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?

It is hard, though, if you aren't used to people's differing appetites.

We had 12 for lunch on Sunday. Halfway through prep I realised I hadn't a scooby how much I actually needed for 12 people! Some of them were kids, some were older and eat small portions, there were teens and also people I'd never cooked for before. And we didn't have quite enough potatoes to make me feel comfortable, in the end! Huge pile of mash, plus (some) roasts, cauliflower cheese, beans, broccoli, apple sauce, roast pork - but still I reckon there should maybe have been a bit more. You live and learn. Part of the problem was I let DH do the shopping, slightly last-minute, but next time I will know better.

I definitely would feel under-satisfied by 2 roast potatoes.

Out of curiosity, how many of you would eat 2-3 pork chops each?

I was always under catering to my sister and her daughter. Until I realized that if they were visiting, I had to more than double our dinners, In fact, I had to calculate for 10 people if we were 6 for dinner.

1. sister and dd eat as much for dinner as me, dh and our two sons, if not more. (while we would eat ONE roast beef, or ONE fish fillet, or ONE pork chop each, I needed to make sure there was 2-3 for each of them)
2. niece does not eat bread, she lives on a diet of left over dinner for breakfast and evening meal....

My fridge was seriously not big enough to cater for them.

Quint - I would eat the equivalent of 1 piece of steak/ pork chop, plus say 2 potatoes, then large spoon of red cabbage, same of broccoli, same of green beans. 1 Yorkshire if added.

I wouldn't cook extra portions of protein, I'd just up the other stuff. That much meat must be unhealthy, surely?

So for an adult I'd consider these normal portions: 1 pork chop, 2 lamb chops, 1 salmon fillet, 1 steak, 1 chicken breast, 2 chicken thighs etc.

In fact what I'd probably do is cook things where the protein element is less noticeable e.g. lasagne, casseroles, shepherd's pie. Or go full veggie for their visits!

Oddly enough I was wondering about Pizza today. It used to be that one 12" pizza was enough for 4 or 5 people, served with a salad and a whacking big baked potato it was lovely. It seems that now it is a one person serving. odd. Also. I have just bought a 1950s dinner service. The dinner plates are tiny compared to modern ones. Maybe we just eat too much?

I take it noone follows the The Hand Portion guide?

Meat should be size of your palm, potatoes would be your clenched fist,
So if you have mash and roast potatoes it shouldn't be any bigger than your own clenched fist.

Luckily I wear boxing gloves when measuring my portions....

I think the pizza thing is because British people (certainly my parents' generation) weren't quite sure what to make of pizza when it first arrived in the UK, and started by thinking of pizza as a kind of pie or tart, of which you ate one slice, and it was served with side veg/potatoes like other pies.

Now I think we mostly see pizza as a meal-in-one - a combination of carbs, veg and protein - so it is more likely to get eaten by itself. I would find it weird to be given pizza with a baked potato, though a side salad would still be good.

Having said that, some pizzas are way too huge and calorific to be a good portion size for one person, though I know plenty of teenage boys would disagree.

Seeyou Ah yes...I wear one of these when measuring my fist sized portion of potatoes.

I think the pizza thing depends on the size of the pizza. I am making pizza tonight for 3yo DD, me and DP. We will have one each, DD has her own miniature version, me and DP have a 10-12inch each.

We usually just have that on it's own (it's our cheap 'fakeaway' night), but sometimes I'll do a salad or sweet potato wedges if we fancy it.

When we order in me and dp share a Large and have a side each.

Two potatoes is fine if and only if there is a large and varied pile of vegetables and possibly also a Yorkshire pudding on the plate with them. Decent serving of meat and plenty of gravy to bathe it all.

Is there a chance she is on a tight budget and simply can't afford to buy a lot?

My MIL always, ALWAYS serves tiny portions. We're talking a tiny sliver of pizza and 3 oven chips. Or 2 roast potatoes, a teaspoon of peas and a piece of chicken that looks like it came from a reduced Tesco sandwich
It became a running joke with us, whenever we were invited for dinner we would look at each other and laugh and say "better make sure we eat something before we go" or the occasions we stopped off at a chippy on the way home because of being so hungry was actually quite funny.
We never complained , we love her to bits and she does struggle financially.
She actually told DH one day she was embarrassed about not being able to give us dinner or treat us to a meal out etc, he told her not to be daft and all that mattered was the time we spend together...she started crying and was all like, "I hardly have enough money to feed myself let alone me and (SIL who still lives at home)."

Bless her.

This reminds me of when I used to have dinner at my nans. One potatoe per adult and tiny portions of food. We all had to eat another meal when we got home

plate ARE huge nowadays. But I think it's because a lot don't have a 'rim' any more.

Look at my beautiful graphic - both plates are 27cm. but the one on the left has a rim the one on the right doesn't. The surface area for food is very different.

If you put the same meal on the rim plate, the plate would look full, put it on the No Rim Plate, it would look a bit sparse - and you might be tempted to add a few more potatoes, an extra sausage, another spoon of beans etc

I was thinking about thay the other day. You wuldnt eat a whole brocolli quiche on its own even though it has carbs, protein and vegetable. So why would you with pizza? I do, just don't know why it's accepted as normal.

we have rim plates at home for this very reason! previous fat bastard

stealth good point!

This reminds me of the Christmas when just after telling dh his Mum put lots of food on his plate, not enough on mine and seemed to forget the 2yo needed food, we get home and the nice bit of ham she had for lunch after our walk wasn't gammon or even thick slices. It was 2 slices of sandwich ham!!!

When we visit we now pop to the supermarket and insist on cooking some meals

I suppose it's because pizza is fast food. So when people are saying pizza is just bread cheese tomato and veg, well it is as long as you eat the quantities of bread and cheese thay are normal. On a large pizza it's probably more bread and cheese than you'd usually eat. They can also be very greasy from take aways.

Why do people on here have only one Yorkshire pudding? I cook 12 Yorkshire puddings for 4 people. And not those Aunt Bessie's things, either, proper, big two-egg puffy ones. I'd rather have ten Yorkshire puddings and one roast potato!

And please can I commend everyone on this thread for desisting from using the term "roasties" . Aaaarrrgggh... I shake with horror at the sheer thought of the word.

How do you feel about toasties?

I am a total under caterer. I really don't mean to be I always think I've made enough. Then I see what it actually looks like when it's cooked and go I do this for my family who I live with. It's not like I don't have practice. I don't really understand how it happens!

I'm
Terrible at making roast potatoes and gravy! I never make enough- dh now comes in to
Ensure correct portions are being given. I don't like roasties. I don't like gravy.

slinks off thread-

'My love for Roast potatoes resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. I am roast potatoes! They're always, always on my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being.'

That's wonderful I'm going to try it with all of my favourite foods!

My friend who is 65 serves very small portions e.g. 3-4 baby potatoes each and a small slice of quiche. She eats normal portions when I go out for dinner with her (a whole pizza or bowl of pasta or whatever) and maybe a pudding too, but is extremely thin so possibly doesn't eat much at home. My DP refers to her 'wartime portions'

Small pigeon portions give me the rage. When I'm hungry I need to eat. Having said that I think we need to cut down on portion size and I'm intending to once this pregnancy is over. But my parents and sister eat tiny portions. My dh and I eat nearly double what they do. We are all slim and healthy (Size 8-10 ish. DH is bulkier as he did a lot if sports).

Christ, some people are joyless about food aren't they?!

I hate tiny portions. Makes me feel cheated.