Anyone else struggle to eat a full take away? Had Chinese for 4 last, Four mains and 4 rice, there's half left (plus side is we have tea tonight sorted).
Are we in a minority or could portion sizes shrink without people really caring. I know a lot of takeaways are really struggling with double whammy of energy costs and reduced consumer spending.
Always considered they’re designed to be shared.
Nope
/end of thread
(In all seriousness don’t get reheating the rice)
Had Chinese for 4 last, Four mains and 4 rice,
I'd struggle to eat that, I'd manage, but it would be a struggle.
Nope, if anything I eyed my last curry takeaway, as it'd was definitely smaller than normal (still admittedly lots). Ours rarely sees the next day, unless it's after a skin full... then take away breakfast is the food of the gods (rice nuked to hell and back, as I'm aware reheated rice CAN BE nasty )
Edit: You don't mention how many of there were you.. we assume there was four, but was this you doing an impression of Mr Creosote?
My problem is with a "small" portion of chips. What the **** is a large portion - a whole bleedin sack of potatoes??
Had a 'kin monstrous haddock & chips last night - not really claiming that it was good value at £12, mind !!
At a push it could've done two people, especially with the mushies
Dammit, I want fish and chips now!
Nope.
Huge locally to me.
Nope. Current fav is Istanbul BBQ, 1 chicken kebab, 1 lamb, rice, chilli cheese poppers, onion rings.
No pud, I don’t want to be greedy.
I can eat, but takeaway portions blow my mind.
In these times of rising costs for businesses and families, smaller portions would be better maybe.
(Indian or Chinese for us tonight. Just for research purposes, obviously)
@ernielynch, the chippie in helmsdale gives generous chip portions. I reckon it must easily be over 1kg of tatties
No, portion sizes in both my local indian and chinese have got smaller,with the rice halving in size.
(rice nuked to hell and back, as I’m aware reheated rice CAN BE nasty )
If your takeaway rice is potentially nasty, nuking it next day won't help as the problem is poisonous chwmicals put there by bacteria that multiplied while the rice was being kept warm/ at room temp. What you need to make sure you do is whack it in the fridge immediately after the meal. If you didn't get food poisoning from the initial meal, this should ensure you don't get it from the re-heat either.
Parmo from the chippy in a friend's village is nearing a challenge to finish in one, not counting the salad based decorations that are discarded by default. Comes in a box bigger than the plate.
Local takeaways really vary, some the rice is big enough for 3, others barely feed 1.
in all my years i have never found a takeaway portion too big.
with chinese, i have a starter, a main and dry spare ribs.
Well I'm off to enjoy my Chinese Takeaway part deux, dodgy rice or not (we did put it all in the fridge last night, sometimes even freeze extra rice and have it with a homemade stir fry, never knowingly been ill from it).
The rice thing is such a strange myth. I wonder how much is ignorance and how much pure racism?
As for portions, I tend to buy a generous meal (that way we get more dishes to dip into) and eat it twice, reheated rice and all, the second time is more likely a modest lunch than a huge blow-out though.
Most definitely takeaway portions from our favoured places more than feed the numbers they guide for.
Indian. Meal for 1 feeds 3 of us with ease. £18.95. And it's very good.
Kebab. Special mix wrap for one gets cut in 2 and feeds 2. Mixed kebab also feeds 2. £12 for each.
Chinese. Main and rice with a side will again feed 3. Under £20.
Pizza - Aldi sourdough smacks the likes of Domino into the distance. Under £5 each with rocket to share.
Fish & Chips. Mmm..I sense £12 for haddock and chips each. 2 will feed 3. Whilst good, the thought is often better than the reality.
Agreed, though I still somehow manage to polish of a chow mein that should last two meals in one go. Can't stop once started.
My problem is with a “small” portion of chips. What the **** is a large portion – a whole bleedin sack of potatoes??
Agreed, we normally have two fish, one small(est) portion of chips and the biggest possible pot of mushy peas. Oh bread and butter too of course, to put the chips on.
The rice thing is such a strange myth. I wonder how much is ignorance and how much pure racism?
I would tend to trust the NHS website not to peddle myths (see link above). Food poisoning from rice is a thing, albeit a rare thing. I regularly eat re-heated rice but follow the guidelines. As for the racist jibe, give us a break ffs.
Depends, post ride, ordering for 1, I can absolutely eat a main and a rice.
