“We don’t do leftovers”

[Anonymous]

Y’all be crazy. If you think I’m not eating the extra Peter Luger steak from last night because it’s (horrors) “leftovers,” you must think pigs have wings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speaking as a cancer survivor, life is too damn short and fragile to eat leftovers. If you knew you were going to die in December, would you eat leftovers? Of course not. Eat well, every meal — because you never know.

I don't understand why you view leftovers as not eating well. I'm not eating leftover KFC. I'm eating the leftovers or delicious meals made at home or in nicer restaurants from fresh, high quality ingredients. Even when we have leftover pizza, it's the leftovers of really good pizza (dough made from scratch, homemade sauce, top notch ingredients).

I eat leftovers specifically so I can avoid eating mediocre food, while also sparing me the trouble of cooking or going to a restaurant every single night.

If I put two items in front of you, freshly made vs day old, nobody in their right mind is choosing the day old. Stop all the nonsense about food being better the next day. Sounds like boomer crap to pressure kids into eating day and two day old slop.

different poster than you responded to

I think it greatly depends on what the two items are. If it’s fresh baked bread, hot from the oven, versus stale day-old bread, I absolutely agree that everyone would choose the fresh bread. On the other hand, assuming proper food handling procedures have been followed, I’d rather have lasagna which was cooked the day before, as I think it has better flavor.

Generally speaking, I think casseroles (like lasagna), soups, stews, and other dishes that meld favors from different ingredients tend to benefit from allowing those ingredients the extra time to combine. Here’s a Food Network article that lists various foods that they think are better the day after they’re prepared.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/photos/recipes-that-taste-better-the-next-day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Y’all be crazy. If you think I’m not eating the extra Peter Luger steak from last night because it’s (horrors) “leftovers,” you must think pigs have wings.

Depends. Was the steak originally prepared red/pink/pink-red? Yes I’ll eat that tomorrow.

If it’s near brown I’m feeding it to the dogs when it arrives at the table.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Y’all be crazy. If you think I’m not eating the extra Peter Luger steak from last night because it’s (horrors) “leftovers,” you must think pigs have wings.

What is this "extra" steak you speak of?

My family will eat all the steak at the restaurant.

We don't do a ton of leftovers, we just plan well. But if there is leftover meat, then of course we will keep it and repurpose it. But generally, at restaurants we order a quantity we finish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speaking as a cancer survivor, life is too damn short and fragile to eat leftovers. If you knew you were going to die in December, would you eat leftovers? Of course not. Eat well, every meal — because you never know.

I don't understand why you view leftovers as not eating well. I'm not eating leftover KFC. I'm eating the leftovers or delicious meals made at home or in nicer restaurants from fresh, high quality ingredients. Even when we have leftover pizza, it's the leftovers of really good pizza (dough made from scratch, homemade sauce, top notch ingredients).

I eat leftovers specifically so I can avoid eating mediocre food, while also sparing me the trouble of cooking or going to a restaurant every single night.

+1. And when I meal plan, I often consider how I can reuse leftovers. For example, the leftovers from a bean skillet can form part of a quesadilla filling;homemade meat sauce from a pasta dish becomes the meat layer of lasagna. I like almost all of my family's meals to be homemade and I couldn't do that without leveraging leftovers.

Exactly.

When people say they "don't do leftovers" I assume that means they don't actually cook much. I don't know a single good cook who doesn't utilize leftovers. My spouse and I both love to cook and half our freezer is dedicated to meal components that we doubled up at some point so we could pull them out and incorporate them into another meal. If I'm going to spend hours making a a sauce from scratch, I'm not making just four servings and I'm definitely not throwing the rest away. That's psychotic.

The no leftovers people are doing take out a lot, IME. If you like pissing money away and eating food loaded with salt and butter, enjoy I guess. I want to eat better than that.

I think we can distinguish “reusing component” leftovers from “reheating lasagne for several days” leftovers.

Made lasagna last Sunday. Ate it on Tuesday and gave another portion frozen. Reheated fine un the GASP microwave.

That sounds disgusting.

+1

Why?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y’all be crazy. If you think I’m not eating the extra Peter Luger steak from last night because it’s (horrors) “leftovers,” you must think pigs have wings.

What is this "extra" steak you speak of?

My family will eat all the steak at the restaurant.

We don't do a ton of leftovers, we just plan well. But if there is leftover meat, then of course we will keep it and repurpose it. But generally, at restaurants we order a quantity we finish.

How do you gauge the portion size when ordering? And don't you ever get full quicker then you might on another night?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y’all be crazy. If you think I’m not eating the extra Peter Luger steak from last night because it’s (horrors) “leftovers,” you must think pigs have wings.

What is this "extra" steak you speak of?

My family will eat all the steak at the restaurant.

We don't do a ton of leftovers, we just plan well. But if there is leftover meat, then of course we will keep it and repurpose it. But generally, at restaurants we order a quantity we finish.

How do you gauge the portion size when ordering? And don't you ever get full quicker then you might on another night?

I generally know how hungry I am when I sit down, and I order appropriately. If it's a brand new place, I might glance at other tables, to get a sense of portion sizes, or ask the waiter. I might decide to share something, or get an appetizer. If I underestimate, I'll get dessert, or ask for more bread, or at a place like Peter Luger's where the sides are separate, add an extra side.

If I'm at Peter Luger's and we order too much, then I'll eat the steak, because the steak is the point of being there, so if I have leftovers they won't be steak.

