Ok, so this was spurred on by Alison's FB post about needing meal inspiration this week.
When everyone talks about meal planning, it seems everyone plans a different food for every night. This is just the most confusing thing to me, so I have to ask, even if this is so stupid of me...
What do you all do with leftovers? I mean, I usually plan to cook two meals for M-Th, we have pizza on Fridays, and sometimes I end up having to cook something else on the weekends, depending on what we had during the week. We eat the leftovers on the other nights.
If I cooked 4 different meals per week, we would be drowning in food!!! I follow recipes, so I am just not sure if maybe other people make less than I do? Or do you not eat leftovers? Or do you eat them for lunch or something? What am I missing here???
Ok, so for example, the week before last, we had chicken caesar salad for dinner (for us-the girls didn't eat it). We grilled 3 large breasts, and each of us used half a breast on our salads (which was a lot of meat), so that lasted us 3 meals. If I make a meal that has 4 pork chops, that will last us 2 nights-we can cut off some of ours for the kids, and each eat the rest of one, kwim? If they are on the small side, I can cook 5 and the 5th one will last 2 nights for the girls. If I cook a roast or something, it will last us the week and the weekend and I will be looking for recipes to use up the leftover meat. Is this not what other people do?
I don't want this to come across like I think there is anything wrong with cooking different meals since that is obviously not the case at all-I am just curious about how other people's habits differ from ours, especially those with younger, smaller families like my own.
-- Edited by Supafly on Sunday 29th of November 2009 09:35:49 PM
supa, at quick glance, it looks like you're just cooking more and planning for leftovers.
i know we tend NOT to eat the leftovers, so i don't make as much.
if we're doing grilled chicken, potatoes and veggies one night, i grill 2 chicken breast halves (good sized ones). the kids and i share one and matt gets the other.
center cut pork chops, i usually do 3 - kids and i share one and matt eats 2.
it's generally about 1 pound of meat per night.
it sounds to me like you're grilling closer to 2 pounds (or more) so that would leave you leftovers. :)
supa, at quick glance, it looks like you're just cooking more and planning for leftovers.
i know we tend NOT to eat the leftovers, so i don't make as much.
if we're doing grilled chicken, potatoes and veggies one night, i grill 2 chicken breast halves (good sized ones). the kids and i share one and matt gets the other.
center cut pork chops, i usually do 3 - kids and i share one and matt eats 2.
it's generally about 1 pound of meat per night.
it sounds to me like you're grilling closer to 2 pounds (or more) so that would leave you leftovers. :)
Maybe so. We most often buy the already frozen chicken breasts-I think they are roughly 5-6oz each-or so the bag says, so we are definitely not eating a pound of meat a night. I rarely ever eat more than the deck of cards size of meat, and neither does Bill. But with things like lasagna or other pasta dishes-if I make a recipe that uses a 9x13 pan, we have to freeze half, and even then we can get 3 meals out of the other half. Do you half recipes like that? Or what about when you make Ina's chicken stew? That makes like a week's worth of meals, kwim? Or if I cook a pound of ground beef for tacos, that generally lasts us 3-4 nights of meals, depending on how much Bill eats. And crock pot meals-well it just seems like they tend to make massive quantities of food!
Maybe I should start halving recipes or something-but I think Bill prefers having two meals a week. IDT he would like having something different every single night.
I try not to do to many left over foods since they sit and we do not end up eating. The only things I make a large batch of are things like soup, chili, stew.
otherwise we grill meat for us and usually Allie and I share meat. So I share a steak with her, etc. We then have our veggie sides and sometime rice or potato.
I'm not sure it's necessary for me to answer this since it's pretty obvious I HAVE to cook a different meal every night with so many of us, and I usually double my recipes. We have leftovers for lunches once a week or so, and since there are so many of us, we use those up pretty quickly, too.
