My mother used to make us sit at the table until everything on our plates was gone. My brother and I might sit there until bedtime, and if the meal wasn’t finished, we’d find it set out (cold) for breakfast the next morning. No fooling! “Waste not, want not” was the catch phrase of the day…and I never really did understand what it meant!
I would suggest it is a hold over from the Great Depression where food was scarce.
Lynn’s Notes:
My mother used to make us sit at the table until everything on our plates was gone. My brother and I might sit there until bedtime, and if the meal wasn’t finished, we’d find it set out (cold) for breakfast the next morning. No fooling! “Waste not, want not” was the catch phrase of the day…and I never really did understand what it meant!
I would suggest it is a hold over from the Great Depression where food was scarce.