What to do with extras?

[Marlingardener]

I cook for the two of us and, having no self-control, often make too much. We know an elderly woman who is housebound and receives meals on wheels, but not on Sundays. I take her a plate of hot food for Sunday lunch. That takes care of some extras.
Also, we garden. The lack of self-control kicks in and I plant too much of everything. Lucky that the local food bank can accept fresh produce. Now I can get rid of all that extra Swiss chard, squash, etc.
What do you do with your "extras"?

 

[JohnDB]

I invite myself to dinner with friends. I come to their house and finish a prepped meal and leave the leftovers for an informal night of adult time. (A lot of my friends have children of various ages)

It works. They get the cleaning but they also get the leftovers. I get to show off and have a great time.

All good in my book.

 

[Roll_Bones]

We have the same issues. And these issues lead to food waste. We do freeze most of our leftovers and have them again. For example we ate the same dinner three nights in a row as we did not freeze that one. We are very good about not wasting cooked food.
But we are terrible when it comes to garden vegetables. I have jalapeno, shishsito and pablamo peppers still on the plants. The pablamo are over 6' tall and just covered with peppers.
I need to do something with them.
But most likely I pick all of them (we have had below freezing nights) bring them in and then they go bad. I guess I could jar the jalapeno and dry the pablamo?
The shishito are all red now.

 

[blissful]

We can a lot, freeze some, dehydrate some, and share with neighbors. I made 3 gallons of sauerkraut which was perfect this week, and brought the neighbors that like sauerkraut big containers of it.

Right now I have cooked chopped carrots in the dehydrator. Greens can be blanched and frozen, or dehydrated and powdered to add to food in winter. Peppers we wash clean and chop, if they are hot, we put them in jars with vinegar/water/salt and keep them in the fridge, or diced bell peppers in the freezer, these can also be dehydrated and used in winter.

@Roll_Bones bones-those poblano peppers! Those would be good canned, or frozen, or dried, what a bounty you have!

 

[Andy M.]

As some of you may have noticed in the dinner threads, we have leftovers regularly. It's often intentional. not only because recipes make more than enough for two people, but because we want a night off from cooking. Sometimes I'll try a new recipe and it's not received well. That's another story. Last resort is to toss it. If SO doesn't like it, I'll eat it.

 

[Badjak]

I freeze, pickle, dehydrate and if still anything left, give away or exchange for something I don't grow

I make different types of sambals & chutneys and sell at farmers markets

 

[Cooking Goddess]

Like @Andy M., we often have planned leftovers. I do try to have enough on hand for two people the day I go grocery shopping. That way I don't have to think about making supper after I've come home from hitting a couple of stores. Without leftovers on a shopping day I am forced, forced, I tell you, to stop along the way and get take-out. Sad state of affairs...

 

[pepperhead212]

I always have leftovers in the freezer, that I can thaw in the MW - the reason I make extras of just about everything that freezes well, and freeze in 1 or 2 serving amounts. I got my freezer so packed this summer that I've had to resort to making 1 loaf batches of bread, and cook smaller batches of some things, so I'd only eat 2 or 3 batches of leftovers, but nothing going in the freezer. Soon I'll be eating more from the freezer, to make room.

I never really have extra, STS, though some friends and neighbors get some of my veggies.

 

[Kaneohegirlinaz]

@Marlingardener I intentionally make more than what we two could eat at one meal. I like to have leftover hot meals for later when I'm busy or too tired to cook.
As to extra produce, back home in Hawaii most folks have something edible growing and the extras, folks will take an old cardboard box, fill it this or that, write on the side of the box in big bold letters, FREE.
And most of the DC community knows that I share food with our neighbors, not only next to us but I take stuff down to our Community Center and leave a bit of whatever I want to share next to the free-serve-yourself Coffee in the lounge area.
I place my calling card next to the tray so that folks will know where it came from and it has been tampered with.

 

[cookiecrafter]

Maybe I,m the only one. I usually re-purpose leftovers. When my late husband made sloppy joes, his recipe made enough for fifty sandwiches. Even when I batched it into meal portions, it was a lot. One day I just rinsed off the sauce using a big strainer and made tacos. I've been using up my leftovers like this ever since.

If you made something costly and you do not like it, the rule of thumb is never try to salavage it. It will only turn into something worse and double the amount.

 

[Kathleen]

I will also eat dinner leftovers for lunch...or even breakfast, if I do not want to eat it for multiple nights. I also will freeze it if too much is there or make a care-package or extra lunch for people I know.

 

[Marlingardener]

What a generous bunch you all are! I applaud your sharing, and not wasting food.

 

[Andy M.]

My planned leftovers are more int he category of casserole or skillet dinners, soups, stews etc. When I do a roast chicken or cook other meats and we have leftovers, then it's usually my job to finish them off. SO doesn't like leftovers of cooked meats. So I make sandwiches, quesadillas, tacos and use up the rest.

 

[Farmer Jon]

Our leftovers get fed to the cats and chickens.

 

[TheMellowFellow]

I cook for the two of us and, having no self-control, often make too much. We know an elderly woman who is housebound and receives meals on wheels, but not on Sundays. I take her a plate of hot food for Sunday lunch. That takes care of some extras.
Also, we garden. The lack of self-control kicks in and I plant too much of everything. Lucky that the local food bank can accept fresh produce. Now I can get rid of all that extra Swiss chard, squash, etc.
What do you do with your "extras"?

I like to put stuff in RICE.
thats a good way to use what you got OR fluf up expensive ingredients to make it last longer.
like beef.