-
Step 1
Start with a suggested menu for dinner, and then look at the options for making the leftovers into a whole new meal. You may even want to make extra of the main course to make sure you have enough for the next day. Hamburgers one night can easily turn into chili the next night if you plan ahead and fry all your meat at once. Why wash the skillet twice!
-
Step 2
Pantry:
Creative leftovers start with a good pantry. In order to have an entirely new meal, you must change the base flavor of the main ingredient. Pot Roast is still pot roast, when you make soup out of it. While that is fine for filling the tummy, it is boring and not tempting for a finicky eater. The base flavor of meat can be changed with a good spice cabinet. Spices now come equipped with grinders right in the bottle! What a wonderful way to freshen up a meal. Basic chicken turns into chicken Italiano with a twist of your wrist and a dollop of spaghetti sauce. Don't throw away that leftover wine; freeze it in ice cube trays and store in a Ziploc bag when frozen. Pop a few wine cubes into a sauce for instant pizzazz!! Always keep a supply of canned broths in your pantry. The selection available now is excellent. I keep vegan broth for simmering fresh green beans for my vegetarian daughter. Great flavor, and no one knows I didn't put a ham bone in there.
Always keep the trinity of cooking in your fridge, carrots, celery and onions. Adding fresh sautéed vegetables freshen and moisten leftover meats. Have the basics, sour cream, real butter, olive oil, cream cheese, and condiments to spice up a meal with. -
Step 3
Chicken:
Chicken is the most versatile meat on the market! Always buy the larger packages of meat; for economic savings! Then cook all the meat at once and freeze in small portions. A selection of menus would look like this:
Chicken to slice and place over greens for a healthy salad
Chicken to chop, add celery, mayo, dried cranberries and pecans for an out of this world chicken salad.
Chicken ready to drop in my noodles for chicken noodles. Again use the canned broth for fresh flavor. I cheat and use the frozen noodles too!
There is also a supply of chicken for quesadillas. Slice the chicken, add onions, peppers and Monterey jack cheese roll into a tortillas and serve with salsa! -
Step 4
Beef:
Beef is just as flavorful as chicken, but not as easy to change the base flavor. Hamburger is your easiest base and will stretch your dollar farther.
Menu choices:
Hamburger to chili to spaghetti sauce is great, but that is a lot of acid on the stomach. If you want to do this it is better to freeze and interchange the menu with chicken or vegetables.
One option for meatloaf is to make the leftovers into shepherd’s pie. Make sure you make extra mash potatoes when making your meatloaf meal. Use the mash potatoes for your crust, freshen the meatloaf by sautéing with green peppers, add a can of mixed vegetables (or just corn if you like) and bake! Very few will recognize the meatloaf.
When using hamburger I always mix and roll a few meatballs using about a pound of meat, spice, egg and breadcrumbs. I throw them in a big Ziploc bag, when the bag is full, we have spaghetti and meatballs without all that tedious rolling. I also keep a bag of Swedish meatballs going in the freezer too. Slight variation of spice, same easy menu! (Make sure you mark the bags because getting them confused makes for a weird meal!) -
Step 5
Reheating:
If you are going to reheat meat, take it off the bone and sauté it in olive oil to add flavor and juices. Adding fresh vegetables livens up the meal. Use green pepper, onions, carrots and yellow squash for a colorful tasty meal. -
Step 6
Vegetables:
Vegetables are so versatile I can't imagine ever throwing out a scrap! Freezing vegetables makes great soups, but having a pantry full of assorted can vegetables is a good ideal. Leftover vegetables are great for morning omelets; add cheese and your done! A quiche is ready in minutes using the same technique. Always keep frozen pie shells on hand for filling, and pot pie. -
Step 7
Rice and Pasta:
Rice is one of the most versatile foods available. You can eat rice as a main dish, side dish or even dessert. Rice takes on the flavor of what you surround it with, so changing the flavor is a snap! Never make the smallest amount of rice listed on the package, go up a level and have rice pudding for dessert the next day. Sauté rice with left over vegetables for a great stir-fry. Add chicken to rice with a sprinkle of spice and a can of cream of celery for a great dinner.
Pasta can be mixed with anything to update a leftover meal. Chicken, cream, butter and cheese over Fettuccini makes Chicken Alfredo! Remember your chicken is already cooked and frozen, and ready in the freezer! -
Step 8
Desserts:
Yes you can make desserts using leftovers! The best muffins you've ever tasted use leftover cranberry sauce as the filling. Buy a regular muffin mix, spoon the cranberry sauce into the middle and bake as directed. For a real treat use orange muffin mix!
I've already mentioned rice pudding, but bread pudding is a wonderful way to use up leftover bread. When I have a few pieces of bread that have gotten past the freshness I enjoy, I chop it up and put it in the freezer. When the bag is full, I have bread pudding. Bananas too ripe for your taste? Peel the banana and put them in the freezer. Use them to make banana bread at your convenience. When thawed the bananas make a luscious liquor that really adds moisture and flavor to banana bread.
Comments
vallain said
on 5/1/2008 Good suggestions. People eat out way too often when they could prepare larger meals and then reheat them a second and third time later in the week. So easy to do. 5 stars from me.