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How do empty nesters deal with over cooking?

So, kids are gone, ex and I are no longer together (hence ex i guess lol) and I still find I over cook, I try to use less but it seems if I cook much more than a box of macaroni its too much. Sure I save leftovers, but one can only eat so much leftovers.

How have you dealt with over cooking? Or maybe I’m the only one?

Markus29 ,

I use a meal planning app (Mealime), just fill in the amount of people/servings. Pick a few recipes and you have your grocery list for the week. We eat with 2, so I just set my serving size at 4 people and eat the leftovers every other day.

hinterlufer ,

Have you also found that their serving sizes are way too small or is it just us?

Markus29 ,

For some meals yes, but most of the time the serving sizes are fine. I use the filtering options so I get more calories from proteins, maybe my recipes are more filling?

Quatity_Control ,

Find an elderly friend nearby you can share with?

SpaceNoodle ,

Or a young friend. Or a friend around the same age.

bernieecclestoned ,

Or dog, age irrelevant, just no alliums

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA ,
@HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world avatar

I start almost every meal sauteing alliums. The dog can eat out of a can.

FuglyDuck ,
@FuglyDuck@lemmy.world avatar

I suggest finding recipes you like that can either be used as leftovers- roast chicken into chicken sandwiches; or things that can be mostly prepared ahead of time and frozen or held and cooked in portions- lasagna, for example.

Liempong_Pagong ,

Share it with your closest most friendliest neighbor. Put it in a takeaway container and share them some.

rxbudian ,

Smaller pans may help because it forces you to cook smaller amounts.
Another possible thing to try is to cook 1 pot dishes

meggied90 ,

Some dishes freeze well, so those leftovers can be turned into future meal prep. I liked freezing my chili in silicone muffin tins, then one or two thawed chili pucks was a perfect last-minute meal when I didn’t feel like cooking.

Zagorath ,
@Zagorath@aussie.zone avatar

I freeze the leftovers, and don’t necessarily eat your same leftovers multiple days in a row. So if I cook three days in a row, that’s probably enough leftovers to rotate between three for a total of nearly two weeks.

I mostly cook stews and sauces, and cook fresh rice or pasta to go with it, because these foods tend to freeze really well.

Mothra ,
@Mothra@mander.xyz avatar

Pay attention to what you eat over a week. Remember you can freeze a lot of food either before and after cooking if you realise you are not going to eat it before it spoils. Buy less.

I’m not an empty nester, just living alone.

JoMiran ,

I’m not an empty nester but due to food allergies my wife and I eat different things. I find a good kitchen scale to be a hard requirement. Just take your recipe and scale it down. For pasta, I weigh the entire box, divide by four, weigh out and cook that fourth.

hinterlufer ,

I think you have just single handedly solved world hunger with your pasta weighing method

JoMiran ,

All credit goes to that dude in the Bible that managed to feed everyone with a single fish, loaf of bread and jug of wine. Not a lot of people realize that Jesus invented hors d’oeuvres. Holy tapas!

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA ,
@HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world avatar

I had a pasta box that once said “get a handful of noodles. If it’s this big, that’s X many people” with a bunch of circles on the back of the box. and I just memorized how it felt in my hand.

Decoy321 ,

Buy and make smaller portions? Start trading around leftovers with neighbors and friends?

UncleBadTouch OP ,
@UncleBadTouch@lemmy.ca avatar

I have been making smaller portions for sure, but giving the leftovers away is a good idea

Decoy321 ,

I like the sharing because it’s a good way to keep up social relations with others. “Hey I got some extra food, can I drop off some for you and we’ll catch up for a bit?” Plus people will return the favor and drop by with free food.

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