To eat DCs leftovers and everyone thinks it's disgusting

[Evelight]

actually, I also gnaw at their chicken bones eg chicken wings because I am appalled at how much meat they leave behind and I can't bear to waste it. I often get them to look at my bones (which I clean like a hyeana) and compare it with theirs, and they just try to escape.

I come from a fairly frugal family, and it didn't help that I spent part of my childhood years in a country afflicted by war and food scarcity (food rations, kinda like the WWs. DCs get excited when I tell them about having coupons for milk, and bananas and butter being a luxury). We weren't allowed to have anything left on the plate. At school, i remember we were supposed to glue two short pencil stubs together to make them last longer.

ANYWAY, I don't see the problem- we've all learned at school that we are sharing germs in a family - what is so gross about eating the leftover salad off of DD's plate? Tbh though, I only do it with my kids, not eg DH or my siblings.

I clean off bones, chicken and otherwise. And I always nick my DH's after he's done because he leaves so much tasty meat and marrow on/in them. It does look a bit gross. I wouldn't do it in 'company'.

If you think about it, the exchange of saliva and germs involved in kissing an attractive stranger should be more disgusting than finishing up your child's plate.

I eat anything thats not been chewed on.

My parents were mental about not wasting food inc things in fridge and that has left me struggling sometimes as wife is opposite, so inside i'm going mad chucking food in bin but realise I dont want to make dinner times a big thing and seed future eating problems.

Unless they've put it in their mouths and spat it out again then I don't think it's disgusting. I often pick at my children's leftovers, especially if I'm a bit hungry and DH and I are not eating until later. If we didn't have chickens I would feel much worse about their food wastage.

My Dad always used to get my meat bones and suck/gnaw them clean because I left the fat and he said it was the best bit. I miss my Dad.

I always snack on the leftovers. After that, it goes to the cats or in Tupperware. I don't throw anything away.

"Where has this idea come from that if someone eats someone else's leftovers for the sake of it despite not being hungry, it stops it being wasted?"

As another poster has said, things can be eaten for pleasure, not just because you are hungry.

Not to state the obvious, but food also has nutritional value. If you eat something, your body benefits from it. Food is good for us. (Provided that the food is healthy - which we should be safely able to assume, as it is food prepared for children.)

Regarding putting on weight. If I eat something from my child's plate, then it will make a difference to my appetite later. Therefore at my next meal, it will be taken into account somewhat, when I decide on my portion size. I'm not a factory machine, measuring out 500 grams of curry (or whatever). I'm a person, and if I ate enough of my child's leftovers to make a difference to my waistline, then it probably made a difference to my appetite too, so I can compensate for it later.

I don't get the problem at all - it wouldn't occur to me that this was disgusting. In fact, I find this whole thread really strange. Both my DH and I regularly finish food from the children's plates. Sometimes I find it hard to predict how much they will eat. Some meals I know they are not keen on and probably won't eat much, but I still want to give them a proper portion just in case. I usually am still hungry - I serve myself quite small portions. If the children don't leave me enough I have to fill up up on a banana or yoghurt afterwards. So throwing away the food would be wasteful. I'd either have to cook more, or eat more other food. We're not remotely poor, but I don't want to waste food just for the sake of it. I'm also definitely not fat!

I often eat my kids leftovers, though they don't have many as I do give them suitable sized portions and expect them to finish them generally speaking.

I eat their sandwich crusts etc, finish an apple after they've eaten less than half of it etc.

I also hate waste and am amazed at how much food other people throw away. We hardly throw any away.

Worra, your theory about give them a small bit and then give more if wanted doesn't actually save on waste does it? You'd still have to have cooked more than you thought you needed in the first place to have some left for seconds. So then if they don't want seconds you've got a load leftover. If mine finish what they've been given and want seconds I give them a spoonful off my plate, and I try to cook what I think is actually the amount we will eat between us. (This is helped by having a husband with hollow legs who will eat whatever portion he is given, even if really too much, and never put on weight!) Anyway mine nearly always say no to seconds, even if they finished quickly, because as far as they are concerned they are "finished" and want to move on to fruit or dessert rather than have more main course.

I don't understand. Why is it gross or grim or disgusting? And why do lots of people think it's ok but not chicken wings? Surely wasting food is worse, and wasting meat is shameful.
We always eat the leftovers. Neither of us is fat. We just eat less of our dinner if there was a lot of food left by the kids.

I don't see it as a problem. OH cleans up the kid's food if it's meat (he's a real carnivore and was bought up abroad where meat was rare. He also eats all the gristle and fat - not for me thanks).

The kids will gnaw a rib/chicken bone till it's dry and who am I to tell them it's wrong? They see their dad doing it and they actively seek out the bone marrow or fatty pieces of pork. Again, not for me.

I will finish 'select' pieces of their meals (not very often left) of they will clean up after each other. For example, when I cook carbonarra I put broccoli in it. DT1 will eat all his bacon first and leave some broccoli. DT2 does it the other way around, so they will swap broccoli and bacon.