Cooking for... the garbage

Doris

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 3:44 am

There is a big problem in my house with leftovers, especially after Shabbos and Yom Tov, in particular after having guests. The last thing I want when we have guests is to offer them a stingy meal. So I always make sure that dishes are full and that there is a nice but not crazy big choice of what to eat. And then, after the meal, the problems start.

What to do with the leftovers?

I always seem to have tons of food leftover. My husband and I are the only ones who eat leftovers are my husband and I, most are not suitable for the baby.

There is a limit to how many times I can reheat food - and I can't freeze food after it's been out the whole Shabbos.

So much ends up in the garbage - and it drives me crazy - the cost and the waste.

What do you do?

lizard8

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 3:48 am

If you can't cook less, then at least give the food away on sunday. Someone will be glad to eat your leftovers.
I hate throwing out things, so if it is something good (meat, chicken), and we wont be able to finish it before it goes bad, I will give it away.

WastingTime

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 4:21 am

I have a similiar problem (thanks for the reminder to go freeze my chicken soup). but I often freeze thigns after shabbos. most kugels etc can be frozen. why not prepare less of the particular dish/ halve the recipe?

Marion

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 4:25 am

Um, after lunch on Shabbat I put food away. While you [maybe] are not supposed to clean up after a meal as it's "hachana", there's no reason not to put away food so it doesn't spoil. Further, doesn't anyone besides my family need the table Shabbat afternoon for games & puzzles? How can you use the table if there's still foodstuff all over it?

BeershevaBubby

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 4:28 am

Marion wrote:

I was taught that perishables (really any kind of food) can be put away because it could lead to spoilage and wasting food isn't allowed and eating spoiled food is all kinds of BAD. You don't want to throw away stuff or clear plates? Whatever... but food can be put away.

And yes, we need the table for after....

Raisin

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 4:47 am

instead of making one big kugel, make 2 small ones. then if both do not get eaten you can freeze it.

chicken gets made into chicken pot pie or reheated as is for sunday or monday night.

chicken soup frozen for another week.

I even put extra challos in the freezer friday night after the meal while they are still fresh.

all food gets put in the firdge after lunch.

cokked vegetable dishes usually go to waste if not eaten.

Karnash

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 5:04 am

I am still in the process of re-learning how to plan the menu for Shabbat.
After decades of bringing up a family and cooking for growing children and then adults, now B"H they're all married with families of their own.

Every Shabbat I have a different number of people around the table, from 3 to 16 or even more. Even though we're on the other side of the raising-children spectrum, after Shabbat, it's only me, DH and the leftovers!

Some tips: The wider your variety of dishes, the less you should make of each one. If you have 5 or 6 salads or side dishes, all together, the amount should be only a little bit more that if you had 2 or 3. I people want to sample them all, they generally just take a spoon of each. Likewise, if you have 3 kinds of meat, make less of each kind - believe me, you'll still have leftovers.
Use smaller serving dishes - first of all, you need room on the table, and the amounts won't look skimpy.

After all this, if you still have too much leftover, definitely freeze. I send leftovers home with my kids who are very grateful that they don't have to cook on Sunday.

shabbatiscoming

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 5:11 am

Doris wrote:

There really is no limit to how many times you can reheat food. And yes, you can freeze food after it has been out (presumably in the fridge) all shabbat. What do you think most people do?
I know that sometimes if after a few days we still have leftovers on wednsday lets say, I will add some sauce or new spices so that there is taste, for when I am warming it up.
And other foods go in to the freezer either right after havdala or on sunday night. Try it. You will see, its not that bad.

6yeladim

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 5:12 am

If you want your serving dishes to be full use smaller ones. A lot of small bowls with salads can look very "mechubad." Keep the rest of the food back in the fridge for refilling. If there is some left in the serving dish, I cover it with a plate to bring out at the next meal instead of mixing it with what has been in the fridge.

Put away food as soon as the course is finished, let your husband entertain the guests.

Another trick is to divide dishes into two or more smaller closed containers. If you don't open the containers at all, they will keep longer.

Spreads that have been used as a dip will keep less time than those that haven't, keep the two separate for storage and use the one that was on the table first (the same as the first tip, but bears repeating).

Try to keep food either very cold or very hot just until serving time.

Cool hot foods quickly by dipping the closed foods in cold water before refrigerating.

Storing foods in shallow containers helps them cool/freeze and defrost more quickly. The downside is that there is more surface area to attract bacteria.

Lakewood

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 8:35 am

You could cut a course so that your making less food and people will eat more of what you made. Example - Some people on Friday night have Fish, Soup, Main, Desert. By the time you get to the main everyone is full and then 90% of it goes to left overs (there's always room for desert). Either serve fish or soup, but not both. Try and relate that to how you serve...

Also, what leftovers get eaten first?? I noticed that the sweet kugels would not go as fast as the classic potato or vegetable kugel. Since I don't want to be stuck eating the leftover sweet kugels, I stopped making them.

shabbatiscoming

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 8:38 am

Lakewood wrote:

I have to agree with the not making so many courses thing. I make one course, no matter if there are guests or not, the main dish. There is no fish and sometimes in the winter there is soup, but not always. I think that if things are getting thrown away, you have to just make less things.

shabbatiscoming

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 8:39 am

hop613 wrote:

I also don't like to reheat food so many times but when it is just me and DH eating it during the week, I make 2 plates and use the microwave so we are only reheating what we will eat.

Can you explain the big deal about reheating something more than once? if it is dry, add some sauce or some liquid to make it taste better.

6yeladim

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 8:59 am

Reheating food many times affects quality. On the other hand it kills bacteria. If I open a container of soup and remove some, I usually reboil the leftover part before putting it back into a clean container.

Taking a portion of soup out each day and reclosing the container is not a safe way to handle soup, which being liquid spoils fairly quickly.

Doris

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 12:04 pm

I appreciate all your responses thanks.

To those that misunderstood me - when I say leaving food out, I mean in the fridge instead of the freezer. I think I will try to freeze food after Shabbos.

I'm not sure what the reaction will be though if Shabbos food comes out of the freezer during the week. I don't think I'll get happy responses...

shabbatiscoming

Sun, Jul 17 2011, 1:47 pm

Doris wrote:

Then you will just have to "retrain" your children so that they come to learn that yes, we are going to be eating what we ate for shabbat for some of the week days too.
Trust me, they will not keel over, they will eventually, if you do this week after week, come to realize that this is the new order of things.
We always ate leftovers until they were done, no matter what.