However, my sister deals with the same kind of thing you're describing. She doesn't cook often because it's just her. Even a can of chili lasts her two meals. Occasionally she'll freeze half if she's making a lasagna or something, eat one half for a couple of meals and save the other half for some other time she needs a quick meal.
We've been much better about eating leftovers lately, so I just follow recipes. I plan 3 meals for the week usually, and then on weekends we might do takeout, John will cook, we'll make chili in the crockpot, or just do sandwiches, breakfast, or frozen meals.
I HATE leftovers for dinner, so no go for that here. Mark takes anything we have left over from dinner for lunch the next day, and that pretty much takes care of it. So yes, I have to cook 7 different meals a week, but I've never known any differently.
supa, at quick glance, it looks like you're just cooking more and planning for leftovers.
i know we tend NOT to eat the leftovers, so i don't make as much.
if we're doing grilled chicken, potatoes and veggies one night, i grill 2 chicken breast halves (good sized ones). the kids and i share one and matt gets the other.
center cut pork chops, i usually do 3 - kids and i share one and matt eats 2.
it's generally about 1 pound of meat per night.
it sounds to me like you're grilling closer to 2 pounds (or more) so that would leave you leftovers. :)
Maybe so. We most often buy the already frozen chicken breasts-I think they are roughly 5-6oz each-or so the bag says, so we are definitely not eating a pound of meat a night. I rarely ever eat more than the deck of cards size of meat, and neither does Bill. But with things like lasagna or other pasta dishes-if I make a recipe that uses a 9x13 pan, we have to freeze half, and even then we can get 3 meals out of the other half. Do you half recipes like that? Or what about when you make Ina's chicken stew? That makes like a week's worth of meals, kwim? Or if I cook a pound of ground beef for tacos, that generally lasts us 3-4 nights of meals, depending on how much Bill eats. And crock pot meals-well it just seems like they tend to make massive quantities of food!
Maybe I should start halving recipes or something-but I think Bill prefers having two meals a week. IDT he would like having something different every single night.
wow.
i can't believe how differently food goes in our houses!
a pound of ground beef is barely enough for 1 night of tacos here!
i'm so confused about how that could be! how can 4 of you eat on a pound of taco meat for 3-4 nights? are you having other things with the tacos? we just do tacos by themselves. emily & jake will each eat 1 rolled tortilla filled with meat & cheese & sour cream (emily might eat another half). matt and i each usually eat 3 tacos each i think. that's it - meat's gone.
crock pot stuff, we always have leftovers. i either take it for lunch or matt and i eat it another night and the kids have nuggets or something.
i need to start freezing half of the lasagna - you bake it and then freeze half? how do you freeze it? we usually end up throwing a lot away when i make lasagna. :bag: and for the chicken stew, we LOVE that, so it usually lasts 1 night plus 2-3 individual meals of leftovers - so i usually take that for lunch or we eat it another night.
also, as far as you saying that you cook a roast and that lasts a week, here we just won't eat the same thing night after night. i have a hard enough time getting the kids to eat something one night, let alone 3-5 nights in a row. even if i present it differently, they just won't do it.
it sounds like matt just eats more than bill does. eg, matt eats 1.5 chicken breasts for dinner where bill is only eating 1/2 of one.
I HATE leftovers for dinner, so no go for that here. Mark takes anything we have left over from dinner for lunch the next day, and that pretty much takes care of it. So yes, I have to cook 7 different meals a week, but I've never known any differently.
This is pretty much us too. If leftovers are eaten, it's usually Mike eating them along with whatever new I made for dinner that night. Usually he just takes them for lunch.
And April... ITA. I could never see 1lb of meat lasting more than a night. And sounds like Mike eats like Matt LOL. Usually he'll have one full chicken breast at dinner and then another 1/2 at his 2nd dinner ( LOL) an hour later. Mike doesn't eat breakfast and eats a very small lunch so his whole eating pattern is a bit off shifted.
It depends on what I cook on whether or not we do leftovers.
