How about this:
1. The mess runs as it did previously. You are not 'rationed' as to how many sausages you can eat, etc. Food charges remain as they were.
2. You take a meal in the mess, you sign for it.
3. At the end of the month, you are charged (through pay) for those meals you have taken. You do not pay for meals you have not taken.
This is what everybody thought they were getting when PAYD was first mooted.
One slight problem TheInquisitor, anyone who
thought that were living in cloud cuckoo land.
The only way the whole messing arrangement worked was because of the fact that alot of people didn't eat every meal. It was therefore perfectly possible for those who were eating at the time to have as much as they wanted. It most certainly however cost more than the set fee that was being paid by that individual for that meal.
The kitchen/mess staff are no fools, they knew what proportion of livers-in to expect at each meal and cooked accordingly. PAYD removed that ability to reassign funds between meals/livers-in and resulted in an inevitable decrease in quantity of food available.
Quality however, now that's a contractorisation issue and don't get me started there....