Tea leaves!!,

It’s for the fairies 😂!

If I left food when I was growing up I was told the children in Africa would be pleased to have it!

We were told the children of India would like it. To which my rsponse was that they could have it as didn't. This especially applied to school milk. I now know I suffer form mild lactic intolerance.

I cannot use the last spoonful of anything in a jar. Jam, peanut butter, marmite, pickle etc, I know it's wasteful and it annoys me that I do it but I just can't eat it, it's bizarre.

We were always told to clear our plates and to "think of the starving children in Africa" (they were definitely welcome to my tapioca pudding!) LH was told to always leave something for Miss Manners. I usually have some rea or coffee left at the bottom of my mug as I like my drinks really hot and the last half inch is usually too cool.

Coming from a family of seven, any food left on our plates would be gobbled up by whoever was sitting next to you at the table lol. And we were always reminded of the children in Biafra if we ever complained.

I asked a colleague years ago why she never drank the last third on any drink. She said that she’d been given a drink when she was a child at “it was full of all this yuck” at the bottom.

*of

win

Oreo

winterwhite

I dislike the habit. Hate cups/mugs with bits of cold tea in the bottom when it comes to clearing up. Strongly discouraged in this house.

Yeah, DP complains about my habit too.

I dislike people leaving anything too particularly food, why accept it in the first place if you are not going to eat it all, I hate waste even a few crumbs.

Nothing wrong with leaving a drop of tea or coffee in the mug, or a few crumbs of biscuit!
Everyone should stop eating when they’ve had enough, just peculiar to be so obsessive about wasted crumbs.

Tea - my granddad (mums dad) had a WHITE mug with black lettering on the outside of all the streets in London, we still have the mug. Grandad had tealeaves, 1 teaspoon put in mug to which added water, then stir! Once drunk, the tealeaves would be left in mug. I believe that if he wanted any more drinks that day, fresh water would be put on the tealeaves! This would be day 1. Day 2, mug would not be washed, FRESH tealeaves would be placed on top of older ones and the routine repeated! AND repeated everyday until I think weekend! I recall thick sludge and black mug! But Monday the mug would be white again inside!

My gran had a cup and saucer, again, we still have it, China with violets all over it. She NEVER drunk out of the cup, the tea would be poured into cup and when she wanted it, she would tip it into the saucer and drink it as if it were a bowl, never spilling a drop.

They were both so different from my dad's parents. She died suddenly from a brain aneurysm in 1983 age 76, when I was 9, mum was 41, I'm now 50, mum 81. I can still see her, natural jet black hair, all her own teeth and always wore red lipstick (but a nice shade) the obit in the local paper listed EVERY member who was at her funeral as she was a farmer, it filled a page. My grandad came to live with us a few years later, they were lovely people!

Mum has decaf tea which to me is dishwater especially since she has a 1/3 of it as milk..But she always leaves some at the bottom, one of the dogs had taken to drinking the dregs! It used to be a treat for the lost dogs and when I got the scruffy pup she watched the one I lost last year drinking them and when she died, mum offered it....... But she won't touch my tea, mine is extra strong!

Reminded me of my little old Irish grandma. She was a little bit eccentric. She started using tea bags and every time she used one she would rinse it out and leave it to dry on a rack in her kitchen. When she had enough she would stack them up and tie them neatly together with string and put them in her bin! Every bit of rubbish was washed before discarding. She never put a saucepan directly onto the electric hob but always had it standing on a wire rack above the ring. Hence it took her an hour to boil some potatoes. Never understood why but her electricity bill must have been double what it should have been.

I remember when I was living at home 60 odd years ago, my mum always threw the tea leaves from the teapot into the sink. They supposedly cleaned the pipes! We never did get a blocked sink. I still use leaves sometimes but throw them onto the garden. I have no idea why!

I also never drink “the dregs” as my mum used to call them, even though I use teabags now. I had a lovely Aunt who used to read tea leaves and whenever she visited my Mum, sister and I would pester her for a reading, altho my Mum always commented tbat it was all rubbish! Several other predictions for me came true, but my Mum always had a logical explanation “it was obvious to everyone you were going to marry some one tall dark and handsome, you were a very pretty girl, I could have told you that without tea leaves”. Think my mum was miffed and never forgave her sister for predicting she was going to have one more child, her ninth, mum always said it was auntys fault but refused to elaborate except for mumbling something about witchcraft!!!

Everyone should stop eating when they’ve had enough, just peculiar to be so obsessive about wasted crumbs.
This is what I usually do.

I have coffee at a friend's house regularly and she uses a caffetiere. I find there are always dregs at the bottom of the cup so I leave the last mouthful. At home I make coffee with a paper filter in a plastic cone as it is just for me, so there are only dregs if the filter splits, a very rare occurence. I don't drink tea but I remember in my childhood my mum used loose tea, so yes, people left the last bit.

jocork - I had forgotten about "bits" from a cafetière - my mother-in-law uses one and it catches me out!

nadateturbe

^Everyone should stop eating when they’ve had enough, just peculiar to be so obsessive about wasted crumbs.^
This is what I usually do.

I think this is to misunderstand the OP, which was about leaving a spoonful behind on a plate out of 'good manners'.

All of us were brought up to do this or not do this. I am in the 'not' group.

Leaving food on a plate because you have eaten as much as you want is a completely different issue. This sometimes happens to me when eating out, whether restaurant or someone's home, when food is pre-served onto a plate, but it should never happen at home because you should not serve youself with more food than you can eat.

Monica I know it was not the point of the OP, I do understand the OP! But posts digress and I was merely commenting on what Oreo posted. I see you haven't said anything to her..
In any case you are wrong about it should never happen at home. It's quite possible to misjudge how hungry you are and therefore leave some on the plate!.

Never have done any of these things. Was taught to finish everything.

nadateturbe

Monica I know it was not the point of the OP, I do understand the OP! But posts digress and I was merely commenting on what Oreo posted. I see you haven't said anything to her..
In any case you are wrong about it should never happen at home. It's quite possible to misjudge how hungry you are and therefore leave some on the plate!.

Monica??

All our misjudgements are on the .not enough, is there any more? side. I am conservative in first portion size.

Your misjudgement maybe. You can't speak for others.
But why did you not address your previous post to Oreo?

I drain every last little drop of tea - and clear my plate of every crumb, always have.

I hadn't gone far enough back to read Oreo's original message.

M0nica

I hadn't gone far enough back to read Oreo's original message.

But you could see clearly that I was quoting someone else. Perhaps you will now tell Oreo that she misinterpreted the OP.
In any case I found your comment offensive.