Speaking of leftovers...

[Ginevra]

How do you deal with your family's ordinary leftovers? My kids clean up from dinner as one of their daily chores and they usually put all leftovers into containers in the fridge. But, some things are more workable leftover than others. It is so easy for certain things to just get shoved to the back until they are thrown away. So, leftover stir-fry: I probably will have that for lunch until it's gone. Leftover corn: that will sit until it grows fur. In a perfect world, I "cook it to the bean" and there are no leftovers, yet everyone ate enough. It often fails to work out like that, though.

 

How 'bout your family? Do you freeze everything? Do you have a particular strategy? Do you toss food? What do you do?

[fairfarmhand]

we have chickens, dogs and cows.

 

Food that won't work for another meal I feed to some animal.

 

It makes me feel better that it is not ENTIRELY wasted.

[OnTheBrink]

There's only 2 of us, so some dishes are made to be halved and frozen. But for the most part, dinner left-overs are lunch the next day.

[Jennifer in MI]

I make enough at dinner so that we'll have enough for lunch the next day. I hate coming up with lunch ideas, so this works well.

 

We simply put it in the fridge. If, after lunch, we have leftovers, I assess whether there is enough for another meal. If so, I plan accordingly. If not, I try to get kids to eat it for snacks. If, after a couple days, it doesn't go, I freeze it into individual Ziploc bags and dh takes them to work.

 

I absolutely HATE throwing food away.

[justamouse]

Corn-cornbread, pancakes, salad.

 

It depends on what it is-if it's meat, we eat mostly chicken, I'll make some rice, shred the chicken and add it to the rice just to warm up then have a veggie on the side or in with the rice.

 

Most days I make Dh a container for work and we'll eat it for lunch and it's all gone. I hate lunch, too, and we tend to eat badly if I don't have leftovers for it.

[Robin M]

Any leftovers will be eaten or incorporated into something else within a day or so. I don't keep anything longer than 3 days. Rule from days of old from my mom.

[Daisy]

I do several different things depending on what it is and what I plan to do with it.

 

1. Set aside some for hubby's lunch.

 

2. Throw left-over veggies into the freezer. When I make soup, I take out that out and throw it in. It tends to be stuff like left-over corn, broccoli, greens, etc.

 

3. Some left-overs are prepared for the next meal. For example. I had hubby cook 6 chicken breasts instead of just 4 on the grill. 1 is his left-over lunch and the other will get diced and turned into chicken salad for the kids and I to eat for lunch. If I have salad fixings, I may save a left-over corn on the cob for scraping off into a nice salad. Left-over fruit can served on yogurt or oatmeal.

 

4. Sometimes I just collect a few nights worth of left-overs and then pull it all out and say it is left-over night. Eat it or I'm throwing it out.

 

Oh, and my daughter cleans out the refrigerator every Friday so left-overs never last beyond that point. Nothing gets forgotten in the back of the refrigerator. I don't have a large refrigerator though so I don't have the room to have stuff just hanging around in there.

 

We have the 3 day rule also.

[Belacqua]

I waited for my son to become a teen, at which point leftovers became nothing but a fond memory.

 

He spends the summer away from home, though, and I've found that cooking the usual amount results in two meals' worth for my husband and me. We'll eat half and usually freeze the rest, especially if it is something that freezes particularly well, such as a curry.

 

And I'm with Daisy in calling the occasional leftover night. As George Carlin put it, "Eat this before I give it to an animal." :)

[Ginevra]

I do several different things depending on what it is and what I plan to do with it.

 

1. Set aside some for hubby's lunch.

 

2. Throw left-over veggies into the freezer. When I make soup, I take out that out and throw it in. It tends to be stuff like left-over corn, broccoli, greens, etc.

 

3. Some left-overs are prepared for the next meal. For example. I had hubby cook 6 chicken breasts instead of just 4 on the grill. 1 is his left-over lunch and the other will get diced and turned into chicken salad for the kids and I to eat for lunch. If I have salad fixings, I may save a left-over corn on the cob for scraping off into a nice salad. Left-over fruit can served on yogurt or oatmeal.

 

4. Sometimes I just collect a few nights worth of left-overs and then pull it all out and say it is left-over night. Eat it or I'm throwing it out.

