Dressing Up Leftovers

[Disneyphile]

And, no, I don't mean with a suit and tie.

Being on a tight budget, I've learned to get creative with food to keep our sanity without resorting to nightly pasta or rice.

One of our big money-savers has been making sure to eat leftovers. But, we usually transform them the next day, so it's like a whole new meal.

For instance, last night, we grilled up a very large portion of fresh asparagus, as a side to a couple sausages. There was plenty left over, so tonight's dinner is a chilled grilled asparagus salad, with chopped onion and some chunks of lunch ham, tossed with a bit of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and herbs. Needless to say, it's totally delicious!

At other times, we have turned leftover sauteed zucchini and sausage into an awesome pasta dish with garlic cream sauce.

Every night, it's something new, even when some of the ingredients are left over from the night before. And, our average weekly grocery bill total is about $30, and I feel like we're eating better and healthier than ever before. (I actively look for sales and bargains which helps too.)

Do you have any creative ideas or tips for using leftovers? What dishes have you created from "last night's junk"?

[lashbear]

Rice-a-riso
Dinner Winner

:op

I like to make double Spag Bol sauce, freeze half, and use it later, with added chilli powder & Beans, as Con Carne.

[alphabassettgrrl]

I'll be scanning this thread for ideas- I'm not terribly creative in the kitchen.

I'm likely to add either a sauce or cheese to something to reheat it. Tonight's dinner was reheated roast with sweet potatoes and mixed veggies. I tend to make meal A, next night make something different, then on the third night revisit meal A and try to change it some.

[CoasterMatt]

Leftovers look great in a classic, little black dress.

[JWBear]

I once took leftover chicken and ground it up. Mixed it with leftover rice and a few other things that I had handy (don't ask what - I don't remember), then used the result as filling for perogies.... Yumm.........

[Betty]

I've been doing this more lately as well.

When whole chickens are on sale at the store for about $3 or $4, I buy two and roast them both in a pan with potatoes, carrots, onions, and whole garlic. (Mmmmm... roasted garlic). They all roast in the pan drippings and are delish.

I take the meat off the extra chicken and us it for all sorts of stuff - lunch sandwiches, chicken and tortillini salad (like a macaroni salad but fancier), filling for tacos or burritos, just chopped over a regular salad.

The whole roasted chicken is just so easy to make and always ends up so juicy.

This week I had leftover roasted pork tenderloin. I used the leftovers to make beef stroganoff substituting the pork for the beef. That was very tasty.

I love taking pretty much any left over meat and mixing it up with some salsa, rice, pinto beans, a little chili powder and/or cumin and some cheese sprinkled on top. Like a mexican cassserole I guess?

Love this thread though.

[~MS~]

This time of year turkeys are dirt cheap and are so easy to stretch into multiple meals! There is no way I can pass on an 8 dollar bird that will make 4 meals for my family of 3 plus a couple lunches for Missy. We don't do the stuffing/dressing when I roast the bird, first, neither of us like that whole texture/flavor of traditional bread cube/cornbread stuff and second it takes the bird a lot longer to cook. By not stuffing the bird it reduces the risk of not cooking properly so it all works.

I do a rub of garlic, pepper, lemon zest and onion in the cavity and all over the outside of the bird then just roast at 350 for about 15 minutes per pound. When the bird is done, first night we do 'traditional' big dinner with mashed potatoes and gravy and veggies and salad and rolls. When the bird cools, I take all the meat off the carcass and toss the carcass and big bones back in a stock pot and simmer it with an onion and some carrots and some garlic for a stock for later. When it simmers down and smells delish I strain the stock thru cheese cloth and then just let it cool then I usually put it in empty 2 ltr soda bottles then toss those in the freezer for base for soup on a cold day. For the meat, day 2 Missy takes it for lunch (she loves the dark meat) and we usually have hot turkey sandwiches for dinner. Two days of the same food is enough for anyone so I divide up the rest and usually chunk one portion into 'soup' size chunks to go with the broth that I froze ...quick and delish turkey soup later on. The other bag I make turkey Ala king...make a nice white sauce/gravy with some of the turkey broth, add the chunks and serve over either rice or potatoes. $2.00 a meal for a family of 3 for the protein is pretty budget conscious and tasty to boot.

For a roast, I do roast on the first night then a version of beef in gravy over noodles or potatoes for the second day. When I make tacos I intentionally make extra meat so I can make enchiladas later and not have to start from scratch.

[Betty]

Great idea with the soda bottles. I never make a stock but think I'll start now with your tip! Thanks! Great way to reuse not just the meal, but also the bottles.

[~MS~]

what I like about using the bottles is that I've already paid for the container and when it comes time to thaw the stock/broth, I can sit it in a sink of warm water to speed the process and not worry about contamination. The stock works great with left over chicken as well so if you wanted to make a quick chicken soup, roast a couple of chickens and use one meal of meat to make a nice quick soup. The nice thing you simmer the veggies in the stock with a bay leaf or two and when they get tender you add your already cooked poultry to heat up to serving temps. If you want to add some carbs to the meal you can add noodles or some other shape of pasta in the last 15 minutes of cooking time and the pasta will take on the flavor of the soup and make it a bit heartier if that makes sense? I like lots of veggies so my soups aren't really traditional in the sense of only carrots and potatoes, I add peas, green beans ...since we don't put sauces on our veggies if I have any left overs I put them in ziplock containers (fake tupperware but lots less expensive) and toss them in the freezer for soup night.

[cirquelover]

I've had to learn to fol my family into eating leftovers. I always buy a large roast and have roast bef the first night. The leftovers can easily be turned into french dip sandwiches, hot roast beef sanwiches, beef stroganoff or enchiladas. When I make steak for dinner I turn the leftovers into easy fajitas.
A roasted turkey breast is wonderful in many dishes. This summer I was making pasta salads with the leftover lmon turkey breast and it was divine. Also works great in hot pasa dishes.
If I'm running low on hamburger I'll go shopping on Tuesday when they've had it on sale all week and they usually put a clearance sticker on it rather than change the price next day. So I get it at the sale price plus a couple bucks off, take it home, season and cook it all up and freeze using my vacuum sealer. It great for quick dinners later, as it's already cooked and easy to thaw. It's much easier to make baked ziti that way. You can also make extra casseroles and such and freeze for later so you have a night cooking free! My freezer has enchiladas, ziti and sheperds pie in it right now, just waiting to be used on an easy cooking night.