Husband saves food then throws away

[Easilyanxious]

If we have a dinner or take away and a little bit is left over when tidying away my husband will always insist I keep the little bit left as he will have it later
He never does and it really annoys me as he leaves it on side or if lucky puts it in the fridge for me to end up chucking later
It can be something like a couple spoonfuls not anything worth saving
Aibu to just insist we throw it straight away
If it was something worth saving then fine I would plate and put in fridge
Maybe it's just annoying me as it's lock down and I have nothing better to do than keep tidying up .

I don't think you should be dictating what he does with left over food, it's a continuation of what caused it during childhood (if that is the cause), especially neglectful or controlling parents.

Go with the suggestion that you give it to him the next day and ask him to deal with it. It's not like you're expecting vistors and want the kitchen to be fully cleared.

If you routinely put the leftovers in front of him as his next meal - lunch is ideal - with "Eat this that you saved first so it doesn't go to waste please, or throw it out now if you don't fancy it after all," nothing will accumulate. If you get a clear plastic box - an old takeaway box is perfect - it won't get overlooked and fester.

Best thing I ever bought was under the counter fridge drawers - there's no 'back of the fridge', you can see everything at a glance and it's obvious when it needs cleaning!

Yes, I'd serve it up as part of his next meal.

Who are these men who need all their meals preparing by someone else?

This used to be me, I’d always keep leftovers and my dp would joke, cover them up, pop them in the fridge and you can chuck out in a couple of days.
Not anymore though, as I’m not popping out to the shops I’m far less wasteful and have made some interesting meals out of leftovers!
One of the good things to come out of lockdown.

I think this os one of those 'dont sweat it' issues

We are forever putting stuff in the fridge for later then forgetting it

Haha, I do this. I always think it's a waste to throw it and save it and then lob it a couple of days later. Didn't realise I habitually kept food until now!

Dp does this...drives me nutty too!

Yes, I'd serve it up as part of his next meal.

Who are these men who need all their meals preparing by someone else?

Why have you jumped to that conclusion?

If they take turns in cooking, she could serve it up as part of his next meal.

I was brought up believing that it was terribly wasteful to throw away food. I often keep spoonfuls of food just so I don't feel terrible. I do reuse food but do occasionally throw it away.

In my family a standard question is ‘Shall I throw this away now, or put it in the fridge and throw it away on Thursday?’ It’s become a joke. Multiple households and age groups...

I have opposite problem. I often cook a little extra (rice,potato,veg) the plan being keep extra to make a meal with next day(fried rice,fishcakes, soup)Someone helps them selves during the night so when I go to make the second meal following day very little or nothing left!!!!!!Have to put a label on containers to worn off midnight snackers

Thanks for al the replies and I'm all for keeping left overs if enough is left to make it worthwhile as I don't like food waste ( mainly because I hate the food waste bin ) it's more the fact he never eats it and it's not enough to make a meal or even use towards one
It isn't a big deal i agree just one of those little things that annoys you
To be fair he does a fair amount of cooking ( have to concede he is a better cook than me )
But maybe when he's back to going out to work and not wfh I should stick it in his lunchbox daily

I think this is probably more your issue than his.
If you are willing to throw this out at the time, why would waiting the next day make a difference.
Just tell him the next morning that the food is still in the fridge and if he doesn't eat it by lunch it will be thrown away.

My Partner does this as well, but to be fair to him its rare he doesn't reuse it.

My problem is for some reason I can't reuse cooked food, I am not sure where it comes from, but something inside my head says no. So we work as a fairly good partnership, I rarely use more food that we actually need and he eats all the food that might be left behind

It’s ok to save food but not ok that you’re the one having to store it in the fridge and then dispose of it. I would just tell him that you’re tired of having to save and throw constantly so you’re just going to chuck it from now on.

I’m with DH.Imwouldmalways save 2 spoons of Chinese. Would probably eat the next day and if a I didn’t, then throw away. Food is precious, fridge space isn’t

Food is precious, fridge space isn’t

Speak for yourself. We have a standard 50/50 fridge freezer and there's only two of us, and we're constantly struggling for fridge space, especially as we're supposed to be shopping less often.

Granted the fridge could be tidier, and we could keep less booze in there, but I imagine that a family that eats a lot of chilled food and shops weekly or less often would either need a much bigger fridge, shop more often or would need to manage fridge space very carefully to get everything in and avoid stuff getting stuck at the back and forgotten about.