Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“I don’t do leftovers” can be a preference the same way “I don’t recycle” is a preference. You’re free to feel that way but we’re free to express our disapproval because it’s wasteful. These are the same people who buy a new water bottle every time because reusable bottles are “yucky.”

I also am just not getting how everyone can taste the difference in something that has been reheated. We eat a lot of soup and pasta dishes that taste identical the next day. Other things like pizza or fried foods taste great reheated in a toaster oven.

Not recycling is wasteful. Just cooking what you plan to eat is not wasteful. If you cook large quantities of food, and then throw it away, of course that's wasteful, but it doesn't have to be.

I'm not much of a cook, the things i make are simple and fast. So, it's not a big deal to prepare the right quantity of food every night.

Do you have kids? How do you know how much everyone will eat in a given night. I have two teenagers and quantities are not always consistent. Sometimes 1 burger sometime 2...occasionally 3!

I have kids. I cook 1 portion per person of things that don’t reheat well like fish. If people are still hungry there are plenty of quinoa, rice, pasta, or beans + whatever veggie I made. I don’t mind extra veggies, I often eat them scrambled with eggs for my breakfast.

Gross food makes gross leftovers, but tons of good food makes good leftovers. I am an awesome cook, and I definitely make generous quantities of things with the idea that they are available to anyone who wants them for a delicious and effortless lunch or snack the next day. Chili, lasagna, homemade mac and cheese, grilled sausages or flank steak -- they all get eaten happily in my house.

I think presentation is a major issue. Some people just shove leftovers into the fridge in their original serving dish, or dump them into any grubby receptacle and they look really unappetizing. If I have leftovers of something good, I make a point of transferring whatever it is to a smaller dish. You open my fridge and you see a clean, covered Pyrex dish that is just the right size for the amount of lasagna, chili, or whatever is left over. So much better than opening the fridge and seeing a dirty 9x13 dish that has food in one corner of it, which is what my MIL does. : (

This brings back memories. As my grandparents grew older, my mom would frequently go get them and bring them for dinner. Sometimes, the dinner would be the same as the night before--but, my mom would always tell me not to tell my grandad--because he refused to eat leftovers. He certainly did not grow up in an affluent family--I think he genuinely just thought it was warmed over food and thought he didn't like it. He came from a family with lots of siblings, so I doubt he had many leftovers..

However, my mom was a great cook, and any leftovers were always great.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“I don’t do leftovers” can be a preference the same way “I don’t recycle” is a preference. You’re free to feel that way but we’re free to express our disapproval because it’s wasteful. These are the same people who buy a new water bottle every time because reusable bottles are “yucky.”

I also am just not getting how everyone can taste the difference in something that has been reheated. We eat a lot of soup and pasta dishes that taste identical the next day. Other things like pizza or fried foods taste great reheated in a toaster oven.

Not recycling is wasteful. Just cooking what you plan to eat is not wasteful. If you cook large quantities of food, and then throw it away, of course that's wasteful, but it doesn't have to be.

I'm not much of a cook, the things i make are simple and fast. So, it's not a big deal to prepare the right quantity of food every night.

Do you have kids? How do you know how much everyone will eat in a given night. I have two teenagers and quantities are not always consistent. Sometimes 1 burger sometime 2...occasionally 3!

I have one kid. For something like burgers or scrambled eggs, I'd ask him "One patty or two?" or "How hungry are you, how many eggs do you want?" But I'd ask before I started cooking. If he guessed wrong, and asked for 3 and ate 2, I'd probably give it to the dog (food that's been on someone's plate wouldn't go back in the fridge). If he asked for 2 and then realized he wanted 4, then I'd get up and cook some more (or I would have, he's old enough now that he'd do it himself). It doesn't take long to scramble another egg, or pan fry another piece of tilapia.

For other things, like a steak or a piece of salmon then I make what there is, and he generally eats it. There's always some component to the meal that it's easy to add more of without it being a leftover exactly. So, I might have a loaf of nice bread, and I'm serving it on the side, and he can go back and get more slices. Or we're having fresh fruit as a side, and he'll go and grab another banana or apple. If he's really hungry and the main dish is gone, he'll make a sandwich, or add a handful of baby carrots and a scoop of hummus to his plate.

Like I said, this is pretty much based on the fact that I'm not much of a cook. If I was starting to make dinner hours in advance and using lots of complicated ingredients, it would be much more difficult to judge how much to make.

If your leftover turkey was dry, it was either dry to begin with or you don’t know how to properly reheat food.

i do leftovers, but turn them into something else. Chicken, make soup, tacos, fried rice, etc

I try to avoid creating leftovers, unless it's something that I want to take as lunch (in which case I portion into lunch-sized containers when cleaning up from the meal) or something that gets better over time (soups, for example). For meals that don't reheat as well, I try to cook close to the right amount of food for the meal. But we definitely eat leftovers when we have them, because the alternative is wasting food. I grew up with one night a week being "leftover night," and I loved it, because everyone got to choose which leftovers they wanted. (My mom was both an excellent cook and a very thrifty person, so "I don't do leftovers" would not have flown.)

