Clever Ways to Use Up Mealtime Leftovers

No matter whether you're feeding a family of six, or you serve small meals for two, it seems there are always leftovers to deal with. A dab of potatoes here, a spoon of vegetables there, a leftover crescent, and soon you have enough food to help make additional meals for the dinner table. Of course, the biggest advantage of using up leftovers is that this practice will save you money on your grocery bills. If you need some ideas on how you can utilize this practical idea, read this article and learn some clever ways to use up mealtime leftovers.

If you and your family like to eat one-pot meals, you can use many of your leftovers to cook up many variations of hearty soup. "Pot Luck Soup" is not much more than bits of food, but it's a delicious way to recycle. Probably the best thing about it, is, no matter how many times you serve it, it never tastes the same because the ingredients are never the same!

Place any leftover vegetables, meats, poultry, and the like, into a large freezable container after each meal. Keep the container in your freezer until you're ready to use the contents. Then, at the end of a week or so, whenever the container is full, it's time to make some "Pot Luck Soup." Simply put the mealtime leftovers in a soup kettle, add a can of chicken or beef broth, and heat it on your stovetop until it's heated clear through. You can dice up an onion if you want, or add a can of diced tomatoes to the kettle instead of the broth. Season the soup to your liking with salt and black pepper, and you have a delicious meal that's easy to make and a treat to eat.

Making soup is the easiest way to use mealtime leftovers, but the clever ideas don't end there. You can use leftover fresh vegetables such as celery, onion, tomatoes, green peppers, and even carrots to make mouth-watering Vegetable Omelets. Chop the vegetables up, stir them in with the eggs, and cook them until the omelets are done. Top each omelet with a slice of cheese, then fold each one over and enjoy!

Leftover mashed potatoes can easily be transformed into savory potato cakes. All you need to do is add an egg or two, depending on how many potatoes you have, enough sifted flour to make the potatoes slightly stiff, and salt and pepper. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into a hot skillet with some vegetable oil. Fry the potato cakes until the outsides are golden brown in color. Serve them as they are or heat up a can of gravy to eat with them. They're flavorful either way.

If you don't want to make soup, or you don't have leftover mashed potatoes to use up, you can always turn mealtime leftovers into a casserole. Or, fry them up together and make an interesting, yet scrumptious one-skillet meal. You can place leftover macaroni and cheese in a skillet with a pat of butter. Fry it until it's golden brown. Cut up and stir in leftover hot-dogs, hamburgers, or other meats, and you've got an easy meal.

With most any type of leftover pasta you may have on hand, you can stir a can of spaghetti sauce into it, or a can of diced tomatoes, add some meat or poultry, and you've used another clever way to recycle your mealtime leftovers!

No matter what kind of food leftovers you have, just use a little imagination, and you'll be surprised at the ways you'll come up with to turn these remainders into new kind of meals you and your family will love!