How do you get your family to eat leftovers?

[srrb]

I can't find the post to quote, if the adults in your home are choosing to eat out or convenience foods from your pantry, getting them to eat leftovers is really not the problem. The issue is their choice to eat crap and waste money.

[Roadrunner53]

Personally, I never knew leftovers were an issue. I just take it for granted that there is always something leftover to eat and am usually bummed when there isn't something hanging out in the fridge. If I had family members that refused to eat leftovers, I would make sure there were no leftovers unless they were for me. I would fill the fridge with fruit for snacks and that would be it except the essentials. Simple solution, no leftovers and nothing else to eat but fruit in between meals.

Find recipes that have the servings listed on it and portion it out for what the recipe says. 6 servings, 8 servings, 4 servings. Make it a point to have no leftovers. Your family might have a change of mind if they are hungry in between meals. If not, you have solved the leftover problem. If you like leftovers, make a tad more and freeze it for lunch. Leave the fridge empty.

However, I would not run a diner in my home either. Maybe a few nights would be sandwich night. One sandwich per person, no leftovers.

[Lady SA]

I think first you need to find out what is difficult about eating the leftovers.

Is it knowing that the leftovers exist in the first place? Is it too many steps (making the easy snacks a more attractive option in the moment) - pulling the big pot of leftovers out of the fridge, placing into a portioned container, and then warming it vs just opening a bag/box? Is it a dislike of the texture/flavor the next day? Are some leftover dishes eaten more easily than others, and why? They will say "snacks are easier" -- but what about the process of getting a snack is easier and more appealing then getting a leftover meal? The taste? The process of preparation? Are they not hungry for a meal but only want smaller amounts of food, so a full meal is overwhelming? Etc.
Each of these problems would require a different solution. So knowing the underlying reason *why* the leftovers are sitting uneaten would help you actually create a durable solution going forward.

As an example: I'm an extremely lazy person; if I'm looking for a meal and I'm faced with the daunting task of pulling a big pot out of the fridge, grabbing a bowl, scooping out a portion, waiting for my bowl to warm in the microwave, putting the pot back, etc vs just pouring myself a bowl of cereal, the cereal wins every time. I know it's absolutely a ridiculous problem, but it doesn't change the fact that theres difficulty in that moment for me for whatever reason. Also, I'm not the primary cook, and sometimes there's "plans" for the pots of food in the fridge and I'm a little leery of eating something that may have already had something planned for it. So I end up not eating leftovers UNLESS there are pre-portioned containers in the fridge. These containers serve the purpose of clearly delineating that these are for eating, and all I have to do is pull one out, pop in the microwave. No dicking around with lifting heavy pots, no analysis paralysis of deciding how much I want to eat, no finding serving utensils, etc. So the preportioned containers solve my particular leftovers problem, but may not actually solve your family's problem.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

Don't give them an alternative.

The problem then solves itself.

I hesitate to weigh in, as the parent of just one child. With a sample size that small, I can't prove that my method is applicable across many family members. BUT. My kid has always eaten well at mealtime, and I am 99% sure it's because I just never have snacks available. If I tell him dinner is leftover chili (not a favorite of his), he may ask if there is anything else, but there usually just isn't. So he eats it.

I would like to say that this was all part of a calculated plan, but I was just too cheap and scatterbrained to carry around packets of goldfish in his formative years.

My kids are older now but we've only limited snacks to the extent that they are usually fruit and not close to meal time. We aren't militant about denying snacks between meals apart from these parameters and it's served us well with minimal arguments. These days they aren't huge snackers and aren't trying to hide secret snacks and goodies like my neighbors kid, who mom is strict about it.

I think this depends on the age & activity level of your kids. I have two teen boys who play a lot of sports (3+ hours/day on most days), & have busy schedules + work schedules. Snacking is useful if they are going to miss a meal, be late to a meal, or because they are really hungry. We've previously been mostly a "no snacking" house, but this phase of parenting has required more readily available snacks than usual. We opt to keep them filling, healthy, & homemade when possible. No one is avoiding eating any food at my house, and we have leftovers 3 nights/week. (I cook on weekends, and then we have leftovers during the week.) Our rule of thumb has always been that, if you don't like what's being served, you can make something else that's available, or skip. No one is making you a separate meal.

[charis]

Don't give them an alternative.

The problem then solves itself.

I hesitate to weigh in, as the parent of just one child. With a sample size that small, I can't prove that my method is applicable across many family members. BUT. My kid has always eaten well at mealtime, and I am 99% sure it's because I just never have snacks available. If I tell him dinner is leftover chili (not a favorite of his), he may ask if there is anything else, but there usually just isn't. So he eats it.

