Is it impolite to bring food container's to a family get-together dinner?

I’ve never heard of this practice, maybe because I’m not familiar with big family gatherings and meals, but can’t imagine myself ever taking empty food containers to a person’s home with the intention of filling them with food......
 

Wren said:
I’ve never heard of this practice, maybe because I’m not familiar with big family gatherings and meals, but can’t imagine myself ever taking empty food containers to a person’s home with the intention of filling them with food......
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Our family members bring a dish to pass at the meal, when they leave they may or may not take the leftovers home. They also bring their own drinks to consue..
 
At our big family get-togethers, the leftovers are always divvied out to give guests to take home.
Everyone contributes a dish. My sister, usually the hostess - has tons of plastic containers that are
filled, and returned at the next event. This has been a custom within the family for decades.
 

When I lived in a small town before my health issues, we had Wednesday night potluck suppers after the service. Friends there would request I bring my peach cobbler. There usually wasn't much left. If there was any smidge left it was understood that my best friend's hubby, Joe got to scrape the bowl into a container to take home. Our kitchen staff kept containers for us to share. It was a small church so we all knew each other well.
 
debodun said:
Maybe taking other people's leftover food home from a shared meal (with permission) is a old custom, or an American one. I've been looking around on the Internet and the younger people and non-Americans never heard of anything so outlandish. They would be shocked and embarrassed if anyone offred them the meal's leftovers.
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It is quite common in my family. I always over cater and send home the excess with people rather than let it go to waste. It often happens at the playgroup where I provide and serve morning tea for the children. This includes cut fruit, cocktail frankfurts and something sweet like cake or muffins cut into kiddy sized pieces. I use small snaplock plastic bags and offer them as snacks to eat later that day. The children, and their mothers are happy to take them home. The alternative would be to bin good food.

I would not do this unless on the best of terms with people.

As a side note, Chinese restaurants in Sydney are always willing to package up the remains of your meal or banquet in a plastic container if you are unable to eat it all and the last time I ate at a licensed club near me where the meals are ridiculously oversized, I noticed that alongside the cutlery they had plastic food containers that you could use to take home what you were unable to eat.
 
This Thanksgiving Day we had the family over for dinner. My wife had bought some empty containers so after the meal she packed them with left-overs and sent them home with the family members.

I have never heard of or experienced an occasion where someone brought containers to a meal and then take home left-overs.
 
If this is what a your family members do then. - okay..otherwise No. Personally I don't want to eat holiday leftovers for a week so I would decline taking home.
 
If they (the hosts) offer and pack it themselves in their own container, and tell you not to return the container,

is it then polite to say, " No thank you, I didn't care for any of the food. " :unsure:
:ROFLMAO:
Or would it be polite for me to say, "I didn't enjoy it the first time, so I would enjoy it even less, the second." :cautious:
:LOL:
 
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I only made myself a couple of meals as I am tired of it after that. But daughter and grands all work and study different times of week so the leftovers will be good for them. They urge me to keep more but I am tired of it after the next day so a couple of plates is good for me. Now that Luby's pecan pie is another story! I kept 2 big pieces of that!
 
Wren said:
I’ve never heard of this practice, maybe because I’m not familiar with big family gatherings and meals, but can’t imagine myself ever taking empty food containers to a person’s home with the intention of filling them with food......
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@Wren, Hi! No one I personally know does this, but there are large families who share bringing food to the common table and make sure there is enough for everyone to take something home.

So, food bearing guests will bring their own containers to spare the hosts the cost. It's their own tradition.

If it wasn't their tradition it would be incredibly rude to do so! 🐖
 
RadishRose said:
@Wren, Hi! No one I personally know does this, but there are large families who share bringing food to the common table and make sure there is enough for everyone to take something home.

So, food bearing guests will bring their own containers to spare the hosts the cost. It's their own tradition.

If it wasn't their tradition it would be incredibly rude to do so! 🐖
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Thanks for the explanation RR, that would be the most practical thing to do ! (y)
 
I always tell my daughter to bring containers at our Christmas meal. We have homemade seafood gumbo. Gumbo is like vegetable beef soup. It keeps getting bigger and bigger. They take some home for the next day and will freeze a container or two. I will eat some the next day and freeze a portion. Its how we handle leftovers. Daughter in Va. wishes she had a bowl!
 
It's according to the situation. Sometimes I'll bring a container to my sister's house, carefully concealed in my oversized purse, because I know she usually insists I take something home with me. I don't whip it out unless she does so, though. I never ask can have some of this, or that to take home.
Almost everyone brings food containers to the senior center I go to because the "lunches" they serve us are really a full course dinners (from soup to dessert) and many of us can't eat all they put on our plates in one sitting. Almost every time I've gone (twice a week, usually) after everyone has eaten, the kitchen staff asks if anyone wants food to take home because they can't leave it there over night.
 
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terry123 said:
I always tell my daughter to bring containers at our Christmas meal. We have homemade seafood gumbo. Gumbo is like vegetable beef soup. It keeps getting bigger and bigger. They take some home for the next day and will freeze a container or two. I will eat some the next day and freeze a portion. Its how we handle leftovers. Daughter in Va. wishes she had a bowl!
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Hey, terry...betting you guys don't put okra in your winter gumbo, right?
 
debodun said:
Yes, Keesha. They bring empties and take home fullies. However, this is done only with the host's permission. It was a custom at holiday meals in my family, at least, to offer those in attendence any leftovers they wished to take home. It was part of our hospitality. Like I mentioned, maybe this isn't done anymore these days.
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In my family, if someone was unable to attend a family function (work, illness, whatever), their spouse was given several plates with a little bit of everything in them to take to the one who couldn't come. And usually those plates were prepared as soon as the food was laid out, before anyone ate.

But to bring your own doggie bag containers? That's really rude! I would laugh it off if it were a family function but any other type of social function or gathering? Ain't gonna happen around me if I'm the hostess. I'd dish them out some southern shame!
 
I would never bring containers. Many years ago I had a large gathering for my mom and dads 40th anniversary. I made it buffet style and since it was October I decorated the table with potted Chrysanthemums wrapped in fall colors.
When one of my Moms friends was about to leave she pulled out a canvas tote bag with pieces of foil and proceeded to go around the table wrapping this and that and adding it to the bag. She topped it off with a pot of mums. I couldn't believe my eyes.
 

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