Do you love leftovers?
I find there are 2 groups of people when it comes to leftovers. You either love them or you hate them. I love leftovers. I am known for making way too much so that I don't have to cook another meal. Anything that can save me some time is great. But other people I know hate leftovers. They throw everything leftover out. This makes me crazy. Don't they know that there are so many different things you can do with leftovers? So here are some of the ways I use leftovers.
1. We do a leftover night. I pull everything out and tell everyone to grab a plate. First come, first served in this house. You should see how fast the kids come down when it is leftovers. I am happy to eat a little of this and a little of that to make sure nothing goes in the garbage.
2. We eat it for lunch the next day. Hubby, my son and I bring lunch to work all the time. Leftovers are a quick and easy lunch. When we are cleaning up dinner, we portion out the leftovers into lunch containers so that in the morning we just have to throw it into a cooler. YD takes leftovers to school for lunch. She puts it in the microwave at school.
3. We freeze it. If I am making chili, or soups I always make double batches. I put the leftovers in the freezer for meals on nights that we are rushed. When I get sick, Hubby and the kids can just pull out a container of chili and just make some rice. Dinner is done. I also always make double batches of pancakes and waffles. They get thrown in the freezer and pulled out for easy morning breakfasts. They take a few extra minutes to make and save a lot of time on a school day.
4. We make it into something new. I cook a whole chicken at least once a month. The first day it is a roasted chicken with sides. The second day, the leftover chicken breasts will become chicken fajitas. The third day I may make a chicken pot pie with some of the meat. The forth day I boil the bones and make chicken orzo soup. We have leftovers all week but there was something different every night. We do not eat the same thing 4 nights in a row. That is boring.
5. I make a plate for someone. My sister is single. I have several friends that I work with that are single. Most of them do not cook well. They are very happy when I make them a plate. Most people who don't cook will be happy to eat leftovers from someone that does cook.
6. I put it into Oreo's food. If something has sat for a few days, I will add it to the dogs food so that it doesn't go to waste. When I make her dog food (once a week), I add items from the fridge, tiny bit of corn, some mashed potatoes, some rice. Oreo will happily eat it when it is mixed in with bacon fat and chicken skin.
7. I compost it. If every other option is gone, then I compost it except for meat. At least it will help my vegetable garden next year.
Do you like leftovers or hate leftovers? If you hate them, can I ask why?
1. We do a leftover night. I pull everything out and tell everyone to grab a plate. First come, first served in this house. You should see how fast the kids come down when it is leftovers. I am happy to eat a little of this and a little of that to make sure nothing goes in the garbage.
2. We eat it for lunch the next day. Hubby, my son and I bring lunch to work all the time. Leftovers are a quick and easy lunch. When we are cleaning up dinner, we portion out the leftovers into lunch containers so that in the morning we just have to throw it into a cooler. YD takes leftovers to school for lunch. She puts it in the microwave at school.
3. We freeze it. If I am making chili, or soups I always make double batches. I put the leftovers in the freezer for meals on nights that we are rushed. When I get sick, Hubby and the kids can just pull out a container of chili and just make some rice. Dinner is done. I also always make double batches of pancakes and waffles. They get thrown in the freezer and pulled out for easy morning breakfasts. They take a few extra minutes to make and save a lot of time on a school day.
4. We make it into something new. I cook a whole chicken at least once a month. The first day it is a roasted chicken with sides. The second day, the leftover chicken breasts will become chicken fajitas. The third day I may make a chicken pot pie with some of the meat. The forth day I boil the bones and make chicken orzo soup. We have leftovers all week but there was something different every night. We do not eat the same thing 4 nights in a row. That is boring.
5. I make a plate for someone. My sister is single. I have several friends that I work with that are single. Most of them do not cook well. They are very happy when I make them a plate. Most people who don't cook will be happy to eat leftovers from someone that does cook.
6. I put it into Oreo's food. If something has sat for a few days, I will add it to the dogs food so that it doesn't go to waste. When I make her dog food (once a week), I add items from the fridge, tiny bit of corn, some mashed potatoes, some rice. Oreo will happily eat it when it is mixed in with bacon fat and chicken skin.