I would like to say that this was all part of a calculated plan, but I was just too cheap and scatterbrained to carry around packets of goldfish in his formative years.

My kids are older now but we've only limited snacks to the extent that they are usually fruit and not close to meal time. We aren't militant about denying snacks between meals apart from these parameters and it's served us well with minimal arguments. These days they aren't huge snackers and aren't trying to hide secret snacks and goodies like my neighbors kid, who mom is strict about it.

I think this depends on the age & activity level of your kids. I have two teen boys who play a lot of sports (3+ hours/day on most days), & have busy schedules + work schedules. Snacking is useful if they are going to miss a meal, be late to a meal, or because they are really hungry. We've previously been mostly a "no snacking" house, but this phase of parenting has required more readily available snacks than usual. We opt to keep them filling, healthy, & homemade when possible. No one is avoiding eating any food at my house, and we have leftovers 3 nights/week. (I cook on weekends, and then we have leftovers during the week.) Our rule of thumb has always been that, if you don't like what's being served, you can make something else that's available, or skip. No one is making you a separate meal.

Yes, maybe my post came across differently than I intended but we are a pro snack house. My kids don't have jobs but are involved in very physical activities after school and on weekends and I want them to eat healthy foods when their bodies tell them that they are hungry.  We don't make separate meals and my kids aren't too picky but we do serve meals that we know everyone will usually enjoy. I think food rules often back fired and can lead to disordered eating

[Poundwise]

My sons are very athletic and very busy.  Son #2 came home today and boiled a potato for his snack! We are in the no-good-snack zone of days 3-10 after a grocery store run.  I did offer the biryani (it's good, really it is!) but he was one of the kids who had it a second time yesterday.  We did have an unusual amount left on Saturday because I was cooking for three more people who ended up not being home that evening.

And no, I don't cook special meals for fussy eaters. And I do have a large fruit bowl which sees good use. Family are pretty good eaters with a wide range but they are gourmands and independent foragers.  In the past, I've been annoyed to find the boys have taken ground meat saved for dinner and cooked it up for a spaghetti snack.

@Lady SA, thank you for the thoughtful analysis. I can ask the relevant parties why they won't eat the leftovers. I think it is a combination of fridge blindness and a strong preference for fresh food/carbs. 

[kite]

I just cleaned out the fridge and as usual had to throw out several containers of what had been perfectly good food. Meanwhile, my family consistently opens up new food for snacks or buys lunch because they don't seem to notice leftovers in the fridge (unless something intensely desired, like Mexican takeout.)  Do you have a system that works?

Why are you buying snacks? 
Don't buy new food until the old food is gone.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1986-01-16-8601040860-story.html

Seriously, tho, if you are tossing out food, you are buying too much and need to get better at meal planning strategy. You can't change your household members' taste buds, but you don't have to cater to them by keeping pop-tarts or frozen pizza on hand.  You can change your shopping habits.

We buy only that which will be consumed within the next few days, a strategy we developed after the 2008 financial implosion that left us with a decimated 401k, no pension and Unemployment Insurance income that wouldn't cover both the mortgage and health insurance.  Scrutinizing every expense since anything we bought meant drawing down our savings, we changed our diets and shopping patterns.  We also sharply cut driving, so it was buy-what-you-can-carry on the one-mile walk home.

We've kept at it. Because when the income came back in 2010, we knew from our pricebook that buying in bulk didn't give us any savings. Today, we use something close to Tamar Adler's strategy laid out in "Everlasting Meal" in which the building blocks of the next few day's meals are all cooked at the same time and stored as a sort of prepared foods bar in glass containers in the fridge, ready to be turned into a sandwich, salad, pizza or mixed vegetable topping for rice or pasta.  If something looks like it will go to work as a lunch, it goes into a portioned container, labeled & frozen if it won't be used for a couple days.  But otherwise, the fridge foods are stored in glass for maximum visibility and appeal. 

[mm1970]

I only assume the adults are going to use the cooked leftovers (the 2 of us).  If I make a BIG pot, I scoop individual portions out and put them in the freezer, with sticky tape labels of what they are.  Because I do 90% of the shopping, this means that when we run out of, say, sandwich meat - we eat leftover for lunch every day.

We also go through the "there are no snacks" phase.  I go to Trader Joe's once a month, and DH goes to Costco once a month.  In between are the "there's nothing to eat" days (I jest), where kids are forced to eat bananas and grapes, carrots and cucumbers, and string cheese as snacks.

[seattlecyclone]

Our main "strategy" is just...when there's a certain critical mass of leftovers in the fridge we declare "leftover night" for dinner. Cook no new food, bring the leftovers out to the table, and let people dish up what they like.

[Hula Hoop]

Don't give them an alternative.

The problem then solves itself.

