Leftovers

One sure way to include some waste in your grocery budget is to throw out leftovers.  I admit, I do it from time to time.  I always feel better about it if I leave them in the refrigerator until they're growing mold.

But let’s face it: that delicious dinner you had last night doesn’t look nearly as good on your plate the second time around.  So what do you do?  Here are some things I have come up with.

Eat Them for Lunch

I’m not a sandwich person.  Though I’m someone who really prefers a hot entrée, my standards aren’t nearly as high for lunch as they are for dinner, so I’m more likely to be willing to eat last night’s dinner again at lunchtime.  If you know you’ll be going to work the next day, pack your leftovers into a meal-sized container when you put them away after dinner.  That way you can just grab it and go the next morning.

Consolidate Them

I know: GROSS!  Not necessarily.  I keep what I call a “soup bowl” in my freezer, and when I have small amounts of leftover meat, vegetables, pasta, broth, etc., I add it to the bowl. When it gets full, I thaw it and heat it (add water or more broth if necessary to make soup).  It’s usually pretty good!  You’ll never have two pots exactly the same, which is kind of a bummer if you liked it.

Turn it Into Something Else

Cut that grilled chicken breast up on a salad the next day, or shred that pot roast and roll it up in tortillas with a few other goodies to make enchiladas.   Give old food a new life.  If you don’t want to use it right away, freeze it until you can use it.  There are several web sites (www.allrecipes.com is my favorite) that let you do an ingredient search.  Just type in the ingredient you need to use up, and it will pull up a whole slew of ways to do it.

Prevent Them

Since we have a small family, I often make casseroles in two 8” pans rather than a 9”x13” pan.  I cover the second one with foil, label it and write brief cooking instructions on top, and put it in the freezer.  That way, sometime when I don’t have much time to cook, I can just pull it out, thaw it and heat it up.  It will taste nearly as good as if it were freshly made.

Leftover Night

Thankfully, I was blessed with a husband who doesn’t mind eating leftovers (I’ve heard there are a few who do).  So, if all else fails, we occasionally have “leftover night,” where I heat up everything that is in the refrigerator (at least everything that is still edible), and we have a buffet!  So maybe it’s not a traditional “meat and three” kind of meal, but it’s usually sort of fun.

And last, but not least, if you have one of these, 

he or she will probably be very happy to polish off your leftovers for you.  I don’t buy into the old idea that dogs should only eat dog food, but you do need to follow a few guidelines.  There are some foods that dogs shouldn’t eat:

Chocolate (SERIOUSLY bad)

Onions

Peppers

Mushrooms

Tomatoes and potatoes should be limited

If you give your dog a substantial amount of leftovers, let it be a substitute for all or part of his dog food.  Otherwise, he will likely soon develop a weight problem.   Make sure he is getting his protein (meat) in, though, which is the most important element in a dog’s diet.

So, you see, there are lots of ways to use up those leftovers, and you will find your grocery dollars will stretch a lot further if you do.