Camp out scenario

In all the discussions I've seen regarding an unrepairable TPS failure
which leaves the shuttle stranded at ISS, the seven (or so) shuttle
astronauts join the three ISS astronauts for a month or two until a
second shuttle arrives. The limiting factor appears to be consumables
on ISS.

An obvious way to extend these consumables would be to send the three
ISS astronauts home immediately in the Soyuz. That's three fewer
mouths to feed. [Ideally three shuttle astronauts would take Soyuz,
but that's unlikely due to the custom seat cushions as well as the lack
of training.]

The two objections I can think of are:
* One would loose the three people most experienced with the station.
But shuttle astronauts aren't dummies and mission control is there to
talk them through what buttons to push.
* There's a 50:50 chance that the next Soyuz wouldn't make it to the
station before the rescue shuttle. Thus leaving the station unmanned
during the gap. But given that the rescue shuttle would likely be the
final shuttle flight, the added risk to the incomplete station seems
moot.

Would it not make sense to send back the Soyuz as soon as the camp out
begins? After all, even if the ETA for STS-300 looks good, the shuttle
doesn't exactly have a reputation for punctuality.

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