Put down that syrup pitcher!

From the PAII newsletter: Keeping track of food waste - (Exceedingly boiled down version)
Men use more maple syrup than women, but they leave most of it on the plate. (This is totally true in this house.) Women use about 2 oz of syrup to a man's 4 oz pour. This one B&B saved over $1200/year by putting smaller pitchers of syrup on the table. 4 oz pitcher down from 6 oz.
I think this is good info. You do tend to use what's there.
But I wonder if they checked the plates to see if the women got ANY syrup after the change. ;-)
We put out an 8 oz bottle with a pour spout. It slows down and directs the pour which has decreased the amount being used while still looking like you've got a lot of syrup. But there is still a lot of syrup on the plate when the plate comes back to the kitchen.

There is NEVER any syrup left on my plate and I am a syrup hog if it is the real thing.

Yeah, I can't imagine leaving (real) syrup on the plate. That's what the pancakes are for - to sop that stuff up! My son does it, and it drives me batty -- what a waste!

what winds me up is we cook 6 items to order egg, bacon, mushroom, tomatoe, beans and sossage - say to each person are you sure you want everything? is there anything you don't like? most plates come back with at least 1 item not even touched - just goes straight in the bin what a waste of time and money.

Jcam said:

what winds me up is we cook 6 items to order egg, bacon, mushroom, tomatoe, beans and sossage - say to each person are you sure you want everything? is there anything you don't like? most plates come back with at least 1 item not even touched - just goes straight in the bin what a waste of time and money..

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I ask too - about meat and toast and jam. Would they like their breakfast with or without. And we still throw out whole servings of sausage, bacon and toast never touched. A lot of jam goes in the bin, too, so I have to reduce the serving size.
It used to be that way with juice. Now it's self serve and I rarely throw any out.
I understand that we serve a big breakfast so not everyone finishes it. What's really sad is when the whole plate comes back because they didn't really want to eat anything, they were just being 'polite'.
Anyway, the article was about keeping a log in the kitchen of what gets thrown out and planning the breakfast around what gets eaten to reduce food waste. And reduce expenditures on things that get thrown out to instead have the money to spend elsewhere.

Amazing when you add up the nickels and dimes, you get big dollars!
We put a bottle out and I do sometimes lament the waste. (It's a nice bottle, leaf shaped.)
Our biggest waste is fruit. I try to eat the leftovers, but we have a lot of leftovers.
And I bring muffins and coffee cake to work almost every day. That's the biggest waste.

TheBeachHouse said:

Amazing when you add up the nickels and dimes, you get big dollars!
We put a bottle out and I do sometimes lament the waste. (It's a nice bottle, leaf shaped.)
Our biggest waste is fruit. I try to eat the leftovers, but we have a lot of leftovers.
And I bring muffins and coffee cake to work almost every day. That's the biggest waste..

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TheBeachHouse said:

Our biggest waste is fruit. I try to eat the leftovers, but we have a lot of leftovers.

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If you are having a lot of fruit leftover, you can make a quick fruit compote on the stove and then freeze it in small batches for topping on yogurts, waffles or pancakes. Heat it with some spices or citrus zest, a little sugar or maple syrup, and then use small-ish Mason jars to freeze it, like freezer jam. Also good to do with fruit that you might not use up before it goes bad (but make the compote before the fruit is gross).

muirford said:

TheBeachHouse said:

Amazing when you add up the nickels and dimes, you get big dollars!
We put a bottle out and I do sometimes lament the waste. (It's a nice bottle, leaf shaped.)
Our biggest waste is fruit. I try to eat the leftovers, but we have a lot of leftovers.
And I bring muffins and coffee cake to work almost every day. That's the biggest waste..

Click to expand...

TheBeachHouse said:

Our biggest waste is fruit. I try to eat the leftovers, but we have a lot of leftovers.

Click to expand...

If you are having a lot of fruit leftover, you can make a quick fruit compote on the stove and then freeze it in small batches for topping on yogurts, waffles or pancakes. Heat it with some spices or citrus zest, a little sugar or maple syrup, and then use small-ish Mason jars to freeze it, like freezer jam. Also good to do with fruit that you might not use up before it goes bad (but make the compote before the fruit is gross).
.

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good tip. thanks!

muirford said:

TheBeachHouse said:

Amazing when you add up the nickels and dimes, you get big dollars!
We put a bottle out and I do sometimes lament the waste. (It's a nice bottle, leaf shaped.)
Our biggest waste is fruit. I try to eat the leftovers, but we have a lot of leftovers.
And I bring muffins and coffee cake to work almost every day. That's the biggest waste..

Click to expand...

TheBeachHouse said:

Our biggest waste is fruit. I try to eat the leftovers, but we have a lot of leftovers.

Click to expand...

If you are having a lot of fruit leftover, you can make a quick fruit compote on the stove and then freeze it in small batches for topping on yogurts, waffles or pancakes. Heat it with some spices or citrus zest, a little sugar or maple syrup, and then use small-ish Mason jars to freeze it, like freezer jam. Also good to do with fruit that you might not use up before it goes bad (but make the compote before the fruit is gross).
.

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This works really well. We do this with berries.

Big throw out item is the garnish, which is completely edible. But the plate looks better with it so not leaving it off.
Will check to see which garnish comes back most often but pretty sure it's the orange twist.

Morticia said:

Big throw out item is the garnish, which is completely edible. But the plate looks better with it so not leaving it off.
Will check to see which garnish comes back most often but pretty sure it's the orange twist..

Click to expand...

Morticia said:

Big throw out item is the garnish, which is completely edible. But the plate looks better with it so not leaving it off.
Will check to see which garnish comes back most often but pretty sure it's the orange twist.

