come and get it

Come and eat, the meal is ready, as in She called to the children, "Come and get it!" Originating in the British armed forces, this term passed to other English-speaking armies in the late 1800s and was taken up as a dinner summons by various groups who shared meals in a camp, among them cowboys, lumbermen, and construction workers. It occasionally is used facetiously for other summons, especially for sexual favors. For example, "'Come and get it,' she said and going to the bed, she lay down ... and beckoned to him" (James Hadley Chase, You're Dead without Money, 1972).

The food is ready to be eaten. This phrase most likely came from Western chuck wagon and logging camp cooks who fed platoons of hungry and rowdy cowboys and lumberjacks and who ruled their domain with an iron hand and skillet. The expression often ended with “before I throw it away.” The men didn't have to be told twice; anyone who arrived after the meal was served went hungry. Many mothers used the phrase to summon their broods to the table, but with the decline of families eating dinner together, the phrase fell into disuse.