Leftovers-do you do them and if so how?

[pigletto]

I plan at least two meals a week with enough leftovers to cover dh’s lunches (stews, soups, chilis , pastas etc). We don’t have a lot of waste because I meal plan with grocery flyers and make dinner menus for the week, then we use the leftovers for most lunches and buy supplementary items. It’s evolved over time and it works well for us. I have a good handle on the grocery budget this way. We used to spend twice as much and had so much waste!

Here’s a great resource to dispel some food safety inaccuracies,
https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/storagetimes.html

There’s a big difference between purposefully making a double batch of something and portioning and freezing the leftovers and leaving half eaten moldy food in a container at the back of the fridge.

 

[Minnesota!]

Yes, I plan for leftovers. For my lunches, DH's lunches, and to be made into something else. (Roast becomes hash, taco meat becomes nachos, etc.). Groceries is where I am the most frugal in my life. Kind of an obsession, at times.

DH eats whatever I make for dinner, for lunch the next day. It's my lunches I prep. Yesterday morning I noticed I had a whole bag of chickpea meatballs in the fridge. I thawed them, then smashed them with some chopped bell peppers and chopped jalapenos. Added in 2 eggs and some feta. Made 7 burgers out of them and fried them up. Also roasted a head of broccoli, a bag of cauliflower, and the last of the baby carrots.

Then made some homemade tzatziki and some carmelized onions.

So, lunches, for me, this week are a chickpea burger, over roasted veg, with the onions and tzatziki over it. It is SO good. And cost me all of....$10 for the week? If that.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

We never have leftovers anymore. My husband eats everything I've cooked.
Once I tried to do one of the make ahead recipes when you cook double the meat and reuse the extras for the next day (my plan was to make BBQ of some sort with it) - my husband ate the whole roast. I had even cut it in half and put the half I was going to use the next day in the fridge but he went in the fridge and ate it. I was so annoyed.

So now I just make one meals worth of food at a time.

 

[DisneyMomx7]

Thursday night is my planned leftover night. I cook Sunday through Wednesday and we use up all the leftovers. I love it because it's definitely a no cook night for me. I just put everything on the counter and let everyone pick and nuke their plate !

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Oftentimes that will be the next day’s lunch.

 

[QueenIsabella]

We never have leftovers anymore. My husband eats everything I've cooked.
Once I tried to do one of the make ahead recipes when you cook double the meat and reuse the extras for the next day (my plan was to make BBQ of some sort with it) - my husband ate the whole roast. I had even cut it in half and put the half I was going to use the next day in the fridge but he went in the fridge and ate it. I was so annoyed.

So now I just make one meals worth of food at a time.

Yeah, I have this problem with DS20. If we don't pick up the kitchen fast enough--say, we let the meat cool down--he'll circle back and polish it off. I have to specifically tell him, "I have plans for the leftover chicken (or whatever)".

 

[bluehen]

Like many I cook extra's specifically for leftovers. Either lunches or a dinner usually 2 or 3 nights later. We have busy nights at times and the convenience of a quick dinner is great.

 

[neatokimmo]

I try really hard not to have leftovers because I get stuck eating them. I have been trying harder to make smaller meals so we eat everything. I have also noticed a big decrease in the amount of food I throw away.

 

[MaryLovesPoohBear]

We eat leftovers at our house. And I ate leftovers growing up, as did my husband.

And like others, I actually make more than we will eat in one meal because I have plans for it later in the week. For example, on Sunday, I make two whole chickens. We just finished the last of the chicken meat today, at lunch.

 

[Sadie22]

I cook in bulk with produce and meat purchased on sale, two crockpots of chili the same day for example, and freeze in meal-size portions.

 

[Farro]

, (sorry, wrong thread - I was searching for eat home!)

 

[Shanna-like-Banana]

I guess we would fall in the moderate category, I don't intentionally cook enough to have leftovers, but when we do have them, they getting eaten about 75% of the time.

If there is enough leftovers to make enough for a lunch, then I will make it up for DH and he will mostly take it the following day.
If it's just enough of a side to keep and not throw away, there is a higher chance of it sitting in the fridge and getting tossed.