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I always eat my orange garnish. But I know I'm an outlier that way.

TheBeachHouse said:

Morticia said:

Big throw out item is the garnish, which is completely edible. But the plate looks better with it so not leaving it off.
Will check to see which garnish comes back most often but pretty sure it's the orange twist..

Click to expand...

Morticia said:

Big throw out item is the garnish, which is completely edible. But the plate looks better with it so not leaving it off.
Will check to see which garnish comes back most often but pretty sure it's the orange twist.

Click to expand...

I always eat my orange garnish. But I know I'm an outlier that way.
.

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haha. About half here demolish the orange slice too. I frequently use a small bunch or grapes. Most often those go too.

TheBeachHouse said:

Amazing when you add up the nickels and dimes, you get big dollars!
We put a bottle out and I do sometimes lament the waste. (It's a nice bottle, leaf shaped.)
Our biggest waste is fruit. I try to eat the leftovers, but we have a lot of leftovers.
And I bring muffins and coffee cake to work almost every day. That's the biggest waste..

Click to expand...

How many ounces is that leaf? I have really small ones we give away as gifts. They might be 5oz size. I think those would definitely come back empty and they're hard to fill.

Morticia said:

TheBeachHouse said:

Amazing when you add up the nickels and dimes, you get big dollars!
We put a bottle out and I do sometimes lament the waste. (It's a nice bottle, leaf shaped.)
Our biggest waste is fruit. I try to eat the leftovers, but we have a lot of leftovers.
And I bring muffins and coffee cake to work almost every day. That's the biggest waste..

Click to expand...

How many ounces is that leaf? I have really small ones we give away as gifts. They might be 5oz size. I think those would definitely come back empty and they're hard to fill.
.

Click to expand...

Probably 12 oz. Maybe 16. We refill it with real maple syrup that comes in a pouch.

TheBeachHouse said:

Morticia said:

TheBeachHouse said:

Amazing when you add up the nickels and dimes, you get big dollars!
We put a bottle out and I do sometimes lament the waste. (It's a nice bottle, leaf shaped.)
Our biggest waste is fruit. I try to eat the leftovers, but we have a lot of leftovers.
And I bring muffins and coffee cake to work almost every day. That's the biggest waste..

Click to expand...

How many ounces is that leaf? I have really small ones we give away as gifts. They might be 5oz size. I think those would definitely come back empty and they're hard to fill.
.

Click to expand...

Probably 12 oz. Maybe 16. We refill it with real maple syrup that comes in a pouch.
.

Click to expand...

TheBeachHouse said:

Probably 12 oz. Maybe 16. We refill it with real maple syrup that comes in a pouch.

Click to expand...

Do you put that on the buffet or on the table? More than one? That's huge!

Morticia said:

TheBeachHouse said:

Morticia said:

TheBeachHouse said:

Amazing when you add up the nickels and dimes, you get big dollars!
We put a bottle out and I do sometimes lament the waste. (It's a nice bottle, leaf shaped.)
Our biggest waste is fruit. I try to eat the leftovers, but we have a lot of leftovers.
And I bring muffins and coffee cake to work almost every day. That's the biggest waste..

Click to expand...

How many ounces is that leaf? I have really small ones we give away as gifts. They might be 5oz size. I think those would definitely come back empty and they're hard to fill.
.

Click to expand...

Probably 12 oz. Maybe 16. We refill it with real maple syrup that comes in a pouch.
.

Click to expand...

TheBeachHouse said:

Probably 12 oz. Maybe 16. We refill it with real maple syrup that comes in a pouch.

Click to expand...

Do you put that on the buffet or on the table? More than one? That's huge!
.

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It's on the buffet by the pancakes. Along with a bottle of Smuckers' strawberry and blueberry syrups.

Morticia said:

Big throw out item is the garnish, which is completely edible. But the plate looks better with it so not leaving it off.
Will check to see which garnish comes back most often but pretty sure it's the orange twist..

Click to expand...

Change to grapefruit twist. That way you can laminate it and use it over and over again.
Incidentally.... I don't do garnish. Though the number of people giving back their cape gooseberry makes me think they think it's garnish.

TheBeachHouse said:

Amazing when you add up the nickels and dimes, you get big dollars!
We put a bottle out and I do sometimes lament the waste. (It's a nice bottle, leaf shaped.)
Our biggest waste is fruit. I try to eat the leftovers, but we have a lot of leftovers.
And I bring muffins and coffee cake to work almost every day. That's the biggest waste..

Click to expand...

We freeze the muffins for another day and they work well. We stick about six covered in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds.
For fruit we put in little sundae dishes on our buffet table instead of in a big bowl. Put watermelon, pineapple,etc. on bottom to fill the dish better. Or we do a yogurt parfait with fruit and granola. The guests rave about them and it saves on fruit! Also you don't have to have such a variety.

Duff2014 said:

TheBeachHouse said:

Amazing when you add up the nickels and dimes, you get big dollars!
We put a bottle out and I do sometimes lament the waste. (It's a nice bottle, leaf shaped.)
Our biggest waste is fruit. I try to eat the leftovers, but we have a lot of leftovers.
And I bring muffins and coffee cake to work almost every day. That's the biggest waste..

Click to expand...

We freeze the muffins for another day and they work well. We stick about six covered in the microwave for 30 to 60 seconds.
For fruit we put in little sundae dishes on our buffet table instead of in a big bowl. Put watermelon, pineapple,etc. on bottom to fill the dish better. Or we do a yogurt parfait with fruit and granola. The guests rave about them and it saves on fruit! Also you don't have to have such a variety.
.

Click to expand...

Yes on the yogurt parfait! Plus, it looks fancy.