Does anyone actually eat leftovers or
are they just part of an elaborate plot to sell more plastic storage
containers?
My family is – at this very moment –
protesting indignantly: “We eat leftovers. What are you talking
about?”
To them I say: “Ha.” Or, in the
style of leftovers: “Ha. ha.” Eating leftovers once every three
months is not the same as eating leftovers at least once every week.
In the interest of transparency, and
because my family is – at this very moment – preparing to protest
indignantly once again, I will admit that I am lax when it comes to
eating leftovers as well. However, since I work from home, there is a
much greater chance that I will come in contact with leftovers for
lunch. Granted, sometimes that “contact” is limited to sliding
the leftovers out of the way so I can reach the mayo and lunch meat.
But my point stands.
Leftovers were a staple when I was
growing up. In fact, I'm pretty sure we ate leftovers every night,
which is pretty impressive given that you would think something would
have to be a first-over before it could become a leftover.
Whenever I complained about having
leftovers again, Mom would tell me about the bad old days when
times were tough and money was tight. Back then, she said, the family
would have a big roast or ham with all the fixin's for Sunday dinner
(roast one week, ham the next), followed by roast or ham with fixin's
leftovers on Monday, roast or ham casserole on Tuesday, leftover
roast or ham casserole on Wednesday, roast or ham sandwiches on
Thursday, roast or ham soup on Friday, and roast or ham leftover
surprise on Saturday (Surprise! We still have leftovers!).
Things had improved by the time I came
along, but we frequently experienced the 3-day leftover rotation of
roast beef, hot beef sandwich, beef and potato hash; as well as the
4-day leftover rotation of baked ham, fried ham, cold ham sandwiches, and last but certainly the best -- ham and potato soup.
My dad, having spent several years as
a bachelor, was a master of the leftovers as well. For lunch on
Monday, Dad would combine a can of Chef Boyardee beefaroni, a can of
vegetable beef soup, and a can of northern or cannellini beans (sometimes branching out to lima beans). This would serve as the base for his lunch
leftovers for the rest of the week. Bits of dinner leftovers or
another can of this or that were added as needed. Dad always stored
his lunch leftovers in the sauce pan, in the fridge, ready to go the
next day. He washed down his leftover stew with a glass of iced
coffee – which was leftover from breakfast.
I know that eating leftovers reduces
food waste and saves money. While I like to think I inherited some of
my parents' sense of frugality – my favorite clothing designer is
“sale” – none of that penny pinching practicality is left over
when it comes to leftovers.
That doesn't mean I don't try, though.
Take today, for example. After having hot pulled pork
 |
| Being frugal isn't cheap. |
How hard can it be to find a small
food grinder? Pretty dang hard, as it turns out. Nevertheless, I
persisted. Bright, shiny, stainless steel blade grinder in hand (so
to speak) I returned home to capitalize on the “economics” part
of “home economics.” As I ate my ham salad sandwich I couldn't
help but feel a little smug for having saved money by eating
leftovers.
And to think, saving money only cost
me forty bucks for a new grinder!