I hesitate to weigh in, as the parent of just one child. With a sample size that small, I can't prove that my method is applicable across many family members. BUT. My kid has always eaten well at mealtime, and I am 99% sure it's because I just never have snacks available. If I tell him dinner is leftover chili (not a favorite of his), he may ask if there is anything else, but there usually just isn't. So he eats it.

I would like to say that this was all part of a calculated plan, but I was just too cheap and scatterbrained to carry around packets of goldfish in his formative years.

I realise that you're aware of your tiny sample size but when I only had one kid I also thought that said kid was a great eater because of my amazing parenting.  Then I had had a second kid, parented exactly the same way and offered the same meals and she turned into the world's fussiest eater who will only eat "beige" foods at toddlerhood.  She is now 10 and is still the same.  She doesn't really snack and I don't think she's ever tried a goldfish in her life and is given a healthy and varied Italian 3 course  meal at her Italian public school which she usually turns her nose up at.  Same situation at home.  She's extremely skinny.  So yeah, sample size of one kid isn't really going to say anything about kids in general.  Neither is a sample size of 2 kids but at least we got to see how different kids can be from each other food wise within the same family.

[mozar]

.  In the past, I've been annoyed to find the boys have taken ground meat saved for dinner and cooked it up for a spaghetti snack.

They’re making their own meals, I would encourage this!

[Sibley]

If your fridge is stuffed to the gills, then I can understand why people don't go for leftovers. Its anxiety-producing.

Ignore the text (really, I just picked the image I was going for and didn't even look at the text), but your fridge should be closer to this appearance: https://www.katm.com/2018/02/23/what-does-an-empty-fridge-full-of-expired-food-say-about-a-person/

Than this appearance: https://www.colourbox.com/image/an-open-refrigerator-door-showing-a-full-stocked-fridge-loaded-up-with-food-and-fresh-ingredients-image-2305103

Packaging leftovers in single serve amounts also encourages eating leftovers. Not buying snack foods, or buying less of them, will help. Having leftover nights helps. Adjusting how much you make to start with helps. But sometimes, no matter how well you do, something gets tossed. Goal is just to minimize it.

[GuitarStv]

If your fridge is stuffed to the gills, then I can understand why people don't go for leftovers. Its anxiety-producing.

Ignore the text (really, I just picked the image I was going for and didn't even look at the text), but your fridge should be closer to this appearance: https://www.katm.com/2018/02/23/what-does-an-empty-fridge-full-of-expired-food-say-about-a-person/

Than this appearance: https://www.colourbox.com/image/an-open-refrigerator-door-showing-a-full-stocked-fridge-loaded-up-with-food-and-fresh-ingredients-image-2305103

Packaging leftovers in single serve amounts also encourages eating leftovers. Not buying snack foods, or buying less of them, will help. Having leftover nights helps. Adjusting how much you make to start with helps. But sometimes, no matter how well you do, something gets tossed. Goal is just to minimize it.

If your 'fridge looks like the first picture, you should get a mini bar fridge and stop wasting electricity cooling a giant area that you don't need to have cooled.  :P

[Sibley]

If your fridge is stuffed to the gills, then I can understand why people don't go for leftovers. Its anxiety-producing.

Ignore the text (really, I just picked the image I was going for and didn't even look at the text), but your fridge should be closer to this appearance: https://www.katm.com/2018/02/23/what-does-an-empty-fridge-full-of-expired-food-say-about-a-person/

Than this appearance: https://www.colourbox.com/image/an-open-refrigerator-door-showing-a-full-stocked-fridge-loaded-up-with-food-and-fresh-ingredients-image-2305103

Packaging leftovers in single serve amounts also encourages eating leftovers. Not buying snack foods, or buying less of them, will help. Having leftover nights helps. Adjusting how much you make to start with helps. But sometimes, no matter how well you do, something gets tossed. Goal is just to minimize it.

If your 'fridge looks like the first picture, you should get a mini bar fridge and stop wasting electricity cooling a giant area that you don't need to have cooled.  :P

Well, some of us didn't buy the fridge, and I'm not going to replace a perfectly good fridge just because most of the time it's not very full. But mine isn't quite that empty, and the freezer certainly isn't! However, I'm just feeding myself so a family is going to have a larger quantity of food in the fridge. The point is, if your fridge is too full then it becomes difficult to find what you're looking for, so you don't look. Then more things go uneaten. If you're doing batch cooking, then there should actually be a cycle of foods in and out which will have natural lulls where the fridge is mostly empty, right before you go to the grocery store for the next batch cooking day.

[getsorted]

Don't give them an alternative.

The problem then solves itself.

