Resteessen

leftovers meal

noun REST-uh-es-en Rare

Usage Note

Resteessen is a meal made from leftover food from previous meals. The concept is valued in German household culture as waste-reducing; there are dedicated Reste-Rezepte for using up vegetables, meat, or bread.

Examples

"Freitagabend gibt es bei uns meistens Resteessen aus der ganzen Woche."

Natural Translation

On Friday evenings we usually have a leftovers meal from the whole week.

Literal Translation

Friday-evening there-is with us mostly leftovers-meal from the whole week.

Free starter pack

Building your German vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common German words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Related Words

Explore German by topic

GermanNow

German Body Parts: Vocabulary + How to Say It Hurts

Learn German body parts with der/die/das and plurals, plus the two ways to say something hurts: Mir tut der Kopf weh and Ich habe Kopfschmerzen.

June 9, 2026 5 min read

GermanNow

German Days, Months & Seasons (am, im & -tag)

Days of the week in German use am, months and seasons use im — plus the -tag pattern, capitalized nouns, and how to build a real sentence with a day.

June 5, 2026 4 min read

GermanNow

Tipping in Germany: A Visitor's Etiquette Guide

Tipping in Germany means saying your total out loud, not leaving coins. Learn the exact phrases, how much to tip, and the Sie-vs-du etiquette travelers need.

June 5, 2026 6 min read

GermanNow

Der, Die, Das: Rules to Guess German Gender

German noun gender rules made simple: check the suffix first, then meaning. Endings like -ung, -chen, and -ling predict der, die, or das with ~90% accuracy.

June 5, 2026 6 min read