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AIBU?

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Original poster

"Serves 2" - Does it Fuck.

180 replies

MarmiteMakesMeHappy · 04/08/2016 19:27

Or are me and DH pigs? possibly, yes

About once a week, we have a 'ready meal'. Usually a 'naice' Waitrose/M&S/Charlie Binham type thing - so a Beef Sroganoff, Moussaka type thing.

There's never enough.

I am not sure if it's because we don't do 'starters' and 'pudding' on a Tuesday night, or stuff our faces with bread and olives first, but we are always left feeling a bit hungry and a bit ashamed that we want more.

Even when DD, 11 and I shared a Waitrose meal for 2 the other week, we weren't quite full so maybe I'm the pig

I have come to the conclusion that they probably do serve two, IF YOU'RE A HAMSTER.

Or is it just us?

OP posts:
WorldsBiggestGrotbag · 05/08/2016 10:11

You can get far more food for your calorie allowance if you don't eat ready meals!

TSSDNCOP · 05/08/2016 10:20

I'm going to add in the M&S party platters with portions for 12 allegedly. Not so much party as paltry.

noblegiraffe · 05/08/2016 10:25

The last two sets of dinner plates I've bought, from totally different shops, don't fit in the plate cupboard in my kitchen, despite the previous two sets of plates to that fitting just fine. These weren't marketed as enormous plates or anything, but I do wonder why something which should be fairly standard like plate size is steadily increasing. If people look at their plate and see a dinner that looks small, they're more likely to dish more onto it.
My mum has used the same set of plates for years and they look really small.

BarbaraofSeville · 05/08/2016 10:42

Our newest Ikea plates didn't fit into our old kitchen cupboards, but we now have a new Ikea kitchen, that has deeper wall units and they fit in there.

All my mum's wine glasses are probably from when she got married in the 1970s and they are tiny, and you could probably get six glasses from a bottle.

What will surprise many on this thread is that, according to this article in the Guardian on increasing portion size, 'ready meals have also ballooned in size' (since 1993). Grin

I have modern ones and you can get about 80% of a bottle of wine into 2 glasses (I know you're not supposed to fill them to the top) so you pour a couple of glasses and when you've both taken a sip, you can empty the rest of the bottle into the glasses and whoops, your glass of wine each is half a bottle Blush.

AlpacaPicnic · 05/08/2016 10:46

TriJo Both normal weight, I'm breastfeeding and he's over 6'.

Honestly I'm normally for breastfeeding as long as you want but this time I'm going to say you need to stop... Wink

ApocalypseSlough · 05/08/2016 10:47

^^ Grin

theclick · 05/08/2016 10:48

I've not seen any "serves 2" at M&S apart from meals for 2 (as in the £10 deals) and they feel way bigger than they need to

noblegiraffe · 05/08/2016 10:50

They're making kitchen cupboards bigger to fit bigger plates? Shock
Who is driving this demand for bigger plates? Confused

I'm tall, moderately active (a teacher, so on my feet all day) and I find half a CB with some veg enough to keep me going marking all evening. I could easily reach for some biscuits, but that would be due to boredom, thirst, or habit, not because I'm genuinely hungry.

acasualobserver · 05/08/2016 10:52

Biscuits are not good for alleviating thirst.

BarbaraofSeville · 05/08/2016 10:56

At least we're all still using plates at home. Last time I ate out, my dinner was served like this:

"Serves 2" - Does it Fuck.
WorldsBiggestGrotbag · 05/08/2016 11:05

I've noticed the same thing with plates, ours don't fit in the dishwasher and have to be washed separately!

MrsKoala · 05/08/2016 11:10

Haha! Dh would love a Ferris wheel of food.

Our plates didn't fit in our old dishwasher. I kept buying more plates when out and then finding they also didn't fit. So we now have about 30 massive white plates. I do think they are too big and quite ridiculous but I can't find any smaller.

They fit in our new dishwasher but now the glasses don't. Aaargh.

WankersHacksandThieves · 05/08/2016 11:18

We bought new plates in IKEA a year or so ago. We bought the cereal bowls and they had matching pasta type bowls so we bought those too. The pasta bowls seemed comparatively expensive in relation to the other plates and bowls but we just shrugged and bought them. It wasn't until we were home and compared them to our existing IKEA plates and pasta bowls that we realised how big the plates were and that the pasta bowls were in fact meant to be serving bowls hence the price. Blush

We do use them as individual bowls though as they are great for when you have something saucy that you still have to use a knife and fork for as they have a large flat surface but the sides stop the sauce flowing off the edge (the plates are really flat). also good to stop your salad and garlic bread touching your bolognaise and making it soggy if your having a dinner in front of the tv and don't want to have side plates.

MachiKoro · 05/08/2016 11:19

WTAF Barbara? How would they wash that between customers?

amusedbush · 05/08/2016 11:23

BarbaraofSeville, I think Bush's point was that she eats the same size portions as her DH, not that he's overweight!

That was exactly my point. My DH walks for miles every day and his walk is exclusively Glasgow tenements, so no lifts at all. He is not overweight and is very muscular.

He can eat 3000kcal a day and not gain weight.

Sparklesilverglitter · 05/08/2016 11:36

What's with the Ferris wheel? How odd!

Call me old fashioned but I like my dinner on a plate

Butteredparsnips · 05/08/2016 13:50

Agree re size of plates. I have just one of my original student plates left from 1987. (Anyone remember red poppies?). It is an inch smaller than our more recent purchases.

A dietician colleague once pointed out to me how much the portion size of things like cakes has changed. A 1970's fairy cake would be dwarfed by today's cupcakes with a tower of butter icing on the top.

farfallarocks · 05/08/2016 13:52

I find its plenty with vegetables or a salad

farfallarocks · 05/08/2016 13:56

I've been told that being sedentary mid 30s exercising twice a week I need to eat 1200 calories a day to maintain my weight. I am 5ft9.

darksideofthemooncup · 05/08/2016 14:05

I can happily Hoover up an M&S Cumberland pie for two WITH croquettes on the side. But I am a big pig with about 3 stone to lose Grin

SinglePringle · 05/08/2016 14:13

A WHOLE bag of microwave rice for one person?! I would be full beyond belief...

AverageGayLad · 05/08/2016 14:16

Is it bad that I frequently polish off an entire two person pack of tortellini please say no I feel bad enough already

Mooingcow · 05/08/2016 14:22

Also wondering if OP is overweight?

I think we have become addicted to the feeling of being full. The poster who said she waited 20 minutes after eating and realised she wasn't still hungry after all nailed it.

Portion sizes are huge nowadays. People sit on their arses a lot. It's not rocket science to conclude its making us a nation of fatties.

Vickyyyy · 05/08/2016 14:27

It was DS 2nd birthday last week. We cot a cake that apparently serves 14. LOL, there was a crumb for the adults (5) and the kids got a little tiny bit each (6 kids)

God knows how some split it between 14...

MrsKoala · 05/08/2016 17:07

Apocalypse - yes, that's my point, loads of people don't know what their calorific needs are so follow the 'portions' as if it is suitable for everyone. Like in my pizza express example. Everyone ate a full pizza regardless of their size, gender, age, activity.

When i investigated what needs DH and i had, he came up at about 3200 calories and i was about 2400.