Tips for Remebering Your Leftovers

I don't know why I had never thought of this before, but at least I do it now! I never really realized that when you open a jar of spaghetti sauce, you are only supposed to keep it for two weeks after opening. I just assumed that any food product was good until the expiration date (or after but that's another post). On one of the spaghetti jars (Prego, I think) it said, good two weeks after opening. Then I started noticing it on some other labels too, like salsa. We would NEVER remember when the last time we opened something so I would end up just throwing it away (unlike my husband I err on the side of I-don't-want-to-be-in-the-bathroom-all-night).  However, with Blake's baby food (and Joseph's when he was a baby) I use a Sharpie to put the date we opened it since it is only good for two days after opening. Well, duh, why don't I just do that with everything I open! Now I do it for everything and it helps us to keep in mind when we should use something up. So not only do we prevent yucky tummies, we also save some money because we use all of what we have before we buy more. Then I got even more brilliant and have been using a wet/dry erase marker and labeling our leftovers. I write what the leftover is and the date it was made right on the Tupperware container. Now there is no more fear when opening an old Tupperware container, that you hope are black beans, because when looking through the foggy plastic sides it definitely looks like something black. I even write on foil what inside is too, that way I can just pull it out and know what it is without having to unwrap it.  Now I have a Sharpie and a dry erase markers by the fridge. They even make dry erase markers with magnets on them so easy access and you don't have to lose them between the counter and the fridge. Genius!