Plate your food at the stove or use platters on table?

[Angelhalo]

If I am not using serving dishes this is the only other way I would do it. I don't have any 5 year old kids here, we are all old enough to decide what we want on our plates ad how much of each thing we want! I can't imagine plating another adults (or even my teens!!) food and handing it to them in my house.

We are losing weight so portion control is very important. I have will power and my DH does not. He LOVES that I plate his food for him. He says he feels like he is in a restaurant.

 

[SpecialK]

Always in platters/serving dishes on the table.
My mom never plated it at the stove, and I never ate over anyone's house(even casual when I was a kid) who did that, so it never even occurred to me to not have everything on the table, in serving dishes, not pots and pans.

ETA: the only exception is if I made a casserole or something, I serve it in the dish it was baked in-on the table.

Same here.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Stove. No way am I doing extra dishes.

Yep.

Heck sometimes I just go right ahead and put things in the rubbermaid containers I am going to store the leftovers in for some things.

 

[aprilchem]

We eat in the dining room, as a family, every night. I serve our food in serving dishes and platters and I serve everyone (i.e., plate their food) as a courtesy to my family. We have candles on the table, too!

 

[scrapquitler]

I grew up with Mom putting all the food in some combination of pots/pans/serving dishes on the table and we all served ourselves while seated. But we had an eat in kitchen.

At my house, we do not have an eat in kitchen, nor do we have a formal dining room, we just have a combo living/dining room, I'm not sure if that influences things because I don't like carrying everything from to room to room, either in pots/pans or serving platters.

So we mostly plate from the stove. Sometimes I serve for everyone, sometimes we all serve ourselves. The only time I carry stuff to the table is if we have company (unless it's just my Mom, then I don't even do that).

I think serving from the stovetop is easier because it saves on extra dishwashing and it's easier for portion control. If the extra food is sitting in front of me on the table, I'm more likely to refill my plate, and I certainly don't need that.

 

[whatname]

It is a rare occasion, very rare, that we plate from the stove. I can't remember the last time, but I won't say never. Food is put on the table in pyrex bowls. Everyone, including dd10 and dd8 serves him or herself. I just feel that they need to learn to control their own portions. They usually do pretty well. Sometimes they need a reminder to think about how much they can eat or to take some and then more if they want it once they have eaten what they already have.

After dinner, I just put the lids on the pyrex and put the leftovers in the frig. DH sometimes tries to put pots on the table with the food, but for some reason, I just hate that. We have a dishwasher, so if we finish a dish, washing is not a big deal. I also sometimes clean as I cook and put the pots, etc. in the dishwasher before we eat if something is done before the meal is completely ready. Clean up after dinner is easy.

 

[deedeetoo]

Here everyone plates their own from the stove, and everyone is free to go back for seconds (or thirds) if they want. We are lucky in that no one in the house has a weight problem so we have no need to portion control. Everyone seems to self-regulate pretty well.

 

[Katelly]

I plate the food at the stove when it's just my dh, dd and myself.

It's not about dictating what other people eat or portion control for us. If I served everything on platters/serving dishes and brought them to the table, there wouldn't be enough room left on the kitchen table for our plates. Our kitchen table only seats four and it would be too crowded with extra platters and dishes. If my dh or dd want more food, they just go up to the stove and get it.

When we have company and eat at the dining room table, then I bring all the food out on platters.

 

[DawnM]

Typically we fix our plates at the stove, or I have even been known to put the pots on the table straight from the stove.

Dawn

 

[marcyinPA]

Plate from the stove, sit at the kitchen table. The only time I use serving bowls is for holidays. On a normal day, time is of the essence, so clean up needs to be easier!

 

[Sgt Mickey]

All of the above. Just depends on what we are eating. Most of the time we put it on the table when we all are sitting down to eat.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Some dishes are different, but I'd say most often, I initially plate from the stove, and everyone goes back for their own seconds.

 

[mommasita]

Always in platters/serving dishes on the table.
My mom never plated it at the stove, and I never ate over anyone's house(even casual when I was a kid) who did that, so it never even occurred to me to not have everything on the table, in serving dishes, not pots and pans.

ETA: the only exception is if I made a casserole or something, I serve it in the dish it was baked in-on the table.

Exact same.. I have never seen them on the table.. I would be worried about ruining my table.

 

[Julylady]

Never ever put a pan on the table. Everything goes in serving bowls and it passed at the table. If we have a lot of people, I will set up a buffet on the counter, but even then everything is put on platters or in bowls.

 

[WorldWacky]

How interesting! I would never have thought so many people would plate straight from the stove. I grew up with everything being brought to either the dining room table or kitchen table in serving bowls/platters so that's what I do too. The one skillet that I do put on the table is on the rare occasion that we have tacos. I keep the lid on so the meat stays hot. Never really thought about the extra dishes since the dishwasher does the work.
On a side note, just wanted to mention how "helpful" my DH is. He clears the table almost every night, scrapes the plates and then proceeds to walk past the dishwasher to place the dishes in the sink which I then have to take back out of the sink to put in the dishwasher. Our dishwasher doesn't require pre-rinsing so it's not for that purpose. Oh well, suppose I shouldn't complain.

 

[Stitchfans]

I plate by the stove. The platters are a nice idea but aside from holidays or special ocassions I don't see the need to dirty extra dishware.

This is how I feel since I seldom get help with washing dishes. Besides it is just DD19 and me.

 

[bigbabyblues]

We fix plates from the stove or counter if it is something that was baked. Our table is too small; if we out serving bowls on it, there would be no room for our plates. We normally each fix our own plate.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Pots and pans food was cooked in goes on the table.

Yep, we do this too half the time. The other half, the food gets plated at the stove.

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

I plate everything at the stove.

Its just a heck of a lot easier for me to line the plates up on the counter and dole everything out at once.

I line up the plates, the kids line up and take their plate to the table, and when they are finished they return their plates/silverware to the sink, etc.

I seldom use "serving" platters for normal every-night dinner....why even go through the trouble and mess ?
All I see are more dirty dishes, I already have the pots/pans to clean, why create more work ?

Now holidays, special occasions, invited dinner guests are different. To me, that warrants the work of extra dishes.

 

[NFLDERS]

How interesting! I would never have thought so many people would plate straight from the stove. I grew up with everything being brought to either the dining room table or kitchen table in serving bowls/platters so that's what I do too. The one skillet that I do put on the table is on the rare occasion that we have tacos. I keep the lid on so the meat stays hot. Never really thought about the extra dishes since the dishwasher does the work.
On a side note, just wanted to mention how "helpful" my DH is. He clears the table almost every night, scrapes the plates and then proceeds to walk past the dishwasher to place the dishes in the sink which I then have to take back out of the sink to put in the dishwasher. Our dishwasher doesn't require pre-rinsing so it's not for that purpose. Oh well, suppose I shouldn't complain.

Same here except dh does put dishes in the dishwasher. He rinses them first I on the other hand do not.