Do you regularly use disposable plates?

[MM27]

I get a big box of paper plates from BJs or Costco. Use them all the time for quick meals like sandwiches or pizza. Why dirty a dish for something like that?

 

[TheZue]

We never ever use them, even for parties. I have fiestaware and some good china so I figure that covers all the possible bases. Can't imagine adding them to the weekly grocery bill or to our garbage output either. We are only allowed one can a week (about to go to one every two weeks) so there is no way we'd be able to pull that off using disposable plates. I had no idea people used them every day.

 

[tar heel]

Someone asked why dirty a plate for pizza, etc.? The answer is to keep the paper plates out of the landfills.

I always cover in the microwave and use a plastic cover most of the time, plastic wrap once in a while, lid that goes with the dish I'm using occasionally.

 

[ccgirl]

Just a quick question...isn't paper recyclable?

 

[Luv'sTink]

We have a stack of small paper plates on the microwave for quick fix items, otherwise it is regular plates that I wash.

We don't throw the few paper plates we do use in the garbage, they get recycled with our yard waste along with food scraps and grass clippings and such.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

to each their own, but it's not hard to wash it. A quick rinse and it's clean, unless something particularly oily splattered onto it, then it might take an extra 5 second wipe with a sponge.

Funny how different people perceive things differently. I use potholders for hot bowls in the microwave, too. To me, it seems like it would take more time to get out a paper plate and throw it in the trash than to grab a potholder. I don't love to wash dishes, but I have a dishwasher and everything goes right in there. We do eat out probably a little more than average, but with 4 people, most of our meals are at home and we only have to run the dishwasher about every other day, unless I've baked or something.

Well see that is the difference. I could run mine twice a day now and that is with using reg. and paper plates.

And when we eat out we ALWAYS bring home leftovers and eat them as another meal, so that gets heated up in the microwave and is usually "messy".

Now I do admit I need a new dish set. My current microwavable set has only 6 dinner plates which is not enough for us.

 

[pospisil]

My first poll!

 

[Ephany]

Pretty much never; we have some wicker type paper plate holders that I've been carting around for 15 years and can't remember the last time we even used paper plates with them. Maybe once a year for a barbeque? It's just DD and me most of the time, so I guess I run the dishwasher every few days.

I have a normal set of dishes and the bowls get used daily, but we do use microwaveable plates if it's just us. I'll pull out the 'real' plates and serving dishes if we have company, but I hate to entertain, so they don't get used very often. Many, many of the kids I go to school with use paper exclusively, as do my parents now that us kids are grown. I hate doing dishes, but it's never occurred to me to use paper plates instead on a daily basis.

 

[PatsMom]

I voted never in the poll but it isn't quite true. When we have parties (about twice a year) and are cooking outside I do get out the paper plates and plastic utensils. Other than that, we use real dishes and utensils. I am too cheap to keep buying paper and it is also environmentally unsound.

Besides my eight dinner plates, I have a bunch of plastic plates that can be used if we run out before it is time to run the dishwasher. Doesn't usually happen since it is just me and DH most of the time now and we run the dishwasher about every two days.

And if it is my turn, the dishes get handwashed. For some reason I don't mind doing dishes and you use less water and electricity washing them by hand.

 

[mjkacmom]

Seems like smaller families rely less on paper products. When our family was smaller, we used real plates and cups a lot more! Even using paper plates and plastic cups, the dishwasher tends to get run a lot. I do wash all of the pots and pans.

 

[PatsMom]

Seems like smaller families rely less on paper products. When our family was smaller, we used real plates and cups a lot more! Even using paper plates and plastic cups, the dishwasher tends to get run a lot. I do wash all of the pots and pans.

I actually grew up in a large family and that is where I learned not to use paper products - they cost money. The "dishwasher" was one of the kids - we rotated weeks. So the "dishwasher" ran every night after dinner. If no dinner was cooked the dishes still had to be done before bedtime.

