Managing Your Leftovers

There was a discussion had in the break room yesterday about leftovers and the day before that it was brought up by someone else. So I thought I'd take the time to ask what is the deal with eating leftovers? I mean, some of my best meals have tasted better the day after? And another plus for me is that I don't have to worry about cooking the next day. Is the resistance towards leftovers some kind of tick like not wanting your food touching or you can't eat without touching your spoon to your chin? There is absolutely positively no reason you can't eat leftovers. It was good yesterday so why can’t you eat it today?

When I was growing up I was always told to ‘waste not, want not’ and the infamous ‘clean your plate, there are people starving in (fill in the blank).’ I mean, no, I don’t want to eat it for 10 days straight just because too much was made and there's enough left over to feed an army. But I don’t mind eating it if it tastes just as good as it did the day before. There is nothing wrong with it. It hasn’t even had the chance to go bad yet. What is it in your mind that prevents you from eating leftovers? Is it something that was placed in your mind during childhood? Or do you relate it to being something that only poor people do? If so that's horse-hooey. Embrace the leftovers. And if just can’t bring yourself to get past it instead of just scraping it into the dog’s bowl or tossing it in the wastebasket give the surplus to a needy family in your neighborhood or take it to a shelter. It’s not good for the dog anyway and it will only stink up your trash can later so do something good with it.

Or if you if you find yourself changing your ways here are a few tips you can do with your leftovers:

• Freeze them. There is nothing wrong with getting a ziploc baggie or freezer proof container and putting your delicious leftovers in it to save it for another day.
• Left over roast beef? Make new sides for this main course item and have a whole new meal! Cut it up and make a small beef stew out of it or try making fajitas if enough's left.
• Left over chicken? Chop it up and pour a little marinara sauce over it. Add some noodles to it and voile you are eating Italian tonight.
• And you can just about turn anything into a sandwich.

So don't be afraid to reheat leftovers. They can be just as delish the second time around. Plus you won't be throwing money out of the window.