 

Oh, and my daughter cleans out the refrigerator every Friday so left-overs never last beyond that point. Nothing gets forgotten in the back of the refrigerator. I don't have a large refrigerator though so I don't have the room to have stuff just hanging around in there.

 

We have the 3 day rule also.

 

Ooooh, I like the idea of making that one of the kiddo's jobs! Good plan.

 

I do sometimes have "leftover buffet" night. I always think of the movie The Incredibles, where Elastagirl says, "Well, what are you in the mood for? It's leftover night." :D

 

How do you work the freeze-for-soup? Do you have one designated container for that? That'a good idea I could use.

[Sumiller]

4. Sometimes I just collect a few nights worth of left-overs and then pull it all out and say it is left-over night. Eat it or I'm throwing it out.

 

I do this whenever we need to but more often than not (see below)

 

 

I waited for my son to become a teen, at which point leftovers became nothing but a fond memory. :)

 

 

Most days I don't have anything leftover!:lol:

[LaxMom]

We also have them for lunch or have a leftover potluck night. Some things, like the aforementioned corn, I plan to incorporate into something the next night. Since reheated corn on the cob is yucky, I'd cut it off and toss it into cornbread, soup or salad.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

what I know won't be eaten in the next few days I will freeze either to have as a side again or to be re-worked into another meal.....some things that I make I know I can eat on during the rest of the week so I will usually leave those in the fridge in closeable containers......

[cjzimmer1]

Well I'm sure my kids are scarred for life but we regularly have "clean out the fridge" meals (2-3 times a week). These meals consists of any odd assortment of leftovers that mom puts on your plate. There is a 99% chance that your meal will not look like anyone else's. You may have similar components but every item will not be the same. Since we also have a rule at mealtimes called "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit" (and if they do they get the priviledge of eating all the leftovers of said item even if it's the only thing they eat for a week - I refuse to engage with picky eaters), this works out very nicely for mom. I just make sure everyone has a veggie, a starch and some protein on their plate. I do make a moderate attempt not to serve anyone something they passionately hate but either way, if it lands on your plate, then you get to eat it. I may have to make 1 component of a meal if I'm particularly low on that group but either way all the leftovers get used up. I don't even remember the last time I found fuzzy food in the fridge.

 

Even if it's not a clean out the fridge meal, We always eat leftovers for lunch the next day and all meals on the weekends are comprised of leftovers. I intentionally cook big meals during the week so I have plenty of leftovers for other meals - it means significantly less cooking and less work for me.

[Virg]

One specific shelf in the fridge is for leftovers only (yeah I am anal) and with three boys it all gets eaten. If I notice there seems to be a lot I will make lunch leftovers only.

[Tap]

Some things like frozen veggies, I measure before I cook them. I make 1/2 cup for each person who will eat that particular veggie. I then, in turn, serve 1/2 cup to each person. There are no left overs on these items.

 

For other things, I purposefully make left overs. Mashed potatoes, meats, corn bread... I store most food in the fridge in clear glass dishes. That makes it easier to find.

 

Every few days, we have a left over night and everything is heated up, eaten and the rest is tossed.

 

With a teenage boy in the house....we don't usually have a problem.

[nono]

Most of our leftovers wouldn't make a whole meal, but they sure do make some good omelets. We also throw a lot of leftovers in our salads. :)

[QueenCat]

We have leftover nights. Usually on Thursdays. I put all the leftovers on the counter, and you choose what you want. I'll add salad to the "buffet" for extra vegies. Works well. One is welcome to eat leftovers for lunches too. If there aren't enough leftovers for the whole family on leftover night, I'll put a can or two of soup out as an option. That doesn't happen often though.

[Lisa in the UP of MI]

We eat our leftovers for lunch. If there is enough dh takes some to work and we have a leftover night for dinner. Occasionally there is something that we didn't like or something is forgotten but we manage to eat most things. As our family grows we've been had less and less leftovers.

[nono]

As our family grows we've been had less and less leftovers.

 

I'm so glad you wrote that! I'm amazed at how much more my children are eating by ages 7 & 4! I told my husband he needs to make more money if we're to get through the teen years, because our food bill is already going up! That's why we're already down to leftovers being salad fixings and omelet ingredients.