Leftovers

Sometimes, I feel like the word 'leftovers' has a negative connotation. Like something that has been discarded and it's only use is what's been left behind. Like with food or selecting people for a team.

I eat my leftovers everyday. I pack for it for lunch and have it for dinner instead of cooking new things and throwing it out. If its not spoilt, who says it doesn't have a function anymore?

In my family home, when our leftover food gets over we either eat out for lunch or make do with snacks and other items. It's not a taboo to have what's left.

I dont understand the social stigma in certain places to keep having fresh food. It's cliche to say "be grateful with what you have, at least you have access to food" but that is true. Why should perfectly edible food go to waste after it's been eated once?

I love packing my food from restaurants if I can't finish it. It means a good lunch the next day without having to plan, buy, and make more food. Plus it's an extra container i can reuse if they pack it nicely.

Besides, sometimes a day old food tastes better than when it's freshly prepared.

The only observable problem is that food spoils. In a place with hot weather, keeping food outside is a gamble. But that's why we have refrigerators. My fridge keeps food fresh for upto a week. We only reheat it and enjoy a nice meal.

Not everyone has this privillege. People without access to these make do with what they have, even if it means throwing away good food.

In big institutions and canteens, food wastage is such a prominent issue. It's not even about the leftovers but the food people take and throw. In my old school, the servers used to give us such huge quantities that we eat barely half of. If we could take our own serving proportions, we would be saving a lot more food.

Not to mention all the leftovers at the end of the day. The workers and staff can take some back with them, which they do in my current mess, but on some days the quantity of food they make is much more than how much is consumed.

Restaurants are a whole other issue.

Leftovers are not bad. They're just what's remaining, not discarded. And it's not a bad thing to keep using our leftovers.