Ordering for 2+ so there's starters, popadoms, naan, sides etc, it's definitely saving some for lunch.
Our local kebab vans portions are crazy, I've never ordered anything bigger than a small when I was a meat eater, and his veggie option is about half a pound of halloumi! The medium you could probably share, large is definitely a w person dish and the XL must be to feed a family of four!
Parmo from the chippy in a friend’s village is nearing a challenge to finish in one, not counting the salad based decorations that are discarded by default. Comes in a box bigger than the plate.
Mmmmm... Parmo with garlic sauce! Hotshot ftw! I'll be having one when I'm home (near Saltburn) next weekend complete with the salad. I just eat direct from the box, no need for a plate 🤣
Re. Reheated rice I've ended up in hospital due to someone doing that and giving it to me. I was so bad with pain and nausea they thought I had appendicitis.
The only time I reheat it now is when making egg fried rice, so it has to be cooked and cooled first.
Research concluded - sweet and sour king prawn balls, mixed veg chow mein, duck in orange sauce and a small egg fried rice for the two of us.
Half the rice left over, just having the last of the prawn crackers with a beer.
Absolutely stuffed
Portions are always more than I should eat and rarely more than I can eat.
I spoke to a microbiologist about rice once. The risk of reheating is actually a little complicated but if you were to get sick from eating reheated rice you could get properly sick. But it's unlikely to turn evil in the fridge a day later.
I’d say most Indian restaurants / takeaways I’ve tried locally are a bit sparse on meat in the curry’s.
Chinese is about right on the main course - although the rice can be a bit too much.
Nando’s is about right.
Fish and chip shop chip portions are daft big. Can’t get through a regular chips between 2 of us - they could definitely cut the size of these.
If we order for 4, we generally have enough left over for two lunch portions.
We did a pickup from our favourite Malaysian restaurant last week, and a selection of strters and two mains were enough for 3.
On the other hand……eating out (sat down dining) portions seem to be shrinking by the week whilst the prices climb. Had several posh pub meals over recent weeks where you just sense the accountants rather than the chefs have been counting out the serving to the extent that I am still peckish at the end of the meal, and quite a few bob poorer.
Yes. Almost every takeaway I have is split over 2 meals….living dangerously with reheated rice.
Please don't think 'the rice thing' is a myth. I can't even joke about it, even 20 years later.
I genuinely thought I was going to sh1t myself to death. Picked up from a buffet that must have re-used the rice.
Kicks in quickly and by god do you know about it, Bacilus food poisoning is something else, the ferocity of expulsion both up and down.
😳
@pictonroad yeh as I said I got a trip to hospital due to it. Obviously me and you were just very unlucky eh
It's from keeping rice a long time at a warm temperature, not from chilling and reheating it. According to wikipedia the specific bacillus (cereus) grows on multiple foodstuffs other than rice and it is also not generally possible to distinguish its effects from other common causes of food poisoning. A buffet could easily have numerous contaminations including directly from other customers or staff rather than incubated in the food itself.
But yeah, believe it was from reheating rice if it makes you happy.
thecaptain
Free Member
The rice thing is such a strange myth. I wonder how much is ignorance and how much pure racism?
thecaptain
Free Member
It’s from keeping rice a long time at a warm temperature
So it's not a myth then. If you keep rice at a warm temperature for a long time it can make you very ill.
All day on a buffet table at the height of summer?
I have no idea how racism came into the argument. Was it Uncle Ben's rice?
It’s from keeping rice a long time at a warm temperature
...
But yeah, believe it was from reheating rice if it makes you happy.
How on earth do you conclude 'racism' from that?
I'm not really sure what point you're trying to prove. Of course it can grow on other foods, of course buffets can be contaminated by other things.
I had diagnosed bacillus food poisoning a few hours after eating rice that was being kept warm in a canteen ban marie style thing. A load of us were ill from the same rice.
It was the rice, it's well known for it.
If you choose not to believe the NHS website and personal experience that's your choice but you're wrong and I'm not really sure what you stand to gain. 🤷♂️
I've no idea about the detailed specific issues with reheating takeaway rice but having had Bacillus poisoning from rice it does play on my mind.
I’ve no idea about the detailed specific issues with reheating takeaway rice but having had Bacillus poisoning from rice it does play on my mind.
