To think everyone uses leftovers

[moogy1a]

Certain smug, lispy, fat tongued chefs make a living at the moment by telling people not to throw perfectly good food away if you've cooked too much.
Surely no one does anyway?
Would anyone really cook say a roast chicken, not eat it all, so bin it rather than keep for sarnies / stir fry/ nibbling at secretly in the kitchen?
Do you bin leftover food or use it later?

Sorry, but that leftover Christmas sandwich sounds grim to me, the last thing I want the day after Christmas is anything that was part of the dinner. Leftover turkey goes into the freezer for use a few weeks later. There are never any leftover pigs in blankets or stuffing anyway.

We try and buy chickens that are the right size for one meal, we really don't find we want to use leftover chicken much, even cooked into another meal it is not the same as freshly cooked and I am not keen on cold chicken in salads, sandwiches etc, neither are the DCs. I do make stock out of the carcasses though.

The main thing that gets wasted here are leftovers of leftovers IYSWIM. So if there is some leftover spag bol in the freezer and I get it out and reheat it I won't refreeze and reheat any that is left from that. I try and freeze things in single portions so avoid that scenario but it doesn't always work out. Stale bread gets chucked too, there are only so many breadcrumbs you need and we don't get through an awful lot of bread.

It depends on what the left overs are to be honest, if for example DD has had waffles/chips, fish fingers and peas for tea, then any leftovers from that gets binned. Roasted joints of meat however, any left overs are used for DH's sandwiches for work or chucked in a casserole etc.

I don't save food off the plate but anything else which is left gets used. I am fairly amazed that people don't do this. Last nights chicken pieces are waiting for the DC's dinner tonight, left over bolognaise gets turned into chili and either eaten or frozen, tired veg is turned into soup, left over pasta from today will probably get given to the youngest tomorrow when he objects to whatever I offer him for lunch, last weeks crumble fed DH for most of this week. I imagine that it's a mindset thing, we are not on a tight budget but I simply couldn't imagine throwing away perfectly good food. If it's not saved in the fridge it gets frozen for days when I can't face cooking. I currently have a full freezer of soups, casseroles and bolognaise which are all leftovers and will all get eaten.

I love leftover cold broccoli.

To nibble on, or in a fritata with leftover cold potatoes, whatever else is lurking in the fridge and some feta cheese.
That with a salad and Thursday night dinner is ready.

"Would anyone really cook say a roast chicken, not eat it all, so bin it rather than keep for sarnies / stir fry/ nibbling at secretly in the kitchen?"
I used to have a neighbour who cooked a chicken every Sunday, used the breast meat and then gave the rest to my cats. Before I lived next to her, she did indeed just bin it.

I used to have a neighbour who cooked a chicken every Sunday, used the breast meat and then gave the rest to my cats
sod that, I'd have given the cats the skin and taken the rest for myself!
in fact a neighbour once gave me almost a full chickens worth of "leftovers" and said would your cat like this? I said I'm sure she would but she'll have to fight me for it!

As an aside, how come so many people prefer breastmeat? Legs and especially thighs are far yummier.

ROTFLMAO at the people who say they cannot eat reheated food.
Read how they make confit of duck
or dim sum
or many other recipes that are cooked in stages

moogy, she gave it to them in her back garden, on the ground . I only found out a couple of weeks after she started doing it, when I noticed them going in to her garden. There was me being all apologetic about them, and she was all 'ooh, nice to see them enjoying the chicken, don't worry'.

PS
best use for leftover anything is a spanish omelette .....

nice big frying pan, chop and soften an onion.
any and all leftovers (spuds, peas, broccoli, carrots, meat) cut into 1cm cubes, fry till hot through
stir in 2 large or 3 small (need not be v v fresh) eggs per person.
stir a bit more then let cook till brown around the edges
flip or put under the grill to cook through
slice into wedges

bingo
quick healthy supper, tidy fridge
nom nom

PMSL at all these excuses for wasting food. How incredibly spoilt and lucky we are. To have the option. It won't last forever, though.

Ready meals from supermarket are reheated food! My mil bins everything after Sunday lunch and serves portions which could feed an elephant resulting in even more waste. My mum used to always do 'warm up' on Monday with rest of Sunday's food

The idea of food going off within just one or two days is a leftover from days before everyone having refridgerators.

The idea of not keeping leftovers is very modern.

Even in the 80s the majority of families could only afford meat once a week, thereby making the Sunday roast the source of all meat for the week, and it being stretched out to last the full week.

Those people who throw food out, what do you do with things that are a whole, like pie or pizza? You can't always buy/make one the right size, so you will have leftovers. Why wouldn't you heat that up and eat it the next day?

i throw leftovers sometimes if i know its something thats going to sit in the firdge for a week and go mouldy!

i think it depends on the size of the family though,we have 4 kids and another on the way,theres not usually leftovers as we cook from recipes for 4 adults and if its not enough i add on extra salad/veg/bread on the side.

My mum's neighbour won't eat chicken legs. She buys two if necessary so everyone can eat breast meat

She gives the legs to my mum who shares them with her cats. She's really happy about that. I would be too.

It's madness. I don't dislike leg meat over breast - sometimes I prefer it.

ring It also depends on the age of DC and their sports, social lives etc.
If my teenage DC are out for the evening or scoffing Dominos or MacD or other takeaway overpriced crap at a friends there might be a portion leftover.
Then I get to have it for lunch instead the next day ,no way would I bin it .
Or it goes in the freezer labelled for future lunches.
Sometimes my plan is foiled as they eat at a friends and eat dinner when they get home

I've just noticed your second post about your neighbour putting the leftover chicken out in the garden whereyouleftit.

That's how my mum's arrangement came about. One of her cats scavenged and got a chicken bone wedged in his nose and throat - that was quite an expensive vet's bill.

She asked the neighbour not to do that and the neighbour apologised and offered the leftovers straight to her because she didn't want to waste them. So it was better than nothing. Perhaps my mum has evened up the score on the vet's bill by now.

How often do we have threads "My yogurt is 4 hours past its best before date. I ate it by mistake. Shall I get self to A&E now?"

(I might be exaggerating slightly)
Same with the leftovers.

talkin I do that but I leave it in the frying pan and put a lid on. It sometimes gets a bit burned on the bottom though, so I'm going to put it under the grill next time. I'm not dexterous enough to flip it.

Thanks

limited
the secret is to have the base of a flan tin to hand ....
once the edges are brown and it has nearly set
hold it on top of the omelette with a tea towel, turn the whole thing
over and then slide back into the pan and it should cook through ...

Oh, and the daft thing is that my mum's neighbour thinks she's being Lady Bountiful to a cash-strapped old lady.

Don't get me wrong. She's a very nice woman, a great neighbour and I couldn't wish for someone better to look out for my mum.

But I think I know who's got a better handle on money. After all, the neighbour wouldn't dream of using banknotes to light the fire with.

Okay talkin I'm going to try that.

I could end up with eggy veg all over the floor, so I'll give it a good going over with some Flash first so at least I can just scoop it up

coffee
Its like the Catherine Tate posh mum sketch
"NOOOOOOOOOOO this Gooseberry and cinnamon yogurt is 24hrs out of date . Cue singing of Jerusalem and backing away ,leaving poor Fergus who has already tasted his singing alone