Plate up or self serve?

[Spondoolie]

Christmas dinner/roast dinner - which do you do?

YABU = plate up
YANBU = self serve

We do a combo. Plate up meat, yorkshires, carrots and parsnips. Everything else on table.

All in the middle

Mainly self serve, I hate dished up dinners
I like people to help themselves

Ha ha my MIL does this too!

My mum plates up the meat and roast potatoes and then the veg and stuffing etc is in bowls on the table and we help ourselves to that.

I would prefer self serve but limited space both in kitchen and at the table means it’s much easier to plate up. So I do that.

We only tend to have 3-5 on Xmas day, so I serve what I think they'll eat. Less waste and less washing up.

I do ask people if there’s anything they don’t want. And sauces and gravy are on the table.

Much more civilised

One year I had a lot of people so they helped themselves to food in kitchen as it would have taken forever to pass dishes round. I borrowed a serving buffet and it was brilliant

We plate up from the island. Everyone get a plate, stand at the island and is offered each item which another person will pop on their plate in whatever quantity that person wants. I hate sitting at the table waiting for everything to be passed around watching my meal go cold (even with warmed plates) and the leaning over, asking for this and that to be passed. Only thing on the table is the gravy as a help yourself.

Plated but it’s only me, DH and DC’s so I know exactly who likes what.

For normal meals we put dishes on the table and help ourselves but for Xmas dinner all the dishes go on the kitchen island like a buffet.

How big are people's dining tables that they can fit all those serving dishes on?! Ours seats 8 and is a standard width but there's no way we'd be able to fit everything on there.

I plate but in consultation so everyone gets what they want - but we usually only have six of us. Food is then left on the worktop in the kitchen while we eat in the dining room so people can go back for extras!

Definitely self serve

I always get people to serve themselves. I have no idea how hungry someone else is.

Also wondering how you cope with restaurants Hoppinggreen?

Self serve, wouldn’t dream of anything else, we do this for every dinner even with close family.

Turkey carved on the island, I generally serve that out but with guidance for serving size. Everything else on the table. Generally a big dish of the roasted things and another dish or 2 of the steamed bits all in the middle of the table (goes back in the oven before we eat to keep warm) plus jugs of gravy, bowl of pigs in blankets, dish of bread sauce etc.

I plate up meat and roast potatoes, stuffing balls and pigs in blankets, everything else is self serve on the table because everyone wants more or less of different bits. I also hate watching the food go cold while I negotiate with people over the parsnips.

How do you cope with going to,a restaurant?

Self serve with 2 x the options at each end of table to avoid reaching / wait

I wouldn’t like to walk round an island in a weird queue. Surely if you do that, plates can only be warm (not hot) and by the time everyone has made their way to the dining room, it will all be cold?

It depends who for us - just the two of us, we’ll serve onto plates. If we have guests, we’ll put everything in warm serving dishes on the dining table.

We're having Fondue so thats pretty self-explanatory.
Otherwise always self-serve. It's the norm in Germany.
I honestly don't care about food waste in Restaurants but I do at home.

We plate but our kitchen is like a restaurant kitchen so we have hot plates (from a warming cupboard which can be set at anything from 40 to 100°) and restaurant heat lamps to keep the food warm. There's only ever 4 of us and it's done to order so everyone gets exactly what they want. I've been to self serve Christmas lunch and the luke warm food and congealed gravy is what prompted the restaurant equipment in our kitchen.

I dish up. I find it much easier that way to make sure we have the right quantities. I can’t make loads too much as we have a small oven so I cook enough and then have bits and bobs people can snack on after if they’re still hungry (no one ever says they are).

Restaurants plate up to a set layout they create when they put the dish on the menu specifically to make it look appealing.

Someone else plating up for you at home isn't giving a shit about the visuals.