The food portions in the United States are stupid and wasteful.

Deleted member 8118 · Mar 31, 2019

Lucky241 said:
I find this more myth than fact. In my Midwest city portions are rather small. Perhaps it's different in the south or in NYC.

What..... I'm from the Midwest and it's not any different than anywhere else in the US for me.

Also, I agree that it could be a chain thing, but I've often found non-chain restaraunts overdoing portions.

I used to go to a small Italian cafe every weekend for breakfast and the portions we're usually on the spot.

Mendrox · Mar 31, 2019

Cookie said:
My wife is American but we live in Europe and used to live in Korea. We share a meal at most American restaurants. The portion sizes are obscene.

And I am not surprised about the obese rate. With these portions people force themselves to eat up or they think they waste food. Now do that with fast food which is already addicting because of fats and lots of sugar and you get the killer combo of people telling you that you are skinny even though you are at a normal weight. Three friends of mine had big problems when they did Au Pair years in America and put on some weight and as soon as they came back here to Europe they lost it all.

Zoc · Mar 31, 2019

Isn't this just an eating out/spoiling yourself thing? People don't make mountains of food for every meal at home, surely?

Doober · Mar 31, 2019

Try living in the American south. Portions are insane here, and especially dangerous since southern food has a tendency to be fucking delicious.

Deleted member 8118 · Mar 31, 2019

Zoc said:
Isn't this just an eating out/spoiling yourself thing? People don't make mountains of food for every meal at home, surely?

Depends. My mom is addicted to food and makes entirely too much only to eat it herself.

I usually pick up intake during winter and cut back during summer.

rokkerkory · Mar 31, 2019

Yep agreed look how dat americans are.

BennyWhatever · Mar 31, 2019

Hm, lived in the US all my life and never wasted the food. If it's too much, I'll just take it home and eat for lunch the next day.
Also, those "starters" that people mention are for groups of people, not one person.

Hollywood Duo · Mar 31, 2019

Zoc said:
Isn't this just an eating out/spoiling yourself thing? People don't make mountains of food for every meal at home, surely?

Depends on your culture I suppose. Try getting out of a Portuguese moms kitchen without being incredibly full.

Plum · Mar 31, 2019

Zoc said:
Isn't this just an eating out/spoiling yourself thing? People don't make mountains of food for every meal at home, surely?

It's very difficult to make proper portions with how most food is labelled and packaged, and I can imagine that's worse in America. As such it's incredibly easy to overload your portions simply because it 'feels right'; unless you're going out of your way to use food scales and other limiters you're very likely to overeat.

That's not to mention snacks such as Crisps and Sweets. Most big bags of crisps I buy have 30g as the 'recommended serving'; meanwhile I'm eating the entire 250g bag.

kyle mechlachlan · Mar 31, 2019

if i'm going out and paying for someone to make me food, i want a lot of food and to enjoy myself. fuck off with tiny portions

Strangelove_77 · Mar 31, 2019

Is eating 3 times a day the norm? I can't imagine doing that in the US.
I just eat breakfast and dinner.

Deleted member 10551 · Mar 31, 2019

A small breakfast and eating out lunch is all the food I need for a day.

Lunch sizes tend to be smaller in the US.

Then again, I know most of the good value places locally- so I can eat out under $10-12, get good food, and not break the bank.

acheron_xl · Mar 31, 2019

Strangelove77 said:
Is eating 3 times a day the norm? I can't imagine doing that in the US.

You are obviously not a fan of Fourthmeal™ , then.

Deleted member 176 · Mar 31, 2019

I think it's not the portion size alone, but also that the most unhealthy shit is the cheapest. Like you save money by getting the fast food meal that can feed 3 people. Whole foods sells cucumbers for like $4 but you can get a tiny little package of brownies for $2 that's basically a full meal.

ShadowAUS · Mar 31, 2019

Fierro said:
1200 calories meals is the norm...

Please tell me this is /s
The average (Western) kcal daily intake is between 1800 and 2800 kcals depending on age and biological sex. That should be spread evenly between 3 meals and 2 snacks not blown on a couple of 1200kcal meals.

Saying that, most people could live comfortable and healthy with a balanced 1400kcal diet, hell I'm currently only eating about 750kcal a day and while it is miserable due to limits of what I can eat and I can't do much hard physical activity before getting light headed it's very much survivable while being sedentary or lightly active. Not to mention your body and mind adjust pretty quickly and the hunger goes pretty much away after a week or two.