For instance, I usually cook about 2lbs of hamburger meat with my tacos and spaghetti. We'll have those things about 3 or 4 times the week I cook them. If I cook it for lunch, we'll have the same thing for supper, then we might not have it again the next day, but we'll finish it off the next.
I cook us one pork chop a piece, even the girls eat a whole pork chop. I've been buying the breakfast ones lately, so they're not that big. The center cut ones, the girls split one.
A roast lasts us several days, and depending on how I've cooked it, we eat it differently every meal.
If we have leftovers, which is rare b/c DH is a big eater and I only cook what we eat, then we use them for lunches through the week which saves us money on deli meats, etc.
supa, at quick glance, it looks like you're just cooking more and planning for leftovers.
i know we tend NOT to eat the leftovers, so i don't make as much.
if we're doing grilled chicken, potatoes and veggies one night, i grill 2 chicken breast halves (good sized ones). the kids and i share one and matt gets the other.
center cut pork chops, i usually do 3 - kids and i share one and matt eats 2.
it's generally about 1 pound of meat per night.
it sounds to me like you're grilling closer to 2 pounds (or more) so that would leave you leftovers. :)
Maybe so. We most often buy the already frozen chicken breasts-I think they are roughly 5-6oz each-or so the bag says, so we are definitely not eating a pound of meat a night. I rarely ever eat more than the deck of cards size of meat, and neither does Bill. But with things like lasagna or other pasta dishes-if I make a recipe that uses a 9x13 pan, we have to freeze half, and even then we can get 3 meals out of the other half. Do you half recipes like that? Or what about when you make Ina's chicken stew? That makes like a week's worth of meals, kwim? Or if I cook a pound of ground beef for tacos, that generally lasts us 3-4 nights of meals, depending on how much Bill eats. And crock pot meals-well it just seems like they tend to make massive quantities of food!
Maybe I should start halving recipes or something-but I think Bill prefers having two meals a week. IDT he would like having something different every single night.
wow.
i can't believe how differently food goes in our houses!
a pound of ground beef is barely enough for 1 night of tacos here!
i'm so confused about how that could be! how can 4 of you eat on a pound of taco meat for 3-4 nights? are you having other things with the tacos? we just do tacos by themselves. emily & jake will each eat 1 rolled tortilla filled with meat & cheese & sour cream (emily might eat another half). matt and i each usually eat 3 tacos each i think. that's it - meat's gone.
crock pot stuff, we always have leftovers. i either take it for lunch or matt and i eat it another night and the kids have nuggets or something.
i need to start freezing half of the lasagna - you bake it and then freeze half? how do you freeze it? we usually end up throwing a lot away when i make lasagna. :bag: and for the chicken stew, we LOVE that, so it usually lasts 1 night plus 2-3 individual meals of leftovers - so i usually take that for lunch or we eat it another night.
also, as far as you saying that you cook a roast and that lasts a week, here we just won't eat the same thing night after night. i have a hard enough time getting the kids to eat something one night, let alone 3-5 nights in a row. even if i present it differently, they just won't do it.
it sounds like matt just eats more than bill does. eg, matt eats 1.5 chicken breasts for dinner where bill is only eating 1/2 of one.
Yes, it sounds like Matt is definitely eating more meat than Bill does. He never eats more meat than I do, and unless he is starved, he never eats more than one piece of meat-1 piece of chicken, 1 pork chop, etc. BUT he LOADS up on bread and pasta-he eats twice as much pasta as I do easily, and I rarely eat bread with meals, but he will eat 2-3 pieces of bread. He is a carb addict.
IDK with the tacos-we must just use less meat-we probably use about 1-2T of meat per taco. My girls hate tacos, so we make it very light on meat for them (just one each, obviously). I eat 2 tacos, typically, Bill usually eats 3. What do you put on yours? Maybe we just add more stuff. We use the meat, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream, salsa, hot sauce and guac or avocado if we have it.
