Do You Serve From the Stove..

[MichelleVW]

From the stove! That way I can make sure everyone gets a fair portion and nobody gets left out.

Of course, then we all take our plates into the living room and eat them on trays (or our knees) while we watch the evening news, with a lot of pausing the TV and family discussion going on at the same time.

Apparently, this makes us bad, neglectful parents.

Same here, but I don't serve anyone, they all serve themselves. Then we sit on the couch and catch up on DVR'd shows!

The only time we eat at the table is when my mother comes to visit because she has this weird obsession with eating at the table..

 

[MichelleVW]

I put everything on the table in the pot or pan that it was cooked or baked in...unless it's a sauce or something like a special garnish that needs its own bowl or plate. I don't get the idea of serving from the stove? It is so much easier to put it all on the table and get your helpings from there.

I don't get how that is easier?

At my house I say, "dinner is ready" and everyone walks to the kitchen, takes out their own eating utensils and then gets their own dinner and sits down. Nothing easier than that. Then when they are done, they put their stuff in the dishwasher...easy as pie!

 

[SaraJayne]

I put everything on the table in the pot or pan that it was cooked or baked in...unless it's a sauce or something like a special garnish that needs its own bowl or plate. I don't get the idea of serving from the stove? It is so much easier to put it all on the table and get your helpings from there.

Same here. I was starting to think I was odd.

I just move the pot/pan from the stove to the table.

If we have company, I of course will use pretty serving bowls/dishes.

 

[LisaR]

I put everything on the table in the pot or pan that it was cooked or baked in...unless it's a sauce or something like a special garnish that needs its own bowl or plate. I don't get the idea of serving from the stove? It is so much easier to put it all on the table and get your helpings from there.

For us, there are multiple reasons for serving from the stove instead of bringing it to the table.

1. Most nights we play a board/card game during dinner so we need the extra room on the table.

2. When the kids were little, it was an easy way to put some of everything on their plate and not have them only looking at the one thing they really want in front of them on the table. When my son was little, he could have lived on peas. I have nothing against peas but he wouldn't eat anything else if he could have peas. I served them almost daily since he loved them but I wanted him eating other things. If I would put them on the table that would have been his whole focus. Between the board game and the fact that the big bowl of peas wasn't sitting in front of his face, he would eat most of the other things on his plate.

3. Now that they are teens, I keep anything that I made in a pot/pan on the stove but the salad always goes on the table. Unlike when they were little and I didn't want some things staring them in the face, I want the salad in front of them now and the pasta on the stove.

 

[Wishing on a star]

Nope, we don't have to pretend to be Martha Stewart around here...
It is actually nice to have the plates prepared and served like in a restaurant... not a bunch of pots and pans and serving dishes cluttering up the table...

HERE is the biggest advantage....
I have always heard that for proper portion control and to watch your weight, NEVER have all the food sitting right in front of you at the table...
Serve the proper amount from the stove - and put leftovers away immediately....

 

[ski_mom]

Put me down are another one who just moves the pots and pans from the stove to the table.

 

[mhsjax]

I put everything on the table in the pot or pan that it was cooked or baked in...unless it's a sauce or something like a special garnish that needs its own bowl or plate. I don't get the idea of serving from the stove? It is so much easier to put it all on the table and get your helpings from there.

To each his own but trust me, it isn't hard to serve from the stove. Everyone grab a plate, line up and go. There easy peasy. And I don't have extra bowls to wash, and besides we never have left overs. Not with that teenage boy of mine.

 

[U2_rocks!]

or do you put everything in bowls/serving dishes on the table and serve from there? I adore setting a pretty table and tend to believe I am the Betty Crocker of the 21 century . Only my hair is longer and I don't wear a red dress to serve my meals, though I bet hubby would love that

But for the life of me I just can't justify washing all those extra plates and bowls. I actually would love to do it if someone else would wash all the dishes (but for now let's stay in reality) so I serve from the stove. I almost feel "Cheap" serving food from the stove almost as if I am selling myself out for an easier cleanup...tawdry huh
What do you do?

I'm the same, except I don't feel "cheap" - I just feel practical.

Occasionally I will dress up the table and serve out of bowls, either for a special occasion or just because the kids need a slightly more formal family dinner from time to time so they can learn how to behave in polite company.

ETA: if we have a salad, it always goes on the table and second helpings are encouraged! Even the dish of cooked veggies sometimes goes on the table, if there's anything left in it after I share out the minimum I expect the kids to eat.

 

[mhsjax]

Same here, but I don't serve anyone, they all serve themselves. Then we sit on the couch and catch up on DVR'd shows!

The only time we eat at the table is when my mother comes to visit because she has this weird obsession with eating at the table..

