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We are a small family of three. I cut down recipes as much as I can so we don't have tons of food leftover. But still I find myself throwing food away so we don't have to feel we're eating the same thing all week.
Last week I declared Sunday planned leftover day. I take whatever (fresh) leftovers we have and put them in a 9 x 13" pan and cover with plastic wrap. I used to be picky about 'what went with what' and now I don't worry about that. I put everything in the glass dish, heat it up for 8-10 mins. on high in the micro. and we all have a sampling of this, a sampling of that. I try to package our leftovers so there isn't a whole lot of containers I need to wash later.
Today we had stuffed pork chops, red rosemary potatoes, veggie lasagna and pot stickers. I had a little leftover but just pitched it (not even a 1/2 serving). I am saving the cost of a whole, good meal, saving food and saving my time when it would be so easy to go out just to have a meal that I don't have to cook. Make it a paper plate night and you just saved yourself even more time.
Enjoy! Especially your time saved!
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Great Idea! I especially like the single pan idea. I usually have a bunch of containers and I always end up forgetting what is in each one. Then, we always end up tossing the food we saved!
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I've been doing this for awhile too! I read about it on another site... Organizedhome.com maybe? We call it "buffet night" so it sounds more exciting than leftover night! We do it on Wednesday night as it is a good break in the middle of the week. If it needs a little supplementing, I will bake potatoes or cook a pot of rice. My husband loves it!
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I like this idea. We don't generally have leftovers unless we've had company ( I tend to make extra for company). Usually I just plan enough for one serving for each of us so none of us overeat. But, the truth is I'd love a night off from cooking. Perhaps I should make double for just one meal a week and keep it for Sunday night.
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I do this too. But another thought instead of cooking less for leftovers, would be to maybe make MORE so you have a whole meal left you could freeze. Last night I stayed up to some ungodly hour reading all about that freezer cooking stuff where you cook a bunch at one time and then freeze it for future meals, and it really got me motivated to try it. I don't think I'll be doing the all day once a month cooking type, but another way they mentioned it was to just make a bunch of whatever you're making each time, until you eventually build up a good supply of choices. Anyway...just another thought.
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We do it a little different, but same concept. There are six of us, so I bought a pack of those ziplock plastic plates with the lids, and every night I cook I serve up an extra plate, lay plastic wrap on top, put the lid on and pop it in the freezer. When there are six in there, we have leftover night. The kids love it, my husband doesn't, but he likes it better than having to cook his own supper.
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I wish I could do this, but dh eats leftovers for lunch (and if there is enough breakfast). So, I guess we aren't wasting it and it saves us on his lunch, but I would love a night not to cook. I have also tried to start making enough for a differnt meal. Like I will make a huge pot of chili and we will ahve chili one night (dh will have it for a lunch the next day) and then two days alter we will have chili dogs. Or I will do spagetti and make a bunch of spagetti and use the extra spagetti and sauce to make a spagetti pie.
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Great Idea!
I wish I could do this; however, my dh doesn't eat leftovers...period! We end up tossing everything we don't eat...which is a lot and it kills me to see it go to waste. I try to take somethings to lunch the next day, but I still have a ton of extra food and I tend to not want it after such a short period of time. Maybe I could wait until the day after that to take the leftovers to work. It would save us ALOT of $ on lunch.