It is quiet at our house, so quiet that we can hear the ticking of the clocks. Of course, that isn’t particularly quiet, as we have two clocks that tick quite loudly. What makes our house quiet right now is that, after a wonderful week’s visit, our daughter and her family are returning home to South Carolina. They boarded a red-eye flight to Washington, D.C., last night and will arrive in South Carolina this morning. If their connections go smoothly, they will get home in time to retrieve their dog from the boarder today. They’ll have the rest of today and tomorrow to rest and recover before going back to work on Monday.

We’ve had a marvelous visit. Eleven for dinner makes the meal a celebration. Seeing our grandchildren getting to know their cousins is a delight. Having meaningful conversations with our children is priceless. I’m feeling blessed and full of gratitude. Life has been good to me.

Now it is time for me to get to the list of chores that I allowed to go on the back burner during the visit. I have a list on a pad of paper by my computer. There is a bit of yard work, a few errands that need to be done, some preparation for an upcoming trip, and the usual household chores. The laundry hamper is full, and the refrigerator is filled with leftovers. We served leftovers for lunch yesterday before departing for the airport and had a conversation about our approach to food. I am a fan of serving leftovers. Good food should not go to waste. I’ve known some people and have some relatives who don’t enjoy leftovers. They are as quick to put food in the garbage as we are to put it into the freezer.

When we were children, in the days before microwave ovens in household kitchens, we would have a meal at least once a week that mother called a smorgasbord. Her version was based on a set of small casserole dishes that she had collected. She would gather various leftovers, re-heat them in the oven, and place them out along with bits of leftover salads and other cold foods. We would fill our plates and come back for seconds. Each of us had a different assortment of foods on our plates as the casserole dishes emptied.

We were given responsibility for determining our portions, even at meals that weren’t labeled as smorgasbords. I learned to eat family style by living in a family. The rule at our house was that no one took a bite of food until all of the dishes had been passed around the table. We filled our plates from the serving dishes under the watchful eyes of our parents, who advised us to take only what we could eat. Leaving uneaten food on our plates was discouraged. Because we had the luxury of plentiful food, we could take small portions and then ask for dishes to be passed again for second helpings. The lesson of putting a small portion on my plate has been helpful as I have grown older. The abundance of food has been a constant throughout my life, and the shape of my belly is a testament to the simple fact that I have not yet fully mastered the art of portion control.

Having a lot of leftovers doesn’t help me. I am tempted to eat all the contents of the food container so that I can clean it and make more room in the refrigerator. We make a game of trying to match the amount of leftover food to a container that is just the right size, and if we have leftovers after a second serving, the food will likely end up in a new container. The cupboard where we keep containers for leftover food is frequently disorganized. Unlike my mother’s set of small casserole dishes, we have a hodgepodge of plastic containers saved from various foods we have purchased. Empty containers from sour cream, yogurt, and other dairy products are washed out and saved to store leftovers. We also have a good collection of containers designed for food storage. We try to limit the use of plastic containers in the microwave, preferring to transfer the food to a plate before reheating.

I learned a lesson from my wife’s grandparents. At their home, potatoes were served at every meal. Frequently, but not always, fresh potatoes were served baked or mashed as part of dinner. Leftovers might appear as hash browns at breakfast or scalloped potatoes at lunch. We went out for dinner a couple of days ago, and I brought home a container of uneaten French fries that I chopped up and served as breakfast potatoes the next day. I had my potatoes with my eggs, but our grandson had them with warmed-up chicken from his dinner from the previous evening. He also informed me that chicken nuggets weren’t his favorite breakfast. I asked about his favorite breakfast, suggesting that pancakes or waffles are among my favorites. He told me that pizza is his favorite breakfast. If he continues with his current preferences, he will be well-positioned to reduce food waste when he begins to live on his own.

One of my incentives for reducing food waste comes from the daily news of hunger and starvation experienced by so many people in other parts of the world. The daily barrage of stories of the suffering of people in Gaza is heartbreaking. It certainly seems that starvation is being used as a weapon of war. Food aid for hungry people has been withheld. Aid workers have become the victims of attacks. People have been killed waiting in line for food. I feel helpless in the face of these tragedies. Still, it seems necessary for me to be careful not to waste the food I have. Being frugal with my grocery dollars gives me more ability to share. Now is the time to open my heart and share as much as I am able.