BellaOnline Forums Food and Wine Low Carb Cooking Lots to Create Leftovers

We had my dad over today and we made a massive pork roast with carrots and sauerkraut - and now we have *tons* of leftovers. It means we get easy food for a few days! Well actually most of it will go home with my dad

Have you been cooking a lot of "bulk food" recently, to create leftovers for yourself?

I grew up cooking for a family of six so I tend to cook "big" all the time. My son loves to eat leftovers that he can zap in the microwave anytime he likes. Soups and stews taste better the next night anyway.

I always make a big pot of curry and spaghetti sauce just to be sure there will be leftovers. BTW, I put a chunky tomato sauce over shredded cooked cabbage instead of noodles and my daughter and I don't miss the pasta.

I never thought about using the shredded cooked cabbage as a pasta substitution. How do you cook the cabbage, if I may ask?

I've never been much of a leftover person. Even if I cook and put it in the freezer 9.9 times out of ten, I end up throwing it away anyway. In direct contrast to my husband who will eat leftovers until I throw it away from age....lol...

I cook my cabbage by stir frying it, adding a touch of water so it will steam a little.

But I read about the cabbage as a noodle substitute a long time ago on a low carb site and it suggested to boil shredded cabbage in milk so it will taste more like pasta. That seemed a little too weird to me even tough it probably works great.

I also use zucchini, making long threads, and cook it the same as I do the cabbage. I like a little body to my veggies so no boiling. You could blanch it. It would be quicker than stir frying.

Those are awesome ideas about the cabbage and zucchini, thank you for posting those!

Dianne - It is definitely a mental training task to get yourself to eat leftovers. I think one key - to get you started - is to NOT freeze it. If you freeze it, it seems like a huge chore to unfreeze it so you never do it.

Instead, try making up a "full plate" and putting it in the FRIDGE. For exammple, when we made plates up for my dad, we made individual servings in tupperware. Each tupperware held an entire meal. You pop it into the microwave, take it out and you're all set.

Try doing that - and putting a label right on top with the date. Put it on a center shelf. Focus on just eating ONE.

Thanks for all the great ideas, everyone. I'll have to try them.

I live on leftovers, as I hate preparing food.

Also, I use cabbage as a substitute for everything. I could write an entire book on uses for cabbage! :-)

There you go Jilly - a cabbage ebook!

On the leftovers, definitely label items with dates. It makes you more likely to eat them quickly, and to feel safe about doing that. I label everything with dates that I open - salsa, you name it.

It really is amazing how versatile cabbage is. It becomes a substitute for so many other things - noodles, bread, lettuce, cooked veggies.