s/o disposable dishes

[Melissa in Australia]

just a spin off on the disposable dishes thread.

 

 The very first time I went to Canada to visit my in-laws I was told over and over by my MIL how poor my SIL was and I basically got the impression that it was a huge thing that we were invited there for a meal. When we went there for the meal it was served on disposable plastic plates. I thought WOW she is really poor, maybe they don't have second hand shops in Canada ( all my plates were from a op-shop) so after the meal I washed and dried every single plate carefully for her. She gave me a funny look and muttered something about how I was saving money.

 

Looking back she must have thought I was the weirdest person she had ever met. I have chuckled to myself a few times when I look back on it, but in my defense I had never come across someone serving food on disposable plates outside of a BBQ or a small child's party before.

 

Turns out that her and her DH's income was and still is about 4 times what ours is, but there is some sort of funny family dynamics where she is viewed as poor and in need of much financial help by the rest of the family. 

 

 

[Aura]

When I was teen, I remember my mom buying plastic cups for family get-togethers supposedly to save on having to wash dishes (we had a large family and no dishwasher) but then she'd wash those plastic cups to save money! Baffled us girls (her dds). I think it had something to do with reusing those same cups at the next gathering. Still doesn't make sense to me. LOL

[Melissa in Australia]

It could simply have been a matter of not having enough plates.  It's precisely why my grandmother uses paper plates.  She lives alone in a small house.  She doesn't keep tons of dishes for company.

Possibly, but there was only 2 extra. I know she had enough plates, but rather I think she viewed it as company = disposable plates. I think it might have been more of a cultural thing.

 

 

She lives in a country that had a more throw away mentality ( Australia has caught up in this regard). I actually really did come from a poor family, we would never dream of using disposable as they are expensive, much cheaper to pop down to the op-shop and grab a few plates.

[Melissa in Australia]

When I was teen, I remember my mom buying plastic cups for family get-togethers supposedly to save on having to wash dishes (we had a large family and no dishwasher) but then she'd wash those plastic cups to save money! Baffled us girls (her dds). I think it had something to do with reusing those same cups at the next gathering. Still doesn't make sense to me. LOL

Well there you go. I can relate to your mother. In fact I have washed many a plastic disposable cup for reuse for another gathering at homeschool get-together etc.

[Cinder]

but then she'd wash those plastic cups to save money!

 

:laugh:  My mom did this when we rented a cabin at a beach near her. We bought plastic cups/plates so we wouldn't have to worry about doing dishes and she went ahead and washed them to save money.

[Carrie12345]

When I was teen, I remember my mom buying plastic cups for family get-togethers supposedly to save on having to wash dishes (we had a large family and no dishwasher) but then she'd wash those plastic cups to save money! Baffled us girls (her dds). I think it had something to do with reusing those same cups at the next gathering. Still doesn't make sense to me. LOL

I'll own up to washing plastic cups!

But I do it b/c the kids run in and out with water all day long during the summer. Cups get forgotten outside, stepped on, converted into bug habitats... I don't want that happening with my "real" cups, so we go with "quasi-disposable".

[Aura]

In the name of full disclosure, none of us girls liked the idea of washing and reusing plastic cups because we were the ones doing the washing. Anything to get out of doing the dishes!