Easy way to Store Leftovers with 3 Kids

Sharing is caring!

I truly hate the after dinner work. You slave over the hot stove to feed people, eat your food cold sometimes by the time you’ve catered to the entire family, people wanting seconds before you can get 3 bites into your meal, and once you finally get to stay seated long enough for the aches and pains to settle, you relax, and now you’re with a full tummy with a miniature version of a Thanksgiving Dinner hangover, you finally get to lay down for the evening. I’m kidding. Nope, you have to do the dishes, find an easy way to store leftovers, wipe things down…

Studies Show Kids May Not Be Bundles of Joy ~NPR

I can’t really help you with the dishes right now. But I did some experience with the storing leftovers and found something actually very doable: my easy way to store leftovers.

The idea is to store leftovers in a way your kids can reheat the next day. Something easy way to store leftovers, but also easy way to use and consume leftovers, and also easy way to clean up leftovers.

Lessons I’ve Learned About Myself

I’m not buying a bunch of plastic tupperware rubbermaid stuff. I end up throwing those away. I have too many lids. We started using orphaned lids as plates.

I’m sick of playing Tetris with a huge oversized pot or bowl in the fridge.

I’m also sick of forgetting there’s a huge pot or bowl in the fridge and can’t figure out what cabinet I put that in for a month until I realize it’s now molding in the fridge in the back corner completely out of the way.

I am incapable of tearing out a clean piece of Cling Wrap, and even more incapable of getting it to actually cling to anything but itself into a huge giant wad of cling. If I really set my mind to it, and mess with it for 30 minutes, and finally get it to cover the food, it will fall off as I put it in the fridge.

I rarely have any idea what date today is.

So my Easy Way to Store Leftovers

Generic Dixie Paper Bowls + Aluminum Foil + Magic Marker

I plop a “serving” into a bowl, and by a serving, I mean a compromise between my children’s idea of a serving, and everyone else’s idea of a serving.

I cover with a small sheet of aluminum foil. Because of my Cling Wrap Disability. Also, companies who make aluminum generally pay better than plastic, so I’m supporting a good cause.

I write on the aluminum any info I got for it, like what’s in it. It would be wise to write the day.

Now, my kids are ages 10, 12, and 13 at my time of writing this… so they are capable of cooking a lot of things including using the microwave. I still remind them not to cook the aluminum in the microwave on a regular basis.

If you have other people’s kids over often, you’ll want to remind them of that too.

If you can master Cling Wrap, you may go with that to be safer.

I have noticed the kids are most apt to eat the leftovers if it’s treated like a frozen meal, something easy. They actually prefer that to frozen meals, pot pies, Ramen noodles, Microwavable soups/mac n cheese….

If your kids are too young to cook, this is still way easier for you to do. A kid is like, “I’m hungry” and you can make them lunch easier than a hotdog.

Freeze or Refrigerate?

I generally refrigerate because I have teenagers.

But if you got kids who won’t be eating all the leftovers quickly, you can opt to put some in the fridge (for tomorrow) and some in the freezer.

Benefits of this easy way to store leftovers

For me, while the separating in bowls is a little extra work, it’s still easier than putting a huge container in the fridge, covering a huge container, and then nobody eating it.

The individual servings just make life the next day that much easier it’s worth it.

It saves me extra trips to the grocery store to feed kids lunch.

If I still had a husband, he would like this for his work lunch. I bet he’d grab two bowls.

If by any chance nobody eats it and it starts molding, you don’t have to touch the mold to clean it. Just throw it away.

The main thing is that the easy way to store leftovers is easiest for you and your situation. Maybe this at least got your gears moving to improve your system of things.

Sharing is caring!