One of my biggest issues is with eating out. Not just that you need to go through the menu with a fine tooth comb, not just that you often have to ask them to bring you special items which they can get funny about or just lie about. But the main thing is that portions are giant. I don't have a lot of money and I don't get to do this sort of thing often, and when I do go out I really don't want to pay £12 for a giant portion that I leave half of, I want to just get a portion that is actually OK to eat the whole thing, and not be upset that it still cost just as much. You can ask for a meal without sauce, without dressing, without this and that, but it doesn't save you any money, which I find very annoying. In some places I order a children's meal, but so often those are the least healthy of all, friend chicken nuggets and chips, etc. Is there anywhere you can buy sensible food portions? Or perhaps where they would not object to bringing one meal with two plates and I'll share a proper meal with my daughter instead of lumbering her with the chicken nugget menu. Then there is the "light bites" menu which tends to be concerned with almost 100% sandwiches - I'm not eating out to have a sandwich! I want the normal stuff that is on the main menu, just less of it.
I am located in Edinburgh, but also interested in national chains if there are any.
I'm not sure about Europe but here we have "lunch portions" and it's usually half the size of other portions, so it'll be that same salad but on a smaller level, or a half sandwich and a bit of salad or soup, etc.
I usually get lunch portions when I go out so it's not too much food.
OR you can always have your meal bagged- eat half then take the rest home for dinner or lunch the next day
I'm not from your area so I can't help (who am I kidding I don't even belong in this part of the forum... I'm just like a leaf that drifts around with the wind... to any part that looks interesting. Hope that isn't rude?), but I wanted to share this little story:
I went out to a Mediterranean place with my family. I can't remember what everyone else ordered but I got tobuoli(sp) and stuffed grape leaves and something else. When the tobouli got to the table, I stared at the bowl and immediately asked if anyone else was having one, and the waiter said "Oh, this is just for one person."
It was enough for my ENTIRE family. To have seconds or even THIRDS. Same with everything else my family ordered. Of course one part of me thought "oh boy oh boy oh boy! food!" but another part of me thought "honestly? who needs this much food?"
If i go out i'll mostly either order a salad or choose something off the appetizer menu with a side salad. Chinese restaurants are quite good, they have meat and vegetable dishes and they serve rice/noodles seperately. If you're in a group you can also order dishes to share so you can eat as much or as little as you want.
Places with a good seafood selection also have good options for the calorie concious. I always ask for salad instead of chips.
I have also ordered dishes to share (My friends normally order a side of chips to compensate)
I'd second about sharing rice etc in Chinese restaurants and the same goes for Thai. Japanese can be good as the portion sizes aren't usually huge anyway, and if you're having sushi you're ordering how much you want to have rather than a big plate with a set amount.
LOL, I am deathly allergic to fish, not even sure I could go inside a sushi restaurant without being taken away by ambulance. My husband likes old-fashioned dinner on a plate eat in a chain pub grub. Yuk. I could probably persuade him to go to a Chinese place, though. I don't want to pay for "all you can eat" buffet any more than I want to pay for a plate of something I am going to leave half of, I wish places would just serve up half the food at 2/3 the price (to cover service charges, etc.). We have to find somewhere to have a Christmas dinner in early December, not looking forward to that one as Christmas time it's taken as read that you want to stuff yourself.
I'm afraid i have only found the resturants that do small portions are the really, really expensive ones. If you look at masterchef and other pro cook shows, you will notice the dishes are really small and that is what they are like in posh restaurants. You could always try ordering from the kids menu, i know its not as nice but they come on smaller plates. I once went to cafe and asked for a really small slice of cake and they said they couldn't do it and then were really sniffy when i left having eaten less than half. Don't feel guilty about leaving some, and don't feel like you have to eat the whole lot, just cos it's there. If they won't give you portion you will finish, don't finish the portion that they give you.
Don't feel guilty about leaving some, and don't feel like you have to eat the whole lot, just cos it's there. If they won't give you portion you will finish, don't finish the portion that they give you.
How do you deal with that if someone else is paying? My friends and family know we don't have much money so they often want to take us out to eat (wish they'd take us out clothes shopping! ) and it seems really rude to get them to buy you something and leave half of it, but they won't have it if you say you don't want any cos that's rude too, apparently!
I'm not sure about Europe but here we have "lunch portions" and it's usually half the size of other portions, so it'll be that same salad but on a smaller level, or a half sandwich and a bit of salad or soup, etc.
I usually get lunch portions when I go out so it's not too much food.
OR you can always have your meal bagged- eat half then take the rest home for dinner or lunch the next day
I'm from England but live in Northern California and I don't know of anywhere that offers lunch portions. The mind-set here is that unless the plate is piled high then you are not getting your moneys worth. Most people clear their plates, few get to go bags, and they wonder why they are overweight.
How do you deal with that if someone else is paying? My friends and family know we don't have much money so they often want to take us out to eat (wish they'd take us out clothes shopping! ) and it seems really rude to get them to buy you something and leave half of it, but they won't have it if you say you don't want any cos that's rude too, apparently!
The only people who really take us out to eat are the in laws and they know i can't eat huge portions so they really dont mind. I did feel bad when they cooked for us and thye would give me the same massive portion as my boyfriend and i just could not finish it.
Blubeckers do a 'modest meals' menu, which is basically most of their normal foods only in smaller portions. For instance, their sausage and mash, if you have the smaller size, you get two sausages, not three, and a smaller scoop of mash potato. But they're only based in the Home Counties, so that's no use to you :3 Pity, it'd be perfect.
Or you could do what me and my mum often do and order two starters instead of having a main meal. Starters are generally smaller in size - and even then we don't always finish them. Or get a main meal, and ask for an additional plate. No shame in that, and I've yet to find a restaurant down here that gives you a weird look for doing that.
I suppose it's chicken and eggy - are restaurants providing such huge portions because that's what people want? Or the other way round?
I went to a carvery a few months ago and was appalled at what people voluntarily crammed onto their plates. Honestly, it was hard not to stare.
I had a delicious time with my meat, couple of spoonfuls of veg, a yorkshire pudding and some gravy. More than enough, and well enough cooked to feel like a treat, not something I'd have thrown together myself.
50% of the big plate eaters I criticized (internally) for wasting food: they heaped so much on and left it.
50% of the big plate eaters I criticized (internally) because they shovelled the lot in and went back for more.
If restaurants in your area don't have take-out boxes, you can carry a few zipper type plastic bags in your (large) purse. Bag up what you'd like to eat later in one or several of these and then just eat the size meal you want that you left on your plate. My sister-in-law used to do this at up-scale restaurants. It depends on how you feel doing this when someone is treating you to a meal - but you're getting two meals from their treat! And you're not tempted to nibble away at the rest as you can get it off your plate and out of sight on your own schedule.
Places that serve sensible food portions
) and it seems really rude to get them to buy you something and leave half of it, but they won't have it if you say you don't want any cos that's rude too, apparently! 