I hesitate to weigh in, as the parent of just one child. With a sample size that small, I can't prove that my method is applicable across many family members. BUT. My kid has always eaten well at mealtime, and I am 99% sure it's because I just never have snacks available. If I tell him dinner is leftover chili (not a favorite of his), he may ask if there is anything else, but there usually just isn't. So he eats it.

I would like to say that this was all part of a calculated plan, but I was just too cheap and scatterbrained to carry around packets of goldfish in his formative years.

I realise that you're aware of your tiny sample size but when I only had one kid I also thought that said kid was a great eater because of my amazing parenting.  Then I had had a second kid, parented exactly the same way and offered the same meals and she turned into the world's fussiest eater who will only eat "beige" foods at toddlerhood.  She is now 10 and is still the same.  She doesn't really snack and I don't think she's ever tried a goldfish in her life and is given a healthy and varied Italian 3 course  meal at her Italian public school which she usually turns her nose up at.  Same situation at home.  She's extremely skinny.  So yeah, sample size of one kid isn't really going to say anything about kids in general.  Neither is a sample size of 2 kids but at least we got to see how different kids can be from each other food wise within the same family.

Believe me, I am the last person who would label my own parenting as amazing.

[GuitarStv]

Don't give them an alternative.

The problem then solves itself.

I hesitate to weigh in, as the parent of just one child. With a sample size that small, I can't prove that my method is applicable across many family members. BUT. My kid has always eaten well at mealtime, and I am 99% sure it's because I just never have snacks available. If I tell him dinner is leftover chili (not a favorite of his), he may ask if there is anything else, but there usually just isn't. So he eats it.

I would like to say that this was all part of a calculated plan, but I was just too cheap and scatterbrained to carry around packets of goldfish in his formative years.

I realise that you're aware of your tiny sample size but when I only had one kid I also thought that said kid was a great eater because of my amazing parenting.  Then I had had a second kid, parented exactly the same way and offered the same meals and she turned into the world's fussiest eater who will only eat "beige" foods at toddlerhood.  She is now 10 and is still the same.  She doesn't really snack and I don't think she's ever tried a goldfish in her life and is given a healthy and varied Italian 3 course  meal at her Italian public school which she usually turns her nose up at.  Same situation at home.  She's extremely skinny.  So yeah, sample size of one kid isn't really going to say anything about kids in general.  Neither is a sample size of 2 kids but at least we got to see how different kids can be from each other food wise within the same family.

Believe me, I am the last person who would label my own parenting as amazing.

I think most parents are amazing.  It's the damned kids that suck.  :P

[charis]

I had a kid that was underweight starting in the newborn stage and stayed like that until puberty. We can't act like just don't offer snacks is universal advice that can be successfully applied to all situations and all kids.

[getsorted]

I had a kid that was underweight starting in the newborn stage and stayed like that until puberty. We can't act like just don't offer snacks is universal advice that can be successfully applied to all situations and all kids.

Sure! But I would suggest that we also can't act as if the array of available options plays no role at all. There are many factors at play in how someone's eating habits develop, only some of which are subject to outside influence, and only one of the outside influences is what a parent does. But the original question was how to increase consumption of leftovers, and offering fewer options is one potential course of action to try out. If we assume that to the family members, the leftovers are simply less desirable than the available alternatives-- but still perfectly palatable and satisfying-- then reducing the availability of more desirable options might work out just fine.

I realize eating is a sensitive subject, and often a source of power struggles between kids and families, but there's also nothing wrong with imposing some limits on what you make available. There is plenty of middle ground to explore between absolute permissiveness and absolute dictation of what is eaten when.

[Roadrunner53]

I had a kid that was underweight starting in the newborn stage and stayed like that until puberty. We can't act like just don't offer snacks is universal advice that can be successfully applied to all situations and all kids.

Sure! But I would suggest that we also can't act as if the array of available options plays no role at all. There are many factors at play in how someone's eating habits develop, only some of which are subject to outside influence, and only one of the outside influences is what a parent does. But the original question was how to increase consumption of leftovers, and offering fewer options is one potential course of action to try out. If we assume that to the family members, the leftovers are simply less desirable than the available alternatives-- but still perfectly palatable and satisfying-- then reducing the availability of more desirable options might work out just fine.

I realize eating is a sensitive subject, and often a source of power struggles between kids and families, but there's also nothing wrong with imposing some limits on what you make available. There is plenty of middle ground to explore between absolute permissiveness and absolute dictation of what is eaten when.

Yes, agree. I have a friend who seems to dislike everything. It blows my mind! I will mention something I had or made and she will say something like she wouldn't eat that. I am not talking anything exotic just normal stuff! I swear she only likes about 10 things and that is it. She is beyond fussy with everything. At times she will say something like her mother never made it. Well, she is almost 70 years old and you'd think by now she could try stuff. She decides she hates stuff and never has even tasted it! Drives me nuts! Her mother hated stuff and had a limited liking of foods and passed it down to her kids.

