Throwing Away Food - Hard

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  • sconns21
    sconns21 Posts: 92 Member
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    Tell me about it. We're always looking for bargains in the reduced section. We ended up getting a chocolate brownie sundae for £0.20 the other day just because it was cheap then we had to eat it because it was fresh cream. It was nice though.
  • Rach911
    Rach911 Posts: 72 Member
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    I am in the exact same boat, especially since I live alone so noone else can eat when I cook something that is for 4+ people. I do one of two things. First, use the leftovers for meals the rest of the week. The downside to this is, you will be eating the same meal several days in a row, but I'd rather do that then throw food away. Second is freeze it! I know you can't freeze stove top, mac & cheese, etc. (which is where eating for other meals that week comes into play) but there is a lot that you can freeze such as soups, casseroles, meats even fresh pizza. I bought a fresh pizza from Dominoes one weekend for my cheat day and didn't eat the whole thing. I really didn't want to throw more than 1/2 the pizza away, so I wrapped it in foil and placed in a freezer safe bag for my next cheat day. Popped it in the oven a week later and it was just as yummy as it was fresh. Hope these ideas help!
  • ritajean3
    ritajean3 Posts: 306 Member
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    My son takes leftovers to school the next day and the dog eats what the kids dont finish.
  • zeeeb
    zeeeb Posts: 805 Member
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    yep. i have the same issue.

    and with my children, i never force them to eat their dinner NEVER!!! I remember sitting at the kitchen table crying because i didn't want to eat my tea, but being forced to sit there until it was all gone. my kids get, "right, if you've finished eating your tea, there's nothing til breakfast" so they know that if they don't finish their evening meal, they don't get snacks before breakfast. simple. it eliminates the idea of desert 95% of the time as well, because they virtually never eat all their vegies.

    but yeah, it's a learned skill to leave something on the plate and let it go to waste. I stuggle with it, and haven't found much success except serving smaller meals.
  • harley0269
    harley0269 Posts: 384 Member
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    i hear ya dude! it was drilled into my head as a kid, that throwing away food is a sin!!
    its sooo dang hard to toss it. i cant do it! im not wired that way. it makes me sick to see people be so wasteful.
    i save my leftovers, no matter how small & i will find a way to make something new out of it. or i will freeze it.
    or i will save all my leftovers for one night shmorsaborg. (?spelling) kinda like a buffet night, where you get to eat a bite of this & a bite of that.
    i did find cooking for one is easier if you just cook one piece of chicken or fish a night & steam just enough veggies for that night etc.. if i cook only what i will be eating for that meal, then i do better sticking to my diet & not over eat.
    if i do make something in a larger quantity like spaghetti or something, i will freeze the rest in individual servings, for next time, or i will give leftovers away to my neighbors.
  • PlanetVelma
    PlanetVelma Posts: 1,231 Member
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    When I was in HS there wasn't always a lot of food in the house, so I'm a bit OCD when it comes to there being plenty of food. I go into panic mode if I don't have enough food for at least 2 weeks, that's from too many times of NOT having much in our pantry/fridge.

    I intentionally make a lot of leftovers (i do a lot of cooking on the weekends) - if there's waaay too much, I freeze for lunches/fast dinners during the week/etc...
  • lil_pulp
    lil_pulp Posts: 701 Member
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    Wasting a few bucks for "unusable leftovers" is nothing compared to how much you'll spend in the future taking care of an overweight and unhealthy body. It's hard but it's for your health and your future, which are priceless.
  • BrewerGeorge
    BrewerGeorge Posts: 397 Member
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    Thanks for the answers, Folks.

    I suppose I should have mentioned that I have an 18yr old and a 10 yr old (girls) eating with my wife and me. It's really hard to predict how much they're going to want to eat at any given meal, given growth spurts, periods, moods, etc. I have to start with enough for 4 just in case they want to eat it that night - maybe 30% of the time they do.

