Leftovers

blushingbride_08 · June 2013

I cook on Sundays for the week. We eat the same thing for dinner every night mon to thurs. we change it up on Fridays and during the weekends. how often do you eat leftovers?

nosoup4u · June 2013

The same meal every night? Or just the same main course, i.e. roast chicken the first night, and then chicken three other ways the other nights

We usually have leftovers once or twice a week, we don't really cook huge amounts at one time. If I do make a big recipe of something, I'll freeze half for later.

blushingbride_08 · June 2013

nosoup4u:
The same meal every nigyt? Or just the same main course, i.e. roast chicken the first night, and then chicken three other ways the other nights We usually have leftovers once or twice a week, we don't really cook huge amounts at one time. If I do make a big recipe of something, I'll freeze half for later.

i mean the same meal

bumpuser8448316 · June 2013

Wow, that would never fly in my house! We dont usually have leftovers but if we do I eat it for lunch the next day. I couldn't eat the same meal all week.

I do plan to have leftovers of things like salsa chicken...serve it over rice the first night then later in the week as tacos or quesadillas. Also with crock lot shredded BBQ chicken- sandwiches the first night and pizza later in th week.

JayandEmm · June 2013

The same meal? That would get old fast. Leftovers are usually lunch for us the next day, we rarely have leftovers for dinner.

Sometimes I might cook chicken [for example] and use it for chicken salad one night, and tacos for another night later in the week.

LoriLee14 · June 2013

I could not imagine making enough that would last for 4 more nights. I usually send leftovers for my husband to take to work and/or I have for lunch the next day. If I do make enough that would last that long I freeze half of it so it can be a quick meal some other day. maybe use that as an option to swap it up.

how does no one in the family complain about this?

caybeh · June 2013

I typically cook a few large meals during the weekend/week to get leftovers for lunches for all of us during the week. We usually only eat leftovers for lunch, and I make something else for supper. So to answer your question, daily. It may or may not be the same meal as it depends on how many leftovers we have.

nosoup4u · June 2013

blushingbride_08:
nosoup4u:
The same meal every nigyt? Or just the same main course, i.e. roast chicken the first night, and then chicken three other ways the other nights

We usually have leftovers once or twice a week, we don't really cook huge amounts at one time. If I do make a big recipe of something, I'll freeze half for later.
i mean the same meal  

Huh. And everyone is happy to eat the same thing, four nights in a row?

nosoup4u · June 2013

I will eat the same thing for lunch all week long sometimes. But dinner has to have more variety, IMO.

LMCB12 · June 2013

Huh. I love leftovers but the same exact meal for four nights in a row would get old. Generally if we have that much left over I freeze it.

gracefulruby33 · June 2013

Yeahhhh, that's weird. Who the heck does that besides the OP? We have something different every night and DH has the leftovers for lunch the next day or later in the week at work.

jensriot · June 2013

We don't typically have any leftovers, but when we do it'll be lunch and/or dinner the next day. It happens maybe once every couple weeks.

I am curious what you make that lasts most of the week. I don't mean to be snarky or anything, really just curious.

vlagrl29 · June 2013

we have leftovers 1 night a week. What I had for dinner tonight we will have on monday. I could never eat the same stuff 4 nights in a row, that would drive me nuts. Because I eat similar things for breakfast and lunch everyday, I like dinners to be different. I do have a friend that eats the same dinner during the week. She makes a huge batch of it in the crockpot on sunday. to each their own i guess

jillyjill1026sr · June 2013

My husband would starve before he would eat the same thing four nights in a row. He doesn't eat leftovers unless it's lasagna or pizza, so I tend to cook enough to feed four (he'll usually eat seconds at dinner) and then I will have what's left-over for lunch the next day. I won't eat left-overs beyond the day after the meal was cooked.

bumpuser8448316 · June 2013

What kinds of meals do you make? I'm trying to picture eating 4 day old roasted broccoli and it just sounds gross.

KaylaL08 · June 2013

Wow that's a long time to eat the same thing! Occasionally I will do that but it looks more like this:

Mon: Chili with crackers/grilled cheese
Tues: Chili over tortilla chips and toppings for taco salad
Wed: Chili burgers or chili twice baked potatoes

By Thursday we are sick of chili! If you are looking to mix it up I would suggest freezing half your leftovers. Eventually you could cook Mon, leftovers Tues, pull from the freezer Wed & Thurs. Roughly same amount of cooking (you'd have to reheat) but more variety.

