I have a secret to confess: “Left Overs” die a slow, painful death in the McRae family fridge!
Sadly, this has been an area where our family has been lax for quite some time. It really hit me like a ton of bricks when I was cleaning out the fridge recently. We waste TOO much food.
This seems quite odd to me considering I grew up in a household where I was reminded that there were starving children in Ethiopia every time I didn’t clean my plate.
As part of our family’s effort to instill fiscal responsibility in our children, we’ve chosen to adopt the “waste not” attitude when it comes to left overs.
Children learn what they live. So, I’m starting with ME. I’m giving myself an attitude adjustment when it comes to wasting food.
After some thought and consideration, I’ve committed to try the following:
1. Freeze left over portions in single-serve size for easy access and use as opposed to sending them to the fridge to die a slow death.
2. Institute a “left-over” night for dinner.
We actually tried this out last night and it worked beautifully. Each member of the family was able to choose thier own dish “left-over” from previous meals. To reward ourselves , I simply baked some cookies for dessert. (There were NOT any cookies left over…IMAGINE!)
3. Better menu planning. For example, if I make a pot roast. I will make enough that the “left overs” can be turned into barbeque sandwiches or stew.
4. Portion control. Reality is that my eyes are sometimes bigger than my stomach! By only cooking what we NEED as opposed to what we may THINK we need, there will be less food to waste.
I am excited to see how these changes will make a difference for our family–not only in teaching our children important life lessons, but assisting with decreasing our food budget. After all, if our food goes further that’s less trips and money spent at the grocery store.
I’d love to hear how your family has successfully tackled this challenge.
We do most of these things you mentioned, as leftovers don’t get eaten here, either!
I definitely try to portion out single-servings for the freezer; somehow, leftovers aren’t as bad when it’s not the second night in a row.
Also, I really try to do #3 when I make large portions of meat – it not only saves us from having leftovers, but it saves me time in the kitchen, too!
Nicole
HeresTheDiehl.wordpress.com
ThreeMoreBites.wordpress.com
Also – this link on my new cooking blog may give you a couple of ideas about using leftovers…I love our leftover vegetable soup!
http://threemorebites.wordpress.com/category/leftovers/
I pack everything in ziploc bags or clear containers so every time I open the fridge, I can see what exactly is in the container which reminds me to use it before it goes bad.
Great commitments, Edie. It’s hard to plan around our family’s appetites too. One night they may be hungrier than another.
I like the idea about freezing them from Nicole. Good one! You’re so right, left overs aren’t so bad when they are on another night.
I’ve tried to plan my menus around left overs like you said, one night make a stew or something. That has worked well for me. But some nights I just can’t stand the thot of smelling that same food again.
It’s been particularly hard for me to learn to cut our meals down, now that our boys are moved out and there are only the three of us home. So these ideas will help me greatly!
Thank you!