Please settle an argument....Do most families

[mom2rtk]

Honestly my Mom was an amazing cook and very much a traditional meat and potatoes cook.
I don't recall her ever doing fend for yourself nights. Sometimes she would open a can of soup or beans to make the leftovers go further. Or do frozen fish and chips or frozen pizza if she was tired.
And when my siblings and I were teens we were told what to do and made to make the meal or start it before she got home - peel potatoes, brown the meat, preheat the oven. She just used the free teen labour rather than not cooking.
But no never made us forage for our own food. I realize other mothers maybe did that. My mother never ever.

Now my kids are just now the age they could fend for themselves but we really don't do that. A few times I heated up leftovers for couple of us and the kids opted to open a can or make a sandwich or a hot dog. So I guess that is a bit like fend for yourself nights but I always get things out and discuss options with them. Offer to make it. That sort of thing.

I think a lot of it depends on how many demands mom has on her time an how old the "kids" are. We do one "fend for yourself" night on the weekend and everyone likes just going with whatever they feel like having. Some will heat up leftovers they have from a meal out, some have a can of soup, some have something out of the freezer. Sometimes it's a bowl of soup or a sandwich. I'm sick this week so am considering making tonight a mid-week "fend for yourself" occasion tonight.

LOL on "foraging" for your own food. Yeah, it would be really bad if you had to go out and pick some berries or hunt small game or something.

 

[soccerdad72]

On the topic of only making what you need for a given meal, with our weekday dynamics, I can end up cooking a full meal for the family and then find out that my older son either made himself something when he got home from school, was going out that night, or grabbed Chipotle or something like that on his way home. And then, my wife will call and say she has to work late. So what started as dinner for 4 ends up just me and my younger son. Voila - leftovers

 

[aprilgail]

What’s wrong with hot turkey sandwiches the day after a turkey dinner?
Or a turkey sandwich?

That is one of the things I refuse to eat- poultry to me tastes horrible when it is reheated. Typically if I cook one day then we eat out the next day, then I will cook a day, then eat out again. We typically eat dinner out at least 4 days a week.

 

[MrsDuck]

It just depends on the meal!

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think a lot of it depends on how many demands mom has on her time an how old the "kids" are. We do one "fend for yourself" night on the weekend and everyone likes just going with whatever they feel like having. Some will heat up leftovers they have from a meal out, some have a can of soup, some have something out of the freezer. Sometimes it's a bowl of soup or a sandwich. I'm sick this week so am considering making tonight a mid-week "fend for yourself" occasion tonight.

LOL on "foraging" for your own food. Yeah, it would be really bad if you had to go out and pick some berries or hunt small game or something.

I think at a certain point my mom was like "uh you're old enough to make your own meals...go do it" lol. For sure she cooked plenty of meals and I would hazard a guess the vast majority but at a certain point not every meal was made by her.

I will admit though growing up at least in terms of my mom's cooking I get the feeling that she didn't cook quite as elaborate of meals as some of the DISers lol.

My dad's house was a different story. Still made my own meals enough times but my dad and stepmom did make what could probably be described as more elaborate meals--complete with a bread maker machine lol.

 

[verleniahall]

Of Course! With 2 adults, cooking dinner = at least dinner + the following day lunch, and if it something like soup or chilli, it can even roll into dinner the following day too - we are also not above adding extra cans of veggies to a crockpot of veggie beef soup or some extra beans to chilli to make it roll for a few days

 

[Summer2018]

Have leftovers? I say yes that people make extra food to have for lunches or another dinner during the week.

I purposely cook double the amount of food in order to have leftovers the next day. As a working mother who is exhausted after teaching other people’s children all day, knowing that I only have to warm up dinner half of the time makes life so much easier. I always make the most complicated meal on Sundays with leftovers for Monday, something less complicated on Tuesdays (like Taco Tuesday) with leftovers on Wednesday, which is a later day because of our faculty meetings, same routine for Thursday and Friday. Take out or out for dinner on Saturday.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Of Course! With 2 adults, cooking dinner = at least dinner + the following day lunch, and if it something like soup or chilli, it can even roll into dinner the following day too - we are also not above adding extra cans of veggies to a crockpot of veggie beef soup or some extra beans to chilli to make it roll for a few days

The chili recipe we make yields 8 servings (according to the recipe) but we actually only make half the recipe (so 4 servings) and it still lasts us at least 2 meals and either lunch or another dinner depending on how hungry we were before (meaning how much is left to be split amongst 2 people) and sometimes there's only enough for lunch for 1 person for that 'third' meal.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I think a lot of it depends on how many demands mom has on her time an how old the "kids" are. We do one "fend for yourself" night on the weekend and everyone likes just going with whatever they feel like having. Some will heat up leftovers they have from a meal out, some have a can of soup, some have something out of the freezer. Sometimes it's a bowl of soup or a sandwich. I'm sick this week so am considering making tonight a mid-week "fend for yourself" occasion tonight.