My DH is very worried about contamination.

When I cook for the family (he cooks a lot) I proactively put some aside before serving it at the table, and seal it up, so avoid the "it was on the table so it must have cooties" concept.
It isn't a money thing, it is kind of an OCD thing. This became apparent over the holiday, and I realized I was "boxing up" side dishes before they were served but I made a lot of some sides to be able to do this.

Serving smaller portions at the get go means more food the next day. Gladware is my friend!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“I don’t do leftovers” can be a preference the same way “I don’t recycle” is a preference. You’re free to feel that way but we’re free to express our disapproval because it’s wasteful. These are the same people who buy a new water bottle every time because reusable bottles are “yucky.”

I also am just not getting how everyone can taste the difference in something that has been reheated. We eat a lot of soup and pasta dishes that taste identical the next day. Other things like pizza or fried foods taste great reheated in a toaster oven.

Not recycling is wasteful. Just cooking what you plan to eat is not wasteful. If you cook large quantities of food, and then throw it away, of course that's wasteful, but it doesn't have to be.

I'm not much of a cook, the things i make are simple and fast. So, it's not a big deal to prepare the right quantity of food every night.

Do you have kids? How do you know how much everyone will eat in a given night. I have two teenagers and quantities are not always consistent. Sometimes 1 burger sometime 2...occasionally 3!

And my teenagers are thrilled to have something like a leftover burger as a pre-dinner snack!

My stepmom is a bit like this. She thinks anything in the fridge for a day is bad. As in rotten.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bet they don't drink ranch
Bet they don't enjoy sunshine
Bet they have stone hearts

-Flip Driscoll

Getting old. Quick.

I googled Flip Driscoll for some insight and the first hit was DCUM! LOL

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“I don’t do leftovers” can be a preference the same way “I don’t recycle” is a preference. You’re free to feel that way but we’re free to express our disapproval because it’s wasteful. These are the same people who buy a new water bottle every time because reusable bottles are “yucky.”

I also am just not getting how everyone can taste the difference in something that has been reheated. We eat a lot of soup and pasta dishes that taste identical the next day. Other things like pizza or fried foods taste great reheated in a toaster oven.

Not recycling is wasteful. Just cooking what you plan to eat is not wasteful. If you cook large quantities of food, and then throw it away, of course that's wasteful, but it doesn't have to be.

I'm not much of a cook, the things i make are simple and fast. So, it's not a big deal to prepare the right quantity of food every night.

Do you have kids? How do you know how much everyone will eat in a given night. I have two teenagers and quantities are not always consistent. Sometimes 1 burger sometime 2...occasionally 3!

A couple of things: no, some foods do not taste very good reheated (even properly reheated, i.e., not in a microwave). Some foods are meant to be “leftovers” and they are pretty great when served again (and, yes, you are eating them at pretty much all restaurants, even high end ones).

I grew up not liking my mother’s cooking very much, but I didn’t quite “get” that as a child. Leftovers were frequently just torture for me as foods I barely liked the first time usually got slightly less likable each time they were served. Now, as the cook for three kids and a spouse, I really appreciate the treat of not cooking and so some foods I do make “for” the leftovers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“I don’t do leftovers” can be a preference the same way “I don’t recycle” is a preference. You’re free to feel that way but we’re free to express our disapproval because it’s wasteful. These are the same people who buy a new water bottle every time because reusable bottles are “yucky.”

I also am just not getting how everyone can taste the difference in something that has been reheated. We eat a lot of soup and pasta dishes that taste identical the next day. Other things like pizza or fried foods taste great reheated in a toaster oven.

+1 I think a lot of these "don't do leftovers" people would happily eat them if they didn't know they were "leftovers." My cousin's DH swears he doesn't eat leftovers. My aunt cooks several dishes for Thanksgiving the day before and then reheats them. He eats them happily, with no idea they are "leftovers", and aunt & cousin have never clued him in because they know he wouldn't eat them otherwise. The leftover aversion is all in his head.

I'm the person who just posted that I don't really do leftovers. I don't have a problem with eating left overs at your house. I am glad to do it. I just don't like to eat the same things multiple days.

If I go to a restaurant with large portions, and we bring home leftovers, we usually trade them around, which gets around the problem.

Anonymous wrote:“I don’t do leftovers” can be a preference the same way “I don’t recycle” is a preference. You’re free to feel that way but we’re free to express our disapproval because it’s wasteful. These are the same people who buy a new water bottle every time because reusable bottles are “yucky.”

I also am just not getting how everyone can taste the difference in something that has been reheated. We eat a lot of soup and pasta dishes that taste identical the next day. Other things like pizza or fried foods taste great reheated in a toaster oven.

Not recycling is wasteful. Just cooking what you plan to eat is not wasteful. If you cook large quantities of food, and then throw it away, of course that's wasteful, but it doesn't have to be.

I'm not much of a cook, the things i make are simple and fast. So, it's not a big deal to prepare the right quantity of food every night.