There is a running joke in our family. As soon as a bowl of freshly made food makes it to the dining table during mealtime, someone will confirm, "Are you sure this is for this meal?"
After years of eating leftovers at every meal, we are never sure. In my parents' home, one of the unwritten rules is that good food can neither be wasted nor thrown. It has to be consumed.
If there are no guests around, the goal at every meal is to finish the leftovers. Fridge space, container availability, and the risk of food going bad often matter more than what we actually feel like eating. With these criteria, freshly made food doesn't automatically get a place at the table. This approach also lends itself to overeating. When food is fresh, you want more of it. When it’s leftover, you want to finish it so you don’t have to eat it again later.
Even as a child, I wondered why we didn't cook smaller quantities to minimize leftovers. That was unfathomable for my mom. Her biggest fear: "What if somebody drops in?"
There was some merit to her worry. While my parents don't qualify as social butterflies, they have always had a very welcoming home. Over the years, I have witnessed many family, friends, and acquaintances visit us.
In India, informing in advance before a visit is not a thing, but insisting on staying back for a meal definitely is. In the days before food delivery and quick commerce, I could still empathize with my mom's way of running the kitchen, but things have not really changed with the times.
Seven years ago, when my wife and I moved to Delhi, I finally had the opportunity to manage our kitchen. I set one goal for our kitchen: we would rarely have leftovers. I had come to believe that the aspiration should be to cook the right amount, which meant erring on the side of cooking less.
I was also working from home, which meant I was eating all three meals at home and could experiment with how much we cooked. After childhood, it was the first time I was eating home-cooked food so consistently.
My biggest discovery was this: freshly made food makes all the difference—and it is underrated. Freshly made, even the simple dal-khichdi, idli-chutney, roti-sabzi, taste great again.
We are blessed to have an above-average cook (by Indian household standards) but I learned that I even enjoyed our cook's below average preparations because I usually had them fresh or within two hours of being made.
Like my mom, even our cook started her stint with us by cooking enormous quantities. My appeals to cook smaller quantities fell on deaf ears. Our cook worried, "what if there isn't enough food at mealtime?"
It took me close to four years of explaining, training, and cajoling before our cook internalized the idea that we have a cook so we can eat freshly made food at every meal. To achieve the goal of no leftovers, we cook less, which effortlessly ensures that we eat the right amount. It also keeps any tendency to overeat in check.
Over time, this simple shift did something unexpected—it made moderation easier. When we cook just enough, we eat just enough. And once that happened, no food felt off-limits. Homemade fried chicken, french toast, and pizzas are a regular part of our meal plans. Now, my family and I are so pampered with home-cooked food, that we hardly go out just to eat or order in.
The only time we order is when guests come unannounced.