Everyday Systems

How do you all handle bowls in a meal- like oatmeal, soups, etc.? Do you put them on a plate and fill in around it? I am just wondering what you all do. Thanks, have a great No-S day.

It depends on the size of the bowl and what's in it for me! I have some shallow 'pasta bowls' which, when filled, are pretty much a plateful in any case so I'd try and stick to just that (maybe with some garlic bread teetering on the edge!)

If I'm having a bowl of soup or a bowlful of salad, I'd normally try and 'virtual plate' it. So, a bread roll with a bowl of soup is probably ok - soup and an entire plateful of other food isn't. A small plate of meat/fish/bread etc. with a salad is probably ok, a large plateful isn't.

'Height' isn't an issue when plating with NoS, so putting your bowl on a normal sized plate and filling around it could be a good option!

Usually, I consider a bowl a half plate and allow myself only a half plate of other food. I have also filled in around the bowl or cup.

It occurs to me that you could imagine the contents of the bowl, frozen solid, and upended on a plate...

I put my bowl on the plate and put food around it.

I have the bowl and a side plate, or put the bowl on a dinner plate and fill around it.

ThomsonsPier wrote:I have the bowl and a side plate, or put the bowl on a dinner plate and fill around it.

I do the same.

Who Me? wrote:It occurs to me that you could imagine the contents of the bowl, frozen solid, and upended on a plate...

That's a creative approach!

My default winter lunch is soup. I make a huge pot, then freeze in 1 C quantities. I'll have that, with a slice of bread (often two slices). This, with a fruit, is a filling meal for me.

Perhaps, to put your mind at rest about quantities, you could pour the contents of your bowl onto a plate, and see what that looks like. Keep in mind, though, that a non-liquid meal will take up much more vertical space. Or, do it the other way round: plate up a plate's worth of food in the bowl that you would normally use, to get a sense of the bowl's volume.

I think the No S book suggests that a bowl of hearty soup and a hunk of bread constitutes a meal. For a broth, or lighter soup, you can plate the rest of your meal on a salad plate.

I bring a big salad to work for lunch almost every day. In that case, my salad container IS my plate.

Any of the suggestions in this thread will work. Just pick the ones that fit your situation best and make that your "rule."