The Leftovers

So, it’s January. A time of resolutions. And three popular ones are:

1. Cook better meals.
2. Eat healthier.
3. Save some money.

Now, they each make sense on their own, but they work especially well together. After all, it’s hard to eat healthy when you go out, unless you order a salad, and have you noticed dinner salads at restaurants cost like 19 dollars these days before you add the protein? And that’s not at some Michelin-star restaurant. That’s at the place down the street from you that ends in ‘Bar & Grill.’ And here’s the thing: the only salads that actually taste good are the ones loaded with all the bullshit you should be avoiding anyway.

Although, to say this is misleading. Because as that one annoying person in your life always says: “It’s not about what you eat; it’s about how much.” Portion control, they preach! It’s all you need!

And sure, this makes sense on paper. Just like it’s accurate to tell your kiddo who’s learning to ride a bike, “It’s important to keep your balance.” By which we mean, it’s technically correct but absolutely useless. If you find yourself saying, “I need to eat less garbage,” it’s likely that a lack of willpower and restraint are part of the issue, if not the whole issue. And that same lack of restraint that ends with you devouring a pound of French fries at the sports bar will also have you going back for seconds and thirds of your delicious homemade chicken tikka masala.

In other words, you need something to enforce some restraint for you. And this Foodsaver is that thing. Here’s what you do:

STEP 1: Find a good recipe for something you like that you can make in big batches. The aforementioned tikka masala. Pasta sauce and meatballs. Pork carnitas. (Again, we’re talking about portion control here, so it doesn’t have to be health food).

STEP 2: Make a big batch of it.

STEP 3: Prepare your plate for dinner, and then divide the leftovers into single-meal portions, sealing them with the Foodsaver.

STEP 4: Put these portions into the freezer immediately so you can’t open them up for a nibble later. Since they’re vacuum-packed, they won’t get freezer-burnt, thus staying fresh and tasty for a long time.

Viola: some cold, hard portion control.

And there are other benefits too. You don’t suffer leftover malaise. (Seriously, your favorite meal ever stops being your favorite when you’ve been eating it every night for a week.) Not to mention, it’s nice to have home-cooked meals that can be thawed at a moment’s notice when your plans change suddenly, or you just don’t have the energy to cook on a random Tuesday.

So get a Foodsaver. It won’t just save your food; it’ll save your life.

Okay, a bit dramatic there at the end, but you see what we’re saying, right?