OH sabotage of batch cooking!

meritaten

maybe I am too liberal - but when I serve a meal, if anyone wants 'seconds' and its available - I actually feel flattered that my food was so nice they want more!
to me 'leftovers' are whats left when the family (or guests) are so full they dont want more! I dont cook a meal and hope that half of it is left for another time or another meal! its a bonus when that happens! and i worry then that no-one liked it!

lostinrates

meritaten wrote: »

maybe I am too liberal - but when I serve a meal, if anyone wants 'seconds' and its available - I actually feel flattered that my food was so nice they want more!
to me 'leftovers' are whats left when the family (or guests) are so full they dont want more! I don't cook a meal and hope that half of it is left for another time or another meal! its a bonus when that happens! and i worry then that no-one liked it!

Me too. I actually feel if its in the dining room/on the table then its presumed 'seconds' are being invited, and I offer rather than wait for people to ask. Things like having people over leftovers are a welcome bonus, not an expected pleasure!

And I feel that the point about ''manners'' is adrift for a partner where it might not be for a child. There is no ''need'' here to be overly frugal, I just enjoy being tight and making things go as far as they can. What my DH, who has no issue with furnishing me with more money or food sees as a seconds portion I just see as wasteful. He's not being rudely inconsiderate, more indulgently profligate. (he also despairs of my bird sized left over portions and knows that while they are not good for him in extra calories I'm making other compromises calorifically to have the leftovers on a weekday. I have to say a less rude more considerate person it would be hard to find...he just likes seconds! (in fact, maybe its me being rude and inconsiderate in our case?)

Gigervamp

Ches wrote: »

We had friends come to lunch and I cooked a roast beef dinner. I served a generous portion of meat for each of us but after they had finished eating what they had on their plates the wife said 'I will cut off some more meat shall I' and between them they ate most of the remainder of the large joint I had cooked. I was not best pleased.

Oh my goodness, how rude! :eek:

My hubby and boys know that any food left over will become ready meals or reused in something else. One son has hollow legs, so if (actually, that should be *when*!) he's hungry later, he does himself some noodles or eggs.

I'd be well peed off if they helped themselves to the leftovers. Strong words would be spoken and I'd go on strike for a few days just to reinforce the message! :rotfl:

cooking-mama

meritaten wrote: »

maybe I am too liberal - but when I serve a meal, if anyone wants 'seconds' and its available - I actually feel flattered that my food was so nice they want more!
to me 'leftovers' are whats left when the family (or guests) are so full they dont want more! I dont cook a meal and hope that half of it is left for another time or another meal! its a bonus when that happens! and i worry then that no-one liked it!

I agree with meritaten,if ive cooked a meal i expect it to be eaten,I dont batch cook tho,so left overs tend to be small if any,I always tell OH and daughters if theres any extra left they are welcome to them after clearing their plates(but only if genuinely still hungry,and not just for the sake of it,)i hate to see greed,but id also hate for any of my family to leave the dinner table hungry.

Gigervamp

I don't see how, if a decent meal has been made and eaten, people can still be hungry.

Penelope_Penguin

squeakysue wrote: »

Does anyone else have to do this, my other half eats everything in sight so if I leave a bit to cool in the pan he puts it on his plate, his dinners are big enough but he is so greedy! I hid a pot of LO bolognese last night and just enjoyed it on a nice jacket potato for my lunch:j

I'm assuming he's a grown up - can you not just ask him to leave the leftovers?

If you explain what you want, most people will understand, and go along with you

squeakysue

He's just plain greedy, if there is food he will eat it even after a huge dinner, I dish up big portions for him, he doesn't get the whole stretching leftovers for other meals, maybe one day he will get it....

valk_scot

Ches wrote: »

We had friends come to lunch and I cooked a roast beef dinner. I served a generous portion of meat for each of us but after they had finished eating what they had on their plates the wife said 'I will cut off some more meat shall I' and between them they ate most of the remainder of the large joint I had cooked. I was not best pleased.

Wow, that IS rude. How did they know you hadn't blown the week's food budget on that joint in a generous effort of hospitality and that you weren't relying on the leftover meat to see you through the next few meals? Even if they knew you weren't that skint, it's manners to wait till you're offered seconds, not just greedily grab them yourself.

Of course there's always people who will take advantage and go in thinking that if they stuff themselves at another person's expense they'll be saved the cost of another meal for themselves one day. My late SIL always used to do this...she would first ask herself + child to whatever meal was about to appear when she was round, then she'd come into the kitchen looking to see if there was any leftovers because "It would save me time cooking tomorrow". Yes, she was a single mum with one child. No, she wasn't poor...she earned about x3 what my OH did and had the money for both a cleaner and an au pair. We were pretty skint around then so I offered to do some batch cooking for her once per week for the freezer, to save her time? She was thrilled until I asked her for the cost of ingredients plus a very modest contribution for my time. Then it was like I was trying to rip her off big style...she'd expected the food for free. It was around then I started to just dish up for my own family at meal times and let her sit there empty handed. She really was a greedy woman.

As to leftovers in this house, I box them up asap. There's one shelf in the fridge for food I want eated up asap and the rest is ingredient/other meal food. Hubby and the kids know this and the sytem works just fine, except for the occassional bleary eyed raid on the fridge after the pub by Hubby. Even then he'll accept the fact he ate his dinner already when next night's meal rolls around and we're all eating baked potatoes instead of that dish of lasagne...the kids and I love baked potatoes and he hates them, but tough, you know?

cooking-mama

Gigervamp wrote: »

I don't see how, if a decent meal has been made and eaten, people can still be hungry.

But how do you judge someone elses appetite?,..just because im full,doesnt mean my OH or daughters are.
All 3 are much more active than me,OH has a heavy manual job,I also have a heavy job but only work part-time,and unlike my daughters i dont take part in any sports, gym sessions etc,so there is no way i could dictate their needs at dinner time based on my own feeling of fulness..personaly in our house,what would be a "decent meal" for one,could be too much/too little for another.

The only thing i can suggest to OP,is that if you realy dont want OH eating any left overs then try portion control when cooking...only cook the exact amount you want him to eat,if you want 2 meals from a 1kg joint then only cook 500gms and freeze the other portion to be cooked later,if you only want 6 potatoes eaten then only cook 6.etc etc(Can you tell i never realy caught on to the batch cooking idea;)),altho any meat left from a roast etc(after everyone is full) is sliced for packed lunches during the week..but all family are aware of this.

Cosmopolitan

Ok so I seem to have more questions than I thought I would lol.

If any of you have seen my previous couple of posts you will know that I'm gathering information and tips that will be useful when me and OH have our own place (currently living with his parents).

I am planning to batch cook and have left overs from dinner for lunch the following day etc, however I'd like to know how you manage to stop your OH/kids from eating everything you make straight away? My OH has a large appetite and I eat a fair amount aswell and I can just see me making food with the idea of keeping it for another meal and he will just eat it. He will just eat what ever is around and he likes his meat so won't eat a veggie meal. For example, hypothetically, if we had roast chicken, pots & veg, no matter how big the chicken there would be very little or no meat left afterwards. And the odd little bit that may have been left would get eaten by OH before bed.

How do you guys get more than one meal out of stuff?

Ideas please anyone?