How to Make the Most of Your Leftovers

With more and more families facing a financial crunch now, there is nothing left over that can be afforded to go to waste.

The same can be said about food, stop throwing it away, and start using your leftovers towards other meals. Here are some great ideas on how to get the most of your leftovers without boring the family!

Pasta:

It's easy to take leftover pasta and reheat it. Throw it in a bowl with some butter and Parmesan cheese. Or you can add whole new life to it by making macaroni salad.

Rice:

Make a rice pudding or fry it up for an oriental style meal.

You can mix it in with your next meatloaf or a round of meatballs for spaghetti. It's great filler and will stretch your Hamburg even further.

Add it to soup, or mix it into a salad.

Meatloaf:

You can crumble meatloaf and add it into any recipe that calls for ground beef, such as tacos or chili. You can even use it for a spaghetti or pasta meal by using ground meatloaf in place of meatballs.

Baked Beans:

The ultimate in frugal meals, there always seems to be plenty of baked beans left over. Throw them into a saucepan or crock-pot and add ground meat, a can of crushed tomatoes and chili seasoning and voila! You have a great chili.

Bread:

If your bread is thinking of better days gone by, let it dry out completely and make breadcrumbs or French toast. You can even make croutons by baking it, and letting it harden. Just add garlic salt or any other type of seasoning you enjoy, and throw it onto your salad!

Roast:

Slice it up into roast beef sandwiches, or you can re-cook it in a crock-pot for a second meal. Use this or left over steak, and shred it up to make some homemade fajitas!

Potatoes:

Don't waste your extra potatoes! You can cut them up and fry them in a pan, or reheat them and serve with sour cream, chives and bacon bits. Who doesn't love twice-baked potatoes?

Potato soup is another option to explore!

Mashed potatoes can be defrosted and used on different casseroles or meals, just think "Shepard's Pie!"

Chicken:

Left over chicken is probably the easiest to use, there are so many things you can do with it!

Use it in a chicken potpie, just bake the pie shells, and add chicken and any vegetables you'd like.

You can crush it down, similar to a tuna-fish consistency and make chicken salad sandwiches.

Chop it up and make fajitas, or even "plain old" chicken soup can be a great meal.

If you use a little creativity, you can figure out a whole new meal plan for just about any left over. It'll bring new life to your old leftovers, and create a great meal. Just don't tell the rest of the family, if they're anything like mine, they won't touch a left over. They will never know!