# Storing leftover spaghetti



## bwiegan (Oct 22, 2004)

Please help settle an disagreement with my girlfriend. I have always stored leftover spaghetti with the sauce on the bottom and the noodles on the top, thereby preventing the noodles from getting soggy. She stores it the other way around (noodles on bottom, sauce on top). Is there a right or better way? Thanks!


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## Alix (Oct 22, 2004)

How long are you storing it for? In our house it doesn't matter which way you store it, the stuff is eaten by the next day. 

Seriously, I don't think it makes a big difference which way you store it. Just don't waste it.


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## marmalady (Oct 22, 2004)

Actualy< I always store the sauce and pasta separately, so I'm no help at all, lol!


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## crewsk (Oct 22, 2004)

I store mine with the sauce on top. But like Alix, it gets eaten the next day.


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## buckytom (Oct 22, 2004)

pasta is supposed to absorb sauce, so it would be ok on put it on top. if it sits so long that it gets soggy, i doubt it would taste very good anyway. if you're looking to store it more than a day or two, i agree withmarmalady to store it seperately.


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## lyndalou (Oct 24, 2004)

I always store it separately. I find that the noodles absorb the sauce very quickly, even if we will eat it the next day.


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## luvs (Oct 24, 2004)

compromise:
put the pasta in a zip-lock bag and suck the air out. store the sauce seperately.
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





compromise, i say, compromise!


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## kitchenelf (Oct 24, 2004)

I say store it at my house   

If it's going to be in the fridge for more than 2 days I'd say store it separately - the water tends to separate from the sauce by then and soggy up the pasta.  However, if it's the next day that you intend to eat it I don't think it matters.

So........you're both right??  :?


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## Lifter (Oct 24, 2004)

OMG!

Toss the frigging pasta that doesn't get eaten, and cook fresh stuff that turns out al dente when you reheat your sauce....

Does everyone have to be so nickel clenchingly cheap or incapable of planning how many noodles to cook?

Lifter


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## kitchenelf (Oct 24, 2004)

Now that wasn't nice!!!   :twisted:

But the answer is yes  :P


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## Lifter (Oct 25, 2004)

Elf, the leftover pasta, stored in a jar, a bag, a dish or what ever, aren't "nice" either!

And the cost of discarding, composting, or whatever, for most of us is negligible...

Can we not meet on some middle ground and agree?

Lifter

(Blowing bubbles, having had my mouth washed out with Elven Soap, over a "minor transgression" in my usual earthy speech...but the elves are "different"...

ROTFLMAO!

Lifter...
OMG...did I just "sin" again?


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## kitchenelf (Oct 25, 2004)

You are correct, the saving of pasta amounts to NOTHING as far as money goes.  But be nice about it.  But everyone was just answering the question.  So I guess middle ground would be store it however you want for a day or throw it away because it doesn't cost that much.  Unless of course you mean middle ground is how you want it done?


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## buckytom (Oct 25, 2004)

i purposely make too much pasta so i can store it for leftovers. it's great breakfast food, being loaded with carbs, and my parrots always enjoy some the next day or 2.


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## luvs (Oct 25, 2004)

it's not always about being a miserly or bad planning, lifter.
for instance, my 80-year-old Grandfather does this, as he is active and needs a quick snack when he comes in.
and say my family wants to take leftover pasta to work the next day... with a household full of people showering, shaving, putting on make-up, choosing outfits, ironing outfits, having something to eat, doing the dishes and scrubbing down the rest of the kitchen, cleaning out the litter box and feeding the cats, fixing and blowing the hair dry, doing laundry and folding laundry, vacumming the carpeting, going to the store, and so much more, all before 7:30 in the morning,  there is little time to boil up a pot of water and cook fresh pasta. 
if you have plenty of time, great. but lots of us are busy people and cooking up a pot of pasta each time you need some is not a realistic idea in my family.


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## Claire (Nov 27, 2004)

I'm with the group who say store separately.  If you're looking to take it to work and nuke the next day, then toss together.  It sounds to me like maybe there's what I'd consider too much sauce (to each his own) because the sauce shouldn't make the pasta soggy.  If you like a lot of sauce, you really need to store separately.


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## Michael in FtW (Nov 28, 2004)

If you do it the way my Italian XW did it - it's a moot point. As soon as the noodles (spaghetti, fettucine, etc.) were done they got tossed into a big bowl, sauced, and tossed so the noddles were all coated with sauce. If there were any left overs ... she put them in a bowl/dish and put a "little" more cold sauce over the top. They were never soggy - but they never lasted more than a day.


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