Kitz Forum
Chat => Chit Chat => Topic started by: sevenlayermuddle on October 10, 2019, 10:26:56 AM
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Anybody else getting frustrated by portion sizes?
For all my adult life, I’ve enjoyed a take away Indian meal as often as conscience permitted. Thirty-forty years ago, my takeaway treat would be a starter, a main course, a side dish, rice and a naan bread. I’d eat the lot, never any waste, and I was quite a skinny person then. These days, even when sharing between two of us, we are physically incapable of consuming that much food. And I am, most emphatically, no longer skinny.
When ordering for myself alone these days, most I can order is one main and a rice, and guarantee there’ll be some left over for breakfast. Which is a shame, as I used to enjoy the variety of all the different things in a single meal.
Mind you, I can recommend that cold chicken dhansak, straight from the fridge, makes quite a tasty breakfast. :)
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Is it American influence?
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Is it American influence?
Possibly so. In my entire life I have very rarely ventured a McDonalds, but not ‘never’. One time I did eat there was in rural Louisiana, and I was absolutely stunned by the food portions that were being served, and eaten.
I think a problem is though, restaurants have to remain competitive with one another. I suspect once a restaurant starts serving gigantic portions that are big enough to share, it’ll become the goto place for family takeaways, as it appears to be ‘good value’. So in order to keep their customers, all the other eateries in town follow suit.
Assuming many of these massive meals don’t actually get eaten, I wonder how much simply goes in the bin? Or in this age of PC, goes in the “food waste disposal caddy” provided by local authorities, making it all right?
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Can't say I've noticed any difference in size over the years. I think as we get older we do tend to eat smaller portions, unless of course we're used to massive portions all the time.
Take-aways always used to use tin foil containers, now they mainly use plastic, the sizes of those have been the same for a very long time.
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Take-aways always used to use tin foil containers, now they mainly use plastic, the sizes of those have been the same for a very long time.
This matches my experience.
Portion sizes have dropped here as the plastic tubs they use are smaller than the foil containers they used to use 5-10 years ago yet the price is either the same or higher.
I used to buy a foil container of fried rice and a foil container of beef, green pepper and black bean sauce and it would give me 2 plates full.
I could never eat it in 1 sitting.
Now they use the plastic tubs for both I can scran the lot in 1 sitting.
Exact same from all the local Chinese, Indian, and Italian takeaways.
They all switched from the foil containers to the plastic tubs but kept the price the same.
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the sizes of those have been the same for a very long time.
I disagree.
A few decades ago (say 70's, 80's, 90's) all Indian restaurants seemed to use the same sized foil containers and with very few exceptions, a side dish used the same sized container as a main dish. The only difference was that a main dish container would be fairly full, a side dish only half full.
Over the past 10-20 years, most have started using a much larger container for main dishes, which are crammed full. The traditional smaller containers are still used, but only for side dishes and rice.
That is based on observations at the various Indian restaurants I have set up home over the years, around Scotland and around south of England. I can't speak with the same confidence for Chinese food as my passion has been for Indian, but I seem to remember the same applied.
A few are indeed shifting to plastic containers. My experience of these is limited as I have only lived one place since that transition but around here at least, they generally match the size of the recent (larger) foil containers.
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My wife and I have both always had a passion for Indian veggie food; used to regularly go out for dosas after work in the the West End of London.
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Best Indian dish of all time, imho, is traditional Glasgow Vegetable Pakora. Yes, I know Glasgow is not officially part of India, but its Pakora is unique. Like onion bhajis, pakora is made from deep fried (yes, we are in Glasgow) vegetables in a gram flour batter. But there the similarity ends, traditional Glasgow pakoras neither looked nor tasted anything like the onion bhajis served down south. They were much, much nicer.
You will see Pakoras on Indian menus everywhere but, unless you are in Glasgow, chances are you'll be served something quite different to the Glasgow version, often just a variation on an onion bhaji. Which might be very nice, but just not Glasgow pakora. Even in Glasgow unfortunately, genuine old-style pakoras are getting hard to find. But they'll always rank highly among things I miss most about 'home'. :)
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I love bhel puri, aloo chaat and - I’ve gone blank - the gorgeous, rock hard hollow balls served with chickpeas and a delicious thin sauce, what are they called? I would usually just order a load of starters because I couldn’t deprive myself of this or that.
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My wife reminds me : pani puri
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I don't recall ever seeing Pani Puri on our local menus, was that in London?
I know there are some excellent Indian Restaurants in London, and they tend to be a bit more adventurous with their menus. Best was one somewhere in Croydon that I visited with some friends, when a lot younger. We didn't know it, but it turned out the chef was quite famous, a bit of a TV celebrity in his day. He came out to welcome us and, having assessed we were newcomers, suggested we ignore the menus and just trust him to cook a selection of his favourite dishes. And by golly, they were nice. But I have no idea, then or now, what they would have been called on a menu. :D
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Always one to sacrifice myself in the interests of scientific debate, I went out earlier and collected a takeaway Indian meal. This allowed me to measure the foil containers, with the help of tap water and a measuring jug.