Can I join the bad neglectful parent club. Shoot, will al of the sporting activities, we rarely even eat at the same time, and even when we do, rarely at the table.

 

[RunningGirl]

I put everything on the table in the pot or pan that it was cooked or baked in...unless it's a sauce or something like a special garnish that needs its own bowl or plate. I don't get the idea of serving from the stove? It is so much easier to put it all on the table and get your helpings from there.

Portion control. I control the meat and starch, then everyone can eat all they want of the vegetables and fruits that are on the table. It has helped my kids (and hubby!) eat healthier.

 

[SaraJayne]

To each his own but trust me, it isn't hard to serve from the stove. Everyone grab a plate, line up and go. There easy peasy. And I don't have extra bowls to wash, and besides we never have left overs. Not with that teenage boy of mine.

For those that have a "one butt" kitchen, serving from the stove is not practical at all.

I don't make mounds of food that it's sitting on the table "staring us in the face". I typically made 4-5 servings and we rarely have leftovers. So that isn't a factor for us.

We sit at the table almost every night and once everyone is seated, I don't want all the jumping up and down to serve seconds. My MIL does this and it drives DH and I bonkers! Just SIT down, for heaven's sake!

 

[Carly_Roach]

It's just DH and I. It really all depends on what's for dinner but I'm more likely to use serving dishes because that's what gets Saran wrapped and put into the fridge for leftovers. Of course if we're having steaks or chicken breasts, those go right from the stove to the plate. But salad, vegetables, gravy, etc, gets put into bowls on the table.

Portion control isn't an issue for us.

If we're having company, I always use serving dishes no matter what we're having. It's just the way I was raised.

 

[nmmom95]

I usually use serving bowls, unless we are in a hurry. When DS has a baseball game and I need to clean up in a hurry, it's from the stove.

 

[Wishing on a star]

For those that have a "one butt" kitchen, serving from the stove is not practical at all.

I don't make mounds of food that it's sitting on the table "staring us in the face". I typically made 4-5 servings and we rarely have leftovers. So that isn't a factor for us.

We sit at the table almost every night and once everyone is seated, I don't want all the jumping up and down to serve seconds. My MIL does this and it drives DH and I bonkers! Just SIT down, for heaven's sake!

WOW, I would never have imagined that this was such an emotional issue.......

 

[Magpie]

Same here, but I don't serve anyone, they all serve themselves. Then we sit on the couch and catch up on DVR'd shows!

The only time we eat at the table is when my mother comes to visit because she has this weird obsession with eating at the table..

My mother has the same weird obsession!

She has to have real napkins, too. None of this "paper towel folded in half" business!

 

[NMAmy]

If it's just DH and I, we serve ourselves from the stove. If anyone else is over (including dd home from college or my mom's once a week dinner when she's home), then the serving bowls come out.

I don't think my mom would care now but when I was a kid, we always had serving bowls and platters on the table at dinner every day. I did the same thing when dd was at home.

 

[SaraJayne]

WOW, I would never have imagined that this was such an emotional issue.......

It isn't. But when you see a woman jumping up and down all the time to serve others (who are pefectly capable of serving themselves) so much she can't even eat her own food, it's irritating.

 

[mhsjax]

For those that have a "one butt" kitchen, serving from the stove is not practical at all.

I don't make mounds of food that it's sitting on the table "staring us in the face". I typically made 4-5 servings and we rarely have leftovers. So that isn't a factor for us.

We sit at the table almost every night and once everyone is seated, I don't want all the jumping up and down to serve seconds. My MIL does this and it drives DH and I bonkers! Just SIT down, for heaven's sake!

We have a 2 butt kitchen. lol I also never said that anyone made mounds of food. But a lot of people do have leftovers, also I just don't want to dirty up dishes that I have to wash, no biggie. I also don't jump up for seconds, if someone wants them, they get up off their butt and go and get them. Like I said to each their own, I was just explaining that is doesn't have to be hard to serve form the stove. NO biggie.

 

[VAfamily1998]

Except for dinners like Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc. we serve from the stove.

#1 reason is portion control. I like to measure out my food, so if I'm serving my own from the stove, I might as well serve everyone else's too...

#2. There are 6 in our family. Most of the recipes I use tend to make approx. 6 servings...so we don't usually have a lot of leftovers after the initial serving for anyone to take seconds. The few times there are leftovers, if anyone wants seconds, they can get up and get it themselves.

We eat in our kitchen...the stove burners are on an island literally just feet from the kitchen table... Maybe it would be different if we ate in the dining room or our kitchen eating area was further from the stove top...

 

[U2_rocks!]

My mother has the same weird obsession!

She has to have real napkins, too. None of this "paper towel folded in half" business!

We usually eat without napkins, because we never remember them!