We love leftovers, particularly since the nest is empty. We eat a lot of soups and casseroles. But I particularly repurpose potatoes and veggies. My new favorite thing is to turn leftover baked potatoes into either home fries or homemade tater tots. I also frequently peel and cut potatoes on Sunday and keep them in the fridge for various uses during the week. Even being in cold water overnight makes potatoes fluffier the next day no matter how you cook them. I also add leftover veggies to pasta or risotto dishes, and leftover cauliflower into smashed cauliflower leftovers. I’m a vegetarian, but my husband will eat some leftover meat, like meatloaf or meatballs, but he likes leftover roasted chicken added to freshly made pot pies, as well.
There may also be some health benefits to eating leftover potatoes, rice, and pasta after it has cooled and been refrigerated. It has to do with the composition of the starches in the food. Here’s a link that explains it all better than I can: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cooling-resistant-starch
I’m not a fan of cold or reheated pasta, but a definite yes for me for potatoes and rice. While it is nice to know about resistent starches, it’s also a matter of convenience. These are foods that take a while to cook. Especially rice. I can nuke a potato, but a batch of brown rice is going to take an hour. Leftover cooked rice can be used all sorts of ways.
Day old mashed potatoes flattened and cooked like a potato pancake. My kids used to fight over them.
I’ve never been a fan of leftover pasta, either, but after cooking too much in my early failed attempts to cook for fewer people, someone I know who is a chef told me that pasta can be reheated very well in the steam basket on top of a pasta pot. It actually works and tastes (and feels) fresh again.
I also cook for planned leftovers. At least twice a week I cook something that we can have second time.
Now that we are empty-nesters most of the time, I still will cook a casserole - we have it twice and I freeze the second half for two more meals in the future. Or make two turkey meatloaves - one to eat and one to freeze.
The only time of year we continue to eat leftovers for the rest of week is at Christmas. I make a ham dinner for the 23rd when my dad visits, and then a turkey dinner for the 25th when my mom and stepkids/families visit. I am done cooking for the week after that.
Regarding leftover pizza…I prefer it cold out of the fridge, husband reheats in the microwave, and son will only reheat in the oven!
When I was growing up in a large family (7 kids + 2 adults), we rarely had leftovers because most of the food would be co aimed at each meal. When there were leftovers, most of us were happy to eat them so they rarely made it to be served as another meal.
We never gave pets anything other than pet food—never ANY human food (we didn’t have many pets anyway).
No leftovers. Was food unstable as a kid and we often had food that either I did not like or was “past” its time. I get in trouble from my husband all the time because I will start a new loaf of bread, thing of mayo, etc., when the old one isn’t gone yet (but I won’t eat it). I want the fresher one. I just do. I get the neurosis part. In my world, all food would come in single serve packages.
Except pie and cake. I choke those down.
We’ve never had much in the way of leftovers - I always make enough for ‘leftovers’ but my son seems to think that if he is not eating every 30 minutes, he might fade away! That said, I enjoy leftovers; what I don’t like is leftovers of leftovers, LOL!
“someone I know who is a chef told me that pasta can be reheated very well in the steam basket on top of a pasta pot”
That’s what many restaurants do. They slightly undercook it then reheat each serving.