To not understand people that dont eat leftovers?

[Eliza9917]

I've seen a lot of people say this, and wondered why? What could eating leftovers possibly do to you? Is it a fear of poverty in some way?

My sister knew a girl that would roast a chicken for Sunday dinner and only eat the breasts and throw the rest away. To me, that's madness, I'd get at least 2-3 dinners and a soup out of a large chicken.

I always use leftovers - it's such a waste not to. I'm trying very hard to not throw any food away. I haven't found anything that won't reheat well - even pizza hut pizza!

@BatsAreCool why?

Its the name.Leftovers sound grim.
I usually only cook what i need but dependson the leftovers.Curry lasagne chilli. All fine.
Roast or mashed spuds no.Theres just something about them re heated i just dont like

Composting is better I suppose, but I still can't get my head round why you wouldn't just eat it.

Simply because I don't want to. If money was tight then it would be different but it isn't so I don't really care that we might waste money/food.

Bit confused at the posters who use a food waste digester saying the have no food waste. The name literally spells out that you put food waste into it.

No need to be confused, quite clearly mean no food waste going to landfill. It's just personal food waste going into the individual's garden but why anyone would be cross about that is beyond me!

I think eating food when you're not hungry to simply avoid waste is a bad idea and probably a contributing factor as to why we have a dangerously overweight population.

Yes of course you eat leftovers. I often have leftovers for lunch, or make something else with leftovers e.g. use chicken to make a chicken and vegetable pie. Is this why so much food is thrown away?

Eliza9917 my caddy was full because I had eaten the things I wanted but didn't want any more of them. We shopped for lots of different types of food as a treat over Christmas but I wasn't going to change what I wanted to eat because we had half eaten food left.

No need to be confused, quite clearly mean no food waste going to landfill.

But the thread isn't about that. The thread is about leftovers and food waste. You can't claim to have none just because it doesn't go to landfill. You either have waste or you don't.

just personal food waste going into the individual's garden but why anyone would be cross about that is beyond me!

Erm, not sure why you think anyone is cross?

@MacarenaFerreiro ah yes I know which ones you mean, no don't have one (do you even get them in the UK?) they look terrifying!

I think a lot of meals taste better the day after , particularly things that are cooked in one pan / pot like soup , stew, curry , chilli , spag bol .
I think the herbs and spices have had more time to do there 'thing' .
I frequently cook them type of things the day before I want them so technically the whole pan full is left overs.

i think eating food when you're not hungry to simply avoid waste is a bad idea

I do agree with this. However that's not what people are doing when they turn leftovers into another meal.

And we have a food waste digester. But you should still put as little down it as possible.

“ I don't really care that we might waste money/food.”

What a lovely sentiment.

I think eating food when you're not hungry to simply avoid waste is a bad idea and probably a contributing factor as to why we have a dangerously overweight population

Did i miss something? Are we. Is suggesting that people force food into their bodies rather than throw it away? I thought we were talking about using leftovers to make meals instead of buying more stuff?

You either have waste or you don't.

But so what if it's "waste" that doesn't get wasted? Do you never have a crumb left on your plate?

we serve small(ish) portions and whoever is still hungry can have a piece of fruit

That is one of the most joyless sentiments I've encountered on Mumsnet.

Thanks for the tip formerbabe I'll give it a whirl. I'm a bit sick of making a lovely dinner then enduring rather than enjoying the dried out microwaved leftovers!

It’s not just a waste of food and money though.

It’s a waste of the resources used to grow, harvest, transport the wasted food, it’s s waste of animal lives.

I find it immoral because of that.

Like I say I tend to cook the right portions (I actually underestimate what we need to eat as my lot have eyes bigger than their bellies) so it's just scraps off the plates.

Funnily enough I have made lasagna tonight but everyone is a bit full from lunch of chocolate and sweets so I have a half a dish of it left over. I'm taking inspiration from this thread and freezing it - I shall report back one day

But so what if it's "waste" that doesn't get wasted? Do you never have a crumb left on your plate?

Jesus. Are you always so awkward?

The thread is about using leftovers for the next days meal rather than throwing out a whole meals worth of food. Nothing to do with crumbs fgs.

I love the meal made with Xmas leftovers as much as the main meal. I calculated from our big free range turkey,which seemed really expensive, we actually got 30 portions of meals.8 for dinner.Sandwiches the next day.Loads of turkey and ham pie filling ,some frozen for later and some sent home with DD.Plus her happy dogs and cat who ate all the skin and scrappy bits after carcasss picked.And gravy frozen for bangers and mashSo great value in the end.Rarely throw food away .Even veg gets blitzed into soups. Just about to stick some bananas in the freezer for a cake at a later date.Hate waste really.

Had rib beef at Christmas, any leftover was sliced and covered in gravy and frozen (having that for todays dinner with veg and mustard mash). The rest was chopped up and frozen for cottage pie later.

The only leftovers I would not eat are takeaway (which I don’t have very often) and rice. I try to cook the right amount of rice but DH always cooks too much. Apart from food hygiene reasons it seems terrible to throw away food, when we all have fridges and most people have freezers. It doesn’t take long to put them away in a clean container, covered or wrapped up, and definitely doesn’t make the fridge smell!

Also how do people afford to waste food like this? We’re by no means poor but I’d never think oh I can afford to throw away food.

Lastly, why make extra work for yourself cooking again?!

I had literally never heard of this antileftover phenomenon unti recently, on MN.

Dh and I throw away very little food. Batch cooking is a regular in our household. We do have the odd thing go bad because I’ve been too ill to cook.

Gunpowder
Thanks for the tip about the food waste digester. I didn’t know these existed. I want one!

I find it imoral because of that
Me too and I’m shocked the odd poster is admitting to wilfully throwing away perfectly good food just because they can. How disrespectful to animals.