What a waste of food!

[Muisie]

Please tell me that I am not the only one who is obsessed with not wasting food.  I only let them serve food if there are at least 3 very hungry sims on the lot.  Usually it's just a chef salad.  Sometimes I let one sim make food, eat it halfway, and then let another sim eat the rest.  How sad is that.

[MsMaria]

I understand your pain

Mine get the buffet and that's it. They seldom cook at all. Except for the crazy nanny, she cooks even with the buffet at her disposal.

[Lynda]

I'm not fanatical about it, but I also hate to waste food.  There's nothing worse than serving food when only two sims are hungry.

I also let sims eat off the others' plate.  I usually only do so when one sim gets full and I tell her to stop.  I'll try to find another sim who isn't very hungry, but could use being topped off and if they're not doing anything, they get to eat the leftovers.

I seem to be one of the few who don't really mind how long it takes for sims to eat meals now (I definitely see a difference, but it hasn't caused any problems with my sims) so I try to wait for everyone to get halfway hungry or for a couple of sims to get VERY hungry.

[hyperCat]

You're not the only one. I wish you could "serve dinner for 4" or something so you don't throw food and money down the drain.

[KellyQ]

There is a great hack by dizzy2 on VS for serving only as many sims that are actually hungry (therefore not wasting any food) . Here's the link: http://www.variousimmers.net/vsimforum/showthread.php?t=2002
I use it in my game and think it's wonderful.

[Ancient Sim]

I use Dizzy's hack too and I agree, it's wonderful.  I wouldn't be without it now.  It's wonderful to be able to serve 2 meals or 12 meals at once, whatever you need.  Why Maxis couldn't have made it work like this is anyone's guess.  Too lazy or too tight with their cash, I suppose.

[Muisie]

Thanks for the link, KellyQ!  I'll try that out.

[rohina]

I have often thought it would be cool to have a "leftovers" option, so that the sims could put the serving plate with the extra helpings into the fridge, and then they could eat it the next day. Much more realistic - I often cook enough dinner to last 2 nights.

[radiophonic]

But...it's not real food.

[noname]

It still costs simoleans though. Besides, even if your sims are rich, or you're using the auto refill fridge mod, it still sucks to have uneaten food out to go stale and attract flies and food poisoning.

[RainbowTigress]

I found Monique's no spoiled food hack at MTS2.  She has one where food never spoils, one where it doesn't spoil for 12 hours, and one for 24 hours.  I use the 12 hour one because I think it's a nice compromise.  It's kind of like having leftovers.  I also use dizzy's smart serve hack and TJ's serve everyone hack.

Monique's hack is here:  http://www.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=84926

[J. M. Pescado]

The breakeven point of serving food is 4 servings. The "Serve" option consumes 4x the supply rating of a single meal, but produces 6 plates. So if you're serving 4 or more, you're not wasting anything. Less than that, and you should not serve.

[witch]

I'm totally lazy and a real spendthrift. I don't care if there are plates left over, as long as none of the sims goes hungry. I usually run pretty full houses so there are rarely more than 2-3 plates left over. I don't use the auto-fill fridge hack either.

Edit: In sims2 they don't seem to need more than one main meal a day.

[ZephyrZodiac]

It's only with the expensive fridge and the expensive cooker plus high cooking skills that you can get away with only one meal a day!  (Except kids, best to let them snack, then they don't get fat!)

The No Eat Crap hack seems to work OK with NL, so if you have a problem with sims overeating, this helps, though it won't stop lazy sims eating too much and getting fat!

[witch]

I like the 'fat' female sims, more shapely. Fat male sims get the potbelly shape which isn't so attractive.

[ZephyrZodiac]

But have you looked at your fat female sims from the rear?

[Muisie]

But have you looked at your fat female sims from the rear?

Ack, thank goodness MATY is back up.  I was starting to get jittery.  Thanks for the info, JM!
ZephyrZodiac, quit looking at their butts!  Sheesh!

[knitro]

I wish we could have a serve the kids option on the fridge, that way it only makes food for the kids on the lot and the maker would not eat it. that way the kids could eat something besides juice and chips seeing as how they can't cook themselves.

[krynnwoman]

Is it just me but I swear that since NL my Sims are a little smarter than before about serving food. I have noticed that if a Sim is told to serve a meal, they only make enough meals for people who are on the lot.

This means if Dad starts making dinner before Mom gets home, only him and the 2 kids get plates of food. I've also noticed it when I have Uni students serving food - they don't count anybody who is at class.

So maybe Maxis is moving in the right direction but I definitely need to get one of the above hacks so I can pick the number of meals served - I mean if a Sim is going to be home soon, I'd rather have a meal waiting for them rather than have them then cook themselves.

[Witches]

Yes, I've noticed that too ... and I agree. I hate having to tell everyone to make their own meals. So much easier if one person just does it. I don't care about wasting food.

My big food pet peeve is the occasional fridge glitch I get that only lets my sims have instant meals. This happens to them no matter what their cooking skill levels are. I even had it happen to a celebrity chef once. Everyone else in the house can have whatever they want and this sim has to have instant meals unless someone else cooks for them. This has happened to me more than a few times. When I exit and come back in the glitch may, or may not, be gone. I had one sim who ate nothing but instant meals for what seemed like forever.

Is the game trying to keep my sims from getting fat? 

[Vesca]

I wish we could have a serve the kids option on the fridge, that way it only makes food for the kids on the lot and the maker would not eat it. that way the kids could eat something besides juice and chips seeing as how they can't cook themselves.

Dizzy2 has a cool hack - the smart serve - and the kids can actually cook anything the adults can (provided they have the cooking skills).

[KellyQ]

Is it just me but I swear that since NL my Sims are a little smarter than before about serving food. I have noticed that if a Sim is told to serve a meal, they only make enough meals for people who are on the lot.

This means if Dad starts making dinner before Mom gets home, only him and the 2 kids get plates of food. I've also noticed it when I have Uni students serving food - they don't count anybody who is at class.

So maybe Maxis is moving in the right direction but I definitely need to get one of the above hacks so I can pick the number of meals served - I mean if a Sim is going to be home soon, I'd rather have a meal waiting for them rather than have them then cook themselves.

The hack only counts the hungry sims actually on the lot; so if someone is at work, they won't have a hot meal sitting there waiting for them when they get home, they'll have to cook it themselves.

[J. M. Pescado]

Just because it isn't served out onto the table doesn't mean it's not there. A sim which arrives late or is still hungry can always get seconds from the platter.

[Muisie]

The hack only counts the hungry sims actually on the lot; so if someone is at work, they won't have a hot meal sitting there waiting for them when they get home, they'll have to cook it themselves.

KellyQ, something tells me that YOU would love a hot steaming meal waiting when you come home from work.  Boy, I wish I could find a hack for THAT!

[RainbowTigress]

The things is that most of my sims aren't hungry when they get home from work, so feeding them is pointless.