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Comment by ghaff | Hacker News Reader

I agree with all that. I'll eat leftovers. For somethings they're great like a big pot of chili. For some things they're awful. For others, it's somewhere in between and/or some leftovers can be incorporated into a new dish.

Cooking a company meal can be an all-day affair but, especially when I was commuting into an office every day, I had a fairly standard set of recipes that I could whip up in very little time and with very little effort. It really wasn't worth preparing a larger quantity that I would have to reheat for a less good result.

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I call this the Reheating Coefficient: how good does something taste when reheated compared to how good it did originally?

Stews can sometimes achieve even >1 RC. I find lasagna is really good as well. And then you have stuff like fries which start out pretty great and lose all appeal the second they hit room temperature, never to recover.

Stews and soups are pretty good in general--although I tend to like reheating stews with big chunks of meat less than something like a chili. I agree on lasagna. I always make one using three bread pans, freeze 2, and eat the third over 2 or 3 days.

I'm annoyed at my local BBQ place. They changed their menu around a couple of months ago and now fries are automatically included as a side which doesn't fit well with bringing the takeout home and eating it in a couple hours.

> And then you have stuff like fries which start out pretty great and lose all appeal the second they hit room temperature

While I agree with the general point, I had to mention that an air fryer can revitalize some things that I used to see as unsalvageable. Fries are surprisingly great after a few minutes at 375.

Interesting, will give this a try next time I have leftover fries!

My personal favorite: chopped leftover fries into roughly equal sized chunks, reheat in the pan until they're back in shape, then use them to make a lazy spanish omelette. Mind you, keep tossing and stirring them to avoid burning and add a small amount of oil if the fries are particularly dry.

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