One of the best way to keep your grocery bill down is using your leftover's wisely. There are so many ways you can stretch your dollar when it comes to leftovers.

I'll start with some ideas but I would love to hear others as well:

~last night we had a salmon, tonight I am making salmon pasta with veggie's

~take your leftovers from dinner and dump them into a large container in your freezer when it is full make soup

~turn last night dinner into a casserole, quiche or pot pie

~veggie's in bin starting to look limp? They will taste great in homemade soup

~use leftover apple, berries etc to make muffins

~extra cold rice from last night? Try fried rice with your leftover ham and peas. It tastes great!

~if you roast a chicken or turkey don't forget to boil the bones and make a great broth. I freeze the broth into ice cube trays or make soup.

~check out the "Use it up cookbook" from the library for great ideas! :angel:

I really like making a curry with the leftovers from roasts or steak or chicken.

Start with an onion, dice and fry in some hot oil, toss a spoon or two of curry powder on (frying releases curry flavour).

Then add the meat and stir fry it a bit

Then sliced veggies like celery, cauliflower or broccoli or fruits like apples. Raisins and coconut finish it off a bit.

Finish with a half cup of water or fruit juice, put the lid on and cook it a little.

Serve over rice. If it's not thick enough thicken with a pinchy bit of cornstarch.

Peanuts go well in here too.

So do canned rinsed chickpeas if there isn't enough protein.

Great tips ladies! Designate a shelf or space in your fridge for those leftovers so they don't get pushed to the back of the fridge and become science experiements. :D Plan your meals with leftovers in mind. Know what you are going to do with that extra bit of roast, rice, pasta, fish, etc..

Leftover bread--- make croutons. I just cube the bread, toss with a touch of olive oil, and seasonings then into the oven at 350 degrees on a shallow pan. I shake them every few minutes and take them out when they are dry.

Potato peels-- I make appetizers with them. I scrub my potatoes well before I peel them, and cut just a bit deeper than I would otherwise. Then I deep fry the peels in my Fry Daddy, add shredded cheese, bacon bits and heat in the oven until the cheese melts.

I do planned left overs a few times a week so I only have to do real cooking 2-3 xs. A whole chicken or ham will start with potatoes and veggies, another night will become fajitas with some rice and veggies and later in the week all together the leftovers will be soup or if its ham it can be omlettes.

I love leftover rice for breakfast.

Sometimes I will make large portions of things and use them diff ways. Like meatballs, one night we will have them with pasta, then subs, then cut them in half and slap them on a pizza.

I always make big batches of boiled dinner and chili. The leftovers get canned (or froze if room permits). I can use them for in dh's thermos or dinner whichever. My problem is finding something different to fix for meals. The same old thing is getting boring and most of the recipes I have found have things I don't have on hand, are too expensive to begin with or are just plain icky sounding. I'm open to any suggestions.

We had meatball subs last week. I used a pound of ground beef, then threw in a pound of bulk sausage that needed to be used up. I ended up making four meals out of it!

We had meatball subs, spagetti and meatballs, then with about 10 meatballs left, I divided them up and chopped them up and half went into mostocolli and half went into chili!

Last night I made a ham and I have enough left over for

Scalloped potatoes with ham
Linguini with ham, peas, and mushrooms
Pinto beans and rice

I like to make meatloaf and mashed potatoes one night and then make it into shepherds pie the next.

I make extra rice and then make fried rice.

Bake extra potatoes and in the morning make them into homefries.

Ham can become so many things, ham and bean soup, ham and scalloped potatoes, into eggs and on sandwiches.

Last night I made a ham and I have enough left over for

Scalloped potatoes with ham
Linguini with ham, peas, and mushrooms
Pinto beans and rice


Don;t forget that if it was a bone in ham to keep the bone and make beans with it....we had spit pea soup with a ham bone that I stuck in the freezer a month or so ago. mmmmmmmmmmmmm............

I cooked up a turkey last night. It was a "big un." The neck and giblets were the dogs' dinner. The turkey meat went into bags in the freezer and will become turkey noodle soup and turkey pot pie, unless something more creative hits me. The turkey juices were saved for making gravy today, and the carcass and fat went into the stock pot and were simmered to make some stock. I'll peel off every last little bit of meat, skin, and gristle this morning, and it will be the dogs' breakfast! :)

....we had spit pea soup with a ham bone

I know what you meant, but it made me laugh....spit pea soup.

Don;t forget that if it was a bone in ham to keep the bone and make beans with it....we had spit pea soup with a ham bone that I stuck in the freezer a month or so ago. mmmmmmmmmmmmm............

