by Kimberly Smith

Created on: February 17, 2009   Last Updated: February 20, 2009

Originally, the term doggie bag was used to describe a true bag that was used by restaurant diners to take leftover food items home to their pets. Over time a lot of things have changed, including the meaning of a doggie bag.

One of the biggest changes to affect the outcome of these leftover food portions was the discovery that many foods perfectly ok for humans are often harmful and could be deadly for pets. Veterinarians will advise clients not to even give their dog or cat human food items as treats.

People spend a lot of money purchasing healthy pet friendly foods for their animals and are very careful about what they feed them today. Another change that has happened over time is portion size.

Somewhere along the way some restaurants and food chains decided the food portions needed to be greatly increased to satisfy customers. So with the growing portion, so grew the amount of leftovers for people who just do not eat large amounts. These people began to ask themselves if they were somehow wasting money by not eating the entire serving.

People started asking for doggie bags, but these bags were intended for themselves at a later time. It seemed senseless and wasteful to leave the food behind, just to be tossed into the garbage. It evolved into a consumer conscious money saving effort to find ways to have leftovers for doggie bags. Many people counted on them for their lunch the next day.

In some cases, the doggie bag may have been shared with a spouse or love one who did not accompany you to dinner. There are certain people that do not accept this practice and there are restaurant which will refuse to offer containers for the purpose of taking home leftovers.

There are even parts of the world in which this practice would be frowned upon and considered a very rude gesture. Australia has legislation that is being considered to ban restaurants from being allowed to hand out doggie bags, as the food may be unsafe for human consumption if it is not kept at the proper temperatures.

If you are one of these people that do not think it wise, either for your health or pocketbook to take home your leftovers in a doggie bag that is a personal decision. And if you are dining at a restaurant that does not provide the service of take-out, they may not be equipped with the now plastic and Styrofoam containers for leftover food items. Most restaurants that have take-out will provide you with containers at no additional charge for your leftover meal.

Today not only is it widely accepted at most restaurants, the wait staff will offer what is now called take-out containers to assist with taking your leftovers home with you. This can provide you with a way to save a little money and loose a little weight at the same time. If you start when your food arrives dividing it in half, you will eat less and still have enough for another meal, be it supper or lunch the following day.

One note about doggie bags and leftover food items, make sure you follow safe food practices and store them at a proper temperature right away. If you are not going straight home after dinner, it may not be a good idea to leave doggie bags in your car, possibly in the heat for long periods of time. They need to be refrigerated as soon as possible.

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