The glory of leftovers

I can still remember those innocent days of childhood, and the ever important "What's for dinner?" conversations with my mom. Today I'm especially thinking of a recurring conversation that I really never wanted to have back in the day. "What are we having for dinner?" "Leftovers." "Awwww, do we have to?"

Oh, how time has changed my perspective. Well, time, and a change of scenery. I suppose my feelings about leftovers vary based on the alternatives I consider viable at the time. When I was a kid living at home, I only considered two viable options - leftovers, or Mom cooking a fresh meal. Allowing for only those two choices, of course leftovers came across as highly disappointing. Of course, even then, there were always a number of alternatives I never considered at the time - making my own meal, not eating at all, etc. So even back then, leftovers of good homemade meals should have been relatively high on the list, but in my mind, it was 2nd on a list of 2.

Now, as I'm out on my own, and have been for many years, all of the other alternatives are much closer to the front of my mind. The result is that today, knowing that I have chicken fajitas leftover from Wednesday to come home to for supper is a reason to be pleased about the evening meal. It's not quite as good as having fresh made fajitas like I did on Wednesday, but it's way better than cracking open a box of mac and cheese, a Hot pocket, or a frozen pizza, involves much less time and effort than cooking something new myself, and costs a heck of a lot less than going out to eat. Heck, tonight I even made a point of controlling my portions in order to make sure I'd have enough left for a full meal tomorrow!

You see, since it's just me, when I cook, I generally get at least 4 dinners out of it, often more. I could cut the recipes down, but that would just mean I have to cook (and clean up, which is the part I actually don't like) more often. So, I have to make sure I make stuff that I really like, and I have to have enough different things to make that I don't get sick of certain dishes over time. Thus far it's worked out quite well, but if you had told 12 year old me that a day would come when having leftovers for dinner would be a very good thing, he'd have laughed at you. It's just amazing how quickly your perspective can shift on something like this.