When you’re cooking dinner do you let family members eat what’s done or have everyone wait until all the food is ready?

[Anonymous]

Of course not - we have self control.

[Anonymous]

Eating chicken right out of the fryer is also a bad idea for other reasons. A) you can find a patch of hot oil B) if it was cooked from raw it needs to rest.

[Anonymous]

I make salad before starting prep for the rest of the meal. If anybody is starving they can have salad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I finish everything and we sit down to eat. I try to time it so everything gets done at the same time.

+1

It never occurred to me to do anything different. And I've never met anyone like OP's husband. Yeah, I'd probably think it was incredibly rude. That said, I have athletic hangry kids sometimes and tell them to grab some fruit or vegetables for a snack if they can't wait. My DD (10) will eat a half bag of baby carrots before dinner and still eat a whole meal. I'm ok with this, she's growing.

[Anonymous]

I don’t care if someone tastes something but don’t start plating and eating until I’m done cooking. DH has done this and it’s annoying - he will be practically done eating and I’m still finishing a sauce or side which then goes to waste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We eat together. Your DH is rude.

If people are hungry before dinner there could be a snack, but not from the dish I'm cooking.

This. I’d hate for dh to be grabbing pieces of food while I am cooking them.

Our only exception is pancakes, the kids eat them as they get ready. But dh waits for all to be done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Italian. We’re always eating and testing and taking bites and eating more while we cook..

And then everybody sits down and eat more.

That's not fair. If you eating while cooking you are getting more than everyone else. You must completely abstain from eating during cooking,

That’s payment. I wrote above that I put out veggies but otherwise we wait, but if people who are cooking want to taste that’s fair game. I didn’t get the impression OP’s husband was helping.

[Anonymous]

We generally wait until it is all on the table.
Exceptions: crepes, pancakes and when I am in the mood to cook everyone’s preferred style.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are Italian. We’re always eating and testing and taking bites and eating more while we cook..

And then everybody sits down and eat more.

That's not fair. If you eating while cooking you are getting more than everyone else. You must completely abstain from eating during cooking,

That assumes everyone eats exactly the same portion. We each take what we need from each food as we pass the plates. Some take more, some take less.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I make salad before starting prep for the rest of the meal. If anybody is starving they can have salad.

This!!!

[Anonymous]

I serve family style and everyone waits and sits down at the same time. /crepes are the exception.

[Anonymous]

No real rules... slice of bread sure. Two pieces of chicken sounds like a lot to still be hungry for the meal

[Anonymous]

If anybody is starving they can practice waiting. WTF fo they think will happen if they try this as a guest somewhere?

[Anonymous]

Generally, we wait until everyone is served since everyone is adults (17+). However, sometimes if dinner is taking longer than expected, someone will wander into the kitchen and grab a snack from the refrigerator or pantry. That’s fine by me if they are really hungry as they are adults and I don’t think it’s my place to police their food. But it would be weird for them to wander over to the stove and start eating something I’m cooking before I even get to sit down. The exception is if somebody is rushing out the door to a sport/activity/event, I’ll serve them before the rest of us with whatever I have ready (mostly applies to my 17 yo).

Obviously, my answer would be different with young kids.

[Anonymous]

We have elementary age kids and will let them start eating before us, but otherwise we wait for each other. Sometimes I will also give the kids the veggies early if they are hungry since that is usually a struggle to get them to eat.

If kids are 12 or above, barring extenuating circumstances (someone has to rush of to a practice or something) everyone should wait.