(Note: Peter Luger's is way above my budget, so this is all hypothetical. But if I did get enough money to go there, I would arrive hungry and eat what I ordered)

[Anonymous]

I am the cook for 2 person.
I think at least for some age and income group people especially who had Depression era parents or grandparents, "leftovers" mean a collection of rubbermade or generic plastic containers with bits of food collecting at the back of the refrigerator. Some got moldy and had to be tossed. Or not sure if this is better...the assortment got heated up on the stove (no microwaves yet) and served for " leftover night" or in "leftover stew.
My mother had the moldy plastic containers, thankfully she forgot to serve them. I don't do THAT KIND OF LEFTOVERS. The scar is such that when DH wants to save something from his plate "for later" i put it in a baggie like it was plutonium and make dure he does it it for lunch at home next day!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y’all be crazy. If you think I’m not eating the extra Peter Luger steak from last night because it’s (horrors) “leftovers,” you must think pigs have wings.

What is this "extra" steak you speak of?

My family will eat all the steak at the restaurant.

We don't do a ton of leftovers, we just plan well. But if there is leftover meat, then of course we will keep it and repurpose it. But generally, at restaurants we order a quantity we finish.

+1

We occasionally have restaurant leftovers. Most often, we know portion sizes and order accordingly to prevent leftover food, preferring to start fresh tomorrow.

If there is something specific we know will translate to leftovers, we consider ordering more than we can eat. It’s not often but it happens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Y’all be crazy. If you think I’m not eating the extra Peter Luger steak from last night because it’s (horrors) “leftovers,” you must think pigs have wings.

What is this "extra" steak you speak of?

My family will eat all the steak at the restaurant.

We don't do a ton of leftovers, we just plan well. But if there is leftover meat, then of course we will keep it and repurpose it. But generally, at restaurants we order a quantity we finish.

How do you gauge the portion size when ordering? And don't you ever get full quicker then you might on another night?

Dp

Agree what pp said about observing food brought to tables to gauge portion sizes.

When in doubt, my spouse and I order half what we think we’ll both eat, with the caveat “we can always order more”. We never order more and always leave with nothing.

[Anonymous]

I simply can’t understand this. I am a pretty good cook and when I am making one of my kid’s favorite meals they always tell me to make extra so they can have it the next day too. I love that too. Maybe you are all just used to food that is not good enough to be eaten a second time? I really can’t understand-I love leftovers of good food.

[Anonymous]

No, it means they are gross.

[Anonymous]

Leftovers are in no way superior to fresh food. Who cares about food waste? You’re not saving the planet because you eat shitty food from yesterday. Give leftover protein to the dogs and pitch the rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speaking as a cancer survivor, life is too damn short and fragile to eat leftovers. If you knew you were going to die in December, would you eat leftovers? Of course not. Eat well, every meal — because you never know.

I don't understand why you view leftovers as not eating well. I'm not eating leftover KFC. I'm eating the leftovers or delicious meals made at home or in nicer restaurants from fresh, high quality ingredients. Even when we have leftover pizza, it's the leftovers of really good pizza (dough made from scratch, homemade sauce, top notch ingredients).

I eat leftovers specifically so I can avoid eating mediocre food, while also sparing me the trouble of cooking or going to a restaurant every single night.

If I put two items in front of you, freshly made vs day old, nobody in their right mind is choosing the day old. Stop all the nonsense about food being better the next day. Sounds like boomer crap to pressure kids into eating day and two day old slop.

different poster than you responded to

I think it greatly depends on what the two items are. If it’s fresh baked bread, hot from the oven, versus stale day-old bread, I absolutely agree that everyone would choose the fresh bread. On the other hand, assuming proper food handling procedures have been followed, I’d rather have lasagna which was cooked the day before, as I think it has better flavor.

Generally speaking, I think casseroles (like lasagna), soups, stews, and other dishes that meld favors from different ingredients tend to benefit from allowing those ingredients the extra time to combine. Here’s a Food Network article that lists various foods that they think are better the day after they’re prepared.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/photos/recipes-that-taste-better-the-next-day

Soups stews and casseroles are all traditionally peasant foods. How often are you making those at your house in 2025?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Speaking as a cancer survivor, life is too damn short and fragile to eat leftovers. If you knew you were going to die in December, would you eat leftovers? Of course not. Eat well, every meal — because you never know.

I don't understand why you view leftovers as not eating well. I'm not eating leftover KFC. I'm eating the leftovers or delicious meals made at home or in nicer restaurants from fresh, high quality ingredients. Even when we have leftover pizza, it's the leftovers of really good pizza (dough made from scratch, homemade sauce, top notch ingredients).

I eat leftovers specifically so I can avoid eating mediocre food, while also sparing me the trouble of cooking or going to a restaurant every single night.

If I put two items in front of you, freshly made vs day old, nobody in their right mind is choosing the day old. Stop all the nonsense about food being better the next day. Sounds like boomer crap to pressure kids into eating day and two day old slop.

different poster than you responded to

I think it greatly depends on what the two items are. If it’s fresh baked bread, hot from the oven, versus stale day-old bread, I absolutely agree that everyone would choose the fresh bread. On the other hand, assuming proper food handling procedures have been followed, I’d rather have lasagna which was cooked the day before, as I think it has better flavor.

Generally speaking, I think casseroles (like lasagna), soups, stews, and other dishes that meld favors from different ingredients tend to benefit from allowing those ingredients the extra time to combine. Here’s a Food Network article that lists various foods that they think are better the day after they’re prepared.
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/photos/recipes-that-taste-better-the-next-day

Soups stews and casseroles are all traditionally peasant foods. How often are you making those at your house in 2025?

I regularly meal prep cabbage and white bean soup (courtesy of Alison Roman) for lunch and make spinach/ground beef stew, white bean/meat stew, and mousakka casserole (the Greek version with bechamel, prefer that over Arab version even though I’m Arab). Dishes like these are time consuming, especially since I work, but worth it.