HAHAHAHHAHAHA

Madhen,
thanks for pointing out my error!!!! My kids think it looks like spit pea soup sometimes!!! :) :)

ok, SPLIT PEA SOUP!!!!!

if you can;t laugh at yourself, then who can you laugh at?? :) :)

I love leftovers , I think food always tastes better second time around ( if you know what I mean lol ) I have leftover beef and veg in the fridge , plus leftover cauliflower and brocolli cheese bake , I will turn that into a shepherds pie thingy .

I try very had to empty my freezer but everything I take out gets turned into loads of other meals , does anyone else have this 'problem'?

Leftover bacon or sausage from Breakfast for dinner night becomes topping for pizza or the insides of stromboli the next night. Any leftover pancakes get frozen for quick breakfasts through the week.

Leftover meatloaf or stuffed green peppers becomes chili:
1 1/2-2 cups chopped up leftover meatloaf/ chopped up stuffed green pepper
1/4 cup chili powder
1 (15 ounce) can undrained pinto beans or rinse left over pinto beans you had from dinner (you can freeze pinto beans from dinner to use later as well)
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can undrained diced tomatoes
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, divided (optional)
Directions
1In a medium sized saucepan, combine beans, tomatoes, and chili seasoning.
2Heat and stir until seasonings are well blended.
3Add meatloaf and stir until meat is heated, about 15 minutes.
4Divide into two serving bowls, and if desired top with equal amount of cheese.


Leftover pot roast becomes veggie soup. Cube the potatoes, carrots , and meat up. Add a can of mixed veggies or whatever leftover veggies you have (I keep a container in my freezer for leftover veggies). Cover with V8 juice and cook until hot.


:)
Andrea

Leftover roast meat I turns into tacos, leftover chicken can make chicken sandwiches for my lunch the next day or add to chicken & noodle soup. Leftover ground beef dh puts in his omelets. Love getting 2 meals out of one!

For Thanksgiving, we're cooking both a large turkey and a ham...w/very few people coming over My plan is to do most of my cooking for December on and around Thanksgiving, so I want LOTS of Thanksgiving leftovers!

Some of Decembers Menu Ideas:

Hot Turkey
Scalloped Potatoes with Ham
Macaroni and Cheese with Ham
Turkey Pot Pie
Turkey and Noodles over Mashed Potatoes
Pineapple Glazed Ham Slices
Ham and Egg McMuffins
Alfredo Ham
Chefs Salads
Potato Soup with Ham
Turkey and Rice Casserole

And that's just the tip of the iceberg...

this is another really old post. I wonder why so many old posts lately? a really good way to use up leftover mashed potatoes is put mashed potatoes in a bowl add 1 or 2 eggs (2 if you have alot leftover) breadcrumbs,again depends how much you have leftover, half to three quarters cup spices salt pepper basil saute alittle onion add that also.you can even add alittle leftover veggies corn peas also some parm or shredded cheese. make patties and fry in oil on each side till golden brown I make these alot they are really good. try them!

I had some leftover pork shoulder that I had crockpotted. I made a freestyle posole with some hominy, sauteed onion chunks, leftover rice, a can of diced green chiles, leftover canned diced tomatoes from the freezer, a little chicken flavored Better-Than-Bouillon, and the tail end of a jar of salsa. It's fabulous. All I needed to buy for it was the hominy. The rest was leftovers or from the stockpile.

I do the basics - this week I made a whole chicken, and had the following meals:

Chicken, mashed potatoes & corn
Chicken & Mashed potatoes
Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo
Chicken Alfredo & Salad
Chicken Sandwich, pudding, boiled egg

And right now the chicken carcass is boiling for stock, and I have chicken pieces (the very last I could get off the bones!) in the fridge so that tomorrow evening I will be making chicken noodle soup. Should have enough to have leftovers of that too for my freezer.

Since I'm just me I have left overs a lot. I usually plan my menu each week around a "theme." This week was chicken. Some weeks I do "mexican" where I buy cheese, sour cream, tortillas, and canned tomatoes and have various mexican type meals - like quesadillas, and tacos with varying things in them each time. I also will make taco salad or something too. Then I use any left over tomatoes as my homemade pizza sauce and make pizza. Yummy!

Leftover beans can become refried beans or fried bean patties. Leftover chili can be topped with cornbread batter and baked. Leftovers can go into egg frittatas or used as pizza toppings.

Some things I've done lately:

Leftover, driedout homemade bread and an apple were turned into an apple french toast bake for breakfast.

Leftover turkey breast (the last bits) were turned into a quiche.

Leftover meatloaf was crumbled and put into spaghetti sauce.