Mrs.Hizzo · June 2013

blushingbride_08:
nosoup4u:
The same meal every nigyt? Or just the same main course, i.e. roast chicken the first night, and then chicken three other ways the other nights We usually have leftovers once or twice a week, we don't really cook huge amounts at one time. If I do make a big recipe of something, I'll freeze half for later.
i mean the same meal

Uh...why???

Mrs.Hizzo · June 2013

OK, my "uh...why?" probably came off as snotty and I didn't mean it to, except my genuine reaction was "uh...why?"

In our house, I frequently cook meals that make a ton of extra servings, but we portion them out into single-serve containers and freeze them. That way, I can re-heat them over the next few months, as needed. I eat a lot of them for lunch, or I'll re-heat one for the kids' dinner, or DH will come home late form work and pop one in the microwave, etc., until they're gone. I just can't imagine eating the same beef stew from Monday-Thrusday, that sounds frightening.

chardonnay24 · June 2013

Wow, I have trouble eating the same thing twice in one week!

I usually make enough for leftovers but usually there is only enough for one or two lunches. There are a few things (soup, chili, spaghetti) that I make huge batches at a time and freeze, but we'll usually have those things once or twice a month. I just like a lot of variety, I guess.

ta78 · June 2013

That sounds terrible.

There is no way I could eat the same thing all week. I can barely eat leftovers for one day, DH usually just takes them to lunch. Don't you get sick of whatever you are eating by Thursday? I have never heard of such a thing.

Cherryblossoms07 · June 2013

The same meal! Wow, that wouldn't go over well here with anyone. Two days of leftovers of the same thing and everyone is complaining, which is the most I have done and it is rare.

I would try switching it up a little. Make chicken, beef, pork but use them in different ways through out the week.

Nechie122 · June 2013

gracefulruby33:
Yeahhhh, that's weird. Who the heck does that besides the OP? We have something different every night and DH has the leftovers for lunch the next day or later in the week at work.

Just lurking but I felt compelled to jump in and say we do the same thing in our house.

My DH does all the cooking and he's excellent at it. Three nights of leftovers would be GREAT. Usually we get about two and the last two nights of the week we eat something simpler like chicken/veggie burgers with salad, rice and beans and a side veggie. We go out to eat on the weekends.

It's plenty of variety and no one gets bored and honestly, I just appreciate not having to cook!

So, OP, you're not the only one.

Arnegard · June 2013

I am not a leftover fan. It is big for me to eat them for lunch or to use them in another meal. We had chicken fried steak the other night for dinner and have leftover round steak to make a crockpot meal for today. Not exactly the same since it wasn't cooked though. My DH complains if he eats the same meal twice in a month, he would never eat leftovers for 4 days straight.

memali26 · June 2013

I have quite a few meals in my rotation that make enough to feed our family for two days, so I will plan to cook on, say, Monday and have leftovers Tuesday. If anything is left after Tuesday DH or I eats for lunch Wednesday. Or if I cook something Monday with enough leftovers for just one person someone will eat it for lunch Tuesday. Occasionally I will freeze half a meal or individual portions of leftovers if they won't get eaten before going bad. Generally we don't eat the same thing more than 2 nights and maybe 1 lunch.

sbevmc09 · June 2013

We usually have leftovers, but we eat them for lunch. Usually after dinner and lunch the next day that pretty much covers it, but sometimes I'll end up eating the same thing for lunch multiple days in the row, but dinner is usually different. We sometimes have a "leftover night" during the week where we eat whatever is leftover for dinner, but generally we eat a different meal every night. We would all get tired of eating the same thing for dinner 4 nights in a row. I would get tired of eating anything 4 days in a row on a regular basis.

roxy_jj · June 2013

Wow, my kids would not be happy eating the same thing Mon - Thurs. I would be pretty bored with the food too. But if it works for your family, that's great and probably makes things easier.

