Leftovers (food)?

[ExFlyBoy5]

I might have missed a reply, but why not leftovers for breakfast?

Ah, this gives me flashbacks to my childhood. I was raised that you could all that you wanted...but whatever you put on your plate...YOU BEST EAT IT! Sometimes there would be something that I would be given (like spinach, yuck!) and I didn't want to eat it. Well, when Mom and Dad were done...the timer started. I had 30 minutes to eat it. If I didn't finish it, well...it would be waiting for me the next morning and usually it wouldn't be heated.

 

[MBAustin]

I might have missed a reply, but why not leftovers for breakfast?

DH has been eating leftovers for breakfast (and most lunches) since we've been empty nesters (there weren't enough leftovers when DS was in the house). It works for me as most recipes make enough for 4-6 servings for us. I try to plan so that everything gets eaten within 6 days, and if there are extra leftovers, I freeze them for him to eat when I'm traveling.

However, certain leftovers are reserved for me - especially meatloaf for sandwiches, which he doesn't care for.

 

[Gumby]

Leftovers area a mainstay for us. DW doesn’t deliberately cook larger than needed portions, but many (most?) proteins are sold in amounts that are just more than we can eat at one setting. Leftovers probably provide 3/4 of our lunches and at least one full dinner per fortnight. We also enjoy a variety of dishes for a typical dinner, and this too leads to leftovers.

Some food tastes better the next day, spices are more pronounced and flavor stronger. Indian food, chili, and surprisingly, a beef tenderloin.

Same here. We're having chicken tonight. Given that half chicken breasts are almost a full 16 ounces at the grocery, that is far too much for us eat in one meal. So we'll cook it all, eat half now and have the other half as chicken salad in day or two. In days past, we also would usually bring home half the meal if we ate at a restaurant. When I was working, I packed my own lunches, which were almost always leftovers from the night before. The young wife has leftovers for breakfast some days. I usually don't eat breakfast.

I thought everyone ate leftovers.

 

[jollystomper]

Growing up in a large family (parents and 7 kids), leftovers were a way of life. Cooking up a huge batch of something to last for a few days was the most economical way for our parents to feed us. I grew up seeing leftovers as the norm. DW also grew up like that, so we continued that practice in our marriage. Why cook every day, cook a lot one one day and take a cooking break for a few days. The oven and microwave to reheat things are our friends .

Being empty nesters now, we continue doing this. We have the fridge and freezer space to manage it. Whenever I grill in the summer we grill about (what I hope is) a weeks worth of meat, veggies, seafood, etc. I say "hope" because if DS who lives nearby by stops by during that time, DW's motherly instinct ends up with giving him a couple of days worth of food for him. But it is all good . I still think reheated grilled food tastes great.

We bring home restaurant leftovers 95% of the time. The serving amounts are (to us) so large that we cannot eat them all at one sitting. We can easily make another meal or two out of them. Same for many of the takeout places we frequent, particularly asian food or pizza.

In sum, leftovers have been part of my life forever, and I am fine with it.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Now with my son gone if I have more than 3 days of food I freeze the rest. When my son is here the leftovers get eaten quickly. I won’t eat anything older than 3 days if it’s not frozen. It’s nice to cook once and then have 3 days of meals. I usually eat out once a week. My son thought I would eat out more once he left but restaurant food is high in salt, calories and generally unhealthy. I have HBP so need to be careful.

 

[pacergal]

Growing up in a family of 6, if there were leftovers, they went into the "soup can" in the freezer. When the can was full, it was soup for dinner!
I still sometimes have a soup can in the freezer, but most often, we just eat any leftovers the next day, or give small amounts to the dog.

I am having trouble cooking only for two, so most times, we have leftovers as I sometimes, still think I have teenagers in the house! Even though I haven't for many many years

 

[rodi]

Love leftovers. DH does most of the cooking and plans for several single servings to be set aside after the meal. Calls them MREs because you can just grab a single serving leftover from the fridge, pop it in the microwave, and you have a lunch (or breakfast if you're him.)

He was out of town for a week - but he left enough leftovers I only had to cook 3 meals. Even breakfast (not included in the meal cooking count since it's often cereal) was eggs cooked with some leftover roasted potato/carrot/onion leftovers...

The dog is sad that we save all the leftovers for ourselves.

 

[tmm99]

I love leftovers! And we like to overlap leftovers so we usually have multiple dishes to eat in one sitting, like two mains and two sides, sometimes more. For lunch today, we had meatloaf (from yesterday), grilled cod (today) and two different stir-fry veggies (from yesterday's and the day before). We usually have cooked rice, and cooked black beans pretty much all the time. I like my buffet-style meals...

 

[Phroig]

Anything with a bit of spice actually tastes better on days two and three.

 

[tmm99]

Anything with a bit of spice actually tastes better on days two and three.

I agree especially with soupy things and stews. The only thing that doesn't work well is deep-fried things IMO. Gotta eat those right away.

 

[steelyman]

I ordered some of this. Never heard or saw it. Worth a try!

A friend living in Austin sent me a recipe for “Texas Red and a Long Neck”, which is great but home made and more like a stew. It’s always good to have some mix handy in the pantry.

