A Conundrum in My Kitchen

A full fridge means leftovers are at critical mass

There’s a conundrum in my kitchen. While most people grocery shop when their refrigerator is empty, I have to shop when mine is full. It took me awhile to identify the reason. In my house, a full fridge does not mean there are food choices in abundance. Rather, it signals that leftovers have reached critical mass. And while those cute, stackable containers may hold perfectly good food, I must face the facts. My refrigerator is well stocked with leftovers that nobody will eat.

I’m not sure why leftovers experience such a fall from grace in my house. After all, the same food met with approval and appreciation the first time around. There is no reason that a perfectly good meal will not be equally delicious the following day for lunch. To my mind, it’s a bonus that one enjoyable meal can be re-lived without the hassle of preparation. All you have to do is heat it up.

But I’ve had little luck in convincing my family that this is true.

To be fair, certain foodstuffs almost never remain in solitary confinement. Leftover pizza, homemade macaroni and cheese, and fresh strawberry pie barely reach optimal cold-storage temperature before they are removed and eaten. But other family favorites get passed over repeatedly. They eventually succumb to a fuzzy end, lost and forgotten in a corner of the crisper.

Unloved and uneaten

After thoroughly analyzing the habits of the family foragers, I’ve deduced two reasons that our leftovers go unloved and uneaten.

First, no one knows what leftovers are in the refrigerator. No one will make a meatloaf sandwich if they don’t know there are three slices of meatloaf available. This one strikes me as the more credible excuse because typically I clean up after dinner. The kids do their part to clear the table and stack the dishwasher, but I package the leftovers and put them away.

Of course, if I delegated the packing and storing to the kids, they would know what was in the fridge. But one child is spatially challenged and hopeless at choosing the correct size container, and the other has no idea where I keep my supply of containers despite living in this house for nearly 20 years.

Location is everything

Second, no one can find the leftovers in the refrigerator. Is the rest of that ham and cheese sub in the cold cut drawer or on the top shelf where all the small containers live? Are the extra stuffed shells in the freezer or in that carton next to the watermelon?

And another issue – all those cute, stackable containers look alike. How is anyone to tell what’s in them without a thorough examination? The foragers in my family will abandon their mission if they have to peek under more than two lids to find what they want.

I’m not sure what the solution is for leftovers run amuck. Obviously I’d rather have them eaten than turned into science experiments that need to be thrown out. So I list all the choices to anyone who opens the refrigerator door. I put them in single serving containers to encourage the grab-and-go foragers. And I try to arrange them logically on the shelves so anyone can find them.

Mostly.

On occasion I take advantage of my own knowledge of the leftovers. That last slice of cheesecake? Nope, haven’t seen it. And you’ll never spot it under that bag of carrots.

How do you handle your leftovers? Leave a comment below!

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