We usually have dinners that are leftovers once a week. My kids often eat leftovers for lunch.

dairygirl19 · June 2013

I usually make enough for dinner one night and then lunch the next day for H and the exchange student while I'm at work.

A few times a week due to scheduling, Toddler eats dinner earlier than us and I'll pull some leftovers out of the fridge for her.

I'm not the biggest fan of leftovers unless it's a favorite of mine and the only thing I like out of the freezer is soup.

If I don't want to cook a lot, we just do something simple. Ham and cheese sandwiches with chips and fruit salad for example. Or a steam bag of veggies and a rotisserie chicken I grabbed on the way home. There are ways to do this without eating the same thing all week.

A couple times a year (our busy season) I will make a giant batch of soup and we'll eat that all week. Or I'll roast a couple chickens and do salad for sandwiches, soup, a casserole etc. so I have something ready to go. We do it out of necessity however and by the end of that week, we're both swearing at chicken...lol. It's not something I'd choose to do on the regular.

lisamoe · June 2013

We will usually do leftovers 1-2 times a weeks for dinner (depending what I've made that week). Sometimes there is just enough leftovers for lunchtime.

We usually eat something different every week for dinner. I have to have variety! Now that its grilling season, it seems to get kind of the same because we love to grill (ex: grilled chicken, burgers, sausage, kabobs, steak, etc we tend to do a lot)so I guess sometimes we will have grilled chicken twice in a week, but I try to serve in different ways.

blushingbride_08 · June 2013

My dh suggested it since we would waste so much food having a different meal every night. We would freeze leftovers and never actually eat it. I find it easier to cook in large batches. I cook fresh veggies every day to add to dinner. Even for breakfast I make steel cut oatmeal in the crockpot on Sunday and eat it throughout the week for breakfast. Instead of spending time cooking each day we have time to actually spend together as a family. It works for us.

Allycat11 · June 2013

There is no way that I could do that, I would be SO bored. We rarely eat leftovers for dinner but I like having leftovers in the fridge for lunch. Typically 1-2 times per week I eat leftovers.

Chapter79 · June 2013

Blech. Not to sound rude, but this sounds absolutely awful. Not only do I need a variety in my diet (because well, that's also healthy), but I love to cook. I just can't fathom wanting to eating the same meal 4 days in a row. That sounds incredibly boring to me. Is there a particular reason for doing this?

We don't typically have leftovers for dinner- sometimes we do. A few times a month. We definitely have leftovers, though... but the H gets them packed up for his lunch the next day, and I may have some for lunch the next day. Then they are either gone or ditched, because I won't do more than that.

12bailey18 · June 2013

DH usually takes our dinner leftovers to work the next day. If we have a lot left over (usually like a pasta or casserole) we may eat it two nights in a row but not usually. However, when DH is gone for the week I'll make a dinner on Monday and eat on it for the rest of the week.

notkateanymore · June 2013

blushingbride_08:
nosoup4u:
The same meal every nigyt? Or just the same main course, i.e. roast chicken the first night, and then chicken three other ways the other nights We usually have leftovers once or twice a week, we don't really cook huge amounts at one time. If I do make a big recipe of something, I'll freeze half for later.
i mean the same meal

Ack. Why? I could never eat the same meal more than twice.

blushingbride_08 · June 2013

Also dh does not bring dinner leftovers for lunch. One rule is dinner leftovers are only for dinner time. It saves us quite a bit of money and lots of time. Since most meals are for 4 servings. I eat 1 serving and dh eats 2 servings each meal. We would always have 1 serving that wasn't enough for dh to eat and I would think it is a waste to freeze 1 serving for later that I would never defrost and eat. So I triple a 4 serving recipe and make 12 servings and it works out perfectly for us to eat for 4 days and we dont waste any food.

Chapter79 · June 2013

blushingbride_08:
Also dh does not bring dinner leftovers for lunch. One rule is dinner leftovers are only for dinner time. It saves us quite a bit of money and lots of time. Since most meals are for 4 servings. I eat 1 serving and dh eats 2 servings each meal. We would always have 1 serving that wasn't enough for dh to eat and I would think it is a waste to freeze 1 serving for later that I would never defrost and eat. So I triple a 4 serving recipe and make 12 servings and it works out perfectly for us to eat for 4 days and we dont waste any food.

