Do you eat left overs?

I was just reading something about this, and have often talked with people about what do they do with their leftovers from meals.

I can not get over how many people say, "Oh, my husband won't eat leftovers".  Or "My children won't eat leftovers".

Have you ever told your husband that by not eating those leftovers it's like throwing $30.00 away from the $100.00 you spent on groceries that week?  Maybe if you put it to him like that, he'd get it.

Also, when I was brought up, we had dinner at the table, together, or as together as the family was going to be that night, and you ate what was there.  The only choice you might have is what to drink, which was usually milk or water, or how many of the vegetable choices you wanted.  If you didn't "like" what was there, you didn't eat.

My father often said, and still does, "take what you're going to eat, and eat what you take."

There was always more than enough food on the table for seconds if you wanted them, but you had best finish what you took.

Now, I'm not saying and I don't want to debate this, I'm not saying we were FORCED to eat every morsel on our plate, no, that never happened.  But, we also knew that we shouldn't take more than we felt we were going to eat at the first serving.

Now, was there always "leftovers" in our house after each meal?  No, not usually.  Somehow, it seemed that my mother had a pretty good gauge on how much to make for our family.   And usually, there was just enough for the dinner or there would be just enough for dad to have a sandwich for lunch the next day at work.

Otherwise, my dad took peanut butter and jelly every day to work, on Wonder bread.  There was no eating off the lunch truck, or going out to lunch, or stopping for coffee.  Dad never spent any money for meals or snacks at work.  A peanut butter sandwich and a piece of fruit were his lunch.

 

Do you have rules at your house for what you fix and what your family will eat?