My chicken dhansak was in one of the new style, big, foil containers, full to the brim. It measures 550ml of water.
My Bhindi Bhaji was in one of the smaller foil containers, the size that would have been used for above chicken dhansak, 20 years ago. It measures 350ml.
So there we have it, scientific evidence that a chicken dhansak is at least 57% (550/350) bigger than 20 years ago. Might be more than that if the containers were less full in olden days, but that can’t be proven, so at least 57% must the conclusion. :)
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I’ve just ordered mine ! My Indian takeouts really hasn’t changed too much, I tend like @weaver to get an assortment of starters and a NaN. I’m a pig 🐷 in terms of eating so rarely nothing left. Likewise I’m 2 stone more than 20years ago !
As age marches on, I’m tempted to enjoy what I want !
Life is a difficult balance
Tony
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Two and a half hours ago I enjoyed a chicken biryani. :yum:
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:P
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Stop you lot, you're making me feel hungry!
Just measured one of our plastic containers from the Chinese we use and filled to the brim its 550ml. My wife said they've got smaller if anything, but I think they are pretty much the same size they've been for around the last 25 years, basically as long as I can remember.
Occasionally we may have a bigger container, but I think that's ribs or a biriani, not often we have Indian, normally Chinese, although I do really like Indian.
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I, of course, am now looking forwards to a pleasant breakfast consisting of two or three big lumps of surplus chicken, the lentil gloop, and a good amount of okra.
The lentils and okra should both count towards my 5-a-day so I reason, it will be also be a hugely healthy breakfast. :)
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Possibly so. In my entire life I have very rarely ventured a McDonalds, but not ‘never’. One time I did eat there was in rural Louisiana, and I was absolutely stunned by the food portions that were being served, and eaten.
I think a problem is though, restaurants have to remain competitive with one another. I suspect once a restaurant starts serving gigantic portions that are big enough to share, it’ll become the goto place for family takeaways, as it appears to be ‘good value’. So in order to keep their customers, all the other eateries in town follow suit.
Assuming many of these massive meals don’t actually get eaten, I wonder how much simply goes in the bin? Or in this age of PC, goes in the “food waste disposal caddy” provided by local authorities, making it all right?
My local (Cutlers Spice, Sheffield) donates to a food bank.
I also do not find the large portions problematic as I like to share or have it for another meal later.
I suspect if they halved their portions, they couldn't halve their prices so anyone who dared to do it would soon go under.
In fact, its supermarkets that are a bigger problem for people I know. Everything is designed for families, so single people end up seriously overpaying for everything. Heck, its almost better value to go to the takeaway than use microwave rice.
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My own biggest gripe about supermarket portions is the tendency to use fixed weight, fixed price, packaging. This means that a pack of 2 chicken breasts can’t come from the same animal unless, by an amazing feat of self control, the chicken managed to grow to precisely the target weight. Instead, the packs are sorted with pieces from different birds, one big, one small, so as to balance the weight. Same applies of course to pieces of fish, lamb chops, etc.
Since my own household consists of two grown adults with broadly similar appetites, any such imbalance can lead to debate at meal serving times, as to who gets which portion.... ;D
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. Heck, its almost better value to go to the takeaway than use microwave rice.
You really need to learn how to cook and freeze stuff, our daughter manages at uni to buy at a super market, cook meals and freeze left overs. Simple answer with the rice, don't use microwave rice, buy normal rice and just cook what you need, simple really and cheaper.
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Agree with that, Ronski. My own earlier example of packs of chicken breasts is actually something I rarely buy, because you can sometimes get a whole chicken for not much more than a pack of two breasts. And with a whole chicken, usually, both breasts are the same size.
In about 10-15 minutes I can joint the raw chicken, setting aside the breasts if that’s what we need, and freezing the other quarters. The carcass then gets boiled for stock, used for soups over the next few days. And all that, for not much more than the price tag on two pre-packed breasts.
Stating the obvious, kitchen hygiene is extremely important when cutting up raw chickens. Don’t even attempt it without reading up on hygiene first.
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@7lm that was indeed in London. On Drummond St near St Pancras. Used to visit Ravi Shankar for ten years but last time I went it had changed hands and had gone completely down hill. My favourite now is probably Woodlands restaurant just off Marylebone High St near where I used to work. Parathas and idli are superb there. Last went there in 2010 when I flew down to London for a couple of days. I went with my wife to a superb restaurant just of Tottenham Court Road - trying to remember the name - very posh veggie place. Indian restaurants can be heaven or hell for veggies.
I had some beautiful pakoras in Bradford at a famous restaurant but I don’t recall the name.
I remember when you could get a superb meal for £6 per person on Drummond St - shows you how long ago that was.
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Take away portions seem to have shrunk less than food in supermarkets, 40g yoghurt tub anyone?
I think the most tell tale shrinkage I have seen on takeaways is dominoes.
Instead takeaway's seem to have adopted sky's level of price inflation.
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You really need to learn how to cook and freeze stuff, our daughter manages at uni to buy at a super market, cook meals and freeze left overs. Simple answer with the rice, don't use microwave rice, buy normal rice and just cook what you need, simple really and cheaper.
