Leftovers

Leftover: something that remains unused or unconsumed; especially: leftover food served at a later meal.

I think I’m pretty good at gauging how much food to cook for each meal and as a result I don’t generate a lot of leftovers. But on occasion I do have bits of meat from various roasts left at the end of a meal. Not really enough for a complete meal but too much to drop down the garbage disposal. I like to save these bits and pieces and add them all together to simmer with a barbeque sauce or gravy. Smothered in sauce, you can’t really tell one meat from another.

The problem is that it can take several months for me to save up enough “bits and pieces” to make a meal. I have been storing the meat in Tupperware containers in the freezer. As the contents of the containers crystallize over time, it becomes difficult to know what food is actually in the container or how long it has been there. And have you ever had a frozen container fall out of the freezer onto the floor? I have, and it isn’t pretty. Either you end up with a broken container or worse yet, a broken toe if you aren’t quick enough to jump to safety from the avalanche of frozen food containers.

FoodSaver to the rescue! I have been looking at the vacuum sealing systems available on the market. These systems seal food in plastic without air which prevents ice crystals from forming on your food. The downside is that they are a little pricey and take up a bit of cabinet space. Enter the FoodSaver system. This is a handy little system that uses plastic bags with little air holes through which the handheld device sucks all the air. There is an area that you can easily record what is in the bag and when you placed it in the freezer. Not only do my leftovers come out in a timely and frost-free manner, but as an added bonus the virtually flat bags stack very neatly in the freezer. I would definitely recommend this product to anyone who uses their freezer to preserve food.

Did you know that we throw away 8.3 million tons of food and drink each year? I won’t be contributing to this number now that I have a FoodSaver!