How to make sure you use leftovers

[McGucks]

Hi--I am kind of a lurker on F&F and have really enjoyed things I've learned here.  My two cents on making sure we get as much as possible out of the foods we bring into the house is this:  almost every leftover we put in the fridge gets a masking tape & Sharpie label.  I am MUCH more likely to eat what is in a container if I don't have to open it for inspection.  Since we usually eat a lot of the same things, I put the labels on the cabinet and wind up re-using even though (much to the embarrassment of my fifteen year old son when he has friends over).  I am also lucky that DH will pretty much eat anything, short of diaper contents...

Hope this tip helps someone else! 

[texmati]

I use a china marker to label things in the fridge. It's pretty 'permanent' in the fridge, but comes of easily with hot water. It's fabulous for labeling breastmilk bottles etc.

My big tip for using leftovers is to just not cook. You'll eat whatever's in the fridge if you are hungry.

[OkiMom]

If you label them make sure you put the date on it as well.. I should start that. It would be easier than the sniff and "is this still good" test I do on leftovers I find in the back of the fridge.

One of the things that my mom did was make "meatloaf" when we had a ton of leftovers..  Any leftover that would go good in meatloaf got thrown in. We had some interesting meatloaves. Its nice when you have just a little of something that really isn't enough to even make one serving but you don't want to throw it away. I had some cooked up ground beef and BBQ sauce and some diced carrots I threw in a meatloaf yesterday. Also, leftover nights is a good thing. Once every week (if you have enough leftovers) have everyone just pick a leftover in the fridge for their dinner.

My husband also loves leftovers for his lunches. I just put it in a container, put the container, a couple of cookies and some silverware in a lunch box and put it in the fridge. Win Win situation, food gets eaten and hes not tempted to go buy something. Hes co-workers get a little jealous though, Ive had many requests for dinner invites over the last few years

Another thing you could do if the meal wasn't particularly liked by your family is see if someone else might like it. My MIL is always making to much and offering me some of their leftovers. We had eggplant Parmesan the other day that was soooo good but FIL and her didn't like it. Again win win, they didn't waste the food or force themselves to eat something they didn't like and I got a meal that my girls cleaned their plates and asked for more.I do this alot with bread Ive made. I make french bread a lot and if I don't want to freeze it (the recipe I use makes 3 loaves, we use 1/2 loaf each meal when we eat it) I will give it to people I know will use it.

I really don't like waste, especially in the form of wasting food. If I can't use it I can always find someone who can/will.

[MidwifeErika]

I have started using our dry erase board to remind us about which foods need to be eaten next. It is great with the kids home from school right now because when they start the "I'm hungry, what can I eat?" I just point out the board to them that will list leftovers that are in the fridge as well as any food that is getting extremely close to expiration.

We tend to eat leftovers for lunches (my son is actually eating a chicken leg right now for breakfast) and usually at least 1 night of the week will be a leftover night as well. I also love repurposing leftovers. Pizza is one of my favorite things to make because if we have leftover chicken then I make BBQ chicken pizza. Leftover hamburger gives us a burger pizza, etc.

[sewaneecook]

Labeling and using clear glass containers for storage.  You don't even have to spend much on new glass containers.  We've started using washed out glass spaghetti/applesauce/salsa/peanut butter or whatever glass jars we have lying around!  I put a piece of tape on the top and label it with contents and date.  If I can see what's in the fridge I'm much more apt to use it.  Keep them toward the front of the fridge or they tend to get lost at the back and never used. 

Tonight's dinner is all leftovers thrown in a casserole dish with some cheese added on top (veggies, meat, rice, remaining spaghetti sauce in a jar ... with cheese). 

We also use leftovers for lunches and there's usually a dinner during the week that I simply reheat leftovers.  I try to get creative with leftovers, it makes for some interesting meals sometimes, but overall they are good.  If I can't use a leftover and it can be frozen and labeled (using repurposed glass jars!), I stick it in the freezer for an easy meal later on (this works great with a lot of recipes). 

[insidevoice]

I try to plan so that leftovers have to be used for lunches or another dinner- we do leftover night regularly (leftover meatballs are going to be a meatball sub for me in a bit, the kids like them plain.. I made them for dinner yesterday but had enough for a second meal so I just opted not to make anything else for tonight.  That has been a HUGE key for me.  If there is enough for a second meal, we have it the next day or the day after that.  

If there is a LOT leftover, I repackage it as a freezer meal (spaghetti is one I find myself doing this with regularly.)

I've had to learn that I don't need to cook every night, I felt guilty about that initially, but it's  so much better use of the food these days that I don't give it a second thought.