There are so many reasons that's not practical, a lot of them involving a council house with a crap kitchen fan, a crap kitchen sink and disabilities in my hands, combined with being prone to forgetting to eat until its so late you need it NOW.
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I can sympathise with some of the above :/
One thing I do find annoying is that years ago when you bought frozen rice it was one bag filled with rice and you poured out exactly how much you wanted into the pan. Quick and easy done in minutes and actually tasted OK.
You don't seem to be able to buy bags of frozen rice these days - instead the pack usually consist of 4 x steam bags which 9 times out of 10 isn't the portion size I want. :no:
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Remember all those futuristic films which show portions not much bigger than a brussel sprout?
I now reckon the producers of these films are trolling the food industry on reducing portion sizes. :D
Probably will turn out to be true in 2100.
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Since the tread has meandered from take aways to supermarkets, may I suggest a further meander...?
I have just got back from 3 days in sunny wet and windy Devon. We stayed in a reasonably classy hotel, £200 per night.
Now for me, a treat of such a weekend has always been the full English breakfast. In earlier parts of my life, that would be a slice of bacon, a sausage, an egg (always fried) and maybe a slice of tomato or some mushrooms.
Nowadays, even a reasonably upmarket hotel, the ‘default’ full English seems to be large sausage, two thick bacon slices, two eggs, a whole tomato, a big pile of mushrooms, bubble & squeak, and fried bread. I had it each morning, and it was quite delicious. Only trouble is, having wolfed down all that food, there’s no way I could indulge in my other holiday treat, which always used to be fish & chips for lunch, eaten from the paper whilst strolling the pier. :(
Evening meals were just as OTT. In one establishment, other half ordered a chicken dish that offered an option of either “half chicken” or “whole”. I expected the chickens involved to be small but they were not. The Whole Chicken, meant to be a single main course and when served to an adjacent table, turned be the same size bird I’d cook at home for Sunday lunch when feeding 4 adults or more. Thankfully, she ordered half but even so, it robbed us of the opportunity to try some of the tempting deserts on offer.
All this does contrast with two recent holidays in France. Breakfast each time was a self serve buffet, but plates were quite small, vs the modern British ‘dustbin lids’, so it easier to show restraint. Evening meals, we were always able to enjoy two or three courses, without being overly stuffed. :)
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tsk tsk... no baked beans :lol:
I agree the traditional English breakfast has to be done.
We would usually compromise though by skipping lunch or having a very light snack in order to be able to enjoy the evening meal.
However a full size chicken is definitely OTT for one person.
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No black-pudding? :-\
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No black-pudding? :-\
Sadly not. :(
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I agree the traditional English breakfast has to be done.
Indeed, I just can’t say ‘No’, regardless of the harm it may do to my waistline. ;D
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I dont use hotels much now with the cost, but I had a english breakfast few months back, and portion ddidnt seem any smaller than when I was a child, will never grow old of english breakfasts's.
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I dont use hotels much now with the cost, but I had a english breakfast few months back, and portion ddidnt seem any smaller than when I was a child, will never grow old of english breakfasts's.
I wasn’t suggesting it was smaller. Quite the opposite, it was obscenely large, to the extent I was physically unable to eat any lunch, even after a morning stomping back and forth along the coastal path. And that was my gripe, as I really look forwards to a lunchtime treat of fish & chips eaten on the pier, when on UK hols. :(
That said, by golly it was a good breakfast. Black pudding would have made it perfect, but this was Devon. :D
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I sometimes pop down to the local Premier Inn JUST to have the buffet breakfast.
Full English, followed by a fruit salad to wash it down. Actually planning on that tomorrow morning before I head off to Glasgow for the weekend.
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Somerset Maugham apparently said “To eat well in England you should have breakfast three times a day.” Too true. Would be good to see his advice officially sanctioned alongside other government published ‘eat well’ guidance, ‘5 a day’ whatever? :D
PS: Despite being Scottish, I don’t actually mind Maugham’s specific use of ‘England’. At risk of upsetting other Scots, sorry... but I’ve usually found English breakfasts, in some indescribable way, to have the edge. ::)
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As a southern Englishman, I'm going to put in a good word for Scottish breakfast (admittedly based on a small number of examples). I haven't forgotten a small hotel I stayed in about 25 years ago, not far from Glasgow. The breakfast consisted of the sort of things we think of as English breakfast, but with the addition of a piece of wonderfully mature, melt-in-the-mouth steak. I can still taste it now. :yum:
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I’ve never come across steak for breakfast, but I can understand that it would make for a memorable experience.
The other decidedly Scottish feature, though not everywhere serves it, would be the square sausages, known as Lorne. There was a time, if I let on I was visiting home, I’d get inundated with requests from fellow expats, living down south, to return carrying packs of Lorne sausages.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorne_sausage
I think either Aldi or Lidl got in trouble recently (as in got some free advertising) for launching their own square sausage, as if it was a new thing. Not so much reinventing the wheel, as reinventing the square? :)