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Start with a smaller portion, then take more

A smaller first serving, with more available if wanted, can reduce edible food left on plates.

I commit
Miniature scene: Start with an overfilled plate.
Start with an overfilled plate
Miniature scene: Start smaller, with seconds available.
Start smaller, with seconds available
01 / Why this can help

Your scenario, drawn

Serve what you want, waste less

Serve what you want, waste lessWaste with larger first servings: 12.48 kg food; Waste with seconds available: 4.68 kg food; Annual difference: -7.8 kg of edible food wastedIN ONE YEARWaste with larger first servings12.48 kg foodWaste with seconds available4.68 kg food012.48 kg food

Same scale, starting at zero. Change the assumptions to compare the two annual totals.

Sources and scope →
Read the values
Waste with larger first servings12.48 kg food
Waste with seconds available4.68 kg food
Annual difference-7.8 kg of edible food wasted
02 / One possible next step

At one meal, serve a smaller first helping and keep more available for anyone who wants seconds.

03 / Sources and scope

Context-dependent outcome

What the evidence supports

A smaller first serving, with more available if wanted, can reduce edible food left on plates. Count a benefit only when total food discarded falls: moving surplus back to the serving dish is not enough.

Boundary of the claim

This changes serving order, not how much someone should eat. Take more when wanted and meet individual needs. Household results vary; the published hotel result is not a household savings factor.

What this simulation calculates

The example compares 80 g and 30 g of edible waste at three comparable meals weekly for 52 weeks. Weigh both plate waste and unserved food eventually discarded. These values are assumptions; the hotel experiment’s percentage is not transferred to a household.

Published coefficients and calculation references

  • The Food and Agriculture Organization recommends smaller first servings with more available. Kallbekken and Sælen studied a related buffet intervention; its hotel outcome is not a household coefficient.

    How to reduce your food waste ↗

  1. Institutional guidance · Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

    How to reduce your food waste

    Consulted section (original language): Section 8, Ask for smaller portions; second paragraph (web text lines 85–88)

    Consultation: Webpage / full text

  2. Research study · Steffen Kallbekken; Håkon Sælen · 2013

    ‘Nudging’ hotel guests to reduce food waste as a win–win environmental measure

    Consulted section (original language): Printed page 326, treatment description and sections 2–3; printed page 327, Table 2. PDF pages 3–4 of 4, including cover sheet.

    Consultation: full author-posted paper · DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2013.03.019

Avoid counting the same change twice

Sources reviewed:

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Other possibilities in this area

Food
Miniature scene: A meal based on plant foods.Make one day more plant-basedMiniature scene: The same quantity of loose apples.Choose loose produce when it worksMiniature scene: Pack the leftovers to take home promptly.Take home the food you will eat
universalizable.Food / 01

Start with a smaller portion, then take more

Miniature scene: Start with an overfilled plate. Miniature scene: Start smaller, with seconds available.
Start with an overfilled plateStart smaller, with seconds available

Why this can help

A smaller first serving, with more available if wanted, can reduce edible food left on plates. Count a benefit only when total food discarded falls: moving surplus back to the serving dish is not enough.

One possible next step

At one meal, serve a smaller first helping and keep more available for anyone who wants seconds.

What changes the outcome

This changes serving order, not how much someone should eat. Take more when wanted and meet individual needs. Household results vary; the published hotel result is not a household savings factor.

universalizable.The action / 02

Your illustrative scenario

Over one year · with the assumptions below

You

7.8 kg of edible food wasted less

You + 10 friends

85.8 kg of edible food wasted less

1,000 participants

7,800 kg of edible food wasted less

These are scenarios, not measured personal or collective savings. One separate household per participant. People sharing a home count it once, not once each.

Your inputs

Edible waste per meal before
80 g
Edible waste per meal after
30 g
Comparable meals per week
3
Weeks per year
52

Calculation of the difference: (80 − 30) g / 1000 × 3 × 52 = 7.8 kg of edible food wasted

Calculation boundaries

Mass of edible food discarded for the same comparable meals, including unserved food eventually thrown away. Count each portion once. Inedible scraps, production, refrigeration, cooking, greenhouse gases and nutritional outcomes are excluded.

The example compares 80 g and 30 g of edible waste at three comparable meals weekly for 52 weeks. Weigh both plate waste and unserved food eventually discarded. These values are assumptions; the hotel experiment’s percentage is not transferred to a household.

Sources and calculation references

  1. How to reduce your food wasteFood and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
  2. ‘Nudging’ hotel guests to reduce food waste as a win–win environmental measureSteffen Kallbekken; Håkon Sælen · 2013

Read the method: universalizable.com/en/method/ · One sheet · print double-sided, long-edge binding

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