we have 3 different types of potato I love it. Best option is to let people choose what they want from serving bowls.

7/8 potted seems the opposite and a huge amount though. That many would fill out average sized dinner plates with no room for anything else.

I do think a meal should fill a plate, but items should be in the middle part of plate mainly not right to the edge balancing or piled food on top of other food

God I want a roast dinner now.

With NINE POTATOES!!

• potatoes not potted!

Artcando no...you pile the buggers up! And everything else! I don't make massive portions of all meals but roast dinners? Yes. MASSIVE PORTIONS.

Why don't you offer to help with the veg and then say "that won't be enough potatoes for us". I always used to help MIL. In our case I needed to stop her from doing so many potatoes.

DH does this too. He eats all day, breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, snack, pre-dinner snack, supper.

For the rest of us our main meal is supper, and we don't eat much during the day. If dh is cooking his portion sizes are for him, not for hungry people. I have been known to finish my supper and immediately get up and make cheese sandwiches . I can't change him, and no matter how I explain, he'll treat everyone as if they've been eating all day like he does.

We have a lot of cheese sarnies

2 potatoes is plenty for me as I'm not overkeen on them - roast parsnips is another matter though, I'll eat a whole big one cut up and roasted. DH is diabetic and needs to keep low carb, so we don't do many potatoes for us, but if we have guests I'll do about 4 each and then some more 'just in case'. As a PP said, you can always use up the leftovers somehow.

DP can't eat many carbs . Two potatoes would do him. He doesn't like rice or pasta as they leave him feeling over full, whatever that means. It's not a feeling I'm familiar with! DS and I would have five roasties each.

I'm wondering at what point I can expect my appetite to start 'dropping off' ? I'm hungrier than ever at the moment due, I think (I hope!), to crazy perimenopausal hormones.

I prefer small portions because I eat little and often, but if guests were coming over I would always cook bigger portions. I would rather have leftovers than guests going hungry!

Bun she only buys the amount she plans to serve...

I have strong views on this. I think a roast dinner should be properly filling, and Christmas dinner should be positively BOUNTIFUL. There should be great piles of food - enough to have plenty over to reheat the next day so that you do not have to do cooking. Those who like to have 17 roast potatoes should be more than able to do so, because all the side dishes (and there should be many many) should be put out on the table so people can help themselves to whatever they feel like. That way bird-like eaters do not panic and those like me who are hogs feel happy too.

MIL serves the thinnest, meanest Christmas dinner which still involves a world of fuss and it is a misery.

Shove I'm liking your style!

What sides do you serve? I need to get on this....

We pile ours like a pyramid, right to the edge of the plate We have small portions normally, just love an indulgent roast dinner! Ooh can't wait for Christmas dinner now.