Leftovers-do you do them and if so how?

[BLAZEY]

Yep, nope - we DO NOT eat leftovers, and the OP nailed the reason. My DH was raised in a large family with a poorly paid father and a mother who was a terrible, terrible cook. She'd do up a big vat of whatever was economical and they'd eat it until it was gone, or else they wouldn't eat at all. As an adult, my husband simply refuses and I'm happy to accommodate him. I've gotten very good at portion-sizing our meals and anything left goes straight to the garbage. Funny story: When our DS was 8 or 9 he noticed somebody near us in a restaurant putting their excess food in a styrofoam container. He'd never seen such a thing before. He could not fathom them taking it home to eat later, even after we explained it (several times). He had honestly never even heard the word "leftovers".

So it's more that his mother was a horrible cook and the leftovers just got "worse" as time passed. I can see that being a turn off. My husband is a chef and I'm a pretty decent cook, many of our leftovers taste BETTER the next day. DD9 is not a huge sandwich fan so I quite often make up a huge batch of her favourite chicken, broccoli pasta casserole in cheese sauce all from scratch and freeze in single serve containers. She has 2 thermos dishes that I fill with boiling water while I heat a container from the freezer in the microwave. It's still hot and yummy at lunchtime!

 

[ronandannette]

So it's more that his mother was a horrible cook and the leftovers just got "worse" as time passed. I can see that being a turn off. My husband is a chef and I'm a pretty decent cook, many of our leftovers taste BETTER the next day. DD9 is not a huge sandwich fan so I quite often make up a huge batch of her favourite chicken, broccoli pasta casserole in cheese sauce all from scratch and freeze in single serve containers. She has 2 thermos dishes that I fill with boiling water while I heat a container from the freezer in the microwave. It's still hot and yummy at lunchtime!

I myself am not opposed to leftovers; I'd happily eat dishes I like the second or third day if it was available. I was raised in a household where my DMom was also a wizard at portioning and there was seldom much left after a meal, especially the really good stuff!

And yeah - DH's mother was a dreadful cook and their finances were always precarious; the lack of food security in his childhood has had some profound effects. Coming from such a vastly different background it took me some doing to truly understand how serious he was about the issue of always having fresh, high-quality, well-prepared food available.

 

[LovesTimone]

Turkey become sandwiches, or Turkey and egg noodle casserole, Turkey noodle soup or turkey vegetable soup - add in potatoes or pasta (leftovers)

Ham becomes sandwiches - ham and bean soup or ham and broccoli & cheese soup ( with or without potatoes) or ham and scalloped cheesy potatoes.

Extra baked potatoes become a variety of things, hash-browns, skillet potatoes with onions and ham( leftover), potato salad, potato logs with herb butter, mashed potatoes

Spaghetti- transitions into baked spaghetti layered lasagna style using whatever cheese you have on hand.

Extra pasta, make pasta salad, added into soups

Pork roast - into BBQ pork sandwiches

Beef roast - into sandwiches like a french dip using the dripping for the au jus or beef and fried rice, beef and broccoli, some kind of stir fry.

Extra red sauce - make personal pizza night or freeze

Taco meat - nachos, burritos, taco salad

Chicken - sandwiches, chicken salad, chicken nachos, BBQ chicken sandwiches, chicken noodle soup, chicken and pasta add some Alfredo sauce



The trick is to plan ahead, and not serve the same thing consecutively, so alternate nights. Know what your going to do with the leftovers ahead of time, take the guess work out of it, and saves money and no waste... And don't tell the family or use the word leftovers... how about re-purposed meals...

 

[JLoinDisney]

if i cook something in a larger quantity i try to make it something that works well reheating, such as pasta or meatloaf. Im not the best at leftovers. my husband loves them but i dont so over the years i just try and test what reheats well and what doesnt!