Planning Meals So You Can Have Leftovers For Lunch?

Oh for sure - this is what you might call a money saver with added benefits - as not only is it way more economical to do this - but it also saves a huge amount of time - that could be better utilized elsewhere - as well as being much healthier too.

In fact - although this is something that I have always done - the money saving aspect came as a bonus for me - as it was originally done for time management reasons - which as I've always been exceptionally busy throughout the day and therefore rarely have much time to cook - other than once a day in the evenings - it seemed only logical to prepare both the evening meal and lunch for the following day at the same time.

Especially as - its real easy and doesn't take much - to either - turn an extra portion of each night's dinner into an entirely different but tasty lunchtime snack with the addition of a few extra ingredients or as I always have a good supply of previously cooked meals in my freezer - for times when I don't have time to cook - to transform one of those into lunch for the following day.

So yes once again - without a doubt - doing this very definitely guarantees a whole host of benefits - along with those of saving money.

 

I do that all the time too! I always pack myself left-overs (from the previous night or the nights before) for lunch so we can get rid of them and not have clutter in the fridge. My husband isn't too keen on left-overs as much as I am so if he isn't in the mood for left-overs I will just make him a sandwich or something. But even then we will have left-overs for dinner or whatever.

However, we do have days when we either don't have anything left-over or we just are getting sick of eating the same old food, so we do have money put away to splurge in occasions like that. It doesn't hurt to eat out for lunch every once in awhile

 

Yep, I usually do this. If I know I'm making a meal that's relatively inexpensive I almost always make too much, and then box up the rest. It's especially good if you can use leftovers together to combine into one larger meal - say, for example, if you make a bunch of rice, then have some kind of sauce-laden meat to mix into it. Yum.

The main problem, of course, is the possibility that you'll make too much of something that you don't want to eat again. But that's a problem you'll overcome with experience.

 

We don't necessarily plan meals with the intent of having leftovers, but we generally have leftovers anyway, so they become lunch for the next day. Often when I'm planning my meals for the week, I'll make a big pot of soup that can be divided up and stored in containers that are easy to grab for those days when we either don't have leftovers or I don't have anything else to bring for lunch.

 

We do this all the time in our family. Over the years we have made a good routine and found the right measurements in that there is a set amount of ingredients to buy per dish to make for leftovers the next day. There are also some recipes that are made to be transformed the next day, such as fried pork dishes being turned into stews, etc. which is great because even though they are leftovers you feel like you're eating a completely new dish the next day because technically it really is a new dish when it's transformed that much.

 

I do this at least 5 days week. I will cook extra food for supper knowing it will be my lunch and my older son's lunch. It saves time in the mornings when packing lunches, I don't have to make sandwiches . I also love that my son is eating a nutritious meal and that it only costs me about a dollar a serving. If he bought food at the cafeteria at his school it would cost at least $5 for lunch. Many foods taste better the next day so soups and stews are great to make and take for lunch. There are many days Iook forward to having my leftovers for lunch. I often get compliments on my lunches. I think it is so much easier to cook extras to pack for lunch.