Anyone else having Christmas with non big eaters?

[AlertDuck]

I mean I’m not a massive eater myself so I’m not one to talk. But it’s hard to word but I feel kind feel left out of the opulence you hear of with food over Christmas. No one in my family is a huge eater. A part from one of my BILs. It’s actually sort of annoying. I’ve wanted to bake and just indulge. But tbh so much goes to waste.

For example i made cinnamon rolls for breakfast. They went down a treat. Mostly finished. I planned to do absolutely tiny amuse bouche but everyone said don’t bother they are still full. So we just had the main meal. The homemade apple pie and cheesecake was 90% left even though they were insanely delicious. No one is a competitive under eater or has food issues. The cheese board stayed in the fridge. So many people bought/made treats like shortbread, mince pies. Chocolates were bought and they’re just all untouched. What on earth!

I’ve frozen a lot of it. But I don’t know I’m just a tad annoyed that people don’t really indulge.

I don’t think it’s necessarily a choice. People were genuinely stuffed after the main large meal. We had plenty of alcoholic drinks too

Anyone else have family like this?

Yep. I stick to one tin of chocolates for our family of 4 adults now and half of it gets thrown away by March.
I want a fridge filled with treats but have learned it all gets thrown away so don’t do that any more. Christmas Day we had one glass of fizz each. One chocolate biscuit each. Then dinner. Then a few crisps later and another single drink.
I miss when they were teens!

I think we're a bit like this. Maybe a lot of people are. Maybe it's the expectation of what the perfect Christmas meal should be that's the problem, not your family's appetite. Shops are relentlessly bombarding us with advertising about all the food we have to eat to make it a perfect Christmas. It just piles on the stress and it's totally unrealistic. It also means loads of waste.

We don’t overeat and I wouldn’t force myself to overeat to be polite. I don’t want to feel sick or uncomfortable.

Same over here! Although I don’t mind the lack of indulgence at all and always feel better for it after Christmas. Definitely used to be different but over the last few years we’ve all become more health conscious

I would love this. History of binge eating with family of overeaters makes aspects of Christmas challenging.

If it’s all freezable freeze in portions you’ll use and enjoy later.

Youre welcome to invite us round any time @AlertDuck it sounds delicious!

I bought so much because we were having people over, but honestly, people just ate less this year. I'm off my food due to having the lurgy, but I'm surprised none of the rest of the usual gannets have swooped down and inhaled some of it. I've got a fridge full left now so will have to carefully check which to use first/which is nearest its use by date.

you just hear/see people laying out these amazing spreads and buffets. Presenting gorgeous platters etc and I think it seems like such a treat. I would love to do the same with my family as cooking is definitely my love language. But my family just aren’t up for it.

We did a Christmas Eve buffet. People made a decent stab but the homemade Yule log was barely touched! I made smaller portions but we had plenty of leftovers. I don’t know I must be a secret feeder. No one is ever really up for pudding if we’ve had a decent sized meal. That can’t be normal.

I do think a part of it is to do with social media. I see all the gorgeous content of comfort and indulgence and would love to recreate it for my lot. Food is definitely my love language.

I’d love to put out seafood platters, pate, cheese boards etc. But no one would touch it. We genuinely have most of the chocolate left. Homemade mince pies still knocking around after a few days. They were gorgeous!

No starter for Christmas dinner. Roast beef, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, brussels sprouts with chestnuts, carrots, red cabbage, cauliflower cheese, Yorkshire puddings and gravy, pigs in blankets (3 each). Didn't eat Christmas pudding until later and had it for tea/supper. 1 tub of chocolates, so far we have each had two, the cheese board, a couple of slices. That's normal, the buying of too much food and wastage is not and lines the pockets of the supermarkets.

My family made less food this year than in previous years .
We usually freeze the left overs

I’ve just put a side of salmon in the freezer as it was supposed to be yesterday’s dinner but we had a round 2 Christmas dinner with all the leftovers. Nobody wanted pudding so I have a massive M&S trifle sell by yesterday.

And now back to work with a weird packed lunch of cheese and crackers and mince pies because I hate waste. Of course work is full of tins and tins of sweet stuff that everyone else is trying to get rid of.

I think we’re probably a bit like this. I’ve honed our Christmas food to just what we like, we don’t have starters for example, and barely a dessert after our Christmas lunch. Although I’ve still bought too much cheese, I do a mail order delivery from a company I like, every year I say I must cut down but it never seems to happen ! It’s strange because we’re actually big eaters normally, but for a proper meal , not endless chocolate or extras. This year the chocolate log is just about finished, I do most things home made as that’s what we like.

Sounds sensible really, rather than eating beyond your means and feeling ill.
It does become a bit of eating for the sake of eating all because Christmas is deemed to be a decent reason.
My family are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Told off that they weren’t eating enough even though I’d prefer them to eat what they feel like, rather than suffer the consequences - and who wants to be dealing with puke!

