Friday, February 20, 2009

Frugal Friday---Leftover Makeovers

Lately, I have been finding that I have LOTS of leftovers to use before they turn into science projects.  Instead of just heating them up and eating them the same way again, I have been giving them a "makeover". Doing this has cut down on amount of complaining from my crew and hearing "I would rather have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich than to have leftovers!"  Here is a list of just a few of the makeovers I have done.


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.


What are some of the "leftover makeovers" that you do to help use up the food and save money on the grocery budget?

For more frugal tips, recipes and resources; head over to Frugal Friday at Biblical Womanhood!!

**portions originally posted February,2008

3 comments:

Brooke said...

usually the hubs eats up anything i cook, but i'm going to try for leftovers so i have less cooking to do!

Sherry @ Lamp Unto My Feet said...

I love to recreate leftovers especially roast beef, roast chicken, or pork roast. I;ve done beef stroganoff, orange beef, or beef bulgogi. Chicken enchiladas, chicken and dumplings. Rice into fried rice.

Goat Gal said...

Ok something we totally love to do with left over chicken is have chicken dinner wraps. Put cut up chicken, stuffing, gravy, potatoes...etc in a tortilla fold and eat. Mmm so yummy.