Leftovers?

[LJSDesigns]

Does your family eat leftovers or not?
Do you create something different with the leftovers?
What is your weirdest way you eat a leftover.

We eat leftovers here. I don't see any point in wasting food, but my sister's husband will not eat leftovers and neither would my mom. My mom also wouldn't eat chicken because as she said, "she ate enough of it growing up." lol

I rarely create anything different with them, but if it is something like chicken or steak, I will make a salad and add that to it. Usually a Caesar salad or maybe a cobb one if I have the stuff. I have also done fajitas with leftover meats, but that is about it.

If we have leftover spaghetti, we eat it "fried." We heat it up in a frying pan with a little butter, let the bottom and the sides get a little crispy and then add some cheese and pepperoni on top. My son made a double batch of spaghetti the other day so that there was plenty to fry for later. It's so good that way.

[JillW]

We "keep" leftovers, but honestly, unless my husband eats them, they will more than likely eventually get thrown out. He is good about warming something up that is leftover, but not creating anything from it.

Over the years, I have learned not to make such big batches. It helps with not having leftovers AND we eat less when there isn't anything left.

Your left over spaghetti sounds good!! I might just have to try that!!

[LeeAndra]

When I was still with my ex and I had to make dinner every night, we sometimes had leftovers. He & I would both eat them. He ate at least 2 helpings of everything and, besides needing to eat gluten-free, would eat anything I made.

Now that I only have my kids 50% of the time, I don't need to make dinner every night and it makes it hard for them to eat leftovers if it's one of the weeks when they're only here 2 consecutive nights of 7. My fiance enjoys cooking but does not eat much and does not like many of the same foods that I like so sometimes he will make enough for leftovers/the following week of a dish that I like and then I do eat those leftovers for the next 3-4 days (usually something for lunch or a snack). I generally try not to make more than is needed to feed whomever I'm feeding for that meal or it will just get thrown out Thursday night when the trash goes out.

[jacinda]

People throw out left-overs?? That's unheard of here. We often make enough so there is purposely food leftover for the next night or two. Kiwis are pretty frugal in general, so eating leftovers is part and parcel of life here. Blows my mind that not everyone does that. Personally I don't tend to 'remake' things. I just heat it up and have it the same as the previous night. If there's only bits and pieces left we'll put it all in a frypan and fry it up.

[lovely1m]

Does your family eat leftovers or not? I love leftovers! I often make bigger amounts just for leftovers. So easy to just pop in yesterday's meal in the microwave and have my meal. My husband will eat leftovers one time, if there is more left, it gets wasted. My son will eat the leftovers if I tell him to, otherwise he "forgets" and will make something else. Now my ex-husband, would not touch any leftovers ever, even if it was really good, he would not eat it. It was so crazy to me.

Do you create something different with the leftovers? No, I just warm it up. Sometimes I will bake a sheetpan of chicken breasts with the intention of making 3 different meals as I season them differently.

What is your weirdest way you eat a leftover. I like to eat leftover stuffing/dressing cold straight out of the fridge.

[AmieN1]

Does your family eat leftovers or not?
Family- eh not really, so then I end up having to eat all the leftovers. I don't mind it so I have something to take to work for lunches, but sometimes I get sick of being the only one. When we have our hockey billet boys here (September-March), they help out significantly with leftovers- if we even have them to begin with!

Do you create something different with the leftovers?
Sometimes- especially when I just do shredded chicken or something that's easy to just add to a new dish. Most of the time, I'm just taking the same meal for lunch the next day.

What is your weirdest way you eat a leftover.
Your spaghetti sounds super good! I'm going to try that for sure! I tend to warm pizza up in a pan on the stove rather than the oven or microwave. I also like to do pasta in on the stove with a little splash of milk to re-energize the sauces!

[allyanne]

Yes, we love leftovers! Aiden is a human vacuum cleaner, and he will eat anything in the fridge. Sometimes I will have to tell him to NOT eat something that I want to eat or that I am saving to use in something else later. My husband also likes leftovers. I will happily eat the same leftovers twice, but after that, I'm done. Someone else can finish it off! I will sometimes use leftover vegges in omelettes or eggs, and I love using leftover baked potatoes to make hash browns. As far as weird things, I love to make "waffles" out of leftover mashed potatoes or stuffing (dressing). You add an egg, some seasoning, maybe a little bit of flour, and put it in your waffle iron. SO GOOD with Thanksgiving leftovers!

[flergs]

Leftovers are the best. I always make extras, my husband takes a plate to work every day, & my kids take leftovers to school. The teenager has access to a microwave at school so she heats up leftovers & my son takes his in a thermos. Saves a lot of money too. Then I have leftovers for lunch too!

[wendyp]

We eat leftovers as well. It often is that it tastes even better than because all the flavours/herbes have the change to develop.
So my whole family eats leftovers.

And with spaghetti sauce i even make a double the recipe so i can make Chili out of it the next day. I add in some beans and chili herbs and heat it up.

