What Do You Do With Leftovers?
By MegDM123
@MegDM123 (145)
United States
July 6, 2009 9:16am CST
So what does your family do with leftovers? Do you feed them right away to the pets? Do you keep them in nice plastic bags/containers and eat them the next night for dinner? Do you have them the next day for lunch? Do you donate them? Do you just plain throw them out?
I know there are people out there that just plain DON'T eat leftovers...are you one of them?
In my house, nothing goes to waste. If it isn't lunch the next day, then come Wednesday or Thursday we have a hodge-podge dinner where one of us is eating that last serving of whatever I cooked during the week.
Budgets are tight! As soon as dinner is over I am putting the leftovers in plastic containers - already for lunch boxes the next day.
5 people like this
24 responses
@mrrogers88 (22)
• United States
8 Jul 09
yo... u all the way right! lol i was thinkin the same thing
1 person likes this
@walijo2008 (4644)
• United States
7 Jul 09
We try to eat our leftovers but sometimes we forget about them, and pretty soon I've got all kinds of containers in the fridge that need to be cleaned out. If we don't have enough left over for the next day, it will usually be given to the dogs, I know they'll eat it..lol.
@walijo2008 (4644)
• United States
8 Jul 09
Yeah, we'll do that here too sometimes, it looks like we have a buffet, anything and everything's on the table, nothing goes together, but I hate throwing things out.
@pickoy (733)
• Philippines
6 Jul 09
If left-overs are from eating in the restaurants, I always ask the waiter to put it in a clean plastic bag; if its still edible we're going to eat it when we get home or when we find ourselves hungry again. If its from home-cook meal, I recook or just reheat them as an extra for another meal. If it isn't edible anymore like the chicken wings bones, I feed it to my dog. I don't believe that I need to be ashamed of it coz I really paid for it... every bit and pieces that's in my table.
@MegDM123 (145)
• United States
7 Jul 09
Restaurant leftovers always taste so much better, right? :)
I just want to say that I don't know if you should give your dog poultry bones though, I have always heard that they are bad for dogs because they can splinter and cause choking.
Thanks for sharing!
@cheekysuze (254)
• United States
6 Jul 09
Usually, I eat them for lunch. If there is just too much of it, I freeze it and pull it out later. My hubby doesn't like leftovers, so I just don't tell him that's what he's eating beforehand. I hate to throw things out too.
@MegDM123 (145)
• United States
7 Jul 09
I am lucky that my boyfriend will eat anything I put in front of him.
He does tend to get sick of things after eating it twice, so I tend to be the one who will take it for lunch twice in a row.
Freezing is definetly a good option for those meals that will freeze.
I know that soup freezes amazingly well.
Or sometimes I will just freeze the left over meat from the meal and then heat that up and serve it with fresh veggies.
@demotay26 (26)
• United States
6 Jul 09
My family normally eats leftovers. In some situations, like after Thanksgiving, we make chicken/ turkey/ ham pot pie, or soup. If its from a restaurant, we give it to our dog.
@wkylady (48)
• United States
6 Jul 09
My mom used to take her leftovers and make soup out them. She would use whatever leftover meat and veggies that she had, then she would add any fresh veggies she wanted. Her soup base would be a quart jar of tomatoes or tomato juice that she had canned.
Now it is just me and my hubby, so we are careful about how much we cook. Our leftovers are mostly eaten. Don't hardly throw anything out, unless it has gotten too old to eat; and that doesn't happen too often.
@imsilver (1665)
• Canada
6 Jul 09
I make soup :) At least once a week we have what the kids have taken to calling it homemade leftover soup. I just clean out the fridge of all the little containers that don't have enough in them for a meal and throw it all together in pot and away we go.
When I serve homemade soup, I start out by putting sour cream, grated cheese and croutons in the bottom of the bowl. Then I put the hot soup over top and add more cheese. The kids love it and don't care much what's actually in the soup because anything tastes great with cheese and sour cream :)
@mflower2053 (3223)
• United States
7 Jul 09
I usually eat them for lunch the next day. Sometimes there is just too much and we have to throw it out. We don't have a pet but that would be a good idea. I know my aunt use to give her dog anything that was left over. I'm sure she will do it for this new dog she now has also.
@smileonstar (4007)
• United States
6 Jul 09
I dont throw away my leftover. If I have pet then I will feed them but now I dont have any so, they are next day lunch and my husband and my kids breakfast also. I will eat them all... and if I know there is a weekend and we will not able to eat the left over food then I just make just enough for one meal only.
@caver1 (1762)
• United States
6 Jul 09
We eat our leftovers. If there is enough for another meal we will have it the next night. If not enough for everyone then someone will have it for lunch the next day. Can't afford to be picky and not eat leftovers. I even plan on having leftovers, making a big enough cassarole or enough meat so that I don't have to cook every night.
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
8 Jul 09
I don't waste food either. I EAT LEFTOVERS TILL THEY ARE GONE. fOOD IS TOO EXPENSIVE TO THROW AWAY. Another thing i do especially in the winter i keep a bowl in the frezzer & save bits of stuff & WHEn get enough i make a pot of soup out of it.
@nikhil_sun (576)
• India
6 Jul 09
I feel almost very angry about saying this but sometimes there are leftovers even after our family has eaten.Then we just put the leftovers in a plastic bag and into a garbage can to dispose it off.I know that wasting food is not at all good and our family tries to minimise it.There are just so many people in the world who can't even afford a single meal a day.So we must strive to not waste food and also feed a hungry person once in a while.
@gypsywoman344 (214)
• United States
9 Jul 09
Since no-one else in my household will eat leftovers, I put them in a freezed bag and freeze them for a day when I don't feel like cooking. Or if I am not interested, then I add it to the dogs food.
@jules67 (2788)
• Philippines
6 Jul 09
Hi!!! What we actually do when there is left over food, if it is still ok to eat , we recycle it and use it for dinner. We try to add whatever is left to the food that we are going to cook in the evening. In that way, it is not wasted and we will be able to save money. 
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
7 Jul 09
I always use up all my leftovers. I either eat them the next day or freeze them for later. I never feed my dogs people food as it is not good for me. I was brought up with the motto "Waste not want not"
@silverglint (2000)
• Philippines
7 Jul 09
We usually keep the leftovers to be reheated in the morning for breakfast or to be packed for lunch in the office. My mother in law has this skill of being able to cook food just enough for us all. She doesn't cook too much serving because she doesn't like food to get spoiled. My kids are too young to understand budgeting and stuffs. If they ate one particular dish one day, they prefer a new one the next meal. Its the adults that eat the leftovers and makes sure that no food goes to waste.
@PeacefulWmn9 (10420)
• United States
7 Jul 09
Hello Meg. Like you, I try to let nothing go to waste. Sometimes, the leftovers are reheated for the next days lunch or dinner. When I make a large quantity, I put some in the freezer in special containers and have it a few weeks later. Certain things, like baked pasta dishes or chili actually taste even better reheated. :)
Karen
@candy2306 (576)
• India
7 Jul 09
I don't get left-over most of the time as it's just my hubby and I. When we have visitors, then we may have some left-overs. I usually recycle the left-overs into breakfast! The longer we leave it, it may rot, therefore I make them as breakfast.
@preethaanju (3000)
• India
7 Jul 09
God has created a market for everything. You just have to find the right customer to dispose it off