With roasts and such, I try to make a different meal with the leftovers, kwim? Like if I have leftover pork, I will make pork stirfry. Even then, the girls do get tired of it after a while (Bill doesn't-he gets great satisfaction out of finishing something, lmao, and he HATES throwing things away), but making different things out of the leftovers helps. If they really pitch a fit, I will give them nuggets or make them chicken tenders one night or something.
I do freeze baked lasagna. It isn't as good as fresh, but it is better than trashing it!!
Bill doesn't take leftovers for lunch either, so all of our leftovers go for dinners.
Also, we try to start each meal with a salad. That cuts down on the meat and other things that we eat. I find I eat a lot more dinner food on the nights we don't start with a salad.
We average like April and some of the others about 1 lb of meat with each meal each night.
Some nights we have leftovers and some nights we do not. If we have leftovers most times John will take it for lunch through the work week. Sometimes it will be served to the kids, etc. I rarely eat leftovers but have gotten much better at doing so.
Tonight Bryce has picked tacos for his birthday dinner. We will go through 1 lbs of meat with all the trimmings for tacos. There might be a small bit for John to take tomorrow for a taco salad or it might be gone. Depends how the kiddos eat tonight.
When we do chicken breast I will usually do four (I buy the bags of frozen chicken breast). John will eat one, Bryce, Owen and Keegan will split one, then I usually eat 3/4 to all of one. The leftover will be for John to take for lunch the next day. Then if there is any other left over I will keep it to serve Keegan in case we have a cassarole or something involving milk/egg products that he is not allowed to have.
-- Edited by Sara on Monday 30th of November 2009 01:34:41 PM
I am trying very hard to stop wasting and spending so much on food too. However, I cannot see to get it down to what I want because we do so much produce and things that tend to not be on sale for some dang reason.
Where do you buy produce and veggies?
I think you meant to post this in Sara's couponing thread, lol.
But I have to say, I struggle with the coupons too. I use the ones I find for products we use, but there are rarely coupons for produce and such, and while I will buy veggies on sale, I eat salads most everyday for lunch, so I have to buy the stuff for that whether they are on sale or not! Produce is a killer. I will buy frozen for dinners, but I MUCH prefer fresh if we can get them.
I do load up on meats and freeze them when they go on good sales-I have saved hundreds that way. But again, the produce is something I can't seem to cut down much. Even apples-I try to buy the ones on sale, but Bill and the girls have definite preferences, kwim? Bill requests certain types that aren't as cheap-but they are healthy, so I can't very well say no!!!
Supa, we are more like you in that I plan meals that I know will have leftovers--even if it's not enough for all of us to eat again, there will be enough for EJ, I'll eat leftovers of something else, and Ethan will eat PB&J.
Part of it is with working, I just don't have the time to cook every night. I mean I do, but it's a pain. Plus if I make something I like, I don't mind eating it again.
We also eat a lot of soup/stew/chili/pasta type things that are easy to make a lot of. I'm not a big meat eater so we limit that to a couple of nights a week. But a pound of meat would definitely mean leftovers for us. Again, I don't eat a lot of meat and neither does Ethan.
I don't like to eat the same thing 2 days in a row. I prefer to freeze extras and eat it the next week. Our meats are individually frozen so I only pull out what we need for 1 meal. It's usually 2 steaks or 1 chicken breast for me and the kids. I do a lot of freezer cooking so I'm making several meals at once. If it's 1 meal with 6 servings I split it into 2 meals. I'm pretty picky about portion control.
I am shocked by how much less I food I go through with one less person in the house.
I never used to have leftovers except with pasta which he took for lunch. Now I am cooking less and still have leftovers. (admitedly I don't eat dinner that often and Nikki tends to just make herself a burrito when she gets home from work). I don't usually have enough leftovers for a whole other meal (except for crockpot stuff) but I will do a leftover night every few days and use them up. My boys could care less what I am feeding them as long as there is food ont he plate LOL.