My H would abhor that rule. Why is that a rule? What if your H wanted leftovers at lunch? You forbid? Mine LOVES leftovers at work, gives him a break from sandwiches and wraps. Also, i very rarely waste food cooking a different meal each night.

eaglesfan700 · June 2013

That would never happen here, it just makes no sense to me. I actually really enjoy cooking and don't mind doing it 5-6 nights a week. We very rarely waste anything, I eat a lot of the leftovers for lunch, the kids will eat them the next night for dinner (we can't do family dinner because of H's work schedule) and H will eat them on the weekend or if I go out with friends at night.

We also like variety, I meal plan and do a different main course every night - pasta, chicken, fish, beef, pork etc but prepare it differently each week

blushingbride_08 · June 2013

Chapter79:
blushingbride_08:
Also dh does not bring dinner leftovers for lunch. One rule is dinner leftovers are only for dinner time. It saves us quite a bit of money and lots of time. Since most meals are for 4 servings. I eat 1 serving and dh eats 2 servings each meal. We would always have 1 serving that wasn't enough for dh to eat and I would think it is a waste to freeze 1 serving for later that I would never defrost and eat. So I triple a 4 serving recipe and make 12 servings and it works out perfectly for us to eat for 4 days and we dont waste any food.
My H would abhor that rule. Why is that a rule? What if your H wanted leftovers at lunch? You forbid? Mine LOVES leftovers at work, gives him a break from sandwiches and wraps. Also, i very rarely waste food cooking a different meal each night.

lol you make it seem as if it is my rule and dh doesn't have a say. It's something dh and I agreed on. If he wants his dinner leftovers for lunch that's his prerogative. But we generally don't like dinner leftovers for lunch. He actually came up with the idea. It works for us. I was just curious on how often everyone else had leftovers.

nosoup4u · June 2013

blushingbride_08:
Also dh does not bring dinner leftovers for lunch. One rule is dinner leftovers are only for dinner time. It saves us quite a bit of money and lots of time.

That's just weird. No offense.

Chapter79 · June 2013

blushingbride_08:
Chapter79:
blushingbride_08:
Also dh does not bring dinner leftovers for lunch. One rule is dinner leftovers are only for dinner time. It saves us quite a bit of money and lots of time. Since most meals are for 4 servings. I eat 1 serving and dh eats 2 servings each meal. We would always have 1 serving that wasn't enough for dh to eat and I would think it is a waste to freeze 1 serving for later that I would never defrost and eat. So I triple a 4 serving recipe and make 12 servings and it works out perfectly for us to eat for 4 days and we dont waste any food.
My H would abhor that rule. Why is that a rule? What if your H wanted leftovers at lunch? You forbid? Mine LOVES leftovers at work, gives him a break from sandwiches and wraps. Also, i very rarely waste food cooking a different meal each night.
lol you make it seem as if it is my rule and dh doesn't have a say. It's something dh and I agreed on. If he wants his dinner leftovers for lunch that's his prerogative. But we generally don't like dinner leftovers for lunch. He actually came up with the idea. It works for us. I was just curious on how often everyone else had leftovers.

Well.... ok.

I guess different things work for different people. Just the thought, however, bores me to tears.

blushingbride_08 · June 2013

CabbageCabbage:
Do you measure your food each night? If you were really hungry, what would you do? Could you eat an extra 1/12th or would you have to go hungry later? That just seems way too constricted to me and I meal plan.
I mean, it would save me time and money to wear the same thing every day and just buy 7 shirts and 7 bottoms but that doesn't mean I'd do it.

i have become way better at estimating how much we eat per week. We rarely waste food anymore. If I'm hungry I eat more...duh. But portion control helps me with eliminating mindless eating at night. There's a difference with wanting a few more bites of food vs wanting to devour an extra plate of spaghetti with meatballs. I know the difference and have self control most times :-)

dairygirl19 · June 2013

I think you take this food thing way too seriously.

Too much thought for me. I don't have the time or energy to portion it all out and makeup leftover rules.

There are ways to save money on food, not waste and not have to eat the same thing 4 days in a row.

I can't imagine it's all that healthy. What are you going to do when your kid is not okay with that?

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