I have a problem. We don't have much money and when my children don't finish all their food I don't want to waste it, so I find myself eating there leftovers. I said that I need to stop, and I have tried, but when I think about how hard my husband works for his pay, (He works two weeks on a ship and only one week at home) I don't want his hard earned money to go to waste. Any suggestions on what I should do? I know some of you may say throw it away. I have tried that with only to feel guilty afterwards. Thanks for reading my post.

Hey there!!
I know that one of the things I need to address are the calories I consume picking at my kids' leftovers too. It is hard to throw away food, especially in a world where most people do not get the nutrition they need. But, how is it better to have the calories stuck on your body as fat than in the garbage? Logically, the only difference is that on your body it is not so great for your health, self-esteem, etc. The only suggestions I have are to serve your kids very small portions and refill their plates as they need it, to wrap up their leftovers immediately for them to eat at a later meal, or to decrease the amount you serve yourself knowing that you will have more food via their leftovers. So if you would eat 2 tacos and they eat about half of their one taco, then by you serving yourself 1 and having their leftovers, then it is about what you would serve yourself to begin with. I know one of my issues is readdressing how I look at food. I sometimes think that I have a hard time throwing food away because I worry that someday I won't have enough money or resources to have enough food...It is a survival instinct I think. It is hard to go against instinct and guilt, but food as waste vs waist? You are not a compost pile or a garbage disposal...Hope this helps! Jen

Thanks Jen, that does help a whole lot. It is good to have people to share their ideas and support. I especially like it when you said waste vs waist. Again, thanks.

Hello!
yes i understand your delima. We have a ton of credit debt we are trying to eliminate & i feel the same.Right now i am on a budget of 20 a week due to my freezers are full. I actually do 2 things. I freezer cook about half my frezzer & flash freeze individual servings of many things. Mashed potatoes,rice,speg veggies ect. so it is easy and fast to nuke somemore quick if needed. The other half is frozen raw & then i put much less than i know teh kids will eat. We eat bit buy bit and any leftovers i just freeze(taco meat, speg w/ maranara ect) It works two fold,helps to eliminate waste and i ALWAYS have something ready to eat, i work infood so there are some days i just want to NOT look at food a few hours later...
hth
hugs
niccii