Sheepinator · Mar 31, 2019

It would be better for everyone if portions were 20% smaller say, and prices up to 20% cheaper. Also the restaurants desserts are high margin for them, but almost everybody is too full to want any!

fick · Mar 31, 2019

It's amazing the number of people who have never heard of leftovers in this thread.

If you get a fucking gigantic portion, guess what? Instead of bitching about how they gave you enough for three meals, how about taking it home and actually making three meals out of it?

Alternate thread title: I went to an American restaurant and got a lot of food. How fucking dumb are Americans?

rjinaz · Mar 31, 2019

Some places will let you split meals, which is nice. So you can split a burrito for example, and for like a buck extra you can both get a full serving of rice and beans. It's cheap and there is plenty.

In places that don't, I just take home what's left. Or I just leave the food.

astro · Mar 31, 2019

Coyote Starrk said:
Yes, but most people in my experience are able to take the extra and save it for later. You being physically incapable of taking the extra with you is not the norm. In my opinion this is a case of getting more for your money rather than any kind of waste or excess.

Does America have large portions? Hell yes it does. But the average American is not in the the position you are describing at a restaurant and saying "I need to eat all of this right here right now or else it goes in the trash!". 90% of patrons at restaurants are gonna be taking the extra home for leftovers and the restaurants are basically counting on this. Which is why the servings are so large. They want their customers to be satisfied with what they paid for.

It's definitely wasteful. No one ever needs to eat portions like that. And when I say "like that" I mean the ridiculous USA sized portions that can happen, I'm sure they're not excessive everywhere.

As OP rightly said, "leftovers" doesn't change this fact. It doesn't matter if most people take it home either, it's still excessive.

ImperatorPat · Mar 31, 2019

Strangelove77 said:
Is eating 3 times a day the norm? I can't imagine doing that in the US.
I just eat breakfast and dinner.

https://farmrich.com/news/press-releases/snacks-meal-choice-millennials/

"Three-quarters of Americans no longer eat a traditional breakfast, lunch, and dinner

The average person today eats two meals and three snacks each day

Men more likely to still consume traditional three meals a day

Lunch is the meal most often replaced with snacks"

Also, regarding the OP, yes restaurant meal sizes can be quite large. If they are too big for you take a To Go box or just let the excess be thrown out, it's better than overeating. Eating multiple complete restaurant meals in one day is probably more food than most people need.

rjinaz · Mar 31, 2019

Zoc said:
Isn't this just an eating out/spoiling yourself thing? People don't make mountains of food for every meal at home, surely?

In my experience most people eat out maybe twice a week. So yeah, it's not something you do every day.

astro said:
It's definitely wasteful. No one ever needs to eat portions like that. And when I say "like that" I mean the ridiculous USA sized portions that can happen, I'm sure they're not excessive everywhere.

As OP rightly said, "leftovers" doesn't change this fact. It doesn't matter if most people take it home either, it's still excessive.

It's not wasteful if you're taking the food home, I'll eat lunch, the I'll take home what's left and that's my dinner for the day. I don't eat anything else except maybe light snacking. That's like what everybody does.

ShadowAUS · Mar 31, 2019

fick said:
It's amazing the number of people who have never heard of leftovers in this thread.

If you get a fucking gigantic portion, guess what? Instead of bitching about how they gave you enough for three meals, how about taking it home and actually making three meals out of it?

Alternate thread title: I went to an American restaurant and got a lot of food. How fucking dumb are Americans?

At least here in Australia (we have comparable portion sizes to the US) over the past few years I've noticed quite a few restaurants and cafes not allowing doggy bagging (taking food out of the restaurant) for leftover food so it's not always as simple as that sadly.

Edit: Corrected some grammar.

Fierro · Mar 31, 2019

ShadowAUS said:
Please tell me this is /s
The average (Western) kcal daily intake is between 1800 and 2800 kcals depending on age and biological sex. That should be spread evenly between 3 meals and 2 snacks not blown on a couple of 1200kcal meals.

Saying that, most people could live comfortable and healthy with a balanced 1400kcal diet, hell I'm currently only eating about 750kcal a day and while it is miserable due to limits of what I can eat and I can't do much hard physical activity before getting light headed it's very much survivable while being sedentary or lightly active. Not to mention your body and mind adjust pretty quickly and the hunger goes pretty much away after a week or two.

https://ourworldindata.org/food-per-person

You average American will eat 3600 calories a day.