I personally do not get it because I would try just about anything once. If I don't like it so be it, but I might!

[charis]

I had a kid that was underweight starting in the newborn stage and stayed like that until puberty. We can't act like just don't offer snacks is universal advice that can be successfully applied to all situations and all kids.

Sure! But I would suggest that we also can't act as if the array of available options plays no role at all. There are many factors at play in how someone's eating habits develop, only some of which are subject to outside influence, and only one of the outside influences is what a parent does. But the original question was how to increase consumption of leftovers, and offering fewer options is one potential course of action to try out. If we assume that to the family members, the leftovers are simply less desirable than the available alternatives-- but still perfectly palatable and satisfying-- then reducing the availability of more desirable options might work out just fine.

I realize eating is a sensitive subject, and often a source of power struggles between kids and families, but there's also nothing wrong with imposing some limits on what you make available. There is plenty of middle ground to explore between absolute permissiveness and absolute dictation of what is eaten when.

Yes, the middle ground was my point - never said anything about absolute permissiveness. The no snacks position was the original proposition to which I was responding.

[Hula Hoop]

I had a kid that was underweight starting in the newborn stage and stayed like that until puberty. We can't act like just don't offer snacks is universal advice that can be successfully applied to all situations and all kids.

Sure! But I would suggest that we also can't act as if the array of available options plays no role at all. There are many factors at play in how someone's eating habits develop, only some of which are subject to outside influence, and only one of the outside influences is what a parent does. But the original question was how to increase consumption of leftovers, and offering fewer options is one potential course of action to try out. If we assume that to the family members, the leftovers are simply less desirable than the available alternatives-- but still perfectly palatable and satisfying-- then reducing the availability of more desirable options might work out just fine.

I realize eating is a sensitive subject, and often a source of power struggles between kids and families, but there's also nothing wrong with imposing some limits on what you make available. There is plenty of middle ground to explore between absolute permissiveness and absolute dictation of what is eaten when.

Yes, the middle ground was my point - never said anything about absolute permissiveness. The no snacks position was the original proposition to which I was responding.

Agreed.  The no snacks thing might work with certain kids and it also depends on how snacks are served.  We've always followed the "Child of Mine" (Ellyn Satter) 3 meals a day plus 2 balanced snacks and it worked really well for kid #1 who eats everything and not so well for kid #2 who has a very limited variety of foods she'll eat.  But we keep offering the foods at scheduled times 5 times a day and everyone seems to get enough to eat without any major power issues or fighting.  I see this as a 'win' but hope that at some point kid #2 starts eating things that aren't beige.

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Hula Hoop - unsure of how old your picky eater is, but mine has made quite a few strides in the last few years (he's 15). I chalk it up to peer pressure. He definitely doesn't want to be known as the guy who will only eat chicken strips & pasta. My picky eater has always eaten a lot of fruit, & a reasonable number of vegetables, but his main dish choices have been quite narrow. He's gotten so much better, so there might be hope for you!

[Hula Hoop]

@Hula Hoop - unsure of how old your picky eater is, but mine has made quite a few strides in the last few years (he's 15). I chalk it up to peer pressure. He definitely doesn't want to be known as the guy who will only eat chicken strips & pasta. My picky eater has always eaten a lot of fruit, & a reasonable number of vegetables, but his main dish choices have been quite narrow. He's gotten so much better, so there might be hope for you!

She's 10. Thanks for this - I'm glad that there's hope.

[Sibley]

@Hula Hoop - unsure of how old your picky eater is, but mine has made quite a few strides in the last few years (he's 15). I chalk it up to peer pressure. He definitely doesn't want to be known as the guy who will only eat chicken strips & pasta. My picky eater has always eaten a lot of fruit, & a reasonable number of vegetables, but his main dish choices have been quite narrow. He's gotten so much better, so there might be hope for you!

She's 10. Thanks for this - I'm glad that there's hope.

As a lifelong picky eater, I've gotten a lot more adventurous as an adult because I can control when and under what circumstances I try new things. There are times that it just isn't gonna happen, and other times when I'm happy to eat weird things. I'm still picky, but I look almost normal.

[nereo]

@Hula Hoop - unsure of how old your picky eater is, but mine has made quite a few strides in the last few years (he's 15). I chalk it up to peer pressure. He definitely doesn't want to be known as the guy who will only eat chicken strips & pasta. My picky eater has always eaten a lot of fruit, & a reasonable number of vegetables, but his main dish choices have been quite narrow. He's gotten so much better, so there might be hope for you!

