Smaller portions. Eat whatever you want, just eat less of it. One of the best ways to do this is to avoid restaurants, or at least set aside half of the portion as soon as possible and save it for later; restaurant portions are insane, even at "healthy" restaurants. Get used to feeling a little hungry in the hour or two leading up to your next meal, and after a little while your stomach will shrink and you won't want/be able to eat nearly as much as before. From then on it becomes pretty easy; just avoid having access to bottomless, passively-delicious food that overrides your actual hunger senses, and you otherwise won't have much trouble sticking to reasonable portions.
(Speaking from personal experience of losing several tens of pounds over covid, due mainly to not eating out)
A great way to do that is too use smaller plates. The mind is pretty easily tricked; a small plate overflowing may lead to feeling fuller than a large plate sparsely occupied.
Not as much of a weird truck, but I agree it's also great to avoid eating out if you can. I've developed a few meals that I can prepare very easily (sometimes within just a few minutes), are decently satiating, cheap, and not unhealthy. Luckily, I don't get bored with my food - I've literally spent a year eating the same breakfast every day - so the lack of variety with meal prepping doesn't bother me.
Yeah, good point about dishes. Weirdly it seems like even dish sizes for home use have been inflating over time
My go-to easy lunch meal is just some sliced cheese, some crackers, and a good-sized piece of fruit. The fruit fills my stomach, the cheese provides some protein and combines with the crackers to feel tasty and satisfying
I also want to emphasize the "eat whatever you want" aspect. It can be quickly demoralizing to try and give up all of your comfort foods; for me it was really helpful to be able to keep all those in my life and just get used to a new normal when it came to the amount
(Speaking from personal experience of losing several tens of pounds over covid, due mainly to not eating out)