Originally Posted by gcashin

I've had similar experiences where it's clear the crew didn't want to sell any of the hot meal trays. One example from a domestic premium long haul flight:
Me: Do you have any of the hot meals?
FA: This is a breakfast flight, we don't sell them on breakfast flights
Me: But it says here on the menu that there's a breakfast option? And I've purchased them before on breakfast flights
FA: Business class is full; there won't be any available
Me: Don't they normally overcater or have people decline to have a meal? Can you check?
FA: There probably won't be any left, but I'll check
(comes back after a couple mins)
FA: (reluctantly) We have the omelette or the pancakes

It seems like a lot of crews don't want to sell the hot meals, so it can be like pulling teeth sometime to try to buy one.

The only reason I was able to buy one on the flight above is that I'd questioned the FA about it, and knew that they often overcater for full J cabins to allow for choice.