Using up old bread and other baked items.

I rarely cook anymore. My kitchen is very old and I don't spend much time in that part of the house since our kids all moved out. I did make a big pot of chili about a month ago and froze what we didn't eat. Will come in handy if or when the weather gets bad and we don't want to go out to eat. We both like pasta so when we eat out, many of our meals are too much to eat just once, the leftovers come home and we eat again within a day or 2. I don't like to keep leftovers too long. Because we have a cat that hangs out all year around our house, it belongs to a neighbor, I don't throw out food to the birds.

I don't have a particular day when I use up leftovers, but I tend to eat them until I'm tired of them, then decide whether to freeze or throw them out. I don't throw out very much, though. I do lots of things to make leftovers seem fresh again. Bread is toasted or used in open face sandwiches. I don't care for bread pudding so don't use it. If I have bread still left over, I put it in the freezer. Other baked goods are usually put into the freezer after the first couple of days, since I can't eat that much before they get stale.

Yes...I do always have leftovers (as I live alone), but I always cook so that I have leftovers & can freeze them! But I do freeze leftovers in total meals, so that on my busiest days I can just make a salad and microwave the rest ofthe meal! But I am not as disciplined as you, I do the leftovers as I go! The best purchase I think I have made in a long time is a "food saver," that vacuum seals, so that there is NO chance of freezer burn! We, too, (unusual) have had a very cold/snowy winter! For the birdies, I have saved the leftover mesh bags that onions come in.....the leftover bread I cover (all) with peanut butter, and roll in a mixture of bird seed & suet, put in the mesh bags, and hang in the surrounding trees! I am told by the local "birdwatchers" that in the cold weather the suet adds fat for body warmth!

Hmm, I usually don't use up stale bread, unless it's in dressing/stuffing. We are making more of an effort to buy less, so we have fewer bread selections, therefore, we eat all of what we have before it gets too stale. I usually try to eat leftovers within 3 days of the day I cooked it. I'll have it for a lunch the next day, or maybe for dinner if there's enough for both of us. Sometimes, my husband just wants a cheeseburger on the George Foreman grill, so in that case, I'll fix him the cheeseburger and eat the leftovers from the day before.

I put all leftovers in the fridge or freezer depending on when I'll use them. I've given up on shop bought bread as it just goes mouldy within a few days and you can't do anything with mouldy bread. I stick to the bread machine as that bread just goes stale and then you can toast it or use it in recipes so none of it is wasted.

I seem to be in a continual cycle of using up leftovers. I try to cook extras when I prepare things so that I can just zap them the next day or revive them as a new dish.