48. Actually eat your leftovers.

Say again? Wait, a little louder? We are having trouble receiving this message because it’s rather challenging to digest. Our head understands the words, but our gut is sending a different message, something about … “left-overs…and out?” Oh, “leftovers should be ‘leftout’ of this series.” Gotcha!

Mmmm… Nothing gets people wound up with excitement like leftovers. Except perhaps  luke-warm, partially-evaporated-saran-wrapped micro-waved meatloaf-ed leftovers… You can feel the energy vampire siphon any semblance of joy from a meal when adjectifying it with  ‘leftovers.’ It seems ‘Leftovers’ needs a branding makeover. Let’s call it ‘Tomorrow Food’! If it sticks, we may need to get permission from the folks at Dippin Dots. 

To help you “Actually Eat your leftovers" here’s a simple 2-step process:

1. Wha-wait, are we going to do this?
2. Hold your nose, grit your teeth and fake a coughing fit…now, quickly split out the side door!

Your Future You is always looking out for your best interests, and yes, even when it comes to helping you ‘Actually eat your leftovers.’ By renaming leftovers ‘tomorrow food’, your Future You is giving you permission to eat your leftovers, tomorrow. Then when tomorrow arrives, your Future You will give you permission to eat your tomorrow food… tomorrow. You see, your Future You has just invented the “delayed (reverse) gratification, marshmallow test… for leftovers.” 

P.S. - It’s been reported that Corporate Housing helps people ‘actually eat your leftovers’ by allowing pets in many of their monthly furnished properties. Because the doggy bag, got its name from when people would bring leftovers/tomorrow-food home and then realize it’s not suitable for human consumption, so Lucky, the dog, could choke it down feeling less lucky. NB: Before the PETA people reach out, please note, no dogs were actually fed luke-warm, partially-evaporated-saran-wrapped micro-waved meatloaf-ed leftovers in making this post…and neither were any humans.

This series is focused on Simple Sustainable Actions - based on Stephane Omsanski’s article in Parade from 2021.

https://parade.com/1300935/stephanieosmanski/ways-reduce-carbon-emissions/

48. Actually eat your leftovers.

We all take leftovers home from restaurants or package up what's left after a cooked meal, but it's just as wasteful to take leftovers and then... not eat them. If you frequently end up just throwing the leftovers out later—it's wasteful. Whenever possible, finish your leftovers.