RDreamer · Mar 31, 2019

I think this might be a bit of a capitalism issue, honestly. A lot of people really speak highly of a restaurant that gives you a lot, at least around here. It's like high bang for your buck and it's an easy way for a restaurant to wow you. Plus it's like built in upselling.

Personally I never waste anything. If it's too much then it's leftovers. People like leftovers. I don't eat out much though so honestly a 1200 calorie meal here or there isn't doing much for me. I'm still skinny as hell.

Heres some research on the topic:

92% of Restaurant Meals Have Too Many Calories: Studyhttp://time.com/4187120/restaurant-meals-fast-food-calories/

In an unappetizing experiment, the researchers ordered takeout from 123 restaurants in Boston, San Francisco and Little Rock, Ark.—which they then took to a lab, froze in bags and shipped to Boston. There, researchers blended up the meals, freeze-dried them, pulverized them into a powder and analyzed their calorie contents.

"We found what we were expecting, which is that portion sizes are obscene," says Roberts. Some meals exceeded the calories recommended for a whole day. On average, these restaurant meals contained 1,205 calories—about half of a person's typical daily recommendations. In all, 92% of the meals gave a typical eater more energy than they need at a single meal (570 calories, which the researchers used as a benchmark for typical energy requirements.) And there was little difference between the calorie counts of food at chain and non-chain restaurants.

Kanann · Mar 31, 2019

These three meals a day plus snack give me nightmare....

Your insulin will never go down and you will be hit with many diseases.

fick · Mar 31, 2019

ShadowAUS said:
At least here in Australia (we have comparable portion sizes to the US) over the past few years I've noticed quite a few restaurants and cafes not allowing doggy bagging (taking food out of the restaurant) for leftover food so it's not always as simple as that sadly.

Edit: Corrected some grammar.

why would you eat anything other than pies though?

BeforeU · Mar 31, 2019

no lies detected

Deleted member 9838 · Mar 31, 2019

It's one of the reasons many people are so overweight there. Cheap restaurants, big portions, tall glasses of soda, no walking required.

Bakercat · Mar 31, 2019

I honestly don't mind the bigger portions cause I enjoy eating, but I wish the calorie size of each meal was at least acceptable. Went to a restaurant yesterday and almost every meal was over a 1000 calories. The vegetarian options were high as well, around 700-1000 calories.

Porky · Mar 31, 2019

Yeah - I'm from the UK and it didn't click with me until my second visit to The States that the portions I'm served when I'm "on holiday" are being served constantly all over the country. It's absurd.

Deleted member 41520 · Mar 31, 2019

Coyote Starrk said:
Wait is sitting down to a meal and saying "I need to eat all of this no matter what!" actually a common thing?

I thought that was the entire point of restaurants offering you a to-go box in the first place?

100% common, cultural hand me down behaviour from back when food was actually valued (and reinforced by the idea of poverty/starvation elsewhere)

Lucky241 · Mar 31, 2019

M52B28 said:
What..... I'm from the Midwest and it's not any different than anywhere else in the US for me.

Also, I agree that it could be a chain thing, but I've often found non-chain restaraunts overdoing portions.

I used to go to a small Italian cafe every weekend for breakfast and the portions we're usually on the spot.

There are very few non-chain places in my midwest city. But if you love Olive Garden, Big Boy, IHOP, Applebees, TGIF, Ruby Tuesdays...etc, then boy do we have you covered.

I find the non-chain places here are worse. They think there's a premium for "non-chain mom&pop shop" so they charge more, offer less, worse service, and the food is usually still from a bag or a can. Must by why so many of them fail so quickly here.

ShadowAUS · Mar 31, 2019

fick said:
why would you eat anything other than pies though?

This is probably throwing away my Australian citizenship so keep it quiet but I'm not a big fan of Meat Pies. Which is funny considering how many hundreds I've made over my life.

cvxfreak · Mar 31, 2019

American living in Japan. Every time I go back to the US, the portions never cease to amaze me.

It's good there's a culture for taking food out, but I often have trouble finishing leftovers because they're no longer fresh and make for fairly dull meals.

Deleted member 8118 · Mar 31, 2019

fick said:
It's amazing the number of people who have never heard of leftovers in this thread.