LOL on "foraging" for your own food. Yeah, it would be really bad if you had to go out and pick some berries or hunt small game or something.

Well I think my mother had control issues about her kitchen so that was one huge reason there was never a "fend for youself" night!
Like I said I have done it couple times recently but kind of helped the kids find something - offered to heat up can of soup, etc.
Probably will become a bit more common now that they are older and there are less leftovers as they eat everything in sight.

 

[Praying Colonel]

IMHO soups and stews are often better the next day.

DW is a little finicky about leftovers. If they're more than 3-4 days old, she won't eat them. I like leftovers just fine and will eat them often. Our Friday night and Sunday night meals are usually leftovers. I'm the main dinner cook and it's hard for me to cook something at the end of a long week, so we eat what's left after cooking during the week. Sunday meal after church is our main meal for that day and evening is just whatever one can scrounge.

 

[mom2rtk]

Well I think my mother had control issues about her kitchen so that was one huge reason there was never a "fend for youself" night!
Like I said I have done it couple times recently but kind of helped the kids find something - offered to heat up can of soup, etc.
Probably will become a bit more common now that they are older and there are less leftovers as they eat everything in sight.

I figure I'm doing my kids a favor helping them to become more self sufficient. I can see it would definitely be challenging for someone with control issues over their kitchen though.

 

[VandVsmama]

Let's have some fun with this. Turn on your funny bone for a moment. If you're not in a mirth-filled mood right now, scroll on by.

Sanctimommy point of view #1:
"In MY family, we CARE about the planet, so we NEVER throw anything out. MY kids appreciate the bounty that I make for them in my kitchen. They clean their plates."

Sanctimommy point of view #2:
"In MY family, we don't promote obesity and overeating. We ONLY make enough for that meal. And we do NOT food shame. We actually CARE about the planet, so we only make what we know we'll actually eat. The 'clean your plate' club is tantamount to child abuse."

Sanctimommy point of view #3:
"In MY family, we are not lazy, so I prepare dinners from scratch every night. No reheating soup and chili for the entire week!"

Sanctimommy point of view #4:
"I can't believe that people actually would feed their kids cereal for dinner and call that good parenting."

Sanctimommy point of view #5:
"In MY family, we CARE about the planet. So we are breathareians and fruitarians. We live a sustainable lifestyle and only eat fruit that has fallen off of the tree. The rest of the time, we gather our nutrients from the air."

 

[NHdisneylover]

I consider plain meat same as you do - base for something new.
Others here say its gross to eat it another day and toss it if they don't finish it in one setting.
I don't buy fresh meat daily. Sounds like you do. I pull it out of the freezer uncooked the night before and let it thaw in the fridge.

I do not think it is gross to reheat and eat leftover meat which was cooked and served and not finished---but no that is not what we do. My family would not find just a plain piece of meat appetizing, so it would not be served at my house. I might well cook some meat as an ingredient in a future meal at the same time as cooking the meat for tonight's meal, but the falvaours/spices would be different. We would not enjoy unflavored meat which could then be reaosnably used later in something else---so, for us, once it is served "on the table" it is really meant for consumption that night (if it is cooked/mixed. Plain raw veggies, fruit, etc can go in and out as fillers).

I do tend to shop more often than a lot of people---I like fresh veggies, and minimal waste, and our schedules are all so haphazard, if I bought food for a week at a time, I'd have to guss at who all would be home when and end up with food going to waste, or havnig to run back to the store anyway.
But, I don't buy meat every day even though I prefer not to freeze it (I don't like how that affects the texture, plus then I would still have to know by the night before who all will be home for dinner the next night, which is often not possible in our family). A package of meat bouhgt at our local store usually has 5 or so days of freshness in the fridge.