[nietis]

We do!
While my husband does not particularly like them, so long as it's a leftover from lunch, he will eat it for dinner. If it stays longer, he won't touch them. My kids and I, however, eat them though. I hate wasting food, so I am teaching that to our kids.

We usually eat them as is, unless it's a big chunk of meat or some whole chicken, then I usually shred them and cook them in another dish such as stir fries or fried rice.
I do try to cook just enough for the four of us in one meal, though it gives me headache to have to think of what to cook next.

[jaye]

We have leftovers depending on the meal I make. There are some meals I intentionally make more so we can have it for lunch the next day and sometimes supper. Baked spaghetti, butter chicken, garlic shrimp, and fettucini Alfredo are all made in larger batches. If doing hamburgers or sausages I will always make an extra one or two for him to take as well. My son loves leftovers as he doesn't have to 'make' lunch, he just takes a container to work and heats it up there.

Currently, there is a container of lemon and herb shrimp/rice/broccoli in the fridge from last night, it will be my dinner tonight.

I don't usually create anything different, just maybe add a bit more sauce while reheating.

[bienejen]

I love leftovers! That equates to lunch(es) for me!! I'm all about the efficiency, too. Cook once, eat a few times!

[LJSDesigns]

Originally Posted by allyanne

Yes, we love leftovers! Aiden is a human vacuum cleaner, and he will eat anything in the fridge. Sometimes I will have to tell him to NOT eat something that I want to eat or that I am saving to use in something else later. My husband also likes leftovers. I will happily eat the same leftovers twice, but after that, I'm done. Someone else can finish it off! I will sometimes use leftover vegges in omelettes or eggs, and I love using leftover baked potatoes to make hash browns. As far as weird things, I love to make "waffles" out of leftover mashed potatoes or stuffing (dressing). You add an egg, some seasoning, maybe a little bit of flour, and put it in your waffle iron. SO GOOD with Thanksgiving leftovers!

Your stuffing waffle sounds delicious. My son makes a chicken and waffle meal and uses stuffing for the waffles. I have never had it, but my DIL says it is the bomb! I can imagine it is, because I love the crunchy bits of stuffing the most at Thanksgiving. My mom used to make the best stuffing and we would have her put some in a shallow cake pan so we would have more and more crunchies! Yum!

[craftytam]

We aren't big on eating leftovers, so I try to make "just enough" when cooking. I'll split a casserole into 2 smaller pans and freeze one.
Once in a while I'll cook extra chicken for sandwiches.
My boys will eat leftover spaghetti, so I make extra of that every time.

[chinagrrl]

leftover meats usually get diced up and made into fried rice the following day.

[LJSDesigns]

Originally Posted by craftytam

We aren't big on eating leftovers, so I try to make "just enough" when cooking. I'll split a casserole into 2 smaller pans and freeze one.
Once in a while I'll cook extra chicken for sandwiches.
My boys will eat leftover spaghetti, so I make extra of that every time.

Splitting a casserole is a good idea, but do you do it before you bake it or after?

[LJSDesigns]

A number of you have mentioned making fried rice with leftover meats. I love fried rice, but have never made it. Anyone have an easy recipe for it that they can share?

[craftytam]

Originally Posted by LJSDesigns

Splitting a casserole is a good idea, but do you do it before you bake it or after?

I do it before I bake it. Instead of a 9x12 baking dish, I use the 8x8. When it was just hubby & me, I would divide it into 4 bread pans. I usually add a bit more chicken, or other ingredients because it isn't even - 9x12 to 8x8, but even if you don't add anything, it still works.

[rach3975]

Cooking takes too much time not to make extra and eat it more than once! Unless I'm doing something very quick, like breakfast for dinner, I make a bigger portion than we need and serve it a second time. We don't usually have exactly the same meal; I'll take 1 night's meat and combine it with new sides, for example. If there's still leftovers after the second time we eat something, then I create something new from it so people don't get bored. I'm not creative enough to have truly unique/strange things--when we have leftover chili I'll make a chili pasta with cheese that my DH thinks is strange but the rest of the family likes, so maybe that's as unusual as it gets here!

[SeattleSheri]

Does your family eat leftovers or not? Of course, we intentionally make enough for leftovers with most meals. Dinners usually are aren't either for lunch or dinner the following night. It cuts down on the amount of time for cooking!

Do you create something different with the leftovers? It depends on what it is.

What is your weirdest way you eat a leftover. I'm sure I've done some unique stuff with leftover, but nothing is immediately coming to mind!

[nietis]

Originally Posted by LJSDesigns

A number of you have mentioned making fried rice with leftover meats. I love fried rice, but have never made it. Anyone have an easy recipe for it that they can share?

I usually make some scrambled eggs first on the pan. Then add a bit more oil, if necessary, before I put in crushed garlic (optional), the leftover meat and frozen mixed vegetables (those sweet corn kernels, green pea and diced carrots). Fry until the veggies are cooked.
Lower the heat before adding the rice, it's best to use leftover cold rice, and seasonings (salt or salty soy sauce, pepper and some chicken stock powder). Stir until everything is mixed well.
If the whole thing is too dry and start sticking at the bottom of the pan, you can add a tad bit of water to make it easier to stir.

