Ten Delicious Ways to Use Up Your Leftover Roast Beef

Many of us are accustomed to asking ourselves 'what do I feel like having for dinner.' This question leads us to unhelpful answers when you're trying to live on a budget. The first step on the road to frugality is to learn to ask ourselves instead, 'What do I have in my hand?' Look around you and see what your resources are. Chances are, you have some leftovers in your fridge, and it can save you a lot of money if you learn to use your leftovers effectively.

Here are several ways to use roast beef, and most of these recipes also work for other kinds of leftover meat as well:

1. Bar-B-Qued Sandwiches: Shred the leftover roast beef (or cut it up fine with a steak knife and fork), mix it with bar-b-que sauce and have over buns

2. Quesedillas- spread grated cheddar and/or monterey jack over one half of a tortilla. Top with a small amount of shredded roast beef. Add some diced onions and green chiles if you like. Fold the tortilla in half and saute gently in a warm pan with a little melted butter.

3. Burritoes: Combine the diced leftover roast beef with refried beans, jalapenos, a bit of tomato sauce, and salt and pepper to taste. Spread this in tortillas with grated cheddar or jack cheese, roll, and bake until warm all the way through for burritoes.

4. Dip. Cut the beef into small pieces, mix with cream cheese and diced green onion and a teaspoon of garlic. Serve with crackers.

5. Stew: Dice beef, bake a couple potatoes and dice them, saute an onion, dice two carrots, open a can of corn and combine all in four to six cups of simmering beef broth along with a bay leaf for a delicious beef stew. Season to taste

6. Fried Rice:

1/4 cup oil, peanut or vegetable
6 green onions, chopped
3 thin slices fresh ginger root, minced (a dash or two of powdered ginger can be substituted)

Add oil to wok. Heat until a haze forms. Add green onions and ginger. Stirfry 1 minute until just brown.

2 cups mixed sliced raw or frozen vegetables [peas, sliced mushrooms, thinly sliced carrots, thinly sliced beans, etc.]

Add to wok. Stir and fry 3 to 4 minutes until vegetables are just tender.

3-4 cups cooked long grain [preferred] brown rice from the fridge (for some reason this works better if the rice has been cooked and cooled), mixed up with one or more cups of diced cooked roast beef

Add rice/beef mixture 1 cup at a time. Break up each cup of rice with a spoon before adding another cup. Stir and fry 4 to 6 minutes over high heat until rice begins to brown.

1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp honey
1 tsp salt
1 to 2 cups bean sprouts (optional)

Add to rice and mix well. . Serve hot.

7. Poor Man's Fajitas- these are not authentic, because they are made with a different cut of meat to authentic fajitas, but they are still tasty:

Combine and saute in a pan:
1/2 cup chopped raw onion
3/4 cup frozen pepper strips
1 diced jalapeno (or one can of diced chile peppers)

Add:
1-2 cups diced and cooked roast beef
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 t. chili powder
1/2 t. ground cumin
1/2 t. ground coriander
pinch salt
1 cup of tomatoes, stewed, diced, crushed, whatever.

Serve hot, on a table also spread with things like grated cheese, sour cream, salsa, avacado, snips of cilantro if you have it, and tortillas. Spoon some of the fajita mixture down the middle of a tortilla, fold or roll the tortilla, put it on your plate and top with toppings of choice.

8. Creamed beef over toast:

use gravy thinned with a little milk for the sauce or make your own white sauce. For two cups of white sauce (enough for two or three servings), melt two tablespoons of butter or margarine (or coconut oil) in a pan. Stir in an equal amount of flour until the mixture is thick but smooth (I use a wooden spoon, but you can use a whisk). When it's a lightly golden, thick, paste, slowly begin to stir in two cups of mik, a little at a time. You pour in some milk while continuously stirring until the mixture is thick and smooth. Then add a little more milk, continuing to stir over heat until it's thickened. Add more milk until it's the texture you want. Add salt and pepper to taste, then stir in the roast beef.

Toast bread slices. Serve the sauce over toast in bowl.

9. Beef and Noodles: make a white sauce as above. Stir into four cups of cooked noodles, seasoning to taste, adding parmesan cheese if desired. Garlic and sauted onion will add extra flavor.

Combine this all in a casserole, top with bread crumbs, and bake until heated through and golden on top for a beef and noodle casserole- comfort food!

10. Potato Pancakes

4 cups grated potatoes (I never peel them. I scrub them clean using a plastic kitchen scrubber I keep just for this purpose. Steel pads with no soap added also work well)
1 onion, diced small
1-2 cups leftover roast beef, diced small
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons flour
2 eggs
pepper to taste

Scrub and grate the potatoes, put them in a sieve and press down, squeezing out the liquid (do this for better hash browns, too).
Combine in a medium bowl with onion, salt, flour, and pepper. Lightly beat the eggs, and stir them into the mix.
Heat the oil in a skillet. Quickly drop in a spoonful of the potato mixture and flatten it with the back of the spoon, making a pancake. Brown gently on one side, flip with pancake turner and brown lightly on the other.

This makes about two dozen.

So next time it's time to start dinner, nstead of asking yourself, "What do I want/need to buy," ask instead, "What do I have on hand that I could use? What can I do with what I already have?"