I feel bad wasting food

I am trying to learn to cook less, as well as feeding my youngest two children left overs for lunch the next day to use up the food I normally would waste!

The food is already wasted. Whether you put it in your mouth or not. If you can't put leftovers away, put them in a container and give it away, to a homeless persons, a shelter or just a needy person you know. I would rather throw leftovers away then have to wear it. I've even started making a little less food, so I have less leftovers. If my family is still hungry after dinner, they can eat fruit for dessert! I hope that helps a bit.

I agree with gennybunny - I would rather throw it out than wear it. Another option would be to save it as a leftover, but not eat it. Wait for it to get moldy, then throw it out - I promise you won't feel bad throwing it away then!

Ziploc plastic containers.

Sometimes (like right now) I have an entire refrigerator full of them.

If you are measuring out your portions, the "end point" should be obvious--everything else gets put away. Actually, it can be helpful to pack away the leftovers before you even start to eat. You can also try measuring out your portions befor preparing the meal so that there are no leftovers.

It may require that you plan your meals better so that you incorporate the "leftover strategy" into your food prep. Today's roast beef is tomorrow's stir fry. Not only does it prevent wasted food--it can be a great way of "slimming" your food budget as well.

Whatever you do, don't feed leftovers to the dog. That's not really healthy for your buddy.

Making a food plan each week helps me out a lot with this--I only buy and make enough food for x-number of planned portions for each dinner so that there are no "leftovers"... only extra full portions to take to work for lunch the next day I dish out the extra portions into containers and fridge them at the same time I'm serving dinner.

Ditto on what many have said already about all food being waste. I took a nutrition class once taught by a prominent bio-researcher/nutritionist and he discussed the "wasting food" issue and that for many of us, it is a psychological throw-back to an old school of thought that was systemic of the pre-1960's that basically encouraged strict parental control of children while at the table. Unfortunately, it's carried through generations and still exists today. You've heard it before, I think Pink Floyd said it very well, "You can't have any pudding if you don't eat your meat!" line. Basically, it conditions (and damages) us mentally to the point where we're compelled to eat or save the food compulsively.

Many have mentioned saving things in the freezer/fridge. Many people I know do this, and the food sits there for days or even weeks in the fridge or months in the freezer and never, ever gets touched. You'll only be wasting space and stressing yourself out if you start saving things for the sake of saving them. Do it only if you know you'll definitely eat the food or you have a lot of excessive room in your fridge/freezer. Otherwise it's an unneeded nuisance for you and others.

Remember that eating habits should be fluid and based upon your goals. If your goal is to reduce your BMI, you have to think in THOSE terms and those terms only, not about wasting. The second the food was produced, it was already going to meet a demise somewhere, as those before me have said. However, by eating the food for the sake of "saving" it, you're only defeating your own goals. The food isn't sentient, it isn't relying on you to eat it, it doesn't have interests of its own, and quite frankly, anybody else who can use that food wasn't going to get it anyway, unless you gave it to them. So either save it, give it to somebody else or throw it out.

I always remember people telling me not to waste my food because there are children in Africa starving. I could buy a bag of chips and eat only half of it or all of it. Either way, I don't think that bag of chips was going anywhere near Africa. But, you're all welcome to ship my leftovers across the Atlantic anytime.

Food goes to waste. Don't worry about it. I do, however, like the idea of taking big leftovers to local homeless shelters. That's a great idea if you have one nearby.

I save leftovers, if it is enough for one person..at our house It helps me get out of cooking 1-2 nights a week.. we have leftover night and each person gets to pick out of the treasure of left overs. I try to cook things thru the week that have a stronger appeal to one person or another to make it an easy choice on left over night. I agree with others..you can waste food or you can waist food...your choice.

Hey!

By the way I love this post I was like that all the time my kids would not eat so I would it well that got me to almost 300 pounds but not anymore I really like what you guys were saying waste is waste better in the garbage then more junk in our trucks or love handles. Tk's so much for the post guys it is great!

Some of hte responses kind of surprise me.
I don't like to waste food. I am not just going to toss something out because I am full. Most leftovers keep & re-heat very well. Since adjusting our portion control we have left overs a lot more than we used to. Often times its only a little bit left, but it all goes in the fridge before it goes in the trash. Leftovers are used for lunch or as part of dinner within a couple days. It doesn't go to waste or waist.

Another tip: Stir frying is a great "refrigerator cleaner". Make up a big batch of brown rice and store it in the freezer or fridge. Grab all the bits and pieces left over at the end of the week--peppers, celery, zucchini, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, onions--thaw out a chicken breast or some shrimp, throw in an egg or two and a few cashews--you can't beat it. Spice it up with pepper, garlic, ginger (and a few pepper flakes if you like it spicy hot). It's a great way to stretch your meat budget as well.

Another tip: when you are cooking your original meals, try to keep ingredients separated. Rather than making a casserole or stir-fry to start with, cook the noodles or rice separately for that first meal. When it comes time to manage any food left over, it is much easier to incorporate it into other meals if you are not dealing with a bits and pieces of other completed meals.

I used to have the problem of throwing food away or feeling guilted into gluttony. Then I found that my monthly budget was WAY too tight for either one of those options. Cooking as I mentioned above allowed me to not waste food but to also use it as efficiently as possible.

double post.