This week I’m just talking as I had a busy day yesterday and my husband worked late. Usually when I get back from a trip, the last thing I want to do is cook. This week has been completely different. I’ve been in the kitchen a lot and want to share another way to stretch your budget.
This requires to think outside the box sometimes, but it’s totally worth it!
When my husband and I were first married we were horrible about eating leftovers and wasted so much food. I’m ashamed looking back. My how things have changed! Now we hardly throw out anything. It’s a goal for me to use up any food in the fridge and not throw any away each week. How do I do it?-I get creative with leftovers.
For instance this past week when we returned, my mother-in-law had left a nice chunk of roast in the fridge. They didn’t eat all of it-so we did! One night we made pita pockets. I just kind of played with these and sauteed some onion, red pepper, and thin strips of the meat in a little oil and put that in the pita. I then added a little shredded cheese, lettuce, and tomato to the top.
Another night we made french dip sandwiches. I knew I had some french rolls in the freezer so I buttered those and put them on the griddle to toast them. Next I cut thin slices of the roast and put them on the griddle and topped them with a little pepper jack cheese after I flipped them. We dipped them in a little au jus from the freezer(we don’t ever use much of this so I freeze it and use one packet for several meals).
There was also a little shredded chicken in the fridge so I pulled out another bag of shredded chicken and made these Shredded Chicken Enchiladas. They were so good-thanks Sarah! We had fajitas last week so I had some leftover soft shells, cilantro, onion, and tomatoes that needed to be used up. It worked perfect! I had picked up some of the tomatillos at Rancho Liborio and made the Tomatillo Sauce(next time I need to keep it off one as my 2 year old thought it was guacamole and wouldn’t it if he could see green-just like his daddy! 
). We’ll actually have these again tonight as my husband didn’t join us for dinner last night.
So bascially I took a little leftover meat and produce and created a few more meals with them. It threw my menu plan out the window, but that’s the beauty of flexibilty. I’ll just move some of those items to another week.
Some people refuse to eat leftovers, but if you create a new meal with it they most likely won’t even know!
Tell All-Do you use leftovers? Do you have a family member who won’t eat leftovers? What ways do you get creative with leftovers to stretch your budget?
By the way, I also made pita chips and Roasted Garlic & Red Pepper Hummus this week. Such a delish snack!
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m glad you liked the enchiladas! They’re one of my favorite ways to use up leftover chicken (or roast beef!). Sometimes if I make a whole roasted chicken, we’ll eat that with some potatoes and veggies one night. The next I’ll make the enchiladas and the next I’ll make eggrolls. That way you get three totally different dishes out of one chicken and don’t feel like you’re eating leftovers.
I also use leftovers for “new” meals. I save my veggies, you know the 1/4 to 1/2 cup that is always left over at the end of a meal. I throw them into a baggie and add to it as more comes along, then freeze. Then when I have a good supply of them, I thaw and blend in the blender. Then taking the left over brats or sausage, add the blended veggies all into the crock pot. Add 1 or 2 cans of spaghetti sauce and more Italian seasoning, garlic, chopped onion and even a can of tomatoes, cook all day. This make a lot of “home-made” spaghetti sauce that I then re-bag into meal sized servings and freeze. With enough seasoning anything can be added without the family even knowing it.
I recently started a blog, and I just wrote one on the very topic of food waste with a few ideas. Beth, I love the sauce idea…I definitely am going to try that!
Oops. I meant to add the link
. http://thisislizlewis.blogspot.com/2010/02/confessions-of-failed-new-years.html