Those with kids, how to keep from eating their leftovers?

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13

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  • wickedwendy6
    wickedwendy6 Posts: 117 Member
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    WASTE IT, DON'T WAIST IT!!!
  • MzBug
    MzBug Posts: 2,173 Member
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    I don't have kids, but I do have a guy that eats like a picky child. Sometimes he eats a lot, some times he just eats a few bites. He never eats vegies (except potatoes and corn) and his fruit consists of grape jelly and orange flavored vitamin water or orange gatorade. When I was growing up we just didn't waste anything, it is still hard for me to throw anything out. If there are leftovers he MIGHT take some to work the next day for lunch. If it is in the fridge for more than 24 hours he won't touch it. So.... I fix a leftover lunch and put it in the freezer. Sometimes he gets hungry after I have gone to bed and he can either fix a PBJ or have one of the lunches in the freezer. Every couple weeks I clean out the freezer.

    It never fails, the day after I clean out the freezer he asks where they went...
  • nimu_nimu
    nimu_nimu Posts: 14
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    you can either eat it and it can go into the toilet (eventually) and your hips or you can just put it in the trash. It is just as wasteful to eat something you don't need than it is to throw it away. It's not like you can really give it to a starving child, believe I wish we could. Toss it and let it go, it really is okay (and learn to make less - that's what I had to do, it's taken four years to learn how to make less for less waste)

    ^THIS THIS THIS. The mentality that throwing out leftovers is "wasteful" while eating more calories than you need is not IS SO COMMON yet so untrue. Unless you can somehow get the leftovers to someone who really needs it, the fact of the matter is- it's going to waste. Unfortunate, but true. When I'm cooking for little ones and end up with leftovers I throw them out right away (or save them for the kids for later if it makes sense). But eating those extra calories isn't doing anybody any good. Good luck!!!
  • c_faulkenburg
    c_faulkenburg Posts: 158 Member
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    I never assumed that the food was junk. I was simply saying that if she felt guilty about eating what they didn't want, then to make sure it was not junky food. If my kid wants an apple, I don't feel bad if I finish it, because its an apple. Or if we are serving baked salmon and he does not eat it, then I will finish it. I have served boxed macaroni and cheese and done the same thing.. And it's junk food that really none of us should be eating. Which is why I prefaced my comment to say that I hoped it did not come across as rude. :)
  • AnikaP81
    AnikaP81 Posts: 59 Member
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    Our kids (10 months and 2 years old) pretty much eat whenever we eat and a lot of times, they eat what we eat. Except when it is stuff, that the 10-months old cannot chew (he only has 6 teeth lol). Is it hard to throw food away? Yes! Am I gonna force them to eat after they are full? Nope. I know it's not always a matter of being full, sometimes they just don't want to eat and that is okay. We do not always eat the same amounts of everything either... Don't feel bad, if you finish their food, you are wasting it too, since you didn't really want it to begin with...
  • Princess4Run
    Princess4Run Posts: 135 Member
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    I stall with making my own plate until kids are finished eating. Whatever they didn't finish I combine together, add some more if needed and eat up. This works for most part. Other times I just trash it and you should too :)
  • JUDDDing
    JUDDDing Posts: 1,367 Member
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    In 14 years of being a dad - the thought of eating any of my kid's leftovers has never crossed my mind.

    Your kids must be very well mannered.

    When we eat at home, by the time they decide they are finished - everything is cold, mixed together, coated in ketchup or something, potentially been (on a trial basis) chewed a time or two, etc...

    By this point - it's all clearly trash and everyone scrapes their plates into the trash once they are done.
  • Garlicmash
    Garlicmash Posts: 208
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    I have the same problem with my 2 year old she eats tiny amounts and I've learnt to only give her a small amount, she also won't eat the left overs if there is any in the following meal but she did eat them some times the following day for her dinner if it had been her lunch the day before.
    she didn't do it many times and most of her left overs end in the bin more now but this was the only method i found that worked next to giving her just tiny amount..
  • LennyInFlorida
    LennyInFlorida Posts: 202
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    Kids only eat the stuff we eat, if not, they don't eat!

    I am stopped from eating as I measure all of my food before a meal. Their food i unmeasured so it would take a calculation to figure theirs out which stops me as it probably wouldn't fit into the day anyway.
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
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    You can compost any fruit/vegetable/grain products. This way, it's not going to waste, it's not filling up landfills, and it's free fertilizer for your yard and garden. You don't need fancy equipment, just an out of the way area in your yard where you can start a pile.