7. I compost it. If every other option is gone, then I compost it except for meat. At least it will help my vegetable garden next year.
Do you like leftovers or hate leftovers? If you hate them, can I ask why?
I LOVE leftovers. It's food I already cooked so I don't have to cook more. What could be better than that? My daughter and I eat leftovers for lunch most days. Sometimes I send leftovers with my son in his lunch; other days, I repurpose the leftovers into something new for his lunches. This past week, we had homemade Chipotle-style bowls, so I took the rice and taco-flavored lentils, mixed them together, and turned them into ten burritos with cheese and salsa, which I tossed into the freezer and will pull out every night and put in his lunch for the next day. My son gets something he loves, and no food goes to waste. I'm pretty excited about that.
ReplyDeleteMy husband, however, does NOT love leftovers. We've had a refrigerator bursting with good food and he'll make himself something new (of course, he's not the one who does all the cooking. If he were, maybe he'd be a bit more miffed about others ignoring the leftovers). It drives me completely nuts that he does this, but there's nothing I can do about it, so I'll continue to eat and use up the leftovers myself, because I can't stand food waste.
I can't stand food waste either. It drives me crazy.
DeleteI love leftovers. When I worked, I usually took them for lunch. Call me odd, but I actually enjoyed eating leftovers like chicken, enchiladas and pasta cold.
ReplyDeleteMy kids generally dislike leftovers unless I have turned them into other dishes like leftover chicken into enchiladas, beef into beef stew, cottage pie, etc.
DH claims he loves leftovers, but tends to forget they exist, by eating them for lunch if they are handy. More often than not, though, he forgets about them. As I refuse to prepare lunches for him, (or anybody over the age of 4 who is home during the day) I confess that more often than not, leftovers intended for his lunch go to waste.
I think my kids dislike leftovers because DH, who was on lunch duty when they were younger, would reheat them using the microwave. (Microwaving and heating on the stovetop are the extent of this man's cooking skills. It's one of two areas of contention we have. Since he doesn't know how, and, more importantly, refuses to learn to cook, he gets to say squat, nothing, zero, zilch about the meals at home, or else he provides the next day's dinner. He doesn't even get to make meal suggestions unless asked.) I have to say that I agree with the kids when they say meat takes on a slightly unpleasant taste when microwaved. I can even tell in something like ziti with meat sauce.
I hate pasta when it is microwaved. Nope. I would rather eat it cold. I get it.
DeleteI don't necessarily love leftovers, but we sure do eat a lot of them. I try to cook enough for dinner and lunch the next day for me. When I overcook I have the same thing everyday for lunch until its gone. TheHub hates them so I re-form them and he never knows.
ReplyDeleteThat's what I do. The less they know the better.
DeleteI love leftovers and cook so there will be leftovers. I send home food for exbf that I cooked for the meal he eats here. I have taught him how to freeze things. Well, I put them in a freezer bag. And, I tell him to continue eating what is in refrigerator before he starts on new leftovers. Like me, he can eat four days off a large chicken breast.
DeleteI would eat it too if someone was willing to cook for me.
DeleteSuch interesting comments! I feel much better now. I love leftovers but my husband does not. He says he can taste the difference in the food, the texture changes. Not believing him, I blindfolded him and tested him. He gets it right 100% of the time; however, he is not the one doing all of the cooking so it is easy to be picky. I do the cooking, and until the food is gone, I don't cook again. He can either eat leftovers, go out or make a sandwich. It has caused MANY fights.
ReplyDeleteJeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
Sorry it causes fights. He could always cook for you. I'm sure you would be OK with not having top cook.
DeleteHe has never learned to cook but I would love it if he took over! The fights over meals have lessened as we aged, almost nonexistent now. Life does that. He has learned to eat some leftovers, and I have learned to throw food out. Somethings are not worth fighting about.
DeleteI agree. Pick your battles.
Delete