Today over at Biblical Womanhood, Crystal posted an email from one of her readers looking for ways to use up food as a money saving strategy. Crystal gave some very good tips as to what to do with the abundance of leftovers.
One of her tips was to creatively re-make leftovers into "new" meals. I do this one a lot! I like to call them "leftover makeovers". Here is a list from a previous post of mine that I am going to share again along with some new ideas(other than soup! lol)....
1. Roasted Chicken and Gravy or Creamy Chicken can become several different things. I shred the chicken and add it to the gravy and make "Stewed Chicken Sandwiches". OR I combine the two and add leftover veggies to it and make Chicken Veggie Stew/Soup or Chicken Pot Pie or Chicken Noodle Soup.
2. Boiled or Baked Potatoes become Seasoned pan fries.
3. Roast, carrots and potatoes meal becames Veggie Stew. Or I take the leftover roast and add bq sauce to it for sandwiches. The leftover potatoes I cut up and make Cubed hashbrowns.
4. Chicken Rice Casserole leftovers make a good base for homemade Chicken Rice Soup.
5. Roasted Pork Loin gets bq sauce add to it for BQ Pork sandwiches. OR I make up some chicken gravy and heat up the pork in the gravy for Pork and Gravy.
6. Spaghetti Sauce gets used for Pizza Sauce on homemade pizzas.
7. Mashed Potatoes get put in a skillet with a pad of margarine and seasoned with seasoned salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder for some seasoned potato cakes.
8. Taco meat(beef or chicken) gets made into taco salad, or put on top of a plate of nacho chips, or gets used in making quesadillas or Taco Soup.
9. Extra noodles(spaghetti, egg, elbow macaroni, etc) gets made into a pasta salad.
10. Burgers make into Salisbury Steak OR break them up and make hamburger gravy or use in spaghetti, chili, or goulash.
Along with what Crystal said, some other tips of mine would be to schedule in menu plans a "smorgasbord" at least once a week either for a lunch or dinner or both and require that everyone choose something from each food group and serve something freshly made for dessert(like a pan of warm brownies!)
Also, get containers that are microwaveable and make up some homemade TV dinners for one to pull out of the fridge for a lunch or even a snack. I know around my house when I do this it makes it easier to put hubby's lunch together that he takes to work. It is a whole lot cheaper than eating out every day for lunch too.
For other's frugal thoughts, head over to Crystal's blog-Biblical Womanhood!
***This post was mentioned over at Frugal Hacks in the Saturday Savings Smorgasbord***
One of her tips was to creatively re-make leftovers into "new" meals. I do this one a lot! I like to call them "leftover makeovers". Here is a list from a previous post of mine that I am going to share again along with some new ideas(other than soup! lol)....
1. Roasted Chicken and Gravy or Creamy Chicken can become several different things. I shred the chicken and add it to the gravy and make "Stewed Chicken Sandwiches". OR I combine the two and add leftover veggies to it and make Chicken Veggie Stew/Soup or Chicken Pot Pie or Chicken Noodle Soup.
2. Boiled or Baked Potatoes become Seasoned pan fries.
3. Roast, carrots and potatoes meal becames Veggie Stew. Or I take the leftover roast and add bq sauce to it for sandwiches. The leftover potatoes I cut up and make Cubed hashbrowns.
4. Chicken Rice Casserole leftovers make a good base for homemade Chicken Rice Soup.
5. Roasted Pork Loin gets bq sauce add to it for BQ Pork sandwiches. OR I make up some chicken gravy and heat up the pork in the gravy for Pork and Gravy.
6. Spaghetti Sauce gets used for Pizza Sauce on homemade pizzas.
7. Mashed Potatoes get put in a skillet with a pad of margarine and seasoned with seasoned salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder for some seasoned potato cakes.
8. Taco meat(beef or chicken) gets made into taco salad, or put on top of a plate of nacho chips, or gets used in making quesadillas or Taco Soup.
9. Extra noodles(spaghetti, egg, elbow macaroni, etc) gets made into a pasta salad.
10. Burgers make into Salisbury Steak OR break them up and make hamburger gravy or use in spaghetti, chili, or goulash.
Along with what Crystal said, some other tips of mine would be to schedule in menu plans a "smorgasbord" at least once a week either for a lunch or dinner or both and require that everyone choose something from each food group and serve something freshly made for dessert(like a pan of warm brownies!)
Also, get containers that are microwaveable and make up some homemade TV dinners for one to pull out of the fridge for a lunch or even a snack. I know around my house when I do this it makes it easier to put hubby's lunch together that he takes to work. It is a whole lot cheaper than eating out every day for lunch too.
For other's frugal thoughts, head over to Crystal's blog-Biblical Womanhood!
***This post was mentioned over at Frugal Hacks in the Saturday Savings Smorgasbord***
3 comments:
You are so full of good ideas!
Number 2 is a great idea that I must try. My hubby loves boiled potatoes and I end up throwing out leftovers. I will try this. I already make extra mashed potatoes because he loves "tater cakes" the next day.
You've got some great ideas here! I do alot of this too, I call them my re-makes, lol.
The thing that I'm not so good at is keeping my this and that leftover buckets and baggies, separated in the freezer! :-)
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