do you give yourself the best looking food?

[greeeen1223]

I do all the cooking (i love it), my husband cleans up after (a mammoth task because I use everything in the kitchen).

When im dishing up I tend to take the best looking bits e.g. crispiest roast potatoes, best looking veg etc.

My husband would never notice to busy shovelling it in haha.

Do you do the same?

@SharonasCorona he does the clean up instead, so about half of the effort related to the meal. Give him the less good portion because he didn't cook would be like him given OP a dirty fork because she doesn't do the washing up.

I do the opposite. Because I know it all tastes good but want my families plate to look appealing 😬. Sometimes have an extra slice of garlic bread in the kitchen tho.
But the kids get the best bits of the chicken etc

Well it depends what you mean by best looking.

We're literally Jack Sprat and his wife here. DP must have his meat without any visible bits of fat or anything that he might find 'chewy' so I usually ask him which bit he wants and let him choose as I would prefer the piece with crispy fat on, which he would generally reject anyway.

For potatoes, I like mine crispy, have a fear of even slightly undercooked potato and hate any eyes or black bits as they taste disgusting to me, whereas DP doesn't mind these at all but doesn't like the best ones 'tiny pointless scrappy chips/roast potatoes' and again, I like these best so make sure I get the crispy ones and he gets the others.

Portion wise, he gets more because he eats more and I make no apology for that even though half of Mumsnet would be screaming 'Penis Portions' but there's no way I could eat the same amount as he does nor would I want to. And that comes into it's own when we have takeaway and I have enough left for lunch the next day and he's eaten all his but I'm not sharing my leftovers as they're mine.

No I do the opposite

I'm the opposite. Food is just for energy really, couldn't care less what my own looks like 🤷🏼‍♀️ I make more of an effort for other people who are more visual and probably give them bigger portions too

Children first, then adults. We had Roast beef last night. One likes very thin bits. One likes slightly thicker. Youngest tends to get the biggest Yorkshire pudding as she only has one, eldest and I share three medium- small size ones. DH gets two. DD1 gets more carrots.

If we are running out of veg, we prioritize the children.

Generally, everyobe ends up with stuff they like.

The best bits are mine. My portions are much smaller than my husband's, plus I do all the cooking. I am an excellent cook, so all the food is good, but the best bits are mine and the husband and children can have the rest.

I'm a bit shocked.

I suppose with family I try to share things out evenly, so everyone has nicer bits and ordinary bits, if that's relevant. Guests would definitely get the better bits.

But do you literally mean 'best looking' in some sort of arty, aesthetic preference way, that no-one else might care about? Or do you mean best cooked, best tasting?

How funny I was just thinking about this, as I noticed myself putting the still-pink or squashed blueberries onto my own plate and leaving the good ones for DS and DH.

Don't know why- I know my mum does it, women are socialised to provide for others over themselves, I guess.

I give my husband the better looking breakfast, for example if I've broken the egg yolk while serving it up, I'll take that one but he’ll then swap it for his!

If he gets his hands on dishing up the food he just tips equal shares onto the plates any old way whereas I make it look nice and not like a dog’s dinner.

Women who express an opinion aren’t ‘screaming’ Barbara. And the ‘penis portions’ threads tend to refer to being served tiny portions bc vagina when a guest....not to self-regulating intake when serving food to yourself and your immediately family on a daily basis.

We both serve the other one the best bits when we cook. I think we must both have been raised to think it rude to snaffle the best bits for yourself.

My food is good so it all tastes nice and my husband isnt fussy at all and neither am I.

I just have the crispiest potatoes, the cheesiest bit of pasta bake for example. We don't have kids so cant comment on that. Like i said he can always ask if he wants something he isnt a child! It's not that big of a deal just thought it would be funny to see what other people do!

We eat most meals 'family style', but everyone knows that I get first dibs because I cooked it, woe betide anyone who touches the roast potatoes before me!

Obviously if we have guests I let them go first but at family meals I definitely invoke cooks privilege. (I'm an excellent cook though so I'm not subjecting anyone to hideous abuse or starvation).

Dh does most of the cooking (though we've fallen into a routine of me making lunch during lockdown) and I serve it up once it's ready.

On a Sunday I use it to my advantage to have the palest potatoes after roasting. I tend to give dh the thickest slices of meat but give the kids lots of their favourites - DD loves stuffing so she get loads, ds prefers just carrots and no other veg so he gets loads of those.

I usually like dishing up because dh gives me the and the kids the same amount as him, and we never eat the same amount as him!! Though the kids are 18 & 16 so they do have good appetites - just not as good as dh's.

No I give DH the best bits.
I do get some cooks perks though, like I always eat the crispy chicken skin straight out of the oven. I'm not sure my husband realises that chicken comes with skin seeing as he's never seen it.

I do it based who likes what type of food most. So yes if there are roast potatoes (which DH and DS eat but don't love) I pick the best ones - ie the crispiest for me. If we are cooking vegetarian meatballs for instance, I'd give more to DH and DS as they like them more than I do.

In roasts though I do take the best roast parsnips and carrots and potatoes for myself though

I'm kind of a mixture here. If I can't tell whick slice of pie, cake or whatever is bigger I will ask DH so he can take the bigger portion.

However sometimes I just like the look of something on one of the plates a bit more I suppose, well i think I must do because I just get it in my head that a certain plate is for me even though I am putting the same stuff on each plate.

It doesn't mean you love your family any less at all 😂😂😂 you go ahead and get your crispy bits, OP!

I do get some cooks perks though, like I always eat the crispy chicken skin straight out of the oven. I'm not sure my husband realises that chicken comes with skin seeing as he's never seen it.

I remember my mother used to eat the roast chicken skin before it got to the table as well. When I was old enough to realise this , I'd offer to help her carve the chicken and serve so I could get some too . I'd do the same now except DH and DS are vegetarian so I pretty much never cook roast meat of any kind any more

Yes thought I was weird I do chuck the odd decent looking potato or something on his plate just to cover up my sneaky ways though.

I have an order,
Guests
DH
DC except Ds12
DS12
Me

DS covers everything in sauce/gravy/yogurt/sourcream regardless of what it is so it's pointless giving him the tastiest bits.

Also just to add that the fact you have cooked the meal means that the whole meal will be the way you in particular like it anyway (which by the sounds of it is good). You're hardly going to serve up a load of roasties that have zero crispness to your husband are you?! As that would mean yours would be naff too, even if slightly better than his.

My official cook’s perk is the chicken wings. I always get those. ❤️ But that’s because I love them and my DH is indifferent, otherwise I’d share.

@LolaDarkdestroyer yes a token few crispy chips haha, i think more people do than they let on!

I think it depends really, if I know it is DP or DC favourite food then I tend to give the relevant person the best bit. Noone in this house is particularly picky (aside from ds1 sensory issues but that's a different thing really)

I weirdly, given that I think celebrity self help books are a load of bollocks , ended up on a night shift reading teri Hatcher about Burnt Toast. That she when she became a mum would constantly take the worst but , or the crappy bit for herself and unintentionally be quite visible about it. It was quite thought provoking really. She mentioned it became quite a martyr type behaviour that she actually changed and regretted because it played into this concept of the downtrodden mum who was there to serve.

Like I say I generally find that sort of thing a bit vacuous but shes got a point. So we have a whole thing of all 4 of us being equal with food unless it's a particular like or dislike.

I have to say that seems a lot of over thinking , it in reality just translates into a vague thought as I'm putting dinner on the table rather than a week of hand wringing!

i can never get away with it !