Portion sizes in pubs and restaurants-why are they so big?

[AlternativelyWired]

Unless of course it's somewhere very fancy.
Inspired by the calories on menus threads I was wondering why portions are so big. One place we go to does a children's pizza, chips and peas. This is just short of 900 calories. It's a Chicago town style pizza with a large handful of chips and a portion of peas. Even the adult menu has very little that's below 800 calories. Starters to share (for two people) are over 1000 calories. Some of the meat 'challenges' are over 4000 calories each! Why?
Surely if portion sizes were smaller or rather, appropriate, this would be better than stating calorie values and would help avoid food waste. Food waste induces a lot of guilt in me, and the calories do too as a former anorexic, and although eating out is a treat that we don't do often, I don't want a huge plateful of food that I won't be able to finish. I think the meat challenges are obscene but that might be my eating disordered and veggie brain speaking.
Why are pizzas so big? And burgers? Over 1000 calories for a burger and that's without the chips.
Could places offer small portions? Although even the seniors menu is a larger than normal portion.
I don't particularly want to know the calories of the dishes on offer but I do want a choice of smaller portions rather than contributing to food waste.
And while I'm at it, what happened to sandwiches on menus? In the 80s and 90s everywhere we went had a sandwich section with egg mayonnaise, prawn mayonnaise, beef, ham, cheddar ploughman's and now sandwiches don't seem to exist except in cafés. A nice sandwich with a salad garnish and maybe a handful of crisps. My mum would be so happy if they came back. And omelettes.
Bring back proper plates, the ones we had in the 80s not the huge ones we have now.

Calories on menus is a thing now in 2022. Perhaps it's to make us think before we order 🤔

I live in a very rural part of the UK, serious farming country.
If a portion here couldn’t feed a hungry farmer and his larger hungrier sons the place would close within a month

@Fudgemonkeys I tell ye, I've not been able to buy a muffin with my skinny latte in sodding Starbucks for months.

Which would be absolutely fine if I now had to run around in the shower to get wet.

What I need is a neon thought bubble to appear every time I open the biscuit tin.

'...we all have sensory issues and restricted diets..
What's the world coming to? I have never encountered such numbers of individuals who have 'issues' be they dietary, sensory, mental...whatever, and each year brings forth yet more. 😲🙄

But the opposite in fancy restaurants. A Gordon Ramsay place in London Bridge, perfect portion size for me, as in small. Young adult males need two of his pricey dinners! 😳

@BookkeeperBobby

CheesusWept

I always ask the restaurant to box up the leftovers and then that does me and DD for dinners for the rest of the week.

🤣🤣

Have you got your big plate, Alan?

12 inch plate. I keep it in my room.

I commented on this thread and then forgot about it.
Can’t believe people actually took my comment seriously.

The leftovers would only do me and DD for the week if we served them up with a MASSIVE salad.

@Bunchymcbunchface

I live in a very rural part of the UK, serious farming country. If a portion here couldn’t feed a hungry farmer and his larger hungrier sons the place would close within a month

I want to move there! I love farming people, based people and proper food!

I'm sorry but 'leftovers', eating one meal a day and not being able to finish a standard restaurant sized meal?! 🤣 I must just be a greedy hog because I'm rarely full when I eat out, unless I get side orders and dessert etc.

@Florenz

Restaurants should be legally required to offer a half size portion of every dish they offer, at half the price of the full size one.

You aren't just paying for the food, you're paying for the service so of course a half portion wouldn't be half the price.

@Florenz

Restaurants should be legally required to offer a half size portion of every dish they offer, at half the price of the full size one.

That's such a good idea.

@Florenz

If restaurants stopped serving half pints of beer or served wine only by the bottle, not the glass, or spirits only in doubles, people would think that was ridiculous. So it's not ridiculous to suggest that they should offer half portions of meals at a lower price.

A lower price yes. You're original legal requirement of half price - no.

@LoisLane66 I'm sorry that our neurodiversity causes you such a reaction. Do you feel this way about other disabilities?

Bring back Cajun chicken baguette and curly fries. It was a staple of the late 90s/early 2000s pub menu.
I agree portions are pretty massive; children’s meals particularly. We almost always get our two an adult one and split it mainly because the adult version is way better (eg burger with all the bits and bobs) but also because it’s less food than a child portion.
It annoys me that adult puds and children’s puds are practically the same size. We usually get a doggy bag and enjoy the food again at a later date!!

You don't have to eat it all.

@becca2405

I'm sorry but 'leftovers', eating one meal a day and not being able to finish a standard restaurant sized meal?! 🤣 I must just be a greedy hog because I'm rarely full when I eat out, unless I get side orders and dessert etc.

Don't worry. People post on here that they suck on a celery stick all day but don't swallow, don't "double carb", have only a sip of sherry at Christmas and then flagellate themselves thoroughly for doing so.

None of that is true. Mumsnetters like to make out they do all this and are size 8 because of their restraint and doing yoga during Eastenders - but it simply isn't true. Not by a mile.

@CheesusWept

I always ask the restaurant to box up the leftovers and then that does me and DD for dinners for the rest of the week.

Only on Mumsnet!

Surprised some of you have consumed enough to have the energy to write your comments on here, tbh.

Yes, some portions are big. You don't need to eat it all. However, a 1000-1500 calorie meal once every couple of weeks as part of a balanced diet is hardly going to cause an issue. And if the people consuming these meals don't have a balanced diet - well, that's their decision, isn't it? Not the restaurant's, where people go for leisure and a treat.

DH's TDEE is about 2600 - that would comfortably leaving him room for breakfast and tea if we went out for dinner in the day.

We have a great pub near us which serves good pub food but the portions are huge. There is no way that I could eat a starter, main and pudding, so I usually order just a starter and pud. Even DH can’t eat it all. We would probably order all three courses if portions were smaller.

The teeny tinys are put in force, again.😂😂😂😂

out

"OP I've never taken my children anywhere that offers pizzas and chips to children. I'd go somewhere different"

Gosh really your poor kids. Let them have some enjoyment , who doesn't love pizza and chips especially kids

[quote Badbadbunny]@FrangipaniBlue

Do you think wasting food when there are people who cannot afford to eat at all is a better option? How privileged.

The amount of food "wasted" in pubs/restaurants because of people not eating their full meal is so trivial/insignificant compared to food waste throughout the food cycle it makes absolutely no difference.

You asking for a smaller portion doesn't mean that the food you've not asked for will go to someone too poor to eat. If you're bothered about food poverty then donate to food banks.[/quote]
I didn't say it would, and I do, frequently.

But that doesn't mean that seeing food waste should sit comfortable with me.

As I said, it's a very privileged thing to be sat in front of a plate of food that's too much to finish, but you wouldn't think that what with the way some posters on here are being so dismissive.

I love people saying "just go for tapas/just go to places that serve small plates" - you know not everyone lives in cities or urban areas where there is an abundance of options of different places to eat?

Someone suggested Wagamama - nearest one of those to me is almost 100 miles away!!

Honestly I swear some folk live in a bubble.

@AlternativelyWired

It's me who eats the pizza and chips we all have sensory issues and restricted diets so eating out is tricky. I quite like a good carb fest. Carbs are not a personal enemy for me.

"Sensory issues"? New one on me.

Yes, sensory issues. Go educate yourself. The OP has stated several times several members of her family have autism and food sensory issues go hand in hand with that. Stop with your abelist sneering.

We have safe foods and often can detect minute differences in taste and texture. On the other hand some autistics don’t have whatever brain trigger it is that tells you that you are full.