I haven’t had this happen often . But every once in a while . Do you ?
I am along the lines of 5 & 6
And you ?
Depending exactly how had. Sometime, my products do not turn out exactly how I want it, but it is still useful or still edible. In these cases, I will keep and use them. Recently, I was aiming for a supreme stock (clear), but I didn’t pay attention, so it turned all cloudy. I remade the stock and it turned out fine the second time. The previous stock was stored for other usage.
If the products are just horrible, I will toss them.
Where to draw the line? That will be different from person to person.
1 - 4 - 5
If it is awful it gets pitched.
If it just didn’t turn out how I expected I may try to save it by turning it into something else (e.g. A tough piece of meat may become part of a sauce)
But sometimes it sits in the fridge and then just “disappears”.
If i just wasn’t thrilled first i’ll fuss and try to fix the leftovers (add different seasonings, try to morph it into a soup…)
But if it’s something bad i know i won’t ever eat (like the soup i managed to not only burn the everlovingcrap out of the rice that stuck at the bottom but then also did a great job of stirring it so the burnt flavor was all encompassing) it’s just tossed. Ya win some ya loose some. Doesn’t happen often but i know what is truly a lost cause and move along
PS
Pleas be careful what you feed pets! Not all human food is ok for them
Exactly , be careful what you feed your pets . I was being sarcastic .
5 & 6. but another way is to ‘forget’ to cover it and put it away at night so it must be tossed the next morning:)
Try to fix it, if unsuccessful it becomes compost where at least some good comes of it.
If it’s so-so or poor I’ll eat it. If it’s really awful I just throw it out. I try not to delude myself too much.
Serve it to children. Then, when they don’t eat it, I can think, “Oh, well, I tried,” and throw it out with a clear conscience.
3 - Like @JoeBabbitt , if so-so, will eat it.
4 - If not, either add some ingredients and transform to something else, many times, it turn out really great with surprise
5 & 6 Happens at times, tossing it to garage bag makes me guilty, so the magic solution is off to the fridge and forget about it
2B - Feed it to the other half 
, it works most of the time, with grumbles…
Not a failed recipe, but a lemon disguised as an orange, I chopped it up and put in his salad, and he loved it!
Kids and pets (my cat) are very difficult to be fooled! I think I end up eating stuff my cat doesn’t want…(we bought some cheaper chicken breast for him at times)
As the only cook in the family with somewhat high standards for the food he produces let me ad line 2.5) to the above list;
2.5) Serve and carefully observe the reaction of your family to the meal which didn’t live up to your standards yet they seem to enjoy.
Other than that I’ve rarely ever 1.) more often I’ll do a 4.) and or lastly 5.).
3 if it’s so-so. DH takes leftovers to work for lunch most days and even a so-so meal at home is usually better than what he gets at the deli by his office, so he’ll generally eat any leftovers. 4 if it’s not burnt or otherwise unsalvageable. But to be quite honest, it’s a 7 at my house most of the time. After many years of reading recipes and developing my own recipe creation skills, I pretty much know just by skimming a recipe whether it’s something we’ll like or not.
Depends on what’s wrong with it. If I overcooked it, it usually goes into the trash. If it’s something I didn’t like flavor wise, I either try to doctor it up or suck it up and eat the leftovers, but only for 1 more meal. Anything left after that gets tossed.
I normally don’t like tossing food, but I also don’t believe in eating bad food if I don’t have to!
Definitely 5. Always hoping that the Dude will eat it, because he’ll eat anything.
Although today I rescued Alton Brown’s way, way too salty, way too heavily spiced (but heat level was good) All-American Beef Taco filling by adding another pound of beef, and a few other tweaks, like vinegar for brightness. But that was easy.
Com0ost it in our city-provided bin.
lol
Thanks for reminding me… 
I’m sorry I just couldn’t help myself 
an all time favorite thread
