November 14, 2011

Where Are the Leftovers?

I'm not ashamed to admit that for several years I've been making two separate dinners: one for my daughters, one for Hubby and me. They were so picky that making one meal for all six of us was a huge waste of food. Dinner with four is so hectic that it becomes easier for us to eat later. Most of the time we're so busy handling refills, etc. that we don't get to enjoy our meal. Lately, though, I've been trying to encourage my daughters to try new foods... meaning the same things we will be eating later. It's so much easier to pop in a casserole or a crockpot meal that will feed everyone, rather than try to figure out two different meals.
It's been an interesting experiment. They're not excited by acorn squash, but they devour spaghetti squash. Three of them like my white chicken chili and all of them ate pot roast and some asked for seconds. Hubby and I are glad they're trying new things, but it means we no longer have the luxury of taking leftovers for lunch the next day. Hubby was really trying to ration his pot roast serving so he would have something left for lunch. I think we had a small container of chili leftover, compared to the huge bowl of leftovers when just Hubby and I ate it.
So what does this mean? I'm going to have to calculate larger servings when I cook so we can still reap the benefits of leftovers.

6 comments:

MandyE (Twin Trials and Triumphs) said...

We're experiencing similar "growing pains" (or at least realizations) here. I make what I describe as Hungarian jambalaya, one of our favorite dishes. Hubby and I used to be able to eat two dinners, and maybe a lunch, from one cooking. This last week, the girls each ate multiple servings, and there wasn't enough left to save (Hubby "took one for the team" and ate a half serving as I was cleaning up...HA!).

I'm not complaining...it's a good "problem" to have...but it will definitely take some adjustments! :)

Quadmama said...

It's definitely making me rethink how much I cook.

MaryAnne said...

Same here!

And, I used to be able to serve one frozen pizza and feed the entire family in a pinch. Now one frozen pizza doesn't feed everyone - and it's hard to justify the cost of two! Time to freeze some casseroles, I guess!

Quadmama said...

Mine girls can demolish a frozen pizza in record time!

mandyc said...

This is us too........my 3 year old boy eats much, much more than I do and the other two (5 and 2 year old girls) are eager eaters too. I miss my leftover nights - I use to cook dinner about 4 times a week, now it's all seven nights unless I cook a HUGE meal. The 5 of us can eat 3 homemade pizzas in a sitting, last time I made SIX and then we ended up going to a friend's house the next night and she had made pizza :( I ended up giving my leftovers to my parents...........

http://mommymomentswithmandy.blogspot.com/

Heather said...

I was just saying to myself how ridiculous it was that I'm making three dinners EVERY night. One for my husband and I, one for my 3yr old and one for my 1 yr old. They are so picky! I pray for a day when they eat at least one or two meals a week that I've made for my husband and I.

It's the same in our house with the refill thing too. I feel like I just sit down, have the fork half way to my mouth when one of them (including my husband) needs something!

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