She's 10. Thanks for this - I'm glad that there's hope.

As a lifelong picky eater, I've gotten a lot more adventurous as an adult because I can control when and under what circumstances I try new things. There are times that it just isn't gonna happen, and other times when I'm happy to eat weird things. I'm still picky, but I look almost normal.

you look like a cat to me
:-P

[BlueHouse]

As kids, my mom ALWAYS had snacks waiting for us when we walked in the house.  Usually cut up bell peppers, or celery sticks with and without peanut butter.  Sometimes she would carve out the inside of apples and fill with orange juice.  Orange sections, etc.  She made it extremely easy for us to grab and eat healthy options.  We didn't have junk food in the house until she married a junk food jerk. .   
Basically, if you make it for them, lay it out for them, prepare it for them, they WILL eat it

[Ysera]

It's just hubby and me, but I can usually only count on him to eat leftovers once from a meal unless it is something really special.

I take as much as I can for lunch at work, freeze things that will keep well for soups or dips, and repurpose leftovers into a new meal. I repurposed a large Thai noodle dish into a modified "fried spaghetti" dish for the first time not long ago, and it turned out fantastic. Now I always google "leftovers recipe for ______" to see what's out there.

[Hula Hoop]

As kids, my mom ALWAYS had snacks waiting for us when we walked in the house.  Usually cut up bell peppers, or celery sticks with and without peanut butter.  Sometimes she would carve out the inside of apples and fill with orange juice.  Orange sections, etc.  She made it extremely easy for us to grab and eat healthy options.  We didn't have junk food in the house until she married a junk food jerk. .   
Basically, if you make it for them, lay it out for them, prepare it for them, they WILL eat it

Your mother sounds amazing.  I was a latchkey child in the 80s and I remember feeling sorry for the kids with stay at home moms who were always 'on them' about stuff after school.  I enjoyed my freedom to do whatever I wanted when I got home as a kid.  The one thing I envied, though, was the mothers giving them after school snacks. My best friend's mother always had yummy food in the house and gave her a snack after school.   I remember that I used to suck on sugar cubes when I got home after school as we often didn't have much food in the house and definitely no sweet stuff apart from sugar cubes.  My family had enough money but my parents are both workaholics.  Surprisingly, my teeth survived this just fine. 

[Runrooster]

This thread reminds me of how I ate as a kid.  I ate cereal or skipped breakfast. Summers I fended for myself to lunch, a lot of ramen or chef boy r dee. I begrudgingly ate dinner, half of which I made, beans and rice or bread and a veg. Then I drank homemade lemonade and ate chips or nachos at night. I’d usually eat an apple after school. I don’t think we had the ingredients to make pizza bagels. It would never have crossed my mind to look for leftovers to warm up. It was a carb heavy, snack focused diet. Yet I was very thin.

I still struggle with nighttime snacking. Stress also leads me to eat junky snacks instead of a proper meal.

[BlueHouse]

As kids, my mom ALWAYS had snacks waiting for us when we walked in the house.  Usually cut up bell peppers, or celery sticks with and without peanut butter.  Sometimes she would carve out the inside of apples and fill with orange juice.  Orange sections, etc.  She made it extremely easy for us to grab and eat healthy options.  We didn't have junk food in the house until she married a junk food jerk. .   
Basically, if you make it for them, lay it out for them, prepare it for them, they WILL eat it

Your mother sounds amazing.  I was a latchkey child in the 80s and I remember feeling sorry for the kids with stay at home moms who were always 'on them' about stuff after school.  I enjoyed my freedom to do whatever I wanted when I got home as a kid.  The one thing I envied, though, was the mothers giving them after school snacks. My best friend's mother always had yummy food in the house and gave her a snack after school.   I remember that I used to suck on sugar cubes when I got home after school as we often didn't have much food in the house and definitely no sweet stuff apart from sugar cubes.  My family had enough money but my parents are both workaholics.  Surprisingly, my teeth survived this just fine.

It was a different time.  My mom packed 5 lunches for school every day, or on days that school served hot dogs (I never liked them) I walked home for lunch and my mom would have soup and a sandwich ready for me.  My favorite was when we had spaghettios.  Her dream was to be like June Cleaver.  We just wanted store-bought things, but we didn't have the money for it.  I was embarrassed every halloween because I would have some elaborate home-made costume (usually characters that I had no idea who they were but which 4 other kids had worn the prior years).  All I wanted was a plastic store-bought mask.  I wanted a grocery store sheet cake, but always had homemade.  We even made pizza at home and I just wanted to go to Pizza King.  My best friend in 9th grade always had junk food and I remember they stored it all in their countertop microwave!  I'd get to have a twinkie when I went to their house.    When my mom finally did go to work, we kids never had keys - we just didn't lock the door. Times were so different.   