So, the way we cook: maybe I pick up two of the standard packages of chicken breast "schnitzle" (smaller, flat pieces of chicken breast) at Aldi on Wednesday. They'Re 400 gramms and normally have 4 pieces in them.
Maybe on Wednesday DH messages late afternoon to say he is roped into a bussiness dinner and will not be home, so DS and I make his favourite pasta dish, using two pices of chicken. I put the other two pieces from the open pack, raw, into a container in the fridge for another day.
Thursday we have fajitas. I use up the open chicken plus pull one from the next pack.
friday DS goes out with friends and isn't home. Perfect time to make pot stickers that DH and I love and DS doesn't. Plus, we probably have cilantro leftover from fajitas so we can use that up (or most of it, putting the rest on pizza on the weekend)
1 to 1 1/2 pieces of chicken is about perfect for the filling for those when it is just DH and I. I might decide to cook all three pieces of chicken remaining, cutting one in half first and seasoning the pieces we will not use in pot stickers for BBQ chicken pizza toppping on Sunday, or I might put the raw chicken in the fridge and cook it while the dough is rising on Sunday.

No left overs. No waste. No shopping for meat daily. (yes, lots of chicken---I don't eat pork or beef, we tend to eat a lot of chicken). Not how you do things, which is FINE, but not wasteful either.

 

[NHdisneylover]

So, anyone who doesn't do leftovers, do you just throw any extras away? Isn't that wasteful? .

Are we back to this again? Hasn't it already been covered in this very thread? Some of us are very good at cooking the amount actually needed/wanted and really do not have more than maybe a few bites left over at any given time (in my house, if anything we tend to guess slightly low and figure it is healthier to fill in with fresh fruits and veggies if still hungry). Totally normal in my house for us to WhatsAPp one another in the afternoon to say that someone will not be home for dinner, or someone did not have time for lunch and is hungry so wants more than normal for dinner, etc---and then whoever is cooking (uusally, but not always me) adjusts accordingly.

 

[mom2rtk]

Let's have some fun with this. Turn on your funny bone for a moment. If you're not in a mirth-filled mood right now, scroll on by.

Sanctimommy point of view #1:
"In MY family, we CARE about the planet, so we NEVER throw anything out. MY kids appreciate the bounty that I make for them in my kitchen. They clean their plates."

Sanctimommy point of view #2:
"In MY family, we don't promote obesity and overeating. We ONLY make enough for that meal. And we do NOT food shame. We actually CARE about the planet, so we only make what we know we'll actually eat. The 'clean your plate' club is tantamount to child abuse."

Sanctimommy point of view #3:
"In MY family, we are not lazy, so I prepare dinners from scratch every night. No reheating soup and chili for the entire week!"

Sanctimommy point of view #4:
"I can't believe that people actually would feed their kids cereal for dinner and call that good parenting."

Sanctimommy point of view #5:
"In MY family, we CARE about the planet. So we are breathareians and fruitarians. We live a sustainable lifestyle and only eat fruit that has fallen off of the tree. The rest of the time, we gather our nutrients from the air."

Welcome to the DIS.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

I do not think it is gross to reheat and eat leftover meat which was cooked and served and not finished---but no that is not what we do. My family would not find just a plain piece of meat appetizing, so it would not be served at my house. I might well cook some meat as an ingredient in a future meal at the same time as cooking the meat for tonight's meal, but the falvaours/spices would be different. We would not enjoy unflavored meat which could then be reaosnably used later in something else---so, for us, once it is served "on the table" it is really meant for consumption that night (if it is cooked/mixed. Plain raw veggies, fruit, etc can go in and out as fillers).

I do tend to shop more often than a lot of people---I like fresh veggies, and minimal waste, and our schedules are all so haphazard, if I bought food for a week at a time, I'd have to guss at who all would be home when and end up with food going to waste, or havnig to run back to the store anyway.
But, I don't buy meat every day even though I prefer not to freeze it (I don't like how that affects the texture, plus then I would still have to know by the night before who all will be home for dinner the next night, which is often not possible in our family). A package of meat bouhgt at our local store usually has 5 or so days of freshness in the fridge.