    Obviously this advice is useless if you're in an apartment.
  • Corjogo
    Corjogo Posts: 201 Member
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    try more "eye" appeal, finger foods for the kids. Make it special for them. Let them help prepare the meal. Make it fun and they will eat more...thus less to feed the dog or use it for compost and plant something like lettuce or tomato so it is re-cycled so to speak.
  • BeckiCharlotte13x
    BeckiCharlotte13x Posts: 259 Member
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    I hope this doesn't sound super rude, because that is not my intent, but don't feed your kids junk. My husband and I at least did right by our children and only allow them to have cereal, cereal bars, cheese, yogurt, etc. We saved the super crappy junk food until after bedtime.. My three year old will clean his bowl every single time I give him a salad. Also, portion sizes are key with little ones, try to start small and increase if they eat all of it. At least then you aren't wasting much.

    Sorry, where did you get the impression she was feeding her kids junk?
  • karenjoy
    karenjoy Posts: 1,841 Member
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    I never had this problem as I hate eating other peoples food...ewww

    even my own childrens food, it had probably been mauled and messed with......ewwww
  • LJCannon
    LJCannon Posts: 3,636 Member
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    Don't mean to be rude (English is not my first language), sorry if I unintentionally am. There's a saying in Portuguese that goes "if you eat something that would have otherwise been thrown in the trashcan, who becomes the trashcan?"

    Since I read that, I never ate leftovers again. :p

    Not Rude at all, in My Opinion!! I will be Adopting this!!!!:drinker:
  • SLRamirez2012
    SLRamirez2012 Posts: 297
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    I hope this doesn't sound super rude, because that is not my intent, but don't feed your kids junk. My husband and I at least did right by our children and only allow them to have cereal, cereal bars, cheese, yogurt, etc. We saved the super crappy junk food until after bedtime.. My three year old will clean his bowl every single time I give him a salad. Also, portion sizes are key with little ones, try to start small and increase if they eat all of it. At least then you aren't wasting much.

    ^ this! It doesn't sound rude, it is just the truth. If you give them healthy food and smaller portions (neither of those ages eat alot except in their growth spurts) then you will have no issues. I also have a 3 and 1 year old. And I have no issues with their food. If there is leftovers that they didn't want, then I just throw it away or give it to the dog. If you really REALLY hate it, you can always start a compost bin.. IDK but the little bit of food that they have leftover should not be that big of a deal.
  • megsmom2
    megsmom2 Posts: 2,362 Member
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    If the waste really bothers you...depending on what the food is, of course, you can save bits of this and that in the freezers until you have enough to make soup. Small amounts of veggies or meats or pastas can all go in a container together and then added to broth later.
  • BellaKaren89
    BellaKaren89 Posts: 21
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    Well since I started eating healthier I have made my toddler eat healthy too. I don't let her have junk food. If she wants a snack I let her have cheese, apples, yogurt, etc. Since that's pretty healthy if she doesn't finish it then it's healthy enough for me to eat it. Since I already know my kid doesn't always finish her food I try not to serve myself a lot of food so I can eat hers (if she doesn't finish it).
  • BellaKaren89
    BellaKaren89 Posts: 21
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    Also what I do is give my child smaller portions. If she is still hungry then I can always serve her more and I won't have to throw it away or eat it.
  • fionadasein
    fionadasein Posts: 165 Member
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    I'll probably get mobbed for this, but I think western culture panders more to children than a lot of other cultures and this is a classic result. If you provide healthy, well-rounded, nutritional, tasty food to your child daily (which it sounds like you do!), and s/he has no healthful reason to reject it (e.g. allergic, sick), then either the kid eats it, or goes hungry. Tough love is the hardest thing to do because we always want to make our kids happy in the moment, every moment! But this way, kids learn really quickly that they eat good food or go hungry -- and it's their choice. Faced with that choice, a hungry kid will eat, even if it does have 'chunks' or is too this or too that. Try it? It takes resolve over several days and consistency going forward after that, but it works!
  • hoosierlad
    hoosierlad Posts: 69 Member
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    I was the "garbage can" for leftover food for many years....it doesn't bode well for weight control, as I'm sure you know. For me, part of the answer was to just say "no thanks". You simply can't eat more without the pitfalls. Since you have the responsibility for making the food, it is even more a challenge for you. Some of my thoughts, over the years, are:

    1. Make a little less overall for the meal but have some type of nutritional fruit / desert if someone not fully satisfied. Possibly even have some type of sandwhich meat available as backup. Even if not the best thing for family to eat (desert), shares the load :-).
    2. Try to make foods that do keep for a few days, and then eat them as leftovers...make a lot of things you, the cook, also like to eat.
    3. Simply say "no" , but at same time, don't ask others to eat it.

    As I said, I was "garbage can" for years...it didn't help, and probably increased my overall "need" to eat more.

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