[Roadrunner53]

One more thought came to mind which seems a little dumb but might help.

Let's say you have 10 small containers in the refrigerator. Give each container a number using a sharpie on the side of the glass container or use a piece of masking tape to write on. Align all the containers as close together as you can or on a tray and in some kind of numerical order. On the outside of your fridge, have a white board or a clip board listing the number and what is in that container, if it is a lunch or snack choice and date it went in the container.

Such as on white board or clip board:

Container #1 chicken alfredo - lunch - 6/15/22
Container #2 egg roll - snack - 6/16/22
Container #3 small chicken breast - lunch - 6/17/22
Container #4 slice apple pie - snack - 6/17/22
Container #5 hot dog - lunch - 6/18/22
Container #6 applesauce - snack - 6/18/22
Container #7 lasagna - lunch - 6/18/22
Container #8 salad - lunch - 6/18/22
Container #9 chocolate pudding - snack - 6/18/22
Container #10 hamburger patty - lunch  - 6/18/22

They can look at the board on the fridge to see what is in there and if nothing appeals to them, they can avoid opening the fridge door. If there is something of interest, they know the number and can pull it out easily.

More work on your part but might help identify what is in the fridge.

It might be interesting to NOT go back to number 1 to see how many leftovers you have in a year. Continue the sequence throughout the year to cut down on the confusion. By the end of the year you could be up to number 240 (as an example) then in 2023 go back to number 1 again.

[Catbert]

Lots of good ideas so I'm sure you'll find some that work.  A two person adult family like mine is different than a couple with 2 small children and they're different again when the children become teenagers. 

One idea that I don't think has been mentioned is using a leftover main dish as a side dish another night.  For example, spaghetti with marinara sauce or risotto or fried rice is a main dish one night then a starchy side dish another night.  Doesn't work for everything, of course.   

[Zikoris]

Another idea - normalize using things for snacks that aren't normal things people snack on. My boyfriend hoovers up anything and everything in the odds and ends food category. There's nothing inherently wrong with eating, say, a few spoons of spaghetti or some extra calzone filling for a snack versus an actual "snack food" like a cookie or whatever.

[cats]

Well, last night I served a dish that my family wasn't wild about (black beans, bulghur, sauteed zucchini...I sorta knew it was not going to be a hit BUT we are leaving town in a few days and I'm trying to use up odds and ends in the pantry/fridge).  Today for lunch I mixed all the leftovers together with an egg to make veggie patties, which I pan fried and served with salad and ketchup.  Everyone ate them without complaint.

[gooki]

#winning

[SotI]

It's just hubby and me, but I can usually only count on him to eat leftovers once from a meal unless it is something really special.
7
I take as much as I can for lunch at work, freeze things that will keep well for soups or dips, and repurpose leftovers into a new meal. I repurposed a large Thai noodle dish into a modified "fried spaghetti" dish for the first time not long ago, and it turned out fantastic. Now I always google "leftovers recipe for ______" to see what's out there.

I have a similar approach.  DH normally will not eat a dish more than twice. Unfortunately, he likes bulk cooking pasta dishes which I cannot eat. I sort of encourage him to cook smaller portions to minimize left-overs beyond the next day - basically by freezing any left-overs on day 2 out of principle.

I think ppl are differently wired when it comes to food. I have no problem eating the same thing for a week, but DH craves variety, so more than twice the same is just putting him off eating, at all. These different ingrained preferences might make it hard to push some ppl to eat leftovers.

[Poundwise]

It's just hubby and me, but I can usually only count on him to eat leftovers once from a meal unless it is something really special.
7
I take as much as I can for lunch at work, freeze things that will keep well for soups or dips, and repurpose leftovers into a new meal. I repurposed a large Thai noodle dish into a modified "fried spaghetti" dish for the first time not long ago, and it turned out fantastic. Now I always google "leftovers recipe for ______" to see what's out there.

I have a similar approach.  DH normally will not eat a dish more than twice. Unfortunately, he likes bulk cooking pasta dishes which I cannot eat. I sort of encourage him to cook smaller portions to minimize left-overs beyond the next day - basically by freezing any left-overs on day 2 out of principle.

I think ppl are differently wired when it comes to food. I have no problem eating the same thing for a week, but DH craves variety, so more than twice the same is just putting him off eating, at all. These different ingrained preferences might make it hard to push some ppl to eat leftovers.

^^^ this is my family.  Cravers of variety. 

Given the changes I've been making, I feel that we had better luck with less food waste last week. However, maybe it's because I, personally, have been eating more leftovers! Which is not optimal since I'm trying to eat less, and also I'm the one who eats the most leftovers anyway.

