To expect DH to eat leftovers twice in a week?

[cityrookie]

DH changed his wfh days this week so is not collecting DD from her club tonight. Usually they get a takeaway on their way home, DS and I eat leftovers from the week. E.g. I made a curry on Tuesday which we all ate and DH took a portion for his lunch on Wednesday. I would normally turn the leftovers into a soup for DS and me to eat on a Thursday evening but today it will be DH and DS at home. DH doesn't think he should be expected to eat leftovers from the same meal twice in a week. I don't see the issue. What does everyone else do with leftovers?

YANBU - use up the food
YABU - it's too repetitive, and you shouldn't expect him to eat it.

It's hardly a lot of work to pour some tinned chickpeas into some tupperware and put them in the fridge, lol.

I can't get worked up about cooking every night either, tbh,

I would find it a lot of work. It's twice the cooking so also worse for the environment and also just added bs.

I mean - I do think it's pretty normal to not want to eat the same food for three meals in a row.

I also don't think leaving some frozen spinach in a bag or pouring some leftover chickpeas into a tub counts as a huge effort, but then I only cook for me so I'm doing that kind of thing all the time anyway.

If someone is happy to eat leftovers for several days straight then that's fine and they can do that, but it's equally okay for someone not to want that when there are other options available.

You have an odd definition of what "a lot of work" is, lol.

It's the same as anything; we all have different preferences when it comes to daily life.

I too don't really like leftovers. I'll eat them, of course, but two day old curry isn't something I'd particularly look forward to.

Having said that, I'd NEVER complain if I wasn't the one making the food. If someone doesn't shop or cook, then they should be grateful for anything edible and if they don't like it, as others have said, he could source an alternative. A sandwich, toastie, beans on toast, whatever.

He sounds like a pampered man who hasnt quite grown up yet.

See this is what I mean about everyone being different. I only cook for me too but rather than faff about decanting and splitting to make one portion I just make a meal and have it several dinners in a row. Doesn't bother me one bit and in my circles it's that that is "normal".

I think the point is its DHs preference, but OP that gets the extra work with your suggestion. You might not think its extra work because your preference for variety is stronger than your aversion to faff. I'm the opposite, and OP might be more like me!

Maybe I've missed it, but I don't see where it makes extra work for the OP?

There's nowhere that I can see where he refuses to make himself beans or toast or a sandwich - it seems to be the OP who wants him to eat the leftovers because they're there and apparently it's "not enough to bother freezing" - which makes no sense to me.

If there's enough there for him to eat for dinner, surely it can be chucked in the freezer for another night?

Not a chance would I eat pureed leftovers of the same meal i had 2 days on the trot. Nasty.

I said extra work 'with your suggestion' which was

Why would it be impractical? Just decant the cans and use them another day and the frozen spinach can just be left in the freezer?

To you it's 'just' do this extra faffy step to accommodate DH. To me it's a hassle I don't want or need. DH can make something else if he wants but I wouldn't be leaving quarter bags of spinach and having leftover chickpeas in tupperware.

Yeah her comment about freezing didn't make much sense to me either. Seems the best solution for everyone.

"Maybe I've missed it, but I don't see where it makes extra work for the OP?

There's nowhere that I can see where he refuses to make himself beans or toast or a sandwich - it seems to be the OP who wants him to eat the leftovers because they're there and apparently it's "not enough to bother freezing" - which makes no sense to me."

OP refused to answer the question about why or when the DH cooks so I presume she has to make every meal.

Or maybe she knows she wouldn't get as much support if she gave a truthful answer.

Yeah, fair enough about the decanting.

But I don't see how there's simultaneously enough food for a meal but not enough to freeze lol. Either it's a full portion (in which case it can be saved for another day) or it's not (in which case something else needs to be cooked anyway).

My husband would happily eat the same dinner 3 nights in a row. In fact he did recently. I made cottage pie & always make enough to have for 2 nights dinners. But I was out with work on the 2nd night so we both ate it night no 1 & he split the left over half in two to maje 2 more dinners for himself. He had zero issues with that as it was delicious & he loves my cooking

Most weeks I make at least 1 and usually 2 meals that cater for 2 nights. I'm the better cook. I enjoy it but I also work full time so like to have a couple of easier evenings

There's always other options in the fridge/ pantry / freezer - eggs, cheese, pasta, bread, pizza, frozen fish, frozen chips, beans etc etc

@IsThisCluttered if he's happy to do that, it's fine. But I would really hate having the same meal on consecutive nights. It wouldn't matter how delicious it was, I'd rather have more variety.
So, if I had fresh minced beef I might make some pasta sauce and freeze it, but have the rest as tacos that day. It's not much more difficult to do.

I serve leftovers more than once from the same original meal if there’s enough but I always tweak it by adding something new like extra veg or pulses or an egg.

XH would never have eaten this sort of food but happily current OH is more than happy to.

Everyone's different: some people wouldn't want the same meal for x number of days running as they like variety/a change. I don't mind it though (my family were the same). My XH was always happy eating leftovers too.

I tend to plan a day of batch cooking stuff and freezing it...or I will double up a recipe so there is a meal to go in the freezer for the future. It's cheaper, makes life easier and means that there are always nice home cooked meals in the freezer (for when I can't be arsed to cook!). Each freezer meal I make serves 4-6 (it's me and two DC at home), but there is enough for us to take to school/work for lunches the next day. We also have the basics in, like baked beans, frozen pizza/fish etc.

I'd not want to waste food so would make sure it was frozen or used up.

yes! especially stuff like curries, because you can either mix it all in together or if they're much different, have a bit of lots of different ones, which is always nice.
stuff like leftovers from things like roasts can be saved up to make a nice mixed stew or something when there's enough.

He's a grown arse man, he's fully capable of cooking himself something to eat!!

Generally in our house leftovers are used at lunch, and dinner is a fresh meal. But also it's cooks rules unless anyone else thinks they have a better idea then they will be the ones cooking that night for everyone.

That doesn't seem to be the issue, though.

The issue is that OP wants him to have leftovers because they're "not worth freezing" whereas he doesn't want to eat the same thing for three meals in row.

Nowhere does it say he's not happy to cook.

We have a big family who have now left home and I tend to cook too much. Lucky we're both happy to eat leftovers, in fact my DH says he loves them. Of course you can tart things up a bit, cold meat, curries or stew can be risotto, fajitas or whatever. If you can't think of something interesting to do with it I'd freeze it or have it for lunch myself when I'm on my own.