My Maid Said Instant Noodle Is A Snack to Them

[WeiHan]

The bottom line is that if the maid get to eat whatever you eat, then there is nothing much to complain about. The maid should adapt to the master’s eating habit, not the other way round.

[kaka]

Is your maid putting on weight? My maid puts on >10 kg since she started with us 2 years ago. I think she is trying to control her intake too so cannot complain about food what …


She eats whatever we eat. As for instant noodle, I think she cooks for herself if we are not around. I dont really ask her what she eats when we are out since she is free to cook and eat whatever we have.

[Mdm Koh]

Instant noodles and porridge are light meals. The food won't be enough if the maid has to do heavy chores. I feel that the food given should correspond with the amount of work the maid has to do? The more work she has to do, the more she's likely to fill famished if her lunch or dinner is not filling.


I enjoy Maggi Mee too... It's so convenient, but the packet of noodles has shrunk over the years... :sad:

[jnj0910]

Gooby:

You have spoilt your maid already by buying snacks and giving her money to buy dinner when you are out.
She should eat whatever she cooks for your family and cook her own when you are out. If she prefer to cook her own separately, she can do so if it doesn't compromise on her other housework.
Any extras like snacks, macdonals', money to buy dinner are treats and should not be treated like an entitlement by the maid.
Once maids are spoilt, its very hard to go back.

Funz: wah... your maid is very lucky.. get to eat bird's nest!!:P

I try not to spoil my maid, but do get her share of snacks sometimes as it's quite nice to have a little treat apart from the usual food, but she understands it is not an entitlement, and will say thank you.

my 2cents

[hsm]

I agree that the helper should follow what we eat… but personally i think instant noodle is not considered proper lunch or at least it should be limited… we usually have instant noodles for breakfast tho… my girls love it.


but I’m ok for porridge for lunch cos stimes really dunno what to cook… but i know Philippino does not fancy porrdige…

[Musings]

My maids do have a preference for rice. (I have 2 maids, 1 Pinoy, 1 Indo) I see it as they expend a lot more energy than the us who are at desk bound jobs. So I always let my maid cook rice for herself if she wants to if we are having noodles, maggi mee or porridge. She takes the rice with canned sardines or other vege/egg which she cookes. We never cook on Sundays and the maids are off. We will eat out for dinner and we either buy dinner for the maids or give them money to buy dinner. When we buy dinner, we may buy hor fun or something but I always buy economy rice for the maids as they must eat rice.


I don’t force them to eat porridge or less carbo type food or adapt to our habits because I know it is not sufficient for them.

I think it is a matter of accommodating each other’s preferences. Since it does not cost us much more or cause inconvenience, I have no issues accommodating the maids’ preferences which is not unreasonable in this case.

[Funz]

jnj0910:

Gooby:

Funz: wah... your maid is very lucky.. get to eat bird's nest!!:P

Well it is not as if we go out of our way to let her have bird's nest soup. Just that when we prepare any such stuff, she will get her share as well.

For me, I don't believe in making the maid eat differently from the family. If it is something that she really cannot eat, like pork, then she can choose to cook a separate dish for herself.

I stopped her from eating too much instant noodles as this is not proper food and unhealthy. I had to advise her to cut back on the amount of sugar and processed foods that she eats as well. If she eats like that and is unhealthy, we the employers are the ones who will have to pay the medical bills and pick up the slack while they are recovering. So I make sure she eats well, rests well and takes her vitamins.

[LOLMum]

luckily for me, all my maids were not fussy eater. but they definitely prefer rice. is instant noodles with egg and veg and a bit of other ingredients enough? well for me, i would feel hungry shortly after eating it thus for maid who has duties to do, instant noodles might not be enough.

[Gooby]

beanstalk:

If you and your family members are eating the same lunch (instant noodles), she should accept it. It should not be a daily affair though because it is unhealthy.


If she's on her own every day, perhaps she could cook more during dinner, and heat the excess for lunch the next day?

We have steamed fish and porridge for lunch quite alot because of the kids. I know my helper is not crazy about them but she eats what everybody's eating. It's too much trouble to be cooking separate meals anyway.

Actually, through out these 5 years plus with us, she had been eating along with us. She did tell me certain food that she don't eat like chilli, curry, duck meat etc so if we buy food for her, it will not have these items. She does eat whatever we eat so I feel that she is adapting.

Personally, I am a person that don't mind eating leftover food like fried mee or fried rice etc. I did notice that she will throw the left over away instead of eating them when I was not around. (maybe she finds it not nice?)

[michyms]

Gooby, wow your maid dare to throw left overs away secretly? Even I eat left overs, so I will not be too pleased if my maid thinks left overs are beneath her… My maid eats left overs from dinner for lunch - so its left over dishes with a bowl of rice. And I have instant noodles at home, so she can have that if she wants, but she eats rice mostly. And if I am going out with the family without her, I will tell her to cook her own thing. So she may make egg with vege, or sardine with vege with rice.


These days I know some maids are given a food allowance (some expat families) so they can eat whatever they want if they dun want to eat what employers are eating. Frankly I think that really spoils the market and maybe your maid has certain expectations that you are not aware of. It’s time to sit her down and ask her what is her unhappiness and if there is anything at all you can do about it. In the long run, if this doesn’t get resolved, the unhappiness will sour the whole relationship and you won’t be able to keep her.