1 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning. 2 00:00:10,840 --> 00:00:16,479 Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 3 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:21,000 Speaker 1: tip is to cook to make leftovers. There are very 4 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: few scenarios in life where it is possible to save 5 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: both time and money, but by making a little extra 6 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: and cooking things that keep well, it is possible to 7 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:37,320 Speaker 1: do both and perhaps even eat better than you otherwise would. 8 00:00:38,159 --> 00:00:41,879 Speaker 1: Because I work from home, I am responsible for procuring 9 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:45,600 Speaker 1: my lunch each day. Going out to buy something would 10 00:00:45,640 --> 00:00:49,479 Speaker 1: take a fair amount of time, ordering in would be 11 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: quite expensive. I can cook, of course, but I am 12 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:57,400 Speaker 1: usually trying to cram in as much as possible before 13 00:00:57,400 --> 00:01:00,960 Speaker 1: my kids get home from school. This is why I 14 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: love eating leftovers. I can just heat something up quickly 15 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,320 Speaker 1: and I will eat something tastier than if I were 16 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 1: eating a bowl of cereal or a peanut butter sandwich. 17 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:15,320 Speaker 1: It is also sometimes nice for dinners to cook once 18 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,480 Speaker 1: and then get to eat a second dinner with minimal effort. 19 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:21,880 Speaker 1: So in my house, Wednesdays in particular tend to be 20 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: a night where we cook to generate a lot of leftovers. Ideally, 21 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,840 Speaker 1: this is something hearty like chili that can then be 22 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:33,640 Speaker 1: reheated multiple times. My lunch is for Thursday, Friday, and 23 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: sometimes Saturday are then set. I also love when we 24 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:40,920 Speaker 1: manage to do something like grill a bunch of steaks 25 00:01:41,080 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: on Saturday. This then can turn into dinner on Sunday 26 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:50,559 Speaker 1: with some repurposing. Cook once and eat twice or more 27 00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: is a great philosophy for life. This seems straightforward enough, 28 00:01:56,840 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: and indeed, cook enough for leftovers is pretty common advice. However, 29 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,080 Speaker 1: I know many people have trouble making this work in 30 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:10,799 Speaker 1: real life. That's because cooking for leftovers does require an 31 00:02:10,840 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 1: added level of meal and schedule planning that isn't always straightforward. 32 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:20,360 Speaker 1: Schedules can be chaotic or shift from week to week. 33 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:24,919 Speaker 1: Not all foods keep well or seem appetizing after a 34 00:02:24,960 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: day or two, and judging quantities can be an uncertain business. 35 00:02:30,639 --> 00:02:33,360 Speaker 1: If you make a lot of leftovers and wind up 36 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:37,840 Speaker 1: throwing them away, then you have wasted both time and money. 37 00:02:39,160 --> 00:02:42,839 Speaker 1: But fortunately this planning isn't too hard. You just need 38 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: to take a realistic look at your schedule and choose 39 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:49,600 Speaker 1: what you cook carefully to make sure the leftovers are 40 00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:55,960 Speaker 1: palatable and can be enjoyed in various ways. First, there 41 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: is schedule awareness, and not just at the day to 42 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:04,520 Speaker 1: day level. I generally look at my week and figure 43 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: out which nights are going to involve lots of people 44 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:10,560 Speaker 1: eating and which are not. If my husband and I 45 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:12,919 Speaker 1: were going out for a Sunday night dinner, for instance, 46 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 1: then it might not be worthwhile to cook extra on 47 00:03:15,760 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 1: Saturday because the kids would be happy on Sunday with 48 00:03:19,440 --> 00:03:23,840 Speaker 1: mac and cheese. If I am traveling, no one will 49 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:27,240 Speaker 1: be eating the leftovers designated for lunch. As my husband 50 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:29,800 Speaker 1: works in an office and my kids are at school. 51 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:33,639 Speaker 1: In your family too, it might be helpful to identify 52 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 1: for which meals eating leftovers would be a good option, 53 00:03:37,120 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: And when this just doesn't make sense, you can then 54 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:44,040 Speaker 1: choose which nights you will cook and how much based 55 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: on there being a spot for leftovers afterwards. As then 56 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:49,920 Speaker 1: you see that Monday and Tuesday are both nights when 57 00:03:49,920 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: people are home, so you plan to cook enough on 58 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:56,680 Speaker 1: Monday to mostly cover Tuesday. Or you see that you 59 00:03:56,720 --> 00:03:59,760 Speaker 1: are working from home on certain days like Wednesday and Thursday, 60 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:02,480 Speaker 1: and you see that you will be home on Tuesday night, 61 00:04:03,360 --> 00:04:05,920 Speaker 1: and so you will cook enough on Tuesday to cover 62 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:10,760 Speaker 1: your lunches the next two days. As for what you cook, 63 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 1: this requires some strategy, but I think there are generally 64 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 1: two approaches here. One is to cook something that you 65 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: can eat mostly as is a second or third time. 66 00:04:22,360 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: This works for things like chili or a slow cook 67 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 1: or chicken dish that you eat with rice or something 68 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:32,039 Speaker 1: like that. These foods don't go immediately mushy as leftovers. 