Americans agree these foods are always worthy of leftovers

What’s for dinner? Stress, according to new research.

A new survey of 2,000 nationally representative Americans found 56% said getting asked “what’s for dinner” is one of the most stressful things they’ll encounter in a day.

Leftovers can be an easy solution to this stressful question, but they can be a hot debate themselves – with 72% of Americans identifying as pro-leftovers with the rest saying they don’t like to eat them or never eat them.

The study found that Americans’ weekly diet generally consists of five home-cooked meals, three leftover meals, three takeout meals and three meals out at restaurants.

Forty-six percent of respondents said they’ll turn to leftovers because it’s just easier than having to cook and 32% said affordability seals the deal so they don’t have to go out and buy anything.

Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Bosch home appliances, the survey found 61% of Americans are chowing down on leftovers more than ever since the pandemic started.

Half of respondents opt to eat leftovers from a home-cooked meal or from takeout the most frequently and 42% use meal prepping to have leftovers on a regular basis.

What makes a good leftover meal? Over half said a key factor is how recently the food was made, followed by how it smells (46%) and where the food is from (46%).