Throwing food away

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TanyaK

Senior Cook
Joined
Nov 26, 2007
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319
Location
Cape Town,South Africa
A lot of people I know throw perfectly good food out the next day because they don't like "old" or "warmed up" food. To me there's nothing better than a curry or a stew the day after you made it. We never throw food away(except every now again when I forget about something in the fridge and it goes off and then I'm quite annoyed with myself) - if we don't eat it the next day I'll freeze it. So do you throw leftovers away or know lots of people who do ? Just interested as I was so surprised over the weekend when the topic came up about how many people do.
 
I agree, there are a lot of foods that are better the next day. I know people who say the same thing, Tanya, and I've never been able to understand it. The idea of wasting that much food ... I gotta go eat my leftover spaghetti now ;)
 
We DO NOT throw away leftovers at out house, except for the occasional 'science experiment'. In fact we love them! Most times we will eat 'as is' the next day, or freeze them for a future meal. Sometimes I'll alter them into another recipe and on occasion will freeze for soups or casseroles.

My BIL, on the other hand, hates leftovers and will plan his meals down to the ounce, which makes it kind of tough for second servings if you are unfortunate enough to be eating there. He was bragging to me one day that he gets 8 hamburger patties out of a pound of meat :hammer:
 
I`m so against throwing good food away that I`ll modify my eating of a meal if I start to get close to Full Up, and leave what I KNOW can be used in something else later, in fact before I`ve finished eating I will know a recipe of what I`m going to use what and for and when. and then eat accordingly :)

as for stews, we Never eat them on the same day anyway, they are Always Far Superior on the next day, so I plan a stew a good 24+ hours ahead of time.
 
There are some dishes I think are really good as leftovers, sometimes even better. We don't throw away good food but when we make too much of something, we like to share with the in-laws.
 
He was bragging to me one day that he gets 8 hamburger patties out of a pound of meat













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Only time something gets thrown out is food covered in green fuzzies. Sometimes I forget I saved something and it gets pushed to back of the fridge , forgotten. Hubby hates throwing anything out even it is only about a tablespoon of something! ugh!!
 
If it was up to my wife she'd throw everything away after the second day. Me i can eat the same thing for a week, maybe more.
 
My inlaws only cook enough to consume in one day. They dislike leftovers. I cannot get used to their style. I hate going to their house and not having enough food to eat just because they don't like leftovers.

They prepare limited food even at parties and drive me crazy. They freak out when they come to my house or when they see me cook both the amount I cook and the liberal use of ingredients ;)

I guess to each their own. In my house I cook enough to last me for two days especially things that are elaborate (like the Indian Biryani which takes so much time) or even more so I can freeze some like kebabs. They reheat beautifully and my husband is thrilled when he gets a surprise once in a while of his favorite food that comes out of the freezer.
 
I hate throwing food away! I always cook more food than I need because I eat it for a few days after. I hate it when I buy produce that we don't eat and it goes bad. Same thing with fruit, my organic delivery is by weight and I end up with more fruit than I can eat! I'm trying to be smarter about what I order and to plan out our menu well in advance.
 
Setting aside the dishes that you intentionally cook in large batches for several meals, I tend to cook a meal's worth of food so there will be no leftovers. In the cases where that is not practical, I plan for the leftovers and assign them to a dinner in the same week or for lunches.

There are occasions when we do end up tossing leftovers but I feel I have failed in a small way if that happens.

The exception to these situations is when I have cooked something that really stinks. Then I toss any leftovers.
 
We try not to throw away food. We will freeze leftovers or put them in a foodsaver container in the fridge and eat them throughout the week. We do end up throwing some out from time to time though.

Some things are better as leftovers (soups, stews, chili), but other things generally do not fare as well. Fish is one thing that comes to mind. Sure if can be reheated so that it does not overcook or dry out, but a lot of times that does not happen as planned.
 
we eat leftovers every week. I cook in large quantities and plan on leftovers. Yesterday I made about one gallon of chili and dh polished off more of it than usual. So I am thawing a quart of sweet corn to add to the chili tonight to extend it. I put all leftovers on the top shelf of the refrigerator to make them easier to keep track of. I have let spoil some incredible dishes that got lost in the frig, so I now designate top shelf for leftovers.

Regarding food safety issues, are leftovers supposed to be tossed after 36 hours?? This is one area that I stretch the regulations. I keep leftovers up to 7 days. Often times, I have raised and cooked the foods in question and am fairly certain the foods are not overly contaminated.
 
I can't remember the last time I threw any food out. Even though it's just the two of us, I still cook in some quantity. Most of the time I divide the dishes in half and freeze one part.

In spite of freezing half and eating half, we still have leftovers. That's what we eat for lunch most of the time. It there's a single+ serving of something I may freeze that so I can eat it on the nights Buck has his dinner meetings.

Today's lunch was a bit of a mish-mash. There were no available leftovers, but there were two slices of loaf bread, a hamburger bun, some sliced ham, sliced cheese, homemade tomato pickles, potato chips and bagged cookies.

I made Buck a ham sandwich with cheese and made myself a grilled cheese sandwich. We both had pickles and chips and cookies for dessert.

There are still no leftovers in the refrigerator but that will change tonight because I have MORE than enough homemade turkey-vegetable-noodle soup for tonight's dinner.

I was brought up not to waste food and certainly didn't have any problem with food going "begging" when all 5 of the children were at home.:wacko:
 
a penny saved is a penny earned, or something like that

:neutral:when i make dinner, i like to have leftovers for the day after or even two days after. any left after that gets frozen. ie bean soup , turkey soup etc.

don't make huge pots of anything, unless i have guests.

babe
 
I rarely throw anything away...I've got no problems eating leftovers. My kids, now, that was always another story. It was always rough to get them to eat leftovers....so they got a can of soup and a sandwich on nights I had a leftover. No way I was cooking a special meal.
 

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