Leftovers

I only have a small freezer but manage well. The special offers bogof and 3 for £10 annoy me and must lead to waste or over eating. Running freezers also costs money.

Well with Brexit I think we will all be tightening our belts so people will learn quickly how not to be wasteful.

There are never leftovers here, we're greedy piglets!
Occasionally I deliberately make too much, slow cooked pulled pork, chili pork belly, braised ox cheeks etc and freeze some.
It makes for a tasty dinner in moments, if I can remember to get it out to defrost in the first place!

Eat Well for Less includes some good simple recipes to serve instead of takeaways at a fraction of the cost. Often they are produced from leftovers or slightly over date food.
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I see what you mean, Watermeadow. I'm not a goody-goody by any means but I try not to create left-overs in the first place by only preparing what I need for each meal. Then left-overs simply don't happen.

And frozen meat etc - what on earth harm can it cause if it's overdate but has been kept well below freezing? Unless you've had a powercut and the freezer de-frosted. As happened to us once - we've got a generator now.

I often give leftovers to our hens, they'll eat almost anything. And we compost most leftover fruit and veg.
I don't think you're allowed to give hens leftovers in the UK, but who's going to police that?

Meat should keep more than three months. We had half a venison last year which lasted at least six months (there is only so many times a week you can eat it!). I am careful to rotate meals I have cooked, especially pork so they are not so old.

I don't think dogs should be fed ready meals etc, but home cooked food is fine, with us they just get a spoonful to make their kibble more interesting. Cook liver for their treats as they love that.

I wonder where they find these people. They must realise they're wasting huge amounts of money and food. Our food bin mostly holds inedibles like used teabags and egg shells. If we had room for a compost heap it wouldn't even contain them.

I frequently read that we should not give dogs food we eat ourselves, leftovers etc.
What did dogs eat in days gone by before manufactures cottoned on to putting food they couldn't sell into tins and packets for domestic animals.
My D's puppy was ill last week and the vet told her to feed him chicken and rice for a few days.

The only thing I waste is salad leaves. I think I tend to over stock in case the family drop in, and then there are leftovers which you can't do a lot with. Tomatoes aren't a problem - I just make spaghetti sauce.
Every Sunday I cook lots of extra potatoes and greens in anticipation of a nice bubble and squeak on Monday, and every Sunday my DSiL scoffs the lot. I don't know where he puts it all, and he is so skinny he's almost transparent!
It's very rewarding to cook for appreciative eaters, tho', and I'm not struggling with unwanted leftovers.

I often eat meat that has been frozen for longer than 3 months. We waste very little food.

We waste far too much. The freezer is full my husband has a habit of buying meat joints on special offer which fill the freezer and we often forget to use in 3 months sobthey get frost bitten and thrown / great special offer!! It also contains frozen food such as peas and ice creams do we have little room to freeze left overs. I try to buy and cook only what we need but our adult son often passes on our meals and orders take away or opens food unplanned thereby generating waste. My job is to try and eat what he doesn't for lunch next day - to save waste, but I find increasingly and especially in this heat I don't want leftovers for lunch - just a light salad or something. So to the bin goes half a packet of sausages or a couple of chops regularly. Every week I chuck out gone soft tomatoes, fruit and gone yellow broccoli, 2 half loaves - I only eat brown bred the men only eat white and neither of us eat more than a few slices of bread a week. No room to freeze it any of it, and no desire to repeat menus too frequently - no use for soups etc made a loaf last year from left overs - froze it and then chucked it after we'd paid to freeze it for a year!! We don't eat soup much - about once a year, so why I thought it would be better than chucking the ingredients at the start I have no idea!!

A good food chain works, what we don't eat the dogs do, what they won't eat the hens will, and what they won't have the compost absorbs-simples!

I have few leftovers, apart from bread. Cooking for one, plus grandchild once a week and holidays, means I'm careful what I buy and freeze. DGS will eat chicken in whatever guise, some fish and a little 'sheepmeat' as he calls it. I'll eat most things if I remember to defrost (except pork), but I do like bacon and ham (!) But I don't always fancy what's in the freezer. I often end up making soup of vegetables that are almost 'past it'. My main problem is I can't be bothered to eat - all that faffing about for breakfast or lunch - I'd rather have a wholesome meal in the evening and lots of water or decaf coffee through the day!

Over ripe bananas - freeze for future banana loaf.
Bread - keep in freezer, defrosts in a minute or toast.
Frozen bulk -cooked meals - microwave from frozen. I never defrost.
I give the dog leftovers, no salt or sugar in them anyway.
What I don't freeze - cauliflower or raw eggs. Neither is edible when cooked.

There are only 2 in our household and when I have to buy packs of food too big for immediate use, I freeze the surplus; crumpets, cakes, bread and bread rolls, tinned food, where I only needed half the tin, cold meat, smoked salmon, sausages, even meat and pork pies. I buy vegetables loose and have no qualms in turning up at the till with one small carrot, although fresh veg can always be chopped and frozen.

It is annoying that packs are so large but the surplus can be stored or frozen in most cases.

Has anyone found a supermarket that sells 2 person pack sizes - or even for one person? Surely the cost of the extra packaging needed for smaller sizes is not that much. Everything seems to be getting bigger these days - including waistlines.

I find that the more different recycling bins we get (we have 9 different collections each fortnight as well as 2 compost heaps) the less I have to put in them. We often miss a collection because there's not enough to make it worthwhile putting that particular bin out this week.
I have gradually reduced the amounts I cook so there is less waste. I tend to ignore use-by dates as most things can go at least 3 days over with no ill effects. Taking note of appearance and smell works just as well. I don't batch bake or cook multi meals any more - they just sat in the freezer. If there is some left over, I do freeze it but mainly cos I think I ought to. If it goes in the fridge it probably gets thrown away at the end of the week. The worst thing I find is bread, my food bin is usually 3/4 full of bread that's gone dry (yes I do toast for a ,couple of days) and the remainder is chicken skin and bones. Too much veg? - on the compost heap.
I must admit I do object when I see supermarkets throwing away good food. Sainsbury is particularly bad at slicing its bread at 8pm (even when open till 10) prior to bagging it to throw away. I know some supermarkets do give to homeless shelters etc but it should be a legal requirement.

Bubble and squeak is lovely!

What can't be frozen or tipped into the dog's ever open mouth goes into the compost heap.

Eating up leftovers? What else are husbands for?

Happy memories of my Mum's leftovers after the Sunday roast when I was a child. Her cottage pie, minced leftover joint of meat + whatever leftover veg was my absolute favourite. I have tried to replicate it, but it is just not the same.

Lidl don't do BOGOFs. I try and shop there but they don't deliver and it is more economical to buy from Tesco and have it delivered due to mileage. Tesco delivery saver means it costs about a £1 per delivery and I pay using my Tesco points. Wish Tesco would just reduce prices. Do you notice how most of the special offers are on non-healthy foods?

i love it when there's a few cooked vegetables left over. I pop them in a container in the fridge and enjoy them in an omelette, or home made soup the next day.

I put left overs in the freezer, and food which is coming near its use by date like sandwich meat.

Got macaroni cheese for two in the freezer, a portion of spag bol, and a portion of beef casserole.

If its left over I try to freeze it and use again. There is too much wastage in this world to throw useable food away