Overwhelmed by Leftovers

Leftovers.

This is probably the worst time of year to decide that I’ve fallen out of love with them.

I used to think leftovers were great—what’s not to like? Good food with little or no cooking and no food waste.

And it was fun to think of new ways to repurpose food.

But now I’m overwhelmed. It just seems that they just keep coming and never get finished or if they do, something else comes to take their place.

And it’s not like I feel like I’ve been cooking up a storm—no need there’s leftovers from____.

My frustration might come from not having a big freezer anymore. It was great for (burying) leftovers, you could just freeze them and pull them out when you didn’t feel like cooking. Now, limited to a tiny freezer, there’s no place for much except the essentials.

It comes from a new Thursday night “off the menu” place where we can request Greek favorites. The food is good—home cooking which comes in huge portions that are easily enough for a couple of meals.

Some of it comes from just not eating as much as we used to, which is probably a good thing.

Besides the meals, there are bits and pieces of dinners prepared–marscapone from the spinach ravioli, crema from some Mexican dish–you get the picture.

But it’s frustrating. I’m so hard-wired to take food home, that except for French fries, any leftovers come home. Most of them get repackaged and put front and center in the fridge so they will get seen and eaten.

Then they’re like a giant roadblock. Gotta eat them before you can move on to the next thing on the want to cook list.

Right now there’s leftover duck from Thanksgiving, some roast chicken, a few lamb chops and potatoes from our anniversary dinner, and pasta from last night—at least 5 potential dinners for 2 disinterested diners.

So, what to do? Can’t leave food or toss it, there’s too much food waste anyway and despite my efforts we end up tossing more than I’d like.  Got any great ideas? And how do I become a leftover lover again?