Stretching Your Leftovers and Saving Money

Growing up I watched my Mom cook every night for a family of four and I learned everything about the kitchen from her. When I first got married, I was only cooking dinner for two people. Still, I found myself cooking enough food to feed four people and still have leftovers. This has been a habit I have found hard to break. Instead of breaking the habit I have learned to work with it. No one wants to eat the same leftovers three days in a row.

In our home I have developed a system that allows me to cook the same amount of food, have leftovers, and use those leftovers to create new meals. This method saves time in the kitchen, ensures that we are always eating something different, and we don't waste food. Leftovers are always eaten now because they are turned into something else. Another benefit to cooking this way is saving money. We end up thinking harder about how we can use those assorted can goods for different meals and of course we use less food when we eat leftovers.

How exactly does this work? Very careful meal planning! Your goal is to start with one meal that can be turned into two more meals by adding a few things to the leftovers. By doing this you can stretch one meal into three. Here is an example.

Day 1: Spaghetti
Ingredients: 2 sweet Italian sausages
1 can diced tomatoes: put in food processor for a couple of seconds to make less chunky.
1 can tomato paste
1/2 of medium onion chopped, sautéed in Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Garlic powder
basil

Directions: Sautee onions in a small amount of oil. Once tender add diced tomatoes, the can of tomato paste, 1/4 cup of water, garlic powder, and basil. Let this cook for 30 minutes. It gets better the longer it cooks. Crumble sausage, cook in separate pan, and add to sauce. Pour over pasta. Do not mix the leftover sauce and with the noodles.

Day 2: Chili
Ingredients: 1 lb ground beef
left over spaghetti
1 can kidney beans
chili seasoning
1/2 onion

Directions: Add all ingredients together, bring to boil. Once boiling turn down to a simmer and cook all day. Cayenne Pepper optional.:)

Day 3: Chili Mac
Ingredients: left over chili
macaroni

Cook macaroni until tender. Drain and add leftover chili.

This is just one example of how you can use this method to stretch out leftovers and create new meals. Here are a few more of my three day plans. I am not including recipes for these, but if you are familiar with the meals then you can see how easy it would be to stretch out each meal and turn it into three.

Plan 1:

Night 1: Beef Tacos

Night 2: Taco Salad

Night 3: 7 Layer Mexican Casserole

Plan 2:

Night 1: Grilled Chicken, Rice, and steamed broccoli

Night 2: Chicken Stir Fry

Night 3: Broccoli Chicken Pizza