<p>I work two nights a week and am the main cook so either they eat leftovers or they cook something fresh. Guess what? They love leftovers! I’m another Rotisserie chicken fan. We’re not big eaters (just three of us now) so one chicken is at least two meals for us. We had the fresh bird last night, I made chicken vegetable soup with some of the leftover today and will either do a stir fry or chicken-cheese quesadilla with the remainder. Costco’s chickens seem to be bigger then our local grocery store so I can get a little more out of them.</p>
<p>If I make macaroni and cheese I always make twice as much as we need so the guys can eat that for one of my working nights. Stews are wonderful the second and third day. My husband doesn’t like to eat leftovers the night after eating the original meal so there are usually two leftover choices. I can’t imagine cooking every night. Leftovers save my sanity.</p>
<p>I always cook enough for at least two meals and preferably two meals plus my lunch. As far as I am concerned if something is worth eating, it’s worth eating twice. As for the bits of leftover vegetables I put them through the grater in my food processor and stick them in meatloaf. (Assuming I haven’t already polished them off at lunch.) Like kathiep, I don’t usually have the same meal twice in a row. I might cook three things and then have them as leftovers for for the second half of the week. Lots of things like stew taste better the second day.</p>
<p>I cut up leftovers into “soup-bite” size pieces, and keep them in a container in the freezer. I simply add to the container night after night. At the end of the week, I put it into a pot on the stove, add broth, heat it up for a delicious and ALWAYS different soup. Usually it ends up being a mix of chicken, pork loin, vegetables, rice and/or potatoes. If you have had leftover mashed potatoes that week, it becomes more of a cream soup. Season to taste and serve with crusty bread.</p>
<p>I’m with you mathmom. I am wondering WHAT are people fixing that will not taste good a day or two later. Some things like well done plain baked chicken or pork may not carry over to the next day, but with a little creativity you can turn them into curries, stir fries, pasta or pizza toppers. (^or soup!)</p>
<p>We eat anything around here. And we can turn leftovers into a banquet. We also love rotisserie chickens but we make our own. If you have a weber grill…just get the chicken…wash and wipe it. Take a whole lemon and cut it in half and stick it inside the bird. Cook it on the grill with the middle burner off, and the other two on medium (MOM for those weber experts). Tastes as good as the ones from Costco. We sometimes use a season rub on the outside. </p>
<p>My family loves soups and stews. When I make them, I keep enough for reheating during the week and freeze any excess for another week. </p>
<p>We just cooked salmon on the grill tonight and purposely made leftovers for the nice chefs salad we’ll have tomorrow night. We do a lot of that…making extras with a purpose in mind.</p>
<p>Tomorrow I will simmer a chicken with left over celery,carrots,onion,parsley and other herbs that have been accumulating in my “extras bag” in the freezer. It’s just the empty nesters here so the aforementioned bird will find its way into chicken noodle soup, chicken enchiladas, and extra broth will go into Porcini Risotto. Leftovers? no just “more”</p>
<p>And yes, mathmom, portion control and no seconds rules in our house. My H will eat everything put in front of him.</p>
<p>My Ds will just not eat leftoevers, except for “moist makers” after Thanksgiving. Like bugmom, without Son here, way too many leftovers. Husband will eat ANYTHING, no matter how old. One year I made turkey soup the day after Thanksgivng - made too much and didn’t have room in the freezer. Husband ate it till it was gone - he finished it on Christmas Eve…and he never gets sick. It almost makes ME sick watching him eat ancient food, however.</p>
<p>Probably the biggest challenge of the empty nest are meals. I get home much earlier, around 4:30 or 5, starving. H gets home (Mr Workaholic) anywhere from 7-11. I am a vegetarian, he is not. ACK! I am having a hard time. I made chili Friday night, 1/2 for me, 1/2 for him. He ate mine. And his. So now I label it all. Its really challenging. Plus where he gets home so late sometimes he has eaten. I think I’m just going to cook a variety of meats, package them up, buy frozen veggies (he is not picky) and he can nuke them. Last rotisserie chicken went to the dog. He was very happy. At least Lasagna we both eat since I don’t add meat!</p>
<p>Baked spaghetti leftovers always get eaten. After spending a night or three in the frig., it’s all firmed up and is really easy to cut into squares for zapping in the microwave.
I don’t put meat in it…just pasta, sauce and cheddar cheese baked up in a 9x12 pan. It keeps for days.
We take it to work for lunch and/or reheat for another dinner a couple of nights down the road.</p>
<p>Our adult daughter is a vegetarian and I would often cook a pound of tofu in squares and season it with some TJ’s sauce. We would use it for a couple of meals in place of meat for her portions. For instance, if I made a stir fry and wanted to use the leftover chicken, I would first make the basic stir fry, take out her portion, add the chicken and then right before serving, one of us would heat up her stuff. I also always make a point of making double or triple portions of rice or roasted potatoes so we can easily and quickly add them to vegetarian or meat dishes. </p>
<p>It is harder to figure things out if there are only two of you and only one of you is a vegetarian. We did that for the first 12 years of our marriage and my solution was to have my husband cook meat if he wanted it, otherwise he ate vegetarian. Worked for me and we both still like tofu!</p>