Greyspoke made the point I believe - it's the toxins produced by the bacteria which makes you ill, not necessarily the bacteria itself, so reheating makes no difference.
Indian and kebab shop are both one portion between 2, comfortably.
I’d say most Indian restaurants / takeaways I’ve tried locally are a bit sparse on meat in the curry’s.
This. To be fair we've all but given up on ordering in curry. Every time we think we've found a good one we get a colossally disappointing meal next time.
Home made wins virtually every time. If we've got time home made onion bhajis are dead easy. We don't do anything massively complex.
Can’t get through a regular chips between 2 of us – they could definitely cut the size of these.
Definitely wrong approach. Reheat left overs with a dab of butter in the microwave. 🙂
@pictonroad, so now you're agreeing it was probably nothing to do with reheating rice, just keeping food for a long time at the wrong temperature. That's quite reasonable, buffets are notorious for it whether or not they have rice.
I'm curious as to how the bacillus was diagnosed as it's common in many foods other than rice, and (again according to wikipedia) cannot be readily differentiated from other causes of food poisoning. It also says that rice is most usually vomiting and diahorrea most often other foods.
I found statistics for the USA: about 60,000 cases of bacillus from rice each year. Oooh, scary scary rice! Um, but 50 million cases of food poisoning generally. That makes rice 0.1% of the total. 99.9% of food poisoning is caused by something else. Why it gets so much attention in the UK is just frankly bizarre.
@Cougar, if you've never heard the rice thing used as an anti-Chinese trope, then I'm genuinely happy for you. Surprised, but happy.
I certainly have never equated the concern over reheating rice with being an anti-Chinese trope. It could apply equally to Indian, Thai and many other foods.
I guess it's a commonly known 'thing' because rice is very commonly a part of a lot of British takeaway food and as attested to by many above, often gets left over and reheated the next day.
Also, I usually justify the cost of a takeaway in my own mind, due to the fact I get two shots at it.
Indian curry invariably tastes better the next day, after sitting in the fridge overnight and being micro-nuked the next day.
Mmmmm, curry........
Nando’s is about right.
I'd hope so, since there isn't a Nando portion. I mean, a quarter, half or full chicken? 3, 5 or 10 wings? It's too big, too small and about right all at the same time!
Question then is - what's about right for you, and what heat level? Half for me at medium but then a bit of hot sauce added. But I do wonder if full would be better for next day leftovers.
Cougar isn't the only one, I have never heard rice used as an "anti-Chinese trope".
It also says that rice is most usually vomiting and diahorrea most often other foods.
Are you sure that you read your Wikipedia supplied information correctly? I was always under the impression that food poisoning generally triggered both vomiting and diarrhoea as the body desperately tries to expell poisonous and toxic substances?
🤷♂️
It was meant with sincerity, genuinely one of the loneliest scariest 48hrs of my life.
I just posted it as heartfelt advice that you CAN get awful awful food poisoning from rice, as in, 'it's not a myth'.
I've had it. I'm careful. If asked, I'd advise others to exercise caution.
I'm still not really sure what your issue is.
This isn't about rice is it. 😂
Also, portion sizes, surely too much is just right!
Cold takeaway breakfast, mmmmm
I’ve never associated rice’s propensity for food poisoning with anti-Chinese racism either. Surely rice is a ubiquitous food around the world and it’s possible deleterious effects after storage is due to its massive surface area for bad stuff to grow on?
Having said that now I think about it, it is possible that the stupidest stuck in the 70s British moron might be considering rice as foreign muck.
If we have fish n chips for 3 we usually get 3 fish & 1 large chips, it's always plenty.
Our recent revelation was to get them on a Thursday when the chippy is quieter than a Friday or Saturday and so less rushed. Much better quality
On the rare occasion we have takeaway we always order one meal for 2
I’m still not really sure what your issue is.
Yeah it's a little strange. I have been considering the possibility that thecaptain might own a Chinese takeaway. It would certainly help to explain the apparent sensitivity to the subject.
Although the username would obviously be more appropriate for a fish n chips establishment.
Chips reheated in the microwave? What has become of this forum?
Well that didn't go the way I expected when started the thread, I'd kinda expected a split between people lambasting and defending fat people, certainly didn't expect accusations of racism and a detailed discussion on micro biology. STW never ceases to entertain, educate and baffle in equal measure.
Well that didn’t go the way I expected when started the thread
Expect the unexpected!
