eating food so it is not wasted

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I come across this fairly regularly. People who had enough to eat but say I will finish that off so it does not get wasted. I don't understand that. People do not want the food thrown away but it is not considered a waste to eat more than you need.

My brother does this with his four kids. If one of the kids does not finish what is on the plate then the other kids have to eat so it does not get 'wasted' even if they are saying they do not want it.

I don't like waste either but I am not going to eat more than what I need just so it does not get thrown away. I would rather it get thrown away than just eaten when not necessary.

People's appetites are not allowed to vary.

Nobody should eat more than they want because someone cooked it.

I hate this. Making children finish food when they’re already full is horrific. It generates a terrible relationship with food.

I don't know why you are being so dogmatic. I have said twice now that if they do not want to eat it, or can't finish it, it can go in the fridge until later, not the bin.

My mum always used to guilt trip us with "there are starving people in Africa" if we left food on the plate. Somehow, i managed to survive that and have never had any issues with food or my weight and neither have my kids.

So many things in our society have become overly "disposable" and immediate - it is not a problem to remind people that they should value the things they have especially someone else has spent time and effort in providing it for them. End of.

I hate waste of any kind, but particularly wasting food. It’s an unavoidable outcome of growing up in poverty. Nothing was allowed to be wasted because we simply couldn’t afford it. Leftovers were reheated the next day. As children, we were given two choices about food; eat it or go hungry. Fussy eating was a luxury affectation which my parents simply could not afford to pander to. That leaves its mark.

Now, I can afford to waste food, but I just can’t bear to do so. I’m not suggesting nothing is wasted. I do occasionally chuck out the remnants of a bag of salad which is past it or a bruised avocado, but I completely ignore ‘best before’ dates and seldom take ‘use by’ dates literally,

It is just the fact that you even say they should try harder.

Sad.

I was brought up to eat all the food on my plate and often ate too much and felt uncomfortable. It has taken me a long time to be able to leave food on my plate.
I will leave food in a restaurant but at home I always weigh food before I cook it, so we have very little food waste.
We have a separate food waste bin in our area and I rarely have actual edible food in it, mainly banana skins and tea bags.

@Lilyhatesjaz why do you think you carried on eating even when it felt uncomfortable?

Not sad at all. What is sad would be letting them leave the nutritious meal I cooked, then letting them fill up on dessert and snacks. No wonder we have an obesity problem if parents don’t actually parent but just let kids eat what they want.

one of my friends used to say to her kids “you don’t have to like it, you just have the eat it,” and guess what - no weight problems in that family either.

i have no idea why you started this thread or why you are so hostile to people expressing their pov but it’s odd.

Is it hostile because I made a statement?

Do we need to be open and transparent about how why we start threads?

They might overfill their plate a few times, but they quickly learn to serve themselves a reasonable portion. They can have 2nds if still hungry.

Serving up your own food, healthy portion sizes etc, is a very important part of what a child needs to learn in life.

I carried on eating when I felt uncomfortable as my parents especially my mum would get angry if I left food, she also told me it was very bad manners to leave food in other people's houses which caused an even bigger problem.

My ex-MIL is obsessed with not 'wasting' food and uses FIL (who is overweight & has a number of health issues as a result) as a human food bin at mealtimes. Its really uncomfortable to watch. I suspect its a pattern both of them got into in childhood with their own parents, but the negative consequences for FIL are pretty obvious!

She is not to blame for his gluttony. He can just say no.

It is bad manners in most cultures around the world to leave food on your plate - try doing it in Italy or China. That doesn't mean you can't do it and apologise, explaining how much you enjoyed the food but that you are now full. You do not have to do as you are told!

No, it is hostile because you are not engaging in conversation with me, just firing off judgements about my opinions being "sad" or applying that my behaviour is abusive because I don't just let my kids eat what they like.

That is really abusive. So sorry you had to go through that. Did your mum get angry because you left food that she cooked?

But surely if you eat a big meal, more than you actually need so you feel really full, then you eat less at the next meal? So overall it evens out.
That’s certainly what I do. So for example if I went out for lunch and was served a large meal I would eat it all, but then in the evening have just a light snack.

I agree if it's eaten when it's not wanted I see that as a waste just as much as it being thrown away

My parents would always insist that I cleared my plate as a child, even if I was full. I do wonder if it has something to with my weight problem as an adult. My parents were both teenagers during the second world war when rationing was in place,so were taught that wasting food was a crime.

I was brought up never to waste food. I try to not cook too much in the first place. That might mean there are no left over roast potatoes as I just cook 2 or 3 each depending on size. If any meat is left on someone's plate with no sauce on it I give it to the dogs who seem quite pleased to eat it.

Wow, there’d be a riot in our house if I only cooked two or three roasties each!

I usually take any leftovers to work the next day for lunch.

My mum wasn't abusive, she was brought up with wartime rationing and I didn't eat well as a baby which I think made her anxious. It did make me determined to never mind if my DC left food.

Leftovers from people's plates that they did not finish?