 

[tlbwriter]

I use them for birthday parties and I take them to work when it's my turn to bring breakfast, but that's it. I don't like eating off paper plates. I don't understand why I would want to use one when I'm eating something fast like a sandwich or pizza - it's still food, isn't it? If it doesn't need a plate (sandwich), I use a napkin or a paper towel. In the microwave, I cover my food with a lid, a paper towel, or plastic wrap (and yes, mine would be a horrid mess if we never covered our food). I like my plates and I like to use them. Once when my ILs were visiting, my SIL found a stash of paper plates left over from something and decided we would use them "since there are so many of us" and I thought "Really? You want to eat pork chops off a paper plate? It's that much trouble to put an extra 4 plates in the dishwasher instead of the 3 I normally use?" I mean, if I have company, I want to get out some nicer dishes, not downgrade to paper!

But what's even weirder to me is that my MIL uses disposable cups and washes them. Why???? Throw the stupid things away! If you want to wash your cups, get some real cups!

 

[SaraJayne]

We use both reg. plates and paper plates. I can't imagine not using them, we would run out of plates.

Also how else do you cover the stuff in your microwave?

Paper towel.

We only use them for parties.

 

[VAfamily1998]

Very very rarely. Even when we picnic, we usually bring non-paper plates (some melamine ones I bought specifically for picnics/camping).
The only time we use paper is when I'm entertaining a crowd that is larger than what I have "real" plates for--so maybe once a year at the most?

I went through a phase a few years ago where we hardly used anything disposable...we used cloth diapers on the babies, cloth napkins, rags/dishtowels instead of paper towels, etc. Dh was deployed, and the place where I kept our garbage cans was around a corner, in the dark, etc. and it was easier to wash things than it was to take the trash out several times a day!

 

[jen0610]

The kids and I eat off of paper plates almost every single night but DH does not. I even have the throw away bowls too. We are on the run a lot so it makes it easier for me, and anything that makes my life easier I will do. I do have standards though, we use real utensils.

This is us, but it includes DH. About the only time we eat off of our plates, is when we aren't going to be leaving the house again after dinner.

It use to be mainly during the summer months - with all the baseball and softball games and practices. But the older the kids got and more activities going on all year long - later, longer, more freguent practices and games - I said no more.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I picked the "food on the go" one in the poll, because that's the closest to how we use them here - mostly for cook-outs, pizza, and covering things in the microwave. Definitely not all the time, but if it's a busy enough day that I've ordered take-out, I'm probably also too busy to do dishes.

 

[marmalade]

I voted for picnics/bbq but even that is a stretch. I have specific plates for outside, so I really I never use paper plates.

 

[jen0610]

IBut what's even weirder to me is that my MIL uses disposable cups and washes them. Why???? Throw the stupid things away! If you want to wash your cups, get some real cups!

I can answer this from the stand point of my mil and fil. They are 87 and 85. Both have the hand shakes - BAD - and over the last 10 years, have dropped and broken/chipped the dishes they have had for 30+ years. This was causing my mil stress, upsetting herself because she couldn't control her shakeness. To ease this, we bought them the plastic dishes, thinking they would use them and throw them away.

But, having grown up during the depression, NOTHING was ever to be wasted and thrown out, so for them, washing and reusing those plastic bowls, plates and cups is not wasteful.

DH and both his sisters, don't throw a lot away, due to how my in-laws raised them. It took a lot to get DH to convert over to using paper plates.

 

[NikitaZee]

Hardly ever. I love to cook, love nice dishes and a nicely set table. I can't stand eating off of paper plates.

 

[Mrs.Toad]

Well see that is the difference. I could run mine twice a day now and that is with using reg. and paper plates.

And when we eat out we ALWAYS bring home leftovers and eat them as another meal, so that gets heated up in the microwave and is usually "messy".

Now I do admit I need a new dish set. My current microwavable set has only 6 dinner plates which is not enough for us.

Yea, I just realized that we don't go through our plates very fast. We have a set of 12 and only use the dinner plates for dinner and the occasional weekend that we make a big breakfast, pancakes, etc. Most of the time, we use bowls for cereal or fruit for breakfast, or a smaller plate if we're having some eggs or toast. Small plates for lunch. We also have an extra 4 salad bowls. And often, I'll have yogurt for breakfast or lunch, so I eat it right out of the container. Dh has a banana for breakfast before work, so he doesn't use anything for that. Our dishwasher gets pretty full over a couple of days, but we almost always still have clean plates in the cabinets when it's full enough to run it.