Leftover Madness!

One way to save money on your grocery bill is to re-use your leftovers instead of letting them go to waste. Unfortunately, most people don't want to eat the same thing twice and end up throwing out all of that good food.

But, as I always say... be creative!

There are many ways of turning your leftovers into something new and tasty, and today I am going to go over some of the ways you can use up last night's dinner.

My favorite way to turn leftovers into a new meal is by making a casserole. This, and soup are fantastic ways to empty out your refrigerator because the possibilities are endless.
The main ingredients you need is a starch (pasta, potatoes, rice, etc.), meat, veggies, and a sauce.
The sauce can be cream soups (like cream of mushroom or chicken), tomato sauce, white sauce, or anything else that sounds good.

Here is an example of a good leftover casserole; leftover pasta, broccoli, chicken, and a white sauce. Mix it all together, pour it into a casserole dish, top with cheese and breadcrumbs, and bake until it is heated through.
Or, you can take pasta, leftover hamburgers (chop up the meat) and spaghetti sauce and top it off with cheese.
Another good combination is rice, pork, diced tomatoes, and chicken broth.
You can throw pretty much anything into a casserole and make it taste good.

Soup is the same, all you have to do is start with a base, tomato based, cream based, broth based, and so on and throw whatever you want in there. Soups and casseroles are both very flexible and simple to make.

I also have a post on making vegetable broth from leftovers, this is s fantastic base for soup!


Rice is a common leftover in my house, but I have found ways to use up leftover rice as well.
Fried rice is a great example. Saute the rice in a skillet with a little oil, add veggies, cut up pork (or any other meat). Push the rice mixture to the side and add 2 beaten eggs, then scramble. Mix eggs with the rice mixture, add soy sauce, salt and pepper and you've got yourself a meal!

Breakfast is also a good way to use up leftovers. You can saute some onion, pepper, mushrooms, etc. and scramble with eggs. Add leftover potatoes, pork, or smoked sausage and wrap it up in a tortilla for a fantastic leftover breakfast burrito.

Pork roast can be used in many ways. Shred it up and add BBQ sauce for pulled pork sandwiches. Cook it with taco seasonings for pork tacos.

Chili is my favorite leftover food. I usually make an extra big pot of chili just to reuse.
Chili and crackers, chili dogs and frito chili pie are just a few ways to use up leftover chili.
If there is just a small amount left, not enough for a meal, then fill greased muffin cups with a scoop of cornbread batter, a scoop of chili and top it off with cheese. Bake the chili muffins until the cornbread is cooked through.

Leftover cornbread is great for making stuffing. To me, stuffing should be eaten all year 'round, not just on Thanksgiving!
Mash up the leftover cornbread, add salt, pepper, sage, and an egg. Saute onion, bell pepper and celery and add it to the mixture. Add chicken broth until the mixture is nice and moist (you don't want your stuffing to be too dry) and press the mixture into a pan. Bake until it is golden brown on top.

Mashed potatoes are also a great leftover food.
You can mix up leftover mashed potatoes with flour, egg, diced onion (or green onion) and salt and pepper, form into patties and fry in oil, and you have delicious potato cakes!
Mix the potatoes with flour until it becomes almost like a dough, then roll it up like a 'snake' and cut it into 1" pieces. You can then take the pieces and drop them into boiling water until they float to the top, tada... potato dumplings (or gnocchi)! - You can eat them with olive oil and herbs, plain, or add them to a soup.
Another way of using up leftover mashed potatoes is sheppard's pie... mix up ground beef (or other leftover meat), veggies, cream of mushroom soup and top it off with mashed potatoes then cheese. Bake in the oven until the potatoes are golden brown on top.

Leftovers tend to end up in the garbage because most people want something new and tasty instead of the same old thing. But by using your imagination, you can turn almost anything into something new. You can eliminate waste and save money by doing this, and who doesn't want to save a little money?!

Freezing food is also a great way to save those leftovers, just remember to label everything you freeze, you'll regret it if you don't!

That's all for today's topic. I hope you learned a bit of useful tips, and keep checking by for new posts! The next one will be about using up all those vegetable scraps :)