    I've been doing what you're saying, but I'm getting a lot of leftovers in the fridge even when I'm trying hard to eat them for lunch.
  • dls06
    dls06 Posts: 6,774 Member
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    I say better in the trash then on my gutt.:drinker:
  • sunkisses
    sunkisses Posts: 2,365 Member
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    I only save leftovers when there is enough for one plate. One pork chop plus one serving of stove top equals tomorrow's lunch.

    This.
  • ljbhill
    ljbhill Posts: 276 Member
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    If you have,lots of left overs building up. skip making a whole new dinner for the family on the following night. Just have a left over dinner night or at least try and incoporate the left overs into the next dinner meal. Failing that, freeze it or have it for lunch. I never bin anything.

    We make excuses for over eating all the time. That's why we have all ended up on here. The bottom line is, it's hard work losing weight and resisting temptation. Why add to this by eating something we don't even want to! No more excuses!! Especially about eating food we don't want!

    Just about re-setting the mindet :wink:
  • ♥Amy♥
    ♥Amy♥ Posts: 714 Member
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    As a very frugal person, we don't throw out any food in our house (except what my 2 year old doesn't eat off of his plate). But all leftovers get saved. They are either used in my 7 year old's lunch for school (spaghetti, pasta, casseroles, etc.), my DH's lunch for work, sometimes my lunch the next day or if there are small amounts (like what you suggested), then we have a night of just random leftovers. There might be some odd combos of food, but at least it gets eaten and used up instead of wasted. Plus, the bonus side is that I don't have to cook that night besides heating up each person's plate of food items they select :)
  • radicalreader
    radicalreader Posts: 207 Member
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    When my three kids were young, I often had little bits of leftovers from every meal.
    Too much food for me to eat through as lunches, but not enough to make an entire meal for the family.

    I packaged up the leftovers and set them aside. One night a week was our special "Smorgasbord Night". I would arrange all the leftovers on the counter and let people make a plate of their favorites. Then we would have a fun family activity like a special movie or a board game. When the kids got a little older they would make a chalkboard 'menu' listing our options.

    My kids are teens now. Just recently one of them finally figured out that our fun family Smorgasbord Night was just me getting rid of leftovers.
  • rockstarginaa
    rockstarginaa Posts: 1,529 Member
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    I refuse to waste food by throwing it away. I usually will save leftovers for the next day or offer to whoever is around.
  • glypta
    glypta Posts: 440 Member
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    When my three kids were young, I often had little bits of leftovers from every meal.
    Too much food for me to eat through as lunches, but not enough to make an entire meal for the family.

    I packaged up the leftovers and set them aside. One night a week was our special "Smorgasbord Night". I would arrange all the leftovers on the counter and let people make a plate of their favorites. Then we would have a fun family activity like a special movie or a board game. When the kids got a little older they would make a chalkboard 'menu' listing our options.

    My kids are teens now. Just recently one of them finally figured out that our fun family Smorgasbord Night was just me getting rid of leftovers.

    That sounds really nice, from a family and common-sense point of view!
  • Sweet_Pandora
    Sweet_Pandora Posts: 459 Member
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    In our house we sit down as a family before heading out grocery shopping and plan our dinners for the week and post the meal plan on the fridge.

    We usually cook enough to make two meals. If we have spaghetti sauce and squash on Sunday night we will have spaghetti again later in the week. If there is more we sometimes freeze it.

    I find that with the meals planned ahead of time we don't scramble at the last minute for dinner ideas and we don't buy more food than we plan on eating.

    K
  • paul121703lilly
    paul121703lilly Posts: 33
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    Saving it for later is best.

    BUT
    Just remember, it makes no difference if you eat it or throw it away. The food is made so whether you poop it out or you throw it out - the only difference is your waist line. I was raised this way too, though my parents never made too much food, just enough and in our household as a child, it was "take what you can eat" instead. I was skinny till I left home.

    totally hear you on that one, I was skinny till I moved out too...

    I have the opposite of the initial problem in this post, I generally throw out food even if it is enough for leftovers bc I know it goes to waste in my house.. my husband is not a fan of eating the same things twice in a row so even if we did put food away it usually goes to waste...

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