If you get a fucking gigantic portion, guess what? Instead of bitching about how they gave you enough for three meals, how about taking it home and actually making three meals out of it?

Alternate thread title: I went to an American restaurant and got a lot of food. How fucking dumb are Americans?

Sounds like you have issues that span passed this topic.

fick · Mar 31, 2019

ShadowAUS said:
This is probably throwing away my Australian citizenship so keep it quiet but I'm not a big fan of Meat Pies. Which is funny considering how many hundreds I've made over my life.

For shame. I went to Straya in 2017 and fell in love with the pies. Unfortunately they haven't caught on over here so it's nearly impossible to replace.

M52B28 said:
Sounds like you have issues that span passed this topic.

Do explain.

kaytee · Mar 31, 2019

Yes, portion sizes in the USA are one of the biggest food problems we have. On a selfish level, I like large portions at restaurants because it lets me take home plenty of food. My food budget doesn't let me go out to eat often, so it's nice to be able to stretch it a little. Calories on the menu have made it easier to portion out my food too. But a lot of people clearly have difficulty doing that, and I don't think it's worth having such enormous amounts of food on the plate. Most people have no idea how much they should be eating at every meal. I know it took me a while to figure it out when I got old enough to be feeding myself. It's really easy to overeat.

I don't have a lot of respect for the "self control" argument when we have pitiful food education in this country. A lot of people genuinely have no idea what's healthy, as hard as that may be for some to believe. And when you order something that's healthy enough in reasonable portion sizes, it's suddenly much less healthy for you when you routinely eat too much of it. Some steak is tasty, but people cook up monster slabs of it and eat the whole thing.

ShadowAUS · Mar 31, 2019

fick said:
For shame. I went to Straya in 2017 and fell in love with the pies. Unfortunately they haven't caught on over here so it's nearly impossible to replace.

Do explain.

Oh for sure, our pies rock. (Note: My job used to be to make pastries so I may be biased.) It's just that I grew up with meat pies and kind of got completely sick of them by the time I was a teen. I still love me a steak and cheese pie though, also dessert pies are some of my favourite foods and also favourite things to make.

kaytee said:
Yes, portion sizes in the USA are one of the biggest food problems we have. On a selfish level, I like large portions at restaurants because it lets me take home plenty of food. My food budget doesn't let me go out to eat often, so it's nice to be able to stretch it a little. Calories on the menu have made it easier to portion out my food too. But a lot of people clearly have difficulty doing that, and I don't think it's worth having such enormous amounts of food on the plate. Most people have no idea how much they should be eating at every meal. I know it took me a while to figure it out when I got old enough to be feeding myself. It's really easy to overeat.

I don't have a lot of respect for the "self control" argument when we have pitiful food education in this country. A lot of people genuinely have no idea what's healthy, as hard as that may be for some to believe. And when you order something that's healthy enough in reasonable portion sizes, it's suddenly much less healthy for you when you routinely eat too much of it. Some steak is tasty, but people cook up monster slabs of it and eat the whole thing.

This is super important IMO. I was obese from before I was even a teenager until my early 20's and you really don't realise how much of an addiction food can become until you've kicked it, especially if using it to deal with things like depression. I had a much easier time with kicking both alcohol and cigarettes than I did food and even now when I'm significantly healthier with a much better understanding of nutrition, food science and healthy eating; every time I walk past a takeaway shop the urge to go in and order a giant burger, chiko roll and $5 of chips is nearly overwhelming at times.

mutantmagnet · Mar 31, 2019

You have to buy more expensive food to get smaller portions. Ironic but truish.

You Are Viewtiful · Mar 31, 2019

I wish more places would have small sizes even here in Canada. It is too much sometimes.

Rampage · Mar 31, 2019

fick said:
It's amazing the number of people who have never heard of leftovers in this thread.

If you get a fucking gigantic portion, guess what? Instead of bitching about how they gave you enough for three meals, how about taking it home and actually making three meals out of it?

Alternate thread title: I went to an American restaurant and got a lot of food. How fucking dumb are Americans?

The OP clear said that they are on the go and don't have ability to carry and store leftovers. I imagine this is a problem for most city people who get around on foot/public transportation- they only have two hands to carry around what they need for the day. Not everyone return to a office with a fridge after lunch.