Ok here with portion size but I don’t order any bread or chips.
Only time I don’t finish is when I order a starter, I’ll split the main and reheat the rest next day.
Fish and chips generally get polished off no bother.
Having spent a lot of time in hotels before the lockdown, I'd say it's buffets in general you need to be wary of. However, it does help keep the weight down if you like to pig out, a bit like unsolicited bulimia.
Chips reheated in the microwave? What has become of this forum?
This is all kinds of wrong.
As is reheating any of lasts night take away for breakfast. Surely you just eat it cold out of the container it arrived in because you're so greedy that you can't be arsed to wait for 2 minutes in the microwave. Or is that just me?
@Cougar, if you’ve never heard the rice thing used as an anti-Chinese trope, then I’m genuinely happy for you. Surprised, but happy.
Whether I have or I haven't is by the by, the hill you've chosen to die on is seemingly "it's a myth that you can get food poisoning from reheating leftover rice, when in fact you can get food poisoning from leftover rice for a slightly different reason."
I don’t get the mentality of saving leftovers for another meal.
Takeaways are an expensive treat, having half your money go towards a reheated soggy lunch seems miserable.
Of course, if you’ve tried a new place and over ordered, it is at times unavoidable. But fool me once and all that.
It's not about ordering for the purpose of having leftovers, rather it's nice to have a mix of dishes with the corollary that you then have leftovers. Curry and chinese taste better the next day anyway, I wouldn't do it with chips, my Nandos was tongue in cheek but left over chicken that can be sliced into a salad or a sandwich isn't soggy.
Indian; never enough meat but the temptation to order and eat a nan each can disguise that. We never order a rice each though.
Chinese; generally about the right size for one. Noodle dishes can also suffer from a lack of meat/prawns.
Chippy; portions seem to have gotten larger since boxes became a thing. I'm sure they were smaller when they were just wrapped in paper. Mrs S will order a "child/OAP" sized fish portion if available.
Pizza; annoyingly local pizzas are too large for one, not enough for two and my wife doesn't eat meat so we end up with two anyway. Two between three works fine.
FWIW I don't have an Off Switch for tasty food.
Rice as an anti-Chinese racist trope; What are you smoking?
I like a special fish, can't do battered as more often than not it sits on the hot plate going soggy
Usually a bit of Indian left over these days, used to polish a whole one off no problem in the past.
I think I've gradually learnt not to scoff the whole yummy lot, as I know I'll feel like crap after. Chinese, even worse, chippy too.
I'm not sure if it's the bolus of rancid oil that does it, but it seems like it may be that.
Anyone getting sick from reheated haggis next weekend best be on the lookout for being labelled anti Jock too! You've been warned.
Takeaways are an expensive treat, having half your money go towards a reheated soggy lunch seems miserable.
Throwing it out is more wasteful, no?
Anyone getting sick from reheated haggis next weekend best be on the lookout for being labelled anti Jock too! You’ve been warned.
Isn't "Jock" a bit racist?
😁
Bigger the better for me, if portion sizes were reduced you can guarantee prices wouldn't reduce as well. I'll eat what I want and leftovers the nxt day including any rice.
My local chippy does kebab meat with chips and salad in a tray. It weights over 2 lbs. That gets cut in half tray an all for two meals.
I like a special fish, can’t do battered as more often than not it sits on the hot plate going soggy
Our local chippy only cooks to order now. I think that's a bit of a hangover from the Covid measures when numbers of customers dropped off and a desire to reduce wastage.
5However, having worked in a chippy, I'd say that for every one person that wants freshly cooked, there are five who are just impatient at having to wait. Some aggressively so. Stocking up just before pub closing time is pretty common though. There's little worse than queues of drunken customers and the occasional ensuing brawl
Portion size is about right in the UK tbh compare to those in my part of the world.
But then it is not a tradition, in my part of the world, to order starter or desert because that's more of a western thing. I can never understand why there need to be a "three course" meal.
Most takeaways or eatery only offer main dish and you can have as many as you like, partly because starter is jut a waste of money and it is meant to "keep people busy" in larger restaurant before the mains arrive. Starter to us is a snack in between main meals, or as mum used to say "stop eating junks" before main meals.
