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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Does anyone know if this is true? (Doggy bags)

88 replies

INeedABiggerBoat · 28/08/2016 20:08

Just had a lovely big roast at the local pub as a treat, and I couldn't finish it - one chicken leg left over. I asked the waitress if I could get it in a doggy bag/ foil to feed my dog later, and she said that they weren't allowed to because they didn't have a takeaway licence. Does anyone know if this is an actual law or if the chef was just being snobby? I've done some googling but can't spot an actual law, although this seems to be a bone of contention in a few countries and in Michelin restaurants (!)

Now wondering whether I could have just snuck it out in a napkin and managed to not get chicken juices all over my bag on the way home. Next time I'll add 'foil' to the tonnes of things I tend to keep in my handbag 'just in case'!

OP posts:

AlpacaPicnic · 28/08/2016 20:48

I take my own Tupperware to curry places these days... Last time I went I was famished and practically scraped my plate but one of the people I was with had ordered something she didn't like and only eaten a spoonful of it so I went home with her leftovers instead!

DameDiazepamTheDramaQueen · 28/08/2016 20:50

Dogs shouldn´t eat cooked chicken bones, so they are definitely out

The OP has said she doesn't give the bones to the dog.

LottieL · 28/08/2016 20:53

I think the reason for the food poisoning concern is because if someone claims food poisoning, environmental health get involved and run tests to establish if it is food poisoning or a bug / virus. If someone had reheated food later there's no way environmental health can establish what caused the ill health (food eaten at restaurant or what they've reheated at home) - and chances are people won't admit to reheating stuff they've taken away, so the restaurant ends up in trouble. The tests, as far as I can remember, are a stool sample from the person making the complaint and that's about it.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 28/08/2016 20:55

Isn't it a bit uncouth American to request a doggy bag?

Scarydinosaurs · 28/08/2016 20:58

So normal in the US to take the rest 'to go' and makes total sense to not create waste- I don't see why it hasn't caught on here.

JellyBelli · 28/08/2016 21:00

I'm too disabled to eat in public. A local restaurant always make me up a doggy bag when other family members go and they are very nice about it.
You've paid for the food.

Original poster

INeedABiggerBoat · 28/08/2016 21:02

Sounds as though it's a few stupid, litigious people who have ruined it for the majority of sensible people who wouldn't dream of suing if they got food poisoning from re-heated food. I wish waitress had just explained that instead of making up a law.

To those concerned, as I said above I wouldn't have fed Ddog the bones. Having said that, we once had a friend feed her an ENTIRE cooked lamb leg bone. Didn't feel we could say anything because they'd been doing us a favour looking after her for an evening, but that was one hell of a sleepless night waiting up to check she was okay. No ill effects thankfully.

MovingOnUp - in my defence it's the first time I've asked for a doggy bag in years! Usually I'm far too greedy to leave anything on the plate but due to eating a whole box of chocolates earlier today (it's just one of those days) I couldn't finish this and didn't want a load of chicken to go to waste when I have a dog that could be made very happy by said chicken.

OP posts:

Cheby · 28/08/2016 21:34

I ask for doggy bags all the time. Never had a problem, never been refused. And I'm taking the food home for me, not a dog. 😂

MariaCameFromNashville · 28/08/2016 21:44

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DonttouchthatLarry · 28/08/2016 22:07

We've always taken left over meat home with us, but never ask for a bag - we've always got dog poo bags on us and use those instead. If the dogs are in the pub with us, it goes straight in the dogs with no need for a bag

arethereanyleftatall · 28/08/2016 22:12

I literally never knew people actually did take stuff for their dogs! Every day is a school day. I always ask for a 'doggy bag' but it's for my tea.

DixieWishbone · 28/08/2016 22:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 28/08/2016 22:19

Sorry I forgot to add this to my post for the hard of thinking

Does anyone know if this is true? (Doggy bags)

DixieWishbone · 28/08/2016 22:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MovingOnUpMovingOnOut · 28/08/2016 22:30

Never mind. The rest of us with a working sense of humour will enjoy it

Notso · 28/08/2016 22:33

When I went for afternoon tea with MIL and she asked to take left overs home for FIL because they are tight as fuck she had to sign a disclaimer.

aisatsana · 28/08/2016 22:37

I didn't think anyone actually gave the leftovers to their dog! I would just say (if I ever didn't finish a meal, which I haven't) "can I have it in a box to take home so I can eat the rest later?"

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 28/08/2016 22:43

Friends of ours with dogs very often asked for doggy bags. Nobody ever refused. It was surely just an excuse to say they didn't have a takeaway licence - she just couldn't be arsed.

I would often like to ask for a human bag. Particularly in pubs some portions are massive, or at least far too much for me. And I hate to think of the rest of it being thrown out.

Birdlet · 28/08/2016 22:45

I work in a restaurant. We're always more than happy to bag up people's leftovers

aisatsana · 28/08/2016 22:50

I would often like to ask for a human bag

Just ask! Lots of people do!

Hiphopopotamus · 28/08/2016 22:53

I just always say could I get the rest to go. No restaurant has ever said no!

Sparklingbrook · 28/08/2016 22:54

I never take any food home. Once I have finished a meal out I don't want to see it again, and certainly not hours later. Bleurgh.

I see loads do it though. I was at a carvery last week and a man was shovelling half of his into a carrier bag.

aisatsana · 28/08/2016 22:55

Sparklingbrook

Why not? We save leftovers at home, so why not from a restaurant? Surely better than wasting the food (and your money!)?

AnotherPrickInTheWall · 28/08/2016 22:57

A lot of establishments have indeed banned doggy bags because of fears of food poisoning and litigation as food may become contaminated after being kept for a period of time before consumption.
A couple of zip lock bags, or some foil and surreptitious squirrelling of left overs is the only solution.

DesolateWaist · 28/08/2016 22:57

When I was in America a while ago we went to a fairly standard independent pizza place. As well as pizza they did other food. We ordered a pizza to share which was fucking huge and watched in amazement as the people at the next table ordered two pizzas, two full roast dinner type meals, soups and a couple of pasta dishes. We were starting to wonder how they were going to eat it all when we realised that they were having a couple of mouthfuls of each dish. They then asked for the whole lot to be wrapped to go!

(as an aside this restaurant was in silicon valley and a very short walk from Apple and Google. There were two women eating there and a single guy as well as this other couple. The single guy left first. When the two women came to pay their bill the waitress said that the single guy had paid it for them. The women were a little freaked out but she said that he does that all the time. She wasn't sure who he was but there are a lot of very regular looking people there who have made a huge amount of money)

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