The idiot bean counters should always remember that, if you pay for something you become a 'customer' and, as such, have Customer Rights....
Whilst it might perhaps not be unreasonable to examine the scale of in-flight rationing (I never did understand why I was entitled to a meal when flying from 1400-1800 in the UK, for example), to expect people to pay may have flight safety repercussions. For example, the person who decides that he/she won't pay and chooses to starve (less of a problem in the days before the gel-haired gym-queens invented fitness tests) - or the person who decides to bring his/her own food which hasn't been prepared in an 'aircraft catering' kitchen - and goes down with the Turkish two-step for the whole flight.
It really isn't worth the effort of these silly sods buggering about with in-flight rations - all it will do is to cause resentment.
One pilot PVR-ing early costs £M to replace - how many ACCs or S1 boxes would that buy?
Why don't your so-called leaders (I can say that these days without fear of retribution now Daisy, you ar$e) tell these penny-pinching f*ckwits to do one?