Plate up or self serve?

[Spondoolie]

Christmas dinner/roast dinner - which do you do?

YABU = plate up
YANBU = self serve

Why poor MIL?
She never even knew, I hardly threw it in her face.
DH just calmly said "I will take that and let Hopping do her own when she gets here, she prefers that"
Not everyone is Fumming and Foaming about things

I plate the turkey, gammon and pigs in blankets. Everything else is self-serve.

I think mil used to dish up as she only had a certain amount of food and that might be a consideration.

Even when it's just 2 of us or my ds is here we help ourselves from the kitchen.

Can I ask why? Is it these are the expensive items so need portioned? As it does seem to be people portion the expensive bits when they semi portion.

Well, that would make sense, wouldn’t it? There does seem to be a slightly unpleasant undertone to some of the self-server advocates, as if the very idea that you might be poor enough not to have an unlimited amount of every dish is just too horrifying to contemplate.

One of us carves the meat for each person and hands them the plate, then they help themselves/people help eachother to the other stuff that's in bowls with spoons.

Plate up. I'd rather people served themselves really but we don't have many serving dishes or much room for everything on the table.

It's not just the expense. It's the fact that there are only a certain number of items available and I know certain family members would take more than their share. I'm not stingy - there are enough pigs in blankets in the fridge for four each - but certain family members who don't have great portion control would take double the amount available if I let them. I could cook eight pigs in blankets each and certain teenagers who will remain nameless would demolish the lot.

Yes, we could go through all the dishes on the table and explain what everyone's ration is, but that would seem really mean-spirited and just plain odd. I hope it feels much more natural to just serve people the 'main items' on a plate.

Preplating the meats / pigs in blankets etc does seem to be a sensible compromise. As long as the women aren't given piddly portions.