Not a Used Food Persom, I Guess

I am borrowing a term from the husband of one of my good friends from DWLZ, "used food."

Some may call this 'leftovers,' but I like the term 'used food' much better.

Whatever you might want to call it, I have grown to not like it.

Now granted....in the life of a working mother, making a large portion of any dish on any given evening or on the weekend is a necessity for  1.) packing lunches for the next few days and/or 2.) not having to cook another meal for a day or two which is helpful when practices or games or after-school meetings and tired teaching days happen.

But now?  Not so much.

Even though we have been 'empty nesters' since 2003, I still cook too much.  Case in point this week has been the classic favorite -  smoked sausage, potatoes, onions, and sauerkraut in the crockpot. 

Yum.

Well, it was Yum yesterday.
 Not so much today.

When we were shopping on Monday, the 10# bag of potatoes was cheaper than buying a bag of 5#.  I heard the thifty shopper in me say to Gary "Why should we pay more for fewer potatoes?  We can use them!  We can add more to the crockpot and have plenty of potatoes for leftovers!"  Who said that?  Me?

And today I was faced with the white bowl in the fridge.  Full.  Leftover sausage, onions, sauerkraut and beaucoup potatoes.  Lots of them.

Gary said he had enjoyed his portion of that tasty meal for lunch today while Owen and I were sharing raspberries, strawberries, and blueberries.  He had a bag of blueberry mini-muffins and I devoured the last raspberry paczki. 

For dinner he planned to eat a chili dog (I do NOT like those; he does) and he assumed I would enjoy more sausage, sauerkraut, onions, and potatoes.  Lots of potatoes.

It was then I had to admit what I had never voiced before.   I don't enjoy leftovers.

He was stunned.

Why?  he asked.  My response was this:  I have a yearning for a dish r a taste or a certain food or meal.  I make it.  We eat it.  I am done.  The craving has been quenched.  I don't need to eat it again.

Now he was surprised.  But he really shouldn't have been.  In the last year or so we have been emptying the refrigerator of food that needs to go into the trash and often I will say 'Oh we still have some of that?  I guess I forgot about it."  Plus today when we were driving home after Owen's speech therapy appointment, we were discussing dinner options.  I mentioned that I had trouble eating the same thing, two meals in one day.

That should have been a clue.  He didn't pick up on it.

I enjoyed a big bowl (Alewine pottery soup bowl, no less!) of the concoction on Tuesday evening.  I am done.

What to do?  What to do? 

The rest of the mass of the meal is still in the white bowl in the fridge.  There is enough for both of us to enjoy it again sometime in the next day or two.   Will it happen?  Or will it be pushed to the back of the fridge, only to be found in a week or so, and I will say "Oh that!  I forgot about it.  Better get rid of it now." and into the trash it will go.

It's kind of like being hungry for a Big Mac.  Once you order one and eat it, you realize halfway through the mess that you will not be ordering one again for a long long time.

Used food.  Leftovers.  Funny how the connotation of those words change over time, isn't it?