I have known some women like our alleged troll in my lifetime
... needless to say, I DO NOT follow the same practices!
What I do is put the tiniest amount of everything we're having on each plate. Especially if I know a particular child won't eat something specific. For example, the other day we had chicken noodle soup. For one child, I only put 3 noodles in his bowl, because I knew he wouldn't eat it. But if he had, I still had the rest of the soup in the pot on the stove, so he could have had seconds. Same with milk -- I only put maybe an eighth of a cup in one little girl's cup because I know she won't drink it. And if she surprises me one day, there's always more!
I don't know if you're allowed to do that sort of thing on the food program, but it would be great if you could. As long as the right amount of food is available to the child if they want it, I don't see why it has to all be on their plate at once. If I had to do that, I'd be wasting even more than I am now (and even with my tiny portions, a lot still goes straight into the garbage).