69 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:35,479 Speaker 1: If desired, you can eat something different for a side 70 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:39,719 Speaker 1: dish the second time if you particularly value variety. The 71 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:42,159 Speaker 1: other approach is to cook a lot of a base 72 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: ingredient and then incorporate that into meals in different forms 73 00:04:46,360 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: over the next few days. If you're going to try 74 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:51,719 Speaker 1: to get two dinners out of leftovers, this might be 75 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:55,799 Speaker 1: the best approach, as your crowd won't complain about getting 76 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: the same dinner twice if it isn't actually the same dinner. 77 00:05:00,839 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 1: So the other night we grilled steaks on Saturday, which 78 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: we ate with veggies and baked potatoes. Then Sunday night 79 00:05:08,520 --> 00:05:12,560 Speaker 1: was steak Fijeda night, wrapped in tortillas with some veggies 80 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,719 Speaker 1: and guacamole and salsa. The steak got it celebrated Encore. 81 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:20,599 Speaker 1: This would work with any sort of protein chicken pork, 82 00:05:20,760 --> 00:05:23,480 Speaker 1: what have you. All of these could get a second 83 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: life as fajitas, or with sauce and pasta, or mixed 84 00:05:27,000 --> 00:05:29,680 Speaker 1: with eggs and veggies, or stir fried with veggies and 85 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:32,719 Speaker 1: topped with some sort of exciting sauce. There is a 86 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:35,320 Speaker 1: little prep work, but not a ton of prep work. 87 00:05:36,400 --> 00:05:39,960 Speaker 1: Dinner is often ready in fifteen minutes in these cases. 88 00:05:41,440 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 1: And finally, to make all this happen, you need to 89 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:46,479 Speaker 1: cook more than you need for one meal and enough 90 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:49,839 Speaker 1: to cover the additional meals the leftovers are designated for. 91 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,400 Speaker 1: This does involve some guessing if you don't have a 92 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:58,080 Speaker 1: career and say food service, but like anything, you can 93 00:05:58,120 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: experiment here multiple teenagers in my house, so food cooking 94 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: feels like an industrial process over here, and the answer 95 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: is always cook more. But if you have fewer or 96 00:06:09,360 --> 00:06:12,640 Speaker 1: smaller people, you can just try cooking what feels like 97 00:06:12,760 --> 00:06:16,200 Speaker 1: enough for two meals and then see aim for a 98 00:06:16,240 --> 00:06:20,919 Speaker 1: second meal that has got some flexibility. Something like fajitas 99 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,760 Speaker 1: can often be bulked up with veggies if the protein 100 00:06:23,839 --> 00:06:26,560 Speaker 1: is more scant then you assumed it would be after 101 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:29,520 Speaker 1: dinner number one, And if you made more than you 102 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:32,560 Speaker 1: need for dinner number two, you could just use that 103 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: as a protein in breakfast someday. When you are around 104 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 1: people often resolve to save money and eat more healthfily 105 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:45,720 Speaker 1: in the new year. Eating leftovers can certainly help with that. 106 00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:49,680 Speaker 1: You are not spending money on eating out, and if 107 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: your dinners involved, say vegetables, eating leftovers for lunch means 108 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: your lunch will involve vegetables, which might not have been 109 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 1: the case at a fast food place. Eating leftovers saves 110 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:04,679 Speaker 1: time too, since you don't have to cook as often 111 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:07,520 Speaker 1: or run out to a restaurant to get a meal. 112 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: But it does involve a little planning, So maybe that 113 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:15,480 Speaker 1: can be the resolution for the year. Figuring out that 114 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:21,280 Speaker 1: piece can make meals better all around. In the meantime, 115 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making 116 00:07:26,960 --> 00:07:37,560 Speaker 1: the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. 117 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:41,840 Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach 118 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:51,600 Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast 119 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, 120 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 1: please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 121 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:01,280 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.