Setting the food out on the counter also made it more likely that my spouse will eat it as he forages.  However, as we found, my kids would rather do their own cooking (one boiled a potato when he got home from school!) than eat something a second or third time.  I suppose I could absolutely give them no choice but that's not a hill I'm prepared to die on.

Having a less crowded fridge (this forced me to fix my second fridge which was not very functional) has helped me identify the food that needs eating up, though the kids are still not inclined to forage in there. I like the idea of finding some clear, single serve storage containers... maybe if I start serving them food in them they will get into the habit of grabbing them.   

[MaybeBabyMustache]

@Poundwise - at the end of the day, my teens are lazy. While they are generally required to make their own meals (with the exception of dinner) & snacks, I often choose between using things up & time. If I'm willing to prep food for them, they will eat it. Because, see prior point about being lazy. I often will look in the fridge, see what needs to be used up, and make a lunch or snack option around that. This may not work if you are out of the house, and/or don't have the time to commit to this approach.

[mspym]

@Poundwise then it sounds like either making less of a particular dish or freezing some for later meals will be the most successful approach for your family.

[mm1970]

@Poundwise - at the end of the day, my teens are lazy. While they are generally required to make their own meals (with the exception of dinner) & snacks, I often choose between using things up & time. If I'm willing to prep food for them, they will eat it. Because, see prior point about being lazy. I often will look in the fridge, see what needs to be used up, and make a lunch or snack option around that. This may not work if you are out of the house, and/or don't have the time to commit to this approach.

I left my teenager a note: "Eat a banana and some carrots".
He did not eat the banana, nor the carrots.

I handed them too him when I got home.
Sigh.

[Tardis81]

My husbands doesn't like leftovers. But he doesn't like to cook, either. If I ask him to cook dinner, pause... and say 'or maybe we could just eat the pasta we have left from yesterday', he'll take the bait 99% of the time :)

[la Condessa]

My husband has an aversion to leftovers (with the exception of pizza) and the kids have picked this up from him.  Drives me crazy.  It got to the point where I couldn’t make a meal that everyone enjoyed the first time again two weeks later without half the family deciding that they hate that meal from now on.  If I served leftovers for a meal, my husband would eat a few bites, be “not hungry”, and then a few hours later make nachos or go out and buy himself fast food.  He has gotten better about this over time, but it has been hard to overcome with the kids. 

Our struggles are compounded by having a kid on chemo who has a reduced appetite and frequently low-level nausea from it.  I used to go for “they’ll eat it when they’re hungry”, but that doesn’t work for him, and I try to avoid giving him blatantly different treatment that could feel like favoritism to the other kids.  So there are times when I wind up making and offering everyone a second meal because it’s what he feels like eating, and he’s hardly eaten in days.

During Covid the school district gave us free sack lunches that were different each day, and since then the children think that lunch should be varied every day like dinner.  Well, kids, no, I am not making you a different lunch every day, and no, you may not make a mess in the kitchen cooking four different meals every day.  Have a sandwich, or if you want variety, there’s plenty of leftovers to choose from.  We’ve made a lot of progress this way.

 I also use up leftovers in different ways, like taco meat going into chili or taco salad, or freeze them and pull them out for a quick meal weeks later.  But I still in my meal planning generally can’t repeat a meal sooner than a month after last making it.

[Catbert]

 I also use up leftovers in different ways, like taco meat going into chili or taco salad, or freeze them and pull them out for a quick meal weeks later.  But I still in my meal planning generally can’t repeat a meal sooner than a month after last making it.

I couldn't even tell you what we had for dinner last week  And I'm the one who not only ate but cooked the meals.

[Sibley]

 I also use up leftovers in different ways, like taco meat going into chili or taco salad, or freeze them and pull them out for a quick meal weeks later.  But I still in my meal planning generally can’t repeat a meal sooner than a month after last making it.

I couldn't even tell you what we had for dinner last week  And I'm the one who not only ate but cooked the meals.

I had a coworker who ate the exact same foods for lunch everyday for at least a year. Boiled chicken breast and broccoli. After a long time he added a sauce to the chicken and he would vary that. But for 3 years he had chicken and broccoli for lunch. Then there are the people who won't eat the same food within a month or whatever.

People are weird. However, if you're not the one cooking dinner then smile, say thank you, and eat. If you don't like the food you can cook dinner next time.

[GuitarStv]

 I also use up leftovers in different ways, like taco meat going into chili or taco salad, or freeze them and pull them out for a quick meal weeks later.  But I still in my meal planning generally can’t repeat a meal sooner than a month after last making it.

I couldn't even tell you what we had for dinner last week  And I'm the one who not only ate but cooked the meals.

I had a coworker

 . . . with some fava beans and a nice chianti?  :P