Do You Enjoy Leftovers?

[MardenI]

Spagetti is my favorite leftover.
And another thing: I rather eat fresh-cooked spagetti the next day in stead of the same day of cooking.

[rob62521]

I plan a lot of meals so we have leftovers either for lunches, or to rework as part of another meal. Saves us money and often time. For example, I make what we all sloppy chicks which is sloppy joes made with ground chicken. We usually have half of it left. I add a little more tomato sauce, cook up some pasta and it is another entree.

[mgkimsal]

Some of this is terminology, I think. Some people that would turn their nose up a 'leftovers' would happily pay a personal chef to prepare a week's worth of food ahead of time which they heat up several days later. It was cooked in advance, sat around a couple of days, reheated, and eaten. That's leftovers in my book, except it wasn't "left over" from anything - it was a planned meal.

Anyone that cooks more than one portion and has it the next day is doing 'leftovers', and, unless you've got a huge household that consumes every meal in full, I'm not sure why you wouldn't do 'leftovers'.

My wife and I do leftovers, and I want to stretch them even more - I'd prefer to stretch out a meal over a few days - she doesn't generally like leftovers after 2 days max. In my experience, most meals cooked might last 3 days at least, but she will sometimes throw stuff out after day 2 if I don't finish it.

[Like2Plan]

90% of our meals are left overs. DH will make a huge vat of something and then freeze it. We don't go out to eat very often, but if there are leftovers--we do take them home.

[shaggy]

I don't do leftovers.

1. don't like the texture of re-heated food
2. I'm allergic to molds so my allergist doesn't want me eating any leftovers
3. don't own a microwave anyway

[gipi]

I also come from a big family and have a hard time cooking for one. Fortunately, I love leftovers and some of the soups that resulted from mixing the leftovers with chicken broth have turned out great.

[cwg9409]

For me its a matter of what the food is. Ham is great reheated, whereas steak isn't so nice. I guess its all a matter of personal preference but I find it hard to be frugal with this one because not all leftover food is enjoyable.

[JoeP]

We absolutely do leftovers! They make great lunches to bring into work, and sometimes can be integrated into new meals (e.g., growing up, my dad used to put a steaming bowl of muscle soup in front of my scrawny frame, and I'd devour the concoction of Campbells soup and leftovers from about 3 meals...it didn't work btw).

I am the icebox man in my house. We sometimes lose track of leftover inventory, and I'm the guy who has to try to identify what is a leftover and what is a science experiment.

[MaraJadeC]

I do plan for leftovers. Whether I enjoy them or not depends on the dish. Usually love eating pasta leftovers the most.

[hamchan]

I think microwaves are a crime against food. It completely destroys the flavor and texture for me. So does freezing. There are a small number of foods that are tolerable if reheated or eaten cold the next day. Otherwise I just eat things that I can make one portion of at a time line sandwiches, salads, yogurt, cereal. Luckily my husband is willing to eat leftovers and no leftover is safe around my daughter. So if they will be around I will make larger meals.

[ATPerez]

I think the secret to enjoying leftovers is to change them up. No one wants to eat roast chicken three days in a row, but if you make pot pies and tacos with the leftovers, no one seems to complain.

[dunnrobert700]

Leftovers are great. You don't have to cook! I usually try to freeze them if there's enough for another meal - less likely to go to waste.

To be honest, my feelings on this go beyond the financial. It just seems wrong to me to waste substantial amounts of food.

[krantcents]

I often use leftovers for lunch the next day. I have taken my lunch to work for 40+ years and leftovers is a great way to keep my lunches healthy and good.

[Mesem]

Hell, Yes! Especially cold pizza

[pjmama]

Love them

I absolutely adore leftovers. Particularly as someone who lives alone, it's great to be able to eat for a few days straight and only cook once.

Beyond that, leftovers are the ultimate lazy-person food. Most of the time, my favorite meal is the one I can just pull out of the fridge and eat or heat up.