AIBU to stop my children wasting food at the holiday buffet?

[constantnc]

To not let my kids waste holiday AI food?

At home our food waste is minimal, I serve a portion onto plates and seconds is always available.

For the first time on holiday I have let my kids ages 9+ go around the buffet and serve themselves.

I am not happy with the waste, ie the 1 bite and I dont like it, and lots of what they will like then full up.

Unsure whether to reduce independence and serve what they will like and eat, or let them get on with it. Most families seem to have no problem piling the plates and leaving half of it.

(We use AI so i get respite from cooking cleaning so dont want to swap from AI).

Yhey are young snd still learning how to do things.

Part of me thinks that half of the the fun of the buffet is try something new. Maybe you will take one bite and not like it.

Tell them one piece of anything new; they can always go back.

You are on holiday. You need to relax.

I hate waste too so this would drive me potty. Tell them it’s ok to take something new and then discover you don’t like it but you take a small bit the first time to check!

Maybe remind them they can go up multiple times and to save room for pudding. Tell them you don’t like waste. If they continue as before, go with them to the buffet to guide them on portion control. Eyes are often bigger than bellies at that age!

Can you encourage them to take small portions of new things and then if they like it they can go and have more ? Maybe introduce a family tasting course.

I'm with you completely. Hate waste. I'd have to do something so they don't start to think it's acceptable. Not sure what exactly but I definitely would do something.

You’re overthinking honestly. But buffet food is hit and miss, sometimes you won’t like it and they account for that when preparing food.

Exactly. A plate of tiny tasters. That's what we do. They are kids so you have influence. Pps are right it's great way to taste stuff, just teach them how.

Teach them for life so they don't end up like the twats with 5 platesleaving 4.5 of it🙄 Fucking hate these people.

You are quite right to think about this and raise it wiht your kids. There is a balance between the ability to try (and reject if you dont like) new stuff at AI and not being a wasteful pig. Just keep having age appropriate and kind conversations about it and see it as a journey.

I do understand the try and dont like it and thats ok, i'm glad they tried.

Its more the taking 10 strawberries and only eating 3 thats annoying.
They also took bread & butter this morning then declared themselves too full. We did eat this between us but to save waste rather than me really desiring it.
People are right I should relax.

I do keep reminding them take 1 or 2 then more later, but its falling on deaf ears 👂

I would supervise them at that age. Encourage small portions or even just one piece/spoon of something in case it's not likes and then encourage revisits for seconds or thirds.

It's glutenous to be piling a plate high and then wasting it.

I think this has just highlighted that them being able to serve their own portions is something you need to work on.

If they are used to you always serving up food for them, then it sounds like they haven't had the chance to do this and it could be a great chance for them to learn how to do that themselves. It's something that comes from practicing.

It's a shame buffets don't have little serving taster spoons. But I can totally see someone just putting it right in their mouth 🙈

Maybe do one plate with them to show them? Charge them for left overs😂 that seeems to control people. 20p of pocket money

I agree OP. Last time we went on holiday my DC only selected food they knew they liked so ate really well. My DSD was then a super fussy eater and decided this would be the time she would ‘try new food’ - we had full plates of random food I knew she wouldn’t eat completely wasted and she refused to get food we knew she liked. Complete nightmare having a pretty much starving child most of the holiday nevermind the waste.

Going away again this year but she’s definitely grown and I’m hoping she will select food she will eat this time!!!

There is no piling plates high.

No waste within reason was my rule. Ok if they have tried something new and really don’t like it but I supervised them at the buffet so they only took small amounts at a time.

It is a good opportunity to encourage them to try new things. One of mine developed a love for calamari, artichokes and seafood pasta on an AI holiday.

But yes, you are right in my opinion that the correct approach is to take a tiny spoonful of something you're not sure about - if you like it, you can go back for more.

The worst behaviour ive seen is adults, not young children.

Like the family (eirh adult "children") who piled a plate high of pastries, got full glasses of juice each, a plule of exotic friut...

Then just left it all on the tabke after a few bites each.
Tbh... they all looked extremely hungover.

I can see where you’re coming from but honestly I think this is just the sort of situation that kids learn from. They stack it up because they like it and they don’t quite get it yet that they can simply go back, it’s all just very exciting. It’s also fantastic that they’re trying new things, I wouldn’t be putting them off doing that by telling them off for not finishing everything they choose to try.
I’d gently encourage them to have smaller portions to start with, and model going up twice for that which you want more of (even if that means you take a teaspoonful of what you really want the first time 😂) I certainly wouldn’t be teaching them that you should choke down food you don’t want and aren’t hungry for just to save on food waste, that’s a terrible lesson imo.

If you always serve up for them, they didn’t have the opportunity to learn portion sizes and accurately judge what they can eat vs what they think they can eat/want to eat.

So let them experiment, but give them reminders and advice.

You need to supervise them more closely or serve them yourself.

They are not little children who need supervision though. The youngest is 9. It's a skill they need to learn so they understand what a good portion size should be.

You are all on holiday. You need to unclench a bit!

There is a middle ground- relax and let them try new foods, get over excited but also supervise their serving up to make sure they’re not taking ridiculous amounts.

we always go AI but it’s an inconsistent choice for someone so worried about food waste

Isn’t the point of a buffet so they can try new things? Also quality varies and the way things are cooked may be different, taste different to your cooking so what they normally like: they may not like it the same on hols.

Maybe a chat about waste, encouraging them to take 2/3 strawberries rather than 10. If they over fill their plates with food and don’t eat it then maybe suggest you’ll go with them to encourage small tastes. Because they want their independence away from parents they may listen?

I never dished up, the children always served themselves, and were taught to take no more than they knew they could eat. There was always enough for more. Anything else is greedy.

At 9+ this is a life skill that should have been taught and should have been learnt.