YANBU

We're also a bit like that. There's so much lovely food around and we want to eat it but we (me, DH and our 3 adult sons) have fairly small appetites.

No doubt a few childish posters will be along to throw the 'Teeny Tiny' insults around 🙄

But none of us have ever had particularly large appetites, apart from a few years when our sons were teenagers.

Yep. I think my family have naturally high levels of glp1. They take ages to eat and don't eat much. Even the one who is a biggish eater stops and says he has had enough. They just don't go beyond the full point. Not a problem though I don't think. I tend to spread things throughout the period e.g. don't have the ham on Christmas day.

I’m definitely not a teeny tiny eater. If you saw the size of my mains plate you’d know that. I had a sugary breakfast. Large main. Then picked at roast potatoes and pigs in blanket for dinner. Plenty of drinks had also. And a bite of cheesecake. Family were similar. I’m not a “we had a large lunch so that’s me done for the day” person at all. I do wish I was able to be a bit more of a hostess I suppose with food. But it’s all wasted on my lot.

I was saying similar to DH the other day. I just can't eat the amount that I used to.

I have baked too much this year - again.

A few years ago PILs were around, DS was a hollow teenager and my BIL hoovered up most things, so I would bake about 36 mince pies and a similar amount of sausage rolls (but tiny, just a couple of mouthfuls) so between 7 of us, spread over a few days it wasn't a large amount each, and visitors would also tuck in as well.

Roll on 5 years, PILs no longer with us, DS no longer a hollow teenager and ours and BILs appetites have decreased, so I am looking at the tin of mince pies and thinking I probably should freeze some. There is an uncut Stollen, an uncut Yule Log and an uncut Christmas cake. The latter is fine, I made it and it won't go to waste, that will keep uncut for weeks. But I really didn't need the rest and they were last minute "just in case" purchases anyway.

I said to DH that next year we need to cut it all right back because it's actually making me a bit stressed about the amount of unnecessary food in my fridge. It would have been eaten a few years ago, but we are fewer in number and our appetites have definitely changed.

I'm a non big eater and I can't just indulge on command, I can't eat if I'm not hungry.

Most of my family is like that, we just avoid big meals and favour quality over quantities.

I am a baker so I’m sure that comes into play. Christmas and food just go hand in hand. I guess I feel like I’m missing out a bit. Which I know is very silly but it’s how I feel.

Nobody's stomach magically grows 3 times the size at Christmas so it stands to reason if you serve up far more food than normal it won't get eaten. We don't normally have a starter or dessert with a roast and if we go out to eat would probably only have 2 courses, having not had a big lunch. If you are eating a big breakfast, then 3 courses at lunchtime is a lot to ask then Nibbles and an evening buffet is probably far too much for most people

We’re a household of non big-eaters. Even our triffid sons, but particularly me. My Christmas dinner filled half a plate. I have just never had a big appetite.

We have been given many ‘treats’ - a Christmas cake, mince pies, a panettone, boxes of chocolates. No idea why, but I ordered 3 M&S puddings which are sitting in the fridge. No one will touch them and I’ll end up taking all of it into work in January.

My husband’s side of the family has many gluttons. It actually repulses me to see them with massive platefuls of food which they’ll shovel in without looking up. Bleurgh.

I made shortbread (best I’ve ever made) as I was inspired by those Christmas cookie boxes that are popular online. 60% is left. I only made a small amount as I know what my family are like

If getting left out of the opulence means getting left out of the January diet and daily red faced jog round dark streets, then I'll take that.

I hate this expression of teeny tiny eater. It's just normal eating.
Don't think of indulgence as more. You can still indulge but with better quality ingredients, sides you rarely eat but enjoy, a few sweet treats. I brought into the hype of more this year and won't bother next year. A cheese board need not have multiple cheeses, just a few good quality ones. Nicer crackers etc. I think too much ruins it.

I don't see this stuff on social media, but I would hate it

Generally, one of the things I hate about Christmas is people pushing you to eat too much

I've been thin, I've been fat, now average.

do people just photograph thisstuff and then freeze it? I must admit, I don't really get people who do food as a love language thing. It's annoying for others if you get pressured to eat. I used to work with a woman who got really annoyed if you didn't eat whatever she brought in.

I think, if you you've got 20 people coming round, then you need lots of choice in catering terms sure. But otherwise, I don't get it.

I'm not virtue signalling. I have been very fat. But food is one of those things that has its limit, surely, if you're talking one meal? You want to cook massive seafood platters, do a neighbourhood gathering maybe a street party? People would love it.

I mean, if you said I could buy all the diamonds I wanted, I would struggle to know when to stop 😂 But overeating has a natural end point!

also, buffet spreads don't look very nice. I'm surprised people aspire to them.

when my father was alive, I had a struggle to get my parents to cut back on Christmas food just for three of us. It was stuff you can have later - like buying too much cake or whatever.

I think after growing up in tough financial circumstances, they were excited to actually buy it. And then didn't think about when it would get eaten.