For example, on Monday I had made garlic baby red potatoes with dinner. I had estimated 3 baby red potatoes per person, so I bought 15 total, well I ended up with about 1.5 cups of leftover potatoes, so I tossed them in a Tupperware and put them in the fridge. The next day for lunch DD was talking about wanting cheese fries. I thought, potatoes, while she was doing a chore, I warmed them up. Turning the broiler on, laid them on a piece of foil, covered with shredded cheddar cheese, and bacon bits, when they came out a small drizzle of ranch, and she has her "cheese fries" She said them all, so

I have a sensitive stomach, and just cannot eat the same meal over and over without feeling it. I don't eat the same thing for breakfast & lunch each day of the week either.

 

[jaybirdsmommy]

Yeah, I have this problem with DS20. If we don't pick up the kitchen fast enough--say, we let the meat cool down--he'll circle back and polish it off. I have to specifically tell him, "I have plans for the leftover chicken (or whatever)".

Same here, I have two sons - what leftovers? I haven't seen one in years. Even when I think I've got enough left to cover the next night - it's gone by the time I get home.

We eat leftovers when we have them. My brother refuses to touch them. I don't remember us ever having too many leftover nights when I was growing up unless it was something gross that no one wanted the first time around (bean stew, anyone?).

My husband and his sisters grew up food insecure. He'll eat anything, doesn't care how old it is. His sisters are the exact opposite. They won't touch a leftover. If it's in the fridge for more than 24 hours it goes in the trash.

 

[sjrec]

My husband works from home so I like having enough for lunch the next day if possible. Since it’s just the two of us most of the time I have adapted my ziti and lasagna recipes-and most casseroles-for a 9” baking dish. I make a meat loaf with only a lb of ground meat. We get at least two meals and we’re not sick of eating them. Soups and chili I freeze portions right away so they don’t get wasted.
I like to cook, especially now that I’m retired, but it’s great having something in the freezer or a piece of meat already cooked that I just need to make a side dish. Even when I worked I was fortunate to get home by 3:30-I really admire those of you that get home much later and get dinner on the table every night!

 

[rentayenta]

DH does the cooking and he's a really good cook! We generally have leftovers because we still cook for 5 even though only 4 of us live here as we are never sure if our oldest will stop by for dinner. I love leftovers; last night he made penne a la vodka with chicken. Made a terrific lunch. I will eat leftovers all work week for lunch but I do not like leftovers for dinner; I don't enjoy them repurposed for dinner either.

 

[clh2]

We are empty nesters!

We carefully plan our meals for Sun-We’d, leave Thursday for a free for all, and either do a frozen pizza or go out for fish on Friday.

Most of our cooking gets done on Sunday, we have a pretty good idea of what will get eaten in the current week, and put the rest in the freezer for different meals in other weeks.

In the summer we grill out almost every weekend. We’ll put 6 burgers on the grill.
; eat 2, and then freeze 2 along with 2buns. Makes mid-week meals very easy.

Any time there isn’t enough there isn’t enough for a dinner, it becomes a frozen lunch meal for me at a later date.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Deleted.
I said the same thing I said 6 month ago in previous post. LOL.

 

[LabMouse]

We have been working to lose weight over the last year, so I plan our meals to a specific calorie count and only cook that much food. There are only 2 of us, so that makes it easier. The only time we have leftovers anymore is when we go out to eat; we'll purposely bring half home to make the dish a more reasonable portion. But those do always get eaten later.

 

[lovin'fl]

Leftovers from restaurant/carry out food get put in fridge and person has 24 hours to finish it. After that it becomes fare game to anyone else and will be pitched on day 4. I put all food leftovers, from home cooked meals, in the fridge to be eaten by whoever within 4 days...then I toss it. But we don't tend to have much leftover because I cook small portions (get meal deliveries often and they tend to only have things like rice and salad leftover). My mom, on the other hand, will eat off of leftovers for 2 weeks . (She also has frozen/canned/boxed food with expiration dates from like 2009, but I digress).

 

[BLAZEY]

I usually take it for lunch the next day or portion out and freeze in single portion containers to take our when I don't have leftovers to take. I also sometimes re-purpose food, like the leftover taco meat tonight will be added to pasta sauce for spaghetti one night next week. Monday night is always pizza night as we get 2 for on that night and have leftovers for the next couple of days lunches. Very little goes to waste in our house.