We actually love using leftovers creatively! A staple meal at our house is 'adobo' which is chicken in soy sauce and vinegar. If there is any leftover, we use it to make fried rice the next morning. The sauce of 'adobo' makes the yummiest fried rice for us!
I'm so glad that even though my husband is one of the worst fussy eaters, he doesn't mind the use of leftovers for other meals. There's this whole chicken we get readily marinated for grilling. Since it's just the two of us, there's usually enough left over to make 2-3 more meals out of it. I make a creamy pasta/mushroom/cream dish that he loves, some goes towards salad or maybe some chicken wraps. It's a fantastic way of saving money
Yum. All of those dishes sound good, Lushlala. Who could complain about good food like that? Chicken is one of the great ones for making many meals. I like finding it on sale and making a lot, so I can make other things as well. I often make salads and wraps, like you do, especially for my daughter and I. My one daughter could probably live off chicken wraps and salad. I have found that adding some orange pieces is great too. I like to toss whatever greens I'm using with some chicken and orange sections or Mandarin oranges. It sounded weird to me at first, but it's really good.
Ooh Zyni, you just gave me an idea with the addition of orange/mandarin slices, thanks LOL I'm very big on the contrasting savoury/sweet taste. My husband finds it weird, so he'll just have to miss out on that one. I also like throwing in some grapes or raisins/sultanas. I know it sounds weird, but it tastes amazing You're so lucky your kids enjoy these healthy options, it'll set them up for healthy eating habits as adults
There was an episode of Chopped recently, where the judges were competing against each other and their challenge was using leftover food items. One of the craziest things they did in that episode imo was take some leftover tuna noodle casserole and throw it in a food processor along with a couple other ingredients (I believe some egg and milk) and then formed it into a dough that they then made dumplings from - turning it into a batch of chicken and dumplings soup. Pizza dough is also a great way to use up leftover food items, particularly veggies, because you can simply make a calzone or stromboli with them. Pretty much anything is good with some tomato sauce and cheese over it, wrapped in some dough, lol.
These are some good ideas. As broke as I am, I would like to not eat the same thing 2 times in one week just the same. I usually have dinner leftovers for lunch the next day. This is usually how I eat my leftovers. I am going to have to try this method though and make an entire new meal out of it.
It does make a difference. I'm like you. I'll often eat leftovers for lunch the next day, but at times, it can get a little monotonous. Making those foods into something else is a great way to use them without getting burned out on them. Some of the options are really simple too. Just making soup out of leftover bits of meat and veggies can make a nice lunch. @ohiotom76 I chuckled at your last line, but I like that Stromboli idea.
The freezer! I always freeze leftovers, even from take out or from the restaurant. Then I warm them up at work.
One thing I hate most about food is the wastage particularly the leftover. When we have excess rice, we put it in a plastic bag for storing in the fridge. For the next meal, that rice would be heated in the microwave and consumed. We always try to manage our food particularly the marketing of meat and other ingredients. But on occasions that we had cooked so much, we give away some of it to the neighbors.
Disguising and revamping leftovers is a great way to save money. Throwing away leftovers is not only a waste of perfectly good food, but it's a waste of money. One thing I always do is whenever I make pasta or rice, I cook the thing I'm mixing in (e.g. sauce, pesto, vegetables etc.) separately. That way, I can use leftover pasta and rice to make a completely different dish the next day, and I can make a totally different sauce or gravy to go with the pasta or rice. It's very simple but it works well.
I love reinventing leftovers in my fridge. I take ground beef that I've cooked with onions, garlic and turn it into spaghetti for a quick meal. Then the next night take the leftover speghetti sauce and add worsteshire sauce, brown sugar and you have sloppy joes. On the following night you can take the leftover ground beef and make it into tacos by adding taco seasoning. I also love using leftover pork from a roast to make pork fried rice or a pork stir fry. It certainly cuts down on time when preparing dinner.
