Does anyone have this problem?

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veronicacannon
veronicacannon Posts: 107 Member
in Food and Nutrition
When I make a meal for lunch or dinner, I almost always have leftovers, since its only me and my boyfriend. This makes going back for seconds so much harder! I find that most recipes serve about 4 people, not 2. I also hate to waste the food too. Does anyone have this problem? Or any solution to it? Thanks guys! :)

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  • MakeLifeBright
    MakeLifeBright Posts: 176
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    When I make a meal for lunch or dinner, I almost always have leftovers, since its only me and my boyfriend. This makes going back for seconds so much harder! I find that most recipes serve about 4 people, not 2. I also hate to waste the food too. Does anyone have this problem? Or any solution to it? Thanks guys! :)

    My advice and dont laugh. When you are done eating brush your teeth right away.
    Then return to the kitchen, and put the left overs into the fridge .
    You do not have to waste the food. It can be eaten the next day for lunch.
    If you brush your teeth right after eating.... you will not want to eat that soon again.
    Maybe that is a crazy answer?? LoL But it works for me :huh: :noway: :laugh:
  • Jaiime
    Jaiime Posts: 2
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    Hi,

    I certainly do. All I do is freeze the leftovers to enjoy another time. I hope this helps :smile:
  • Rynatat
    Rynatat Posts: 807 Member
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    There's always left overs in our house. I don't eat out very much at all (due to Celiac's disease * gluten allergy) so I always take my AM/PM snax & lunch to work. My favs are having enough leftover for 2 lunches (I really don't mind eating the same thing all the time, I deal with the cards I was dealt :happy: ). I also have a food scale, so I weigh out my portions & try to log my meals before I eat. That way if I cheat, I'm only cheating myself. I weight out my b-fast & lunch as well, and usually log that when I get to work in the AM as I'm booting all my programs up for the day, clearing e-mail & vm, etc.
    I found weighing what I eat before I eat it has been key. If you know you won't eat it all for lunch, like Buca said, freeze it and that way when you don't feel like cooking/cleaning one nite, you've got a healthy nutritious meal ready to go.

    You can also cut recipes in half if you don't want leftovers at all.
  • hroush
    hroush Posts: 2,073 Member
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    I currently make meals that serve 6. I have some bowls from walmart that hold about 2 cups (1 serving), so I have my one bowl of food and that is it. The rest is then allowed to cool and go in the fridge.

    Something to help curb your appetite is have a small snack (a couple bites only: a carrot stick, test to see if something is done, etc.) while you are making dinner. Yes, I just told you to spoil your dinner. This will make the hunger pains go away. Now I even get a slightly full feeling from it. I then eat supper and I have no desire to have seconds.
  • mamagooskie
    mamagooskie Posts: 2,964 Member
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    I save it for lunch the next day or freeze for a later date in general. I love leftovers since it's one less meal I have to make in the future!
  • sandara
    sandara Posts: 830 Member
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    I usually just pack up the extras before I eat, either for lunch or dinner the next day or put it in the freezer for easy fixing later. By packing it up before you eat your not as tempted to have seconds.
  • RachSuzanne
    RachSuzanne Posts: 74 Member
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    I almost always eat left overs for lunch the next day. Also, to help resist going back, I use MFP food calculator almost immediately. This reinforces the number of calories I just put in my body. Then LOTS of water. Brushing your teeth is good if you simply can't resist, but that would ruin my evening herbal tea.
  • MsElphaba
    MsElphaba Posts: 432 Member
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    I was going to say have it for lunch, but since you have that advice already I will just suggest halving your recipe. Four servings to 2 is no problem.

    L
  • CudyBug
    CudyBug Posts: 742 Member
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    I eat ours for lunch too. I have the same problem. I always wanna pick at the leftovers. Ive found that if I pack them up right after making out the plates for everyone, then I cant pick at the leftovers since they are already in the fridge
  • KimbersNewLife
    KimbersNewLife Posts: 645 Member
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    My husband and I have the same problem I fix our plates and package and freeze everthing else I also prepare lots of low cal sides like vegis
  • kgowans
    kgowans Posts: 5
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    When I cook I am usually the only one eating it, so there are always leftovers. What I do is before I even start to eat is I portion them. I use a couple smaller tuperware contatiners so that later when it's meal time again I just have to take out one of the containers and heat it up. Also, having leftovers is a great way to avoid eating fast food and really any bad food becasue you already have access to a quick to make healthy meal.Leftovers: Saves money, time and calories! ;D
  • Becka77
    Becka77 Posts: 284 Member
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    I'm cooking for one and always have this problem. I usually cut recipes in at least half to cut down on the leftovers, but if there are any, then I fix my plate and then immediately put the rest in storage containers and put them in the fridge so I don't go back for seconds.
  • veronicacannon
    veronicacannon Posts: 107 Member
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    thanks guys. and i guess freezing is a pretty popular idea, i guess it keeps it fresh longer than just in the fridge. i'll have to try it.
  • melodyg
    melodyg Posts: 1,423 Member
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    We usually make recipes for 4 (at least) and have 2 1/2 eating (one is 4, he doesn't eat the 1/2 usually!). A few ways I use up leftovers:

    1) Save for lunch the next day (I don't buy a lot of "lunch" items except for salad fixings specifically so I'll save leftovers unless I want salad every day!)
    2) Usually have a day a week which is Leftover Buffet... get what you can from what is left over!
    3) Make it into something else -- for example, whenever I make pork roast I make into bbq later in the week, or use meat in soups a lot in the winter

    I also make plates up in the kitchen and then bring to the table so we don't have food staring us in the face while we are eating.
  • fredivk
    fredivk Posts: 18 Member
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    Great advice.
  • kayemme
    kayemme Posts: 1,782 Member
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    i like to make things that i can make other things with the leftovers.

    like beans & rice > the next day it can be a burrito, or a soup, or a taco or a salad.

    so i'm constantly cycling through the refrigerator, not wasting anything but not totally overdoing it, either.

    edit: i hate buying storage containers, so when i buy in bulk, i always ask for those lidded containers from the deli area and i put my bulk in those, then i save those and use them for the leftover ingredients. they're clear and if there's a significant amount, i write the date on them with a dry erase marker. yes, my fridge is a total freakshow, but it's nice and sparse and i never waste a thing!
  • oxFaithxo
    oxFaithxo Posts: 160 Member
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    Yeah i have the same problem, because it is me and my boyfriend and our 1.5 year old. The problem is i never know if he is going to want seconds or the baby for that matter, so i cant pack them up right away so when i am cleaning up after dinner i catch myself picking :(

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