America portion sizes are just ridiculous. Keep hoping in the age of health conscious trends, business start to offer small meals for those who want them. Save calories and take home packaging. I skip drink at place now cause what use to be a large drink from my childhood is now a small.

Elderly Parrot · Mar 31, 2019

Hit up that kids menu

fick · Mar 31, 2019

Rampage said:
America portion sizes are just ridiculous. Keep hoping in the age of health conscious trends, business start to offer small meals for those who want them. Save calories and take home packaging. I skip drink at place now cause what use to be a large drink from my childhood is now a small.

I'll agree about the fast food stuff. McDonald's thought they were being slick by getting rid of Super Size and moving everything up a size instead, then everyone followed suit.

My issue comes when people make threads like this that are basically "hurr hurr america is so dumb and fat" and act as though restaurants just dump food on you from a truck as soon as you enter. Most places offer lighter lunch menus, there are leftovers, or, you know, you can just not eat the full serving.

Elderly Parrot said:
Hit up that kids menu

used to fuck with that kids steak when I'd go to Outback. Still get a salad and side and bread.

Rampage · Mar 31, 2019

fick said:
My issue comes when people make threads like this that are basically "hurr hurr america is so dumb and fat" and act as though restaurants just dump food on you from a truck as soon as you enter. Most places offer lighter lunch menus, there are leftovers, or, you know, you can just not eat the full serving.

Breaking the habit of cleaning one's plate from childhood is a very hard ingrain habit to break as an adult.

Lighter lunch menus are still geared towards men dominate workforce, particularly hard labors. There are other customer with cash that want their needs met on the go.

It is dumb on America part not to change restaurant menus with the change in workforce/eater dynamics. That why once popular chains are failing- they are not keeping up with times. A vast majority of the spending populous is turning away large portions by skipping restaurants all together.

You keep shoving left overs on everyone when there are plenty of reasons for people not to have the time or space to carry leftover around. It is easier to add more food to any order. It is a problem for many when they get to much because they system is designed that way.

And don't point to the kids menu as a solution. Adults want to eat more than proceed nuggets, mac & cheese, and cheese pizza. I've never seen a kid's salad and soup option.

meowdi gras · Mar 31, 2019

Isn't that the truth? Our national mania for lining up at the trough and attacking everything in it with wanton relish never ceases to dismay me. I wish our food culture was much more focused on quality of the food in front of us vs sheer quantity, as it is in Europe, Japan, and other countries. But then, we have an obese, fast food McPresident, so...

Bernard Coleslaw said:
When I'm in the USA a starter will feed me for three days.

It's obscene really.

Although I don't eat out that often, when I do I tend to patronize establishments that prize the nutritiousness and delicacy of the cuisine, over the volume. My birthday meal out, for instance, was a buttery lobster roll on a brioche bun barely larger than a slider. I was utterly delighted with the meal, only for some of my friends to chime in saying how absurd it was to pay $30 for so little food.

That said, I was at an Ameri-Thai place recently with some peeps, harboring a hunger too small for a full entree, but a bit too great for my usual soup or salad appetizer to fill. So I ordered a spicy wings starter, thinking there'd be maybe three modestly-sized pieces on the plate. Instead, I got half a dozen huge things that ended up making an entire additional meal for me in take-home leftovers.

Thorn · Mar 31, 2019

I wish I could lower my portions, I love food too much.

Apathy · Mar 31, 2019

It's not even just the US, although they take it to an extreme. I had family come over from Switzerland in the late 90's to Canada. They were shocked by the portions we had. North America has a problem

fick · Mar 31, 2019

Rampage said:
And don't point to the kids menu as a solution. Adult want to eat more than procceed nuggets, mac & cheese, and cheese pizza.

Sorry, I won't reply to other users.

Regulus Tera · Mar 31, 2019

Nothing made me lose weight faster than moving away from the US so I wholeheartedly agree

RedMercury · Mar 31, 2019

I don't eat fast food very often, there isn't really anything like that around me, but the last time I went I got a meal and ordered a medium with a diet coke, and the soda legit had to be like a 1-liter cup, it's insanity to the point where I thought they had made a mistake with my order. People should not be getting soda that large with in a disposable cup with the expectation it's all going to be consumed in one sitting.

And then, there's so much food that looks from the outside to be single-serving, but when you look at the label it will say it's 2 or 3 servings.

The food portions in the United States are stupid and wasteful.

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