Give this chili mix a try: https://www.texasfood.com/Cin-Chili-Chili-Mix.html

By far the best tasting chili we've made at home but it's a bit too spicy for our taste so we only use about 2/3 packet at a time.

 

[Goldendoodlebug]

I might have missed a reply, but why not leftovers for breakfast? My SIL introduced me to the approach. He was not raised in the west so perhaps in other places dinner or lunch leftovers become breakfast. It would seem a good opportunity to reduce food waste. And after seeing it in action , it seems that excluding breakfast as a time to eat lunch or dinner leftovers is in our heads and could be in our stomachs.

For years, I’ve made a big pot of soup and almost every morning eat soup for breakfast.

I also eat leftovers for breakfast, I don’t like waste and I seem to always cook more food than the two of us eat at one meal.

I also meal-plan weekly and always include a dinner of left-overs

 

[audreyh1]

Love leftovers!

Stews, soups, chili etc often tastes even better the next day.

I do lots of smoked meats, and we feed of those for several days.

Love leftover steak for salads.

I’m not about to cook everyday, and we eat all home cooked meals, so making dishes that serve 4 or 6 is key to my sanity.

 

[aja8888]

In case anyone cares, today is National Chili Day.

https://www.cbs19.tv/article/news/l...eans/501-09070441-f89f-4668-945a-4f148839c757

MINEOLA, Texas — Feb. 24 celebrates one of the best foods to have on a chilly day: chili. In honor of National Chili Day, a great debate is also ignited: should there be beans or no beans in this dish?

To shed some light on that question, CBS 19 enlisted the help of a recent chili cook-off champion, Cody Castleberry, the chief of police at Mineola ISD Police Department.

 

[jcfradio]

In case anyone cares, today is National Chili Day.

https://www.cbs19.tv/article/news/l...eans/501-09070441-f89f-4668-945a-4f148839c757

What a coincidence. Without knowing this tonight's dinner was chili!

 

[livingalmostlarge]

Love them eat it all the time till gone.

 

[disneysteve]

DW and DD ordered out Thursday night (I was at work). DW got a steak sandwich, ate half, and put the meat from the other half in the fridge. Last night I made us steak quesadillas. Tonight I made us a steak pizza. There's enough meat left for one more repurposed meal. Not sure what that will be. Even if it ends up not getting used, that one sandwich contributed to 3 meals for DW and 2 meals for me.

 

[mattbaxx]

I love my leftovers. I love your leftovers. I don't know if it comes from LBYM or minimalism or waste not want not... but we happily eat our own leftovers. Whether we made them or brought them home from a restaurant. The local daughter's husband isn't a fan of leftovers so we've taken theirs. A friend around the corner had a similar husband so we've taken plenty of theirs over the years.

When we visit the other daughter in AZ we have often left in our RV with their leftovers.

Now I just need to teach the son who is about 45 min. away to always make extra for me to leave with.

I'll take 'em all. They're tasty, they're free, and they are oh so easy to eat. Hot, cold, whatever.

Makes me hungry just talking about it all.

 

[Calico]

It would never occur to me for one minute to throw away food - ever.

If I did that both of my grandmothers would come back from the grave to scold me. We were taught that throwing away food was incredibly wasteful, and not an option.

If food was prepared in our house growing up, it was eaten. Period. If not the day it was made, then for lunch the next day.

I have eaten leftovers all my life. During my working years I took my lunch every day, and it was often leftovers from dinner the day before.

 

[CincyDave]

I hate to waste food, so we always eat our leftovers, including "doggie bags" from restaurants. Occasionally things get lost in the back of the fridge and it makes for some interesting science experiments.

 

[Chuckanut]

I grew up in a home where my mother was a great cook. I mean really really good. Basic Italian-American but done with flavor and gusto that nobody else could match.

Every two to three months she would use an weekend to make lasagne. <--note use of Italian spelling. On Saturday, she made the home made sheets of pasta. They needed to dry over night. On Sunday, she made three to four lasagne. One was served for Sunday dinner, and the other three frozen to last us until the next lasagne making weekend. So, yes leftovers are very normal. To throw out Mamma's food would be an unforgivable sin. Plus, just plain stupid.

Gosh, was I spoiled.

 

[aja8888]

I love my leftovers. I love your leftovers. I don't know if it comes from LBYM or minimalism or waste not want not... but we happily eat our own leftovers. Whether we made them or brought them home from a restaurant. The local daughter's husband isn't a fan of leftovers so we've taken theirs. A friend around the corner had a similar husband so we've taken plenty of theirs over the years.

When we visit the other daughter in AZ we have often left in our RV with their leftovers.

Now I just need to teach the son who is about 45 min. away to always make extra for me to leave with.

I'll take 'em all. They're tasty, they're free, and they are oh so easy to eat. Hot, cold, whatever.

Makes me hungry just talking about it all.

I like this guy's style! Very original and efficient!

 

[Alectoris]

We love chili, but we have always failed to make a decent batch. The spicing just doesn't come out right.

https://www.homesicktexan.com/2009/02/more-precise-texas-chili-recipe.html

 

[Alectoris]

And love the leftovers!

I miss the days of 49 cent/pound whole chicken.

Eat a few pieces, the rest goes into Enchiladas the next day.

Chicken Catchatory with some pasta?

 

[Alectoris]

Ham hocks and beans!