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Do you eat everything (edible) on your restaurant plate?


MickinMD

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I had a restaurant dinner with someone a several years ago who intentionally left 1/4 of the food on her plate uneaten and she wouldn't take it home as a doggy bag.  She said she was doing that to cut back on calories.

I thought that was a good idea - except I'd do a doggy bag, considering how large restaurant portions are today. It's become a habit with most people I dine out with to order appetizers that could qualify as a full meal by themselves, so saving some of the main meal to be lunch or dinner tomorrow at home should be easy.

So, when I'm served a huge amount of food in a restaurant, I'll make sure to leave enough uneaten to be lunch or dinner the next day.

 

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If I can’t eat it, I take it. Unless it is something that just will not reheat or transfer well.

can’t remember the last time I ate out of the home besides a lunch salad that I can get that is awesome and really cheap. Today it was $3 with chicken, cheese and lots of veg. Awesome 

Dinners are always at home. I don’t dine inside restaurants much at all anymore. 
 

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I am from Ohio, we eat the whole thing.

When I make something at home, whatever dish is one serving unless there are two people, then it becomes two servings.  For instance, I make the same pizza for when the gf or RO are over as I do for myself, and the entire pizza gets eaten regardless.

The exception is lasagna, that is too much to consume all at once.

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4 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

Lately my wife & I have been sharing a meal when we order from places we know have large servings.  It’s been working out pretty well.  

This is a good strategy, and cuts down the cost of eating out, too!  I have done this with the gf a few times, but we don't go out to eat a lot.

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I don't intentionally save food for an extra meal  I'd take home leftovers if it's the sort of thing that would be good at home, but a lot of times it won't travel well.

I still remember when I lived in LA and some coworkers were going on a business trip to an industrial site in Ohio.  One of the women going on the trip was an attractive blonde who was wearing a leather skirt,  fishnet stockings and spiked heels  for her travel outfit in the middle of winter. She was stunned when she came back and said the office in Ohio had a large barrel of candy in the lobby and that people would just grab a handful of candy as they walked by..

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If my stomach is comfy, I'll eat most of it.

Otherwise, no shame for me to take a doggy bag. I don't pre-decide at  beginning  of meal. Of course, there's some combinations I just don't order: ie.  something with french fries..I  try sub with salad or fruit, no 3 eggs anymore (I can't believe I did used to eat such brekkies 25 yrs. ago..).

I actually find it difficult to eat at a  Chinese restaurant because 1 plate of a dish is  huge. I prefer to be with 3-5 people at a Chinese restaurant because then we can order 3 dishes with some variety. Even going to a Chinese restaurant for 2 people and ordering 2 dishes in total, is alot of food.   Some food can heat ok next day.

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36 minutes ago, Zealot said:

 I take the leftovers home usually for lunch the next day. But I can’t fathom just leaving it there. It’s paid for and if you don’t take it with you, it’s wasteful.

I agree, it's nearly inconceivable for me, to leave 1/2 plate of food  uneaten. If it was a good tasting dish, take rest home. If I have 2nd thoughts, then I'll throw some of it away.  I know my mentality is part of my upbringing.  Also seeing parents ask for doggy bag.  It's just  norm in our extended family.

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55 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

I agree, it's nearly inconceivable for me, to leave 1/2 plate of food  uneaten. If it was a good tasting dish, take rest home. If I have 2nd thoughts, then I'll throw some of it away.  I know my mentality is part of my upbringing.  Also seeing parents ask for doggy bag.  It's just  norm in our extended family.

Absolutely. My mom came out of the American great depression years. We were taught that you didn’t waste anything. 

I have a very hard time disposing of food. Quite honestly it’s why I am the way I am with so many things. I hold onto everything until it dies. My cars, my appliances, my bikes, etc... 

Interesting. 

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There's a restaurant downtown that I frequent from time to time and the lunch sandwiches are huge. As soon as I get the sandwich I ask for a container to go and put half of the sandwich in the box that way I don't over eat. 

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At the G&M Restaurant in Linthicum, MD, which many locals consider to serve the best crabcakes in the Baltimore Area, the cost of a 2 crabcake platter with two sides is not cheap, but it isn't much more than the 1 crabcake platter.  So many order the 2 crabcakes and take one home: they're almost the size of a softball.

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5 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

At the G&M Restaurant in Linthicum, MD, which many locals consider to serve the best crabcakes in the Baltimore Area, the cost of a 2 crabcake platter with two sides is not cheap, but it isn't much more than the 1 crabcake platter.  So many order the 2 crabcakes and take one home: they're almost the size of a softball.

Yes they do. Worth coming over the bridge for. We stop there after leaving the HowRd County Dog show. Then up 95 I think?

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3 hours ago, shootingstar said:

If my stomach is comfy, I'll eat most of it.

Otherwise, no shame for me to take a doggy bag. I don't pre-decide at  beginning  of meal. Of course, there's some combinations I just don't order: ie.  something with french fries..I  try sub with salad or fruit, no 3 eggs anymore (I can't believe I did used to eat such brekkies 25 yrs. ago..).

I actually find it difficult to eat at a  Chinese restaurant because 1 plate of a dish is  huge. I prefer to be with 3-5 people at a Chinese restaurant because then we can order 3 dishes with some variety. Even going to a Chinese restaurant for 2 people and ordering 2 dishes in total, is alot of food.   Some food can heat ok next day.

We do Chinese food that way as well. My wife, my children and grandkids. Order 4- 5 different main dishes and it’ll feed 9 of us. And we’ll still have some left overs.  😊 

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More often than not both WoBG and I will have about 1/2 of the food leftover when we go out to eat.  We get one more meal that way.   One place... OMG we can eat for 2 or 2 more days, the portions are HUGE.  We always take the food home.  

When we have wine at restaurant, many times it's cheaper to order bottle.  They cork them here if we don't finish the bottle (which is just about always), and we take that home too.

Another couple who would go out to dinner with us, if they had leftovers, never took the food home.  Seemed like a big waste of food and money to me. 

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