Food Leftovers

aziz_n1

I guess we have all had to deal with this problem at some time. After recent celebratory feast meals, as ever there is so much food been leftover. Trouble with this is that it’s there, so much of it and so tempting, hard to resist. Not good if one is trying to maintain control on diet and fitness.
Try to pass leftovers on with guests but we still have loads. Hate throwing stuff away, so it stays and the battle continues. More to come over this weekend too!!
Be interesting to learn how others deal with this challenge?

lynn_glenmont

Freeze most of it, so it doesn't go bad. Take stuff that travels well (typically baked goods) into work to share. If you have friends or neighbors who would appreciate any of it, share. Call a local soup kitchen or food pantry to see if they can use any of it.

Lolinloggen

Divide into portions and freeze Use as part of meal prepping/planning

Hannahwalksfar

Yep freeze it and eat the rest of it as part of your cals per day.

BarbaraHelen2013

I’d agree with freezing what you can of it, although I appreciate that some things simply cannot be frozen once they’re actually assembled into meals or buffet style platters. Depends entirely on what you have left over.

Work what you can into your meal planning and whilst I hate to throw food out too, it’s inevitable sometimes. It’s no more wasted if you eat it when you don’t need it than it is in the bin! Already cooked and plated food is no good to anyone else, in terms of a food bank. Shelf life is just impossible for pre-prepared foods! Even food banks don’t want to give people food poisoning!

Wendyanneroberts

I to didn't/don't like to waste food. Pre planning to stop that in every day life. But at certain occasions there's too much food, some being left over.

But eventually I realised that if I (over) ate it, then I was just causing harm to myself, (self sabatage) if you like. That the effects of weight gain on my health was far worse than occasionally throwing excess food away.

neugebauer52

I am learning slowly about portion control which starts when I buy food, when I cook food and when I serve food. Nowadays there seems to be less "left overs".

SnifterPug

BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »

It’s no more wasted if you eat it when you don’t need it than it is in the bin!

This.

LyndaBSS

Bring it to a homeless shelter. Call first to see if they'll accept it.

Give it to a church to deliver to some parishoners. Also call first.

Freeze it.

kshama2001

We have a big family get together every year on the 4th of July. My mom is fairly aggressive about sending leftovers home, and has containers on hand for this. She's actually pretty good at this, and doesn't need to freeze anything, but that could be an option for you.

I'm pretty good at managing ordinary leftovers, but if all else fails, I do have a composter. It rotates, and is supposed to produce usable compost in 4-6 weeks. I wasn't aware it was that quick, and gave it longer than that. Sure enough, everything was broken down but eggshells and a few sweet potato chunks. I put it in my kale bed.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B077972KCR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1&pldnSite=1

MikePTY

I honestly think that once more food is cooked than is needed, that is the act of "wasting it". Whether it goes in the garbage, or in your body when you don't need it, it's still waste. So I think the best option would be to try to cook less food ahead of time so that there are not so many leftovers. But if there are leftovers that you don't really want and will be detrimental to your progress if you continue to eat them, then I think the garbage is a fine choice for where to put it. It's "wasted" either way.

whmscll

I’d rather it go in the garbage than into my body as weight gain. And I hate wasting food. If you can’t freeze it to eat later as others have said, and you can’t give it away, it might be best to toss it and move on.

callsitlikeiseeit

we dont eat leftovers, or at least not many of them. they get thrown out. despite what my grandmother used to tell me (or at least infer), me saving leftovers (or eating everything on your plate) has no effect on starving children anywhere else in the world....

vanityy99

My neighbour usually gives us her left overs.

It’s not just any leftovers, it’s all these exotic foods and sweets from the Middle East. She puts it fancy on a plate and even decorates the plate with greenery so it doesn’t look so left- overy.

Sharing is caring.

LyndaBSS

I personally love leftovers.

apullum

I have no problem with leftovers if they fit into my calorie goals. I also don't cook large quantities of things that don't fit into my calorie goals. That way I don't have to deal with the big bowl of pasta salad or whatever that no one ate.

This means that when I'm hosting folks, I make a main dish with enough to go around but not enough for lots of leftovers. I also provide lower calorie sides, and lots of appetizers/snacks as well. Those are generally larger quantities of things that keep well if people don't eat them.

Last time I had people over, we had:
- a big salad with low calorie balsamic dressing. There were leftovers that I happily ate the next day.
- cacio e pepe. There were maybe two bites left, which my husband finished off.
- this cake: https://smittenkitchen.com/2010/05/pecan-cornmeal-butter-cake/. Someone took the last couple slices home. I still haven't gotten that plate back.
- a cheese plate. Yes, I realized later that I made cheesy pasta with a cheese plate. No one minded. The cheese plate had candied nuts, dried cranberries, raisins, three different cheeses, and two different crackers. It was gone by the next day.
- chocolates, of which I ate way too many. We (mostly I) finished those off.

Everyone ate their fill and went home happy, with very little left over.

I think it's largely a matter of being realistic about how much food is needed for the number of people you want to feed. You can put out a nice spread without making massive amounts of everything. Having several smaller dishes instead of a few huge dishes can help it still feel like a "feast."

lynn_glenmont

While I enjoy cooking, leftovers are nice to have around when time or energy is short. Don't eat them in addition to other food -- eat them instead of other food. That works with your calorie budget, your financial budget, and not just throwing perfectly good food away. That doesn't just waste the food -- it wastes the energy, water, and other resources used to produce it.

http://www.fao.org/save-food/resources/keyfindings/en/