Friday 7 January 2011

Where are my left overs?

I read a lot about using up left overs to turn them into something edible. Can someone please tell me where I can get some of these left overs, as I think it would be a cheap way of eating.

What is a left over anyway? Is it stuff you have left over because you have bought too much shopping and it hasn't all been eaten? Or do you get it because you have cooked too much and people cant eat it all because they are too full. Or perhaps they don't like the taste of it and refuse to eat it. Is a left over something that is left in the dish it was cooked in, or has it been scraped off someones plate after they have finished their meal. My goodness I couldn't put up with fussy eaters.

When you salvage spare food for later use, at what point do you bin it, when does it have no further use? What is the deciding factor? I believe you can make things with left over bread. When my bread starts to go mouldy I cut the bad bits off and eat the good bits, or put it in the freezer before it gets to that stage.

I cook exactly the right amount for one meal, so no left overs there. When we were little, my mum would not let us leave the table until we had eaten everything put before us. And there was definately no pudding untill we had finished the main meal. My friend feeds her four year old titbits while she is cooking the dinner, then he leaves most of his meal. Hardly surprising, seems daft to me.

Maybe a left over is something out of date? In which case I eat all my left overs, so technically they are not left over from anything I suppose, how confusing.

I have just eaten the last bit of a three day stew. It didn't look very appetising, and I knew it would go through me like a dose of salts, but I still ate it. Maybe I should have left it in the fridge for a couple more days and added something to it to perk it up, then it would have been classed as a left over. I thought the best way to deal with it was to just get rid of it by eating it.

I am trying to get Henry choc lab to eat his left overs, he hasn't finished his dinner from last night yet. I will pep it up with a couple of sardines, maybe that might tempt him. If that fails I will chuck it on the garden in the morning for the birds. Bloomin fussy dog. By the way, is left overs two words or one?

11 comments:

  1. Your stew, once you had eaten some on the day it was cooked, was from henceforward 'leftovers'. It's quite simple Ilona - leftovers are the food which is remains once you have eaten your meal.
    Mind, if I knew that some particular leftovers would go through me like a dose of salts then they would go directly into the bin rather than via my alimentary system en route to the lavatory - same result but less pain and discomfort. In a similar way, mouldy bread is not a leftover, it is simply mouldy bread. If you often eat mouldy bread I'm not terribly surprised that other foods tend to shoot through you :O)

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  2. Jane you made me laugh, thank you :0)

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  3. There's something to be said for creating leftovers. I cook extra to have some in order to make a favourite of mine - Bubble & Squeak; something I haven't made with ingredients from scratch.

    Dorothy Hartley (Food in England - first published in 1954) writes of "Vicarage Mutton" which is served "hot on Sunday, cold on Monday, hashed on Tuesday, minced on Wednesday, curried on Thursday, broth on Friday, cottage pie on Saturday".

    Eventually no leftovers (one word I reckon) with that!

    Happy New Year, Brian

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  4. Loved Jane's comment. I'm such a wuss when it comes to eating things past their use by date and best before date:( Oh bubble and squeak haven't had that for years. Mum always used to cook that♥

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  5. Never have too many leftovers in my house.
    What`s not eaten one evening I usually take to work for my next day`s lunch. And if I have to throw some food out, I compost it, such helping my garden and future veg to grow. I call that eco recycling.

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  6. I can't remember the last time I threw away food that I had made or bought, it ALL gets used. Why on earth waste good food and good money?

    Ilona, you're a woman after my own heart!

    JJ

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  7. Loved Jane's comment's!!i throw nothing out here,at the moment i have so many left-over's in my fridge,plus my Daughter send's me over her's,there's only so much i can eat,as it's just me and the Cat,so today i will be putting lot's in my freezer's,i'm happy about that,i love Left-over's,throwing out food is money being thrown away,can't stand Waste!!love your Post's Ilona, Happy New Year to your,and your's,xx

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  8. I had to chuckle at your stew going through you like a dose of salts!
    One of my favourite leftovers is mashed potatoes. I love them heated up with cheese on.

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  9. I work with people at the end of their lives, who are offered tempting meals but often don't fancy them, so tons of food is washed down the waste disposal every day. If something is 60 seconds out of date, out it goes (Health and Safety rules). What can I do? When at home, the only thing that gets wasted is food that is growing a serious beard and looks disgusting, usually long before I have decided what to make with it. My probelm is, I'm too tired to be bothered to cook most evenings, and we end up munching down bowls of cereal and toast, while all the items I've bought with such good plans are sitting around growing beards! I own up to being a perfect slob in this department. Sorry!

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  10. Welcome slob, oops sorry, Lynne ;O) I used to have a mobile tea bar, did the hygiene course, but I didn't last very long. I had unsold food left over at the end of the day and ate everything myself except the meat. Trouble was a lot of it was junk food, I was selling stuff which I wouldn't normally eat. My own food in my kitchen for myself was mainly out of date stuff, which of course is fine for me, but I could never sell it to the public. I gave up and sold the tea bar.

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  11. Hi Ilona! With regard to your stew ''going through you like a dose of salts'', don't forget veggies are very high in fibre and that's why they go through you so quickly. With me they do also! Experts recommend we eat 5 portions of fruit and veg a day to stay healthy. Most people only eat 1 or 2. Perhaps you are eating even more than 5 and getting too much fibre. Have you ever stopped to count how many portions of fruit and veg you are eating daily. Don't overdo it! Everything in moderation, including moderation. Take care!

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