I'll eat something I know I shouldn't, or way too much of something, just to get it out of the house.
My husband doesn't really like leftovers, so I always end up standing at the counter eating out of a tupperware so it...
1.doesn't go bad
2.doesn't tempt me later
3.stops taunting me from the fridge/counter.
like last night. I ate a lot of leftovers, overate at dinner, and ate the last blonde brownie. because I had already gone off plan at lunch, and so that today I wouldn't have as much temptation?
Freeze it - it's much more economical both financially and with our time to cook once and eat twice, but make sure you do it on different days! Cook, freeze the extra portion, and then eat your dinner so it's cold by the time you're done. I've never dove into the freezer for something from dinner, but it allows me to take even less for dinner because I know I'll have it for another meal - rather than adding another 1/3 cup to my serving just 'because'.
Have to agree with some of the above. Start scaling down your recipes and/or freeze the leftovers. Almost anything can be frozen with good results.
One thing I'm working on is how and where I eat. No more standing at the counter eating in the kitchen. If I'm gonna put it in my mouth I put it on a plate and go sit at the table. Sometimes the thought of dirtying a dish is enough to make me not want to eat it.
Freeze it - it's much more economical both financially and with our time to cook once and eat twice, but make sure you do it on different days! Cook, freeze the extra portion, and then eat your dinner so it's cold by the time you're done. I've never dove into the freezer for something from dinner, but it allows me to take even less for dinner because I know I'll have it for another meal - rather than adding another 1/3 cup to my serving just 'because'.
great idea!!!
ArtyKay - yes, I have done that...I just can't have ANYTHING in the house that is tempting!! yesterday I found some little baggies of leftover baking chips from the holidays, butterscotch, chocolate chips, etc. I had to throw them out because I was diving into them
If your DH doesn't like leftovers, perhaps you could immediately put it in a container that will be for your lunch the next day?
Hubby and I also have had the leftover dillemma. Freezing leftovers helps (if
there's truly enough for a meal).
I hate wasting food so much, that I've been known to end up wasting even more in the process of trying to make a kitchen mistake edible.
I'm learning to know when throwing away is the smaller mistake (it's definitely preferable to my treating my body as a garbage can).
I do make plan-overs. Hubby hates most leftovers, and we like some too much. My meatloaf for example. It's really yummy, but I have to make the smallest meatloaf I can, and either freeze the leftovers or dedicate them to a new recipe for another meal. Hubby doesn't like untransformed leftovers, but he will eat them if they're used to make a new dish. For example, diced meatloaf makes nice meatballs for spaghetti.
I do try to find ways to make smaller batches. One way is to brown ground beef with tvp and seasonings (mild seasonings like onion, garlic, celery) and freezing them in ziploc bags that I mush around every 20 minutes until they freeze in scoopable crumbles. Then whether making lunch for me, or dinner for a crowd, I can scoop out just what I need for taco filling, spaghetti sauce, sloppy joes, casseroles.... (I have two ground beef cookbooks, and use the tvp/meat mixture in recipes that use browned ground beef).
Like everyone else has said, remove the temptation! Measure everything you cook out so that you're only making enough servings as are needed if leftovers are too much of a temptation. If you have extra, set it aside for lunch the next day. Maybe if it's serving a purpose and not just laying around, you won't be worried about it going bad or feel the need to eat it right then.
Lately I've enjoyed making recipes that make only 4 servings. It took my mind a while to adjust (it seemed like such a little amount of food!).
But 4 servings works out SO well. Take half for dinner, that hubby and I split in half. When we're done with dinner, the leftovers automatically go into two gladware containers for our lunches the next day. Just a thought!
There are a lot of reasons people do this, and only you know which describes you. For me, these were the reasons I made myself the trash can:
1. I grew up with a mother who valued the expense of food more than my health. She forced us and pushed us to eat vast amounts of food simply because she prepared it and didn't want it to "go bad." This was my habit for most of my early life.
2. I felt that I deserved the scraps other people left behind. If they ate the good part of the pizza and left the crust, I ate what was left rather than what I wanted or desired. There was a double-hit of reaffirming my low value as a human being in this. I didn't eat well because other people deserved to come first and I ate the trash they discarded as if I were the dog getting the scraps at the end of the meal.
3. It was a compulsion. I had grown into the habit of eating up everything and would feel anxiety if I did not do this. Breaking patterns of behavior, especially when you do it for many years, causes stress which in turn causes you to want to eat. Not eating creates the very stress that makes you end up eating.
4. I grew up poor and cost was always an issue so I had a great reluctance to toss anything out. Period. This is the same sorts of problem which creates hoarders. I was a type of hoarder, the only difference was that I crammed everything into me.
These are the reasons I wanted to eat the food, and saving money, not wanting to waste food were the superficial "rational" cover stories I told myself to justify the way I was abusing my body. Realizing all of the above things helped me slowly change and break the habit. Sharing this with you is my attempt to help you perhaps understand yourself better, but doing so may not be helpful to you.
Unlike some other folks, I am not a "remove all temptation" type of person. I'm a "learn to resist temptation" type of person. I freeze leftovers in appropriate portion sizes. They're easy to forget in there and you can have them any time. If the food isn't good though, I throw it out. This was something I had to push myself to do initially, but it got easier the more I did it. You don't extract value from bad food by adding the calories into you. You just get fatter, as I've mentioned before.
Last year I read a quote that really resonated with me -
Food eaten by someone who isn't hungry is just as wasted as food that's thrown away.
It's so true!
That really is so true!
I think I'm going to try the freezer thing, especally the pre-portioned pre-made ground beef thing, that's a great idea!!
lol, I grew up in a familiy that makes a LOT of food and never throws it away...my brothers and I always had friends over for dinner, and I love to cook, so I'd have to make food for about 6-10 people a lot of the time.
It's so hard adjusting to making meals for 2 people.
One of my passions and hobbies is cooking: I cook at least 5 times a week and sometimes, I will bake or cook up something for my husband or friend just for the fun of it. I just love it! Most of the time, I cook really healthy food...but sometimes, I will whip up something greasy or fatty or sugary for my husband or friends...something that I KNOW i shouldnt be eating! And I will find myself, while preparing the food, stealing small bites....it's terrible and I know I shouldnt do this!
WHY do I do this?!?!