That's it.

[StacyLynn]

Does your family eat leftovers or not?

Not really.... I try to only make enough just for dinner but with everyones schedules constantly changing, I don't always know who will be here for dinner or not. I try to eat some of the leftovers, but since I plan out and meal prep my meals on Sundays, I just can't eat it all. Since I started my health journey, I try to remember that I am not a human trash can and it's okay to toss food if I'm not hungry or don't need it.
If I do a big pot of soup, I do freeze half for another night.

Do you create something different with the leftovers?

Nope. Occasionally left over chicken or taco meat will go in a quesadilla.

What is your weirdest way you eat a leftover?

When I was a kid, my mom would empty out the fridge and dump all the leftovers together and call it stew... so for years I was completely grossed out by leftovers and stew... I made real stew once, it was okay... but my brain still says gross...

[norton94]

Leftovers 1000% I can't imagine not. But I realize not everyone feels like this: my FIL would not - like even from a restaurant when he couldn't finish. Thankfully my DH is on board. My kids were good about it too. Typically we would have a night to just have leftovers and clean out the fridge (there wasn't necessarily enough of one dish for the whole family so we would wait a night or two so we had enough options for everyone). Now that it's just the two of us I usually only have to cook every other or third night I often repurpose leftover grilled meat or fajita meat/taco meat to go on entree salads etc. other than that it generally stays the same meal.

[lliella]

I usually cook a large batch (chili, protein lasagna, chicken pesto, etc) that would last at least 2-3 meals. I hate cooking every meal, especially the prepping and cleaning up. The kids bring the leftovers to school, and I also have them for lunch.
I do occasionally cook just a meal that I know would not reheat well (porkchops, roasted chicken, tenderloin, etc)
My son cleans up everything while my daughter is a little picky but still eats leftovers if she likes the dish.
I just reheat. Unless I have less than enough for a meal, I add eggs to make omelette.

[EmStafrace]

There is something about left overs that makes them a desired meal in our house, Im guessing its the flavours are so much better the next day.

If we have spagbol left over we heat the mince sauce and pop it on buttered toast, nom nom

[LJSDesigns]

Originally Posted by EmStafrace

If we have spagbol left over we heat the mince sauce and pop it on buttered toast, nom nom

What exactly is spagbol and mince sauce? Is it another way to say spaghetti?

[craftytam]

Originally Posted by LJSDesigns

What exactly is spagbol and mince sauce? Is it another way to say spaghetti?

I was going to ask the same thing

[JuliaM]

Originally Posted by LJSDesigns

What exactly is spagbol and mince sauce? Is it another way to say spaghetti?

Thanks to a good friend who's Australian, I know the answer to this. It's spaghetti bolognese and mince sauce is meat sauce.

[LJSDesigns]

Originally Posted by JuliaM

Thanks to a good friend who's Australian, I know the answer to this. It's spaghetti bolognese and mince sauce is meat sauce.

Thank you. That is what I was thinking, but is is always best to ask and know.

[lizziej]

Leftovers are big in my house. There are certain things that my son won't eat as leftovers, but then my husband I will. When my husband grills chicken, he'll grill a whole package of chicken thighs, which is usually 12. That used to last us for 3 meals, but now it's just 2. I try to make double everything and freeze the leftovers so that I don't have to cook every single night. A few weeks ago, we "ate out of the freezer," so I think I cooked one night out of the 7, and my grocery bill was very small that week! There are some things that we have leftovers but not enough for a meal, and those are usually eaten for lunch on the weekend or I may take them for lunch.

[craftytam]

Originally Posted by JuliaM

Thanks to a good friend who's Australian, I know the answer to this. It's spaghetti bolognese and mince sauce is meat sauce.

Interesting! Thank you

[EmStafrace]

Lol sorry everyone I forget you don’t speak Australian haha

Yes Spagbol, is Spaghetti Bolognaise.

[craftytam]

Originally Posted by EmStafrace

Lol sorry everyone I forget you don?t speak Australian haha

Yes Spagbol, is Spaghetti Bolognaise.

LOL! I love it! I find it so interesting how we call things by different names in different regions

[TraceyM]

I make leftovers to keep my tupperware company.
...
...
...
... okay well if feels like it sometimes. Depending on what the leftover is, it might become something new. Leftover salmon might become salmon patties, leftover roasted potatoes are great smashing in a pan with a little more salt and & pepper on them and fried to crispy, steak might land with eggs for hubby in morning, chicken might turn into chicken salad. But overall, we do waste too much food!

[EvelynD2]

Lorie, I love that you eat fried spaghetti! My mom grew up during the war in Germany and often they didn’t have food. There were seven girls in her family. Therefore, wasting food was not something we did when I was growing up. To fry spaghetti, my mom would chop up an onion and fry it in butter. She would then add the spaghetti and break an egg into it. She would cook until the egg was cooked. There would be little bits of egg and onion on the noodles. It was then served with applesauce, canned peaches etc. it was so good!