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In praise of clean out the fridge night
Leftover night makes everyone happy, is a great solution for curbing food waste, and helps with your grocery budget.
Wed, Jan 23 2013 at 4:35 PM
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This is what’s for dinner tonight in the Shreeves’ house. Three pieces of leftover Sicilian pizza, baked ziti, three bean and sausage soup, and quesadillas filled with ground beef or beans, cheese and vegetables. I’ll throw a salad on the table, too.
I know, it sounds like an odd menu, but it’s mid-week clean out the fridge night. I’m going to put the leftovers from the previous four days on the table and let everyone pick what they want.
I love clean out the fridge, or leftover, night. It gives me a break from planning a meal. There’s a little work involved, but not as much as making an entire meal from scratch. Usually, everyone is happy with at least one thing on the table, so there isn’t much pouting. It keeps food from going to waste.
And, what I love most about it right now is that it’s like a free dinner. The money has already been spent. I don’t need to use new ingredients that cost money on leftover night.
Take a look inside your fridge right now. Is there an entire meal in leftovers, even if they aren’t foods that traditionally go together, waiting to be eaten? If you don’t pull them out and eat them in the next day or two, will you have to throw them away, wasting food and money?
Take a night off from cooking and try reheating instead. You’ll be really glad you did.
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Trust me when I tell you that no one would want to make a meal out of the ingredients currently in my refrigerator.
On the other hand, a high school chemistry class might find great possibilities.
I've totally been where you are before.
That's what clean out the fridge night is for - a night to make sure your fridge doesn't become a science experiment a week or two later. Maybe it's time to dump the food that's started to live, disinfect the fridge, and try cleaning out the fridge my way.
We call that scrounge night around here and it is particularly popular with the teenagers. Some strange combos have been assembled, but it does reduce the waste.
My 13-year-old has one friend who creates the most amazing concoctions from what's in my fridge and pantry. At first, we were a little taken aback at how free he was with my food, but then when we realized how creative he was being, we let him go, just asked him to throw the dirty dishes in the sink after.