Also drinking water while eating the main meal is never encouraged coz we have "watery" soup for that. Drinking water while having the main meal is normally reserved for those countryside folks after a day of hardwork in the field. City folks who are more educated do not drink water while having their main meals. Small cup of tea, yes but that is only meant for eating greasy food. Drinking alcohol is getting common in mainland China because majority of them are "labour" background. You know not as refined. LOL!
Anyway, drinking water etc ... nobody cares nowadays as people have forgotten the tradition when they are rich enough to consume as they wish.
No pudding?
No pudding?
You mean desert? LOL!
They are meant for 3pm indulgence or as some of my friends used to call it, it's time for skiving at the eatery (shop that is not restaurant but server meals and drinks) while having verbal diarrhea. LOL!
Only a proper, normally expensive, restaurant serve starters, mains and deserts. Normal eatery just serves mains. At 3pm you get all sorts of desserts and most tend to specialise.
Also those mainland Chinese eating with their mouth open and making noises are simply rude tbh. That's also a sign of people with less refined background. LOL!
However, that's different for Japanese or Korean because that's a sign of appreciating chef prowess in producing delicious food. Once my Japanese and Korean friends eating in that way and they nearly put me off my meal. Nearly smack them in their head to tell them to keep quiet. LOL!
P/s: yes, keep the rice refrigerated for fried rice. We never leave it at room temperate until the next day. Not a good idea when the weather is hot
@ernielynch, it's here under "pathogenesis"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacillus_cereus#Pathogenesis
It's just wikipedia, might not be right, but I'd believe it over wives tales spread on random forums.
I haven't eaten anything but sips of warm soup all week due to tonsillitis.
This thread isn't helping.
So. Hungry.
OK some conjecture about the Chinese thing.
If you think about it, fried rice is one of the dishes where the rice issue might arise. Good fried rice is made from previously cooked rice that was not overcooked (so the spores are more likely to survive?) nor too wet and is a bit old. In restaurant sized quantities it could spend a while in the risky temperature zone unless active steps are taken to avoid it. With other dishes you can probably get away with more.
So far as I can recall from the dim and distant when standards were lower than today (probably*), chinese restaurants were not the only culprits when it came to food poisoning/ tummy bug issues, but they were among the culprits. And if there was an issue with the rice on a particular evening, many folk will have got ill (possibly hospital ill) and the restaurant will be a common factor, sometimes leading to a prosecution and publicity. Whereas equally lax practices at your local Italian might not cause an issue- never heard of risotto poisoning but that might be because the rice variety and cooking method rules it out. Unless it had shellfish in it. My parents had a rule never to have shellfish when eating out because of so much anecdata linking it to issues. That was the 1960s though, they later relented.
*I think some scary stuff still goes on, but overall things are better now.
The comparison with shellfish is interesting. I do not know a single person who eats raw oysters, who has not been ill as a result, often several times.
Not that I go around regularly asking oyster-eating history, but that's from random family and acquaintances when it's happened. Perhaps there are plenty here who have eaten them frequently with no ill-effects.
Of course I'm sure the Chinese restaurant poisoning thing has happened from rice. All sorts of poisoning from restaurants and other caterers/manufacturers is hardly uncommon, with a wide range of causes. But the idea that rice, uniquely, has to be binned is just a complete myth that's grown out of all proportion to the risk which is negligible if you chill and reheat competently.
Surely you just eat it cold out of the container it arrived in
Cold chicken curry for breakfast. Mmmmmmm.
Well if you are rice-paranoid, it may be the heavy metals that you should be concerned with.
The recommended cooking method looks likely to produce soggy rice unless you are vigilant though.
I like a raw oyster occasionally, but only from a seaside fishmonger with a direct link to the farm, eaten on the spot. Never had a prob with that, though shellfish in general has got me on a few occasions. Cooked oysters are apparently notorious, but you don't see them on menus much. Did you know that steak and kidney pie is a poor man's steak and oyster pie? (According to my late mum, grandad was in the catering trade. So quite possibly bollocks.)
You mean desert?
Bit dry for my tastes.
+1 for never hearing the reheated rice thing as a racist trope. It states not to reheat it on packaging, etc. Another issue is that a lot of places pre-cook the rice then warm it up for your order. (Or is that racist too?!)
. I do not know a single person who eats raw oysters, who has not been ill as a result, often several times.
I do not know a single person who has been ill from eating raw oysters.
But the idea that rice, uniquely, has to be binned
Never heard that until now.