So, the way we cook: maybe I pick up two of the standard packages of chicken breast "schnitzle" (smaller, flat pieces of chicken breast) at Aldi on Wednesday. They'Re 400 gramms and normally have 4 pieces in them.
Maybe on Wednesday DH messages late afternoon to say he is roped into a bussiness dinner and will not be home, so DS and I make his favourite pasta dish, using two pices of chicken. I put the other two pieces from the open pack, raw, into a container in the fridge for another day.
Thursday we have fajitas. I use up the open chicken plus pull one from the next pack.
friday DS goes out with friends and isn't home. Perfect time to make pot stickers that DH and I love and DS doesn't. Plus, we probably have cilantro leftover from fajitas so we can use that up (or most of it, putting the rest on pizza on the weekend)
1 to 1 1/2 pieces of chicken is about perfect for the filling for those when it is just DH and I. I might decide to cook all three pieces of chicken remaining, cutting one in half first and seasoning the pieces we will not use in pot stickers for BBQ chicken pizza toppping on Sunday, or I might put the raw chicken in the fridge and cook it while the dough is rising on Sunday.

No left overs. No waste. No shopping for meat daily. (yes, lots of chicken---I don't eat pork or beef, we tend to eat a lot of chicken). Not how you do things, which is FINE, but not wasteful either.

It's so nice if you can get to the store frequently! I think I read before that you can walk to your store, is that right? Such a benefit to living in that type of community where you can just run by the store every day or two. You're fortunate! In retirement I would love to be back in the city in part for that reason.

I do my main shopping once a week or so and usually cook in the next day or two whatever I've bought. I generally plan for these days when I'm off. I or DH might run by a store on our way home from work to pick up a few things mid-week if we need something, but that's generally not more than once a week or so, either. Subsequently we usually have a shopping cart full when we go (at least for the main shopping). I envy the people who just have a few items in their arms, as my grocery shopping is always such a production! (I shop for my mother, too! And now I'm cooking for her, as well, which has added challenges.)

We also don't seem to have a lot of freezer space. Even though we have two side by sides (one in kitchen and one in cellar), they are the smallest ones you can buy and the freezers are tiny. I've debated getting a big freezer but our electric bill is high enough running two households as it is (we have an in-law apt attached onto our home which also has a full sized fridge). So we make do. But that's in part why leftovers work for us. (DH and I also both grew up with depression-era parents, two of whom were quite underprivileged, so it was ingrained in us that not much goes to waste! Even at 93 my mother was upset recently when she was in rehab when she couldn't eat all the food they were giving her and it had to be thrown out. She's still talking about it weeks later. We asked for smaller portions - mainly so she wouldn't be so upset each mealtime - and they told us it was a "Medicare regulation" that they couldn't do it; fraudulent or something. Imagine?!)

Work and school schedules obviously have so much to do with this subject. We're all at different places during a discussion like this. And backgrounds play a part as well.

 

[CdnCarrie]

I figure I'm doing my kids a favor helping them to become more self sufficient. I can see it would definitely be challenging for someone with control issues over their kitchen though.

I make them help me prepare supper - measure out the rice, etc. So they are learning self sufficiency skills that way.

 

[mom2rtk]

We also don't seem to have a lot of freezer space.

That's definitely an issue here. We just have the upper compartment of a standard size fridge as our freezer. We live in a 90 year old house and really have nowhere for a second fridge or a deep freeze. It makes a difference. Some weeks when I go grocery shopping I feel like I'm playing a big game of Jenga when I get home and try to put it all away.

 

[cabanafrau]

I'm not particularly good at being able to accurately make just the right amount for dinner on any given night. That doesn't even account for unexpected changes in scheduling. It's not unusual for me to plan dinner and to wind up with more people at the dinner table than I planned on either. When my kids were young and living at home it wasn't unusual to have a friend or two for dinner, that continued as they grew up and included boyfriends on a regular basis. Sometimes my mother or my in-laws or various friends of ours drop by and wind up staying for dinner too. My oldest daughter's work has unpredictable travel and schedule so now she's liable to pop in very unexpectedly and join us for dinner. Some of my lack of ability to prepare just the right amount for dinner might come from being accustomed to an always moving target. Quite a few things I serve for dinner make great lunches the next day so I think my lack of ability works for us.

 

[Mickeyluver37]

I think we are pretty middle of the road. I actually like most leftovers and will eat them. But I still feel like we waste too much food. And I never freeze leftovers. It stays in the fridge a couple days and then gets eaten or thrown out. And I won't do something like pick a rotisserie chicken and make 3 meals out of it or anything. We eat what we eat, and the rest is trash.