Recreating leftovers

Depending on the dish, I sometimes like just eating it in the exact same way as it was originally. I use leftovers for lunches quite often and don't really change them in any way.

Other times, I'll use pieces of leftovers for different dishes. For example, if I have leftover rice from one dish, I might use that rice for a stirfry the next night or maybe fried rice a couple days later. If I make a big batch of chili, we may have chili dogs the next day or I'll just freeze the leftovers for use at another time.

 

Left-overs shouldn't be left to go to waste because they can help you spend a little less on food. If you have it, you won't have to spend ca$h on it, right? Here's one tip to stretch your food by using left-overs:

Left-over meat, assuming it's cooked, can be cut into smaller pieces and used in an omelet to make it even tastier. If it's chicken left-over why, you have one of the main ingredients to make yourself some chicken soup.

 

As I have four children and a limited budget I always try to use leftovers. A roast dinner is one of the best things to do this with. Any left over meat can be used for sandwiches, salads, stews or curries. The leftover potatoes and vegetables can be made into vegetable burgers, bubble and squeak or simply reheated with your meat the next day. If you have leftover food like soups, bolognese or chilli con carne you can freeze these to reuse at a later date. Chilli con carne can also be used the next day and served in a tortilla wrap or jacket potato instead of with rice. If you have any stock left from cooking meat, freeze this and use it next take you make a soup.

 

I actually love leftovers! If you know your way around the kitchen you can improvise lots of tasty meals by using leftovers. Like it was already mentioned you can use them in omelets or as topping for dishes that allow it. And let's not talk about sandwiches! If you have a sandwich maker in the house you can mix wonders with some bread, leftovers and spices! I never threw them away, it's food I already payed for and by improvising a little I can eat some cheap delicious meals!

 

Since I am mainly cooking for myself, and I am not a fan of leftovers - I try to avoid them as much as possible. It's one think to use a leftover roast to make sandwiches or something like that - but many dishes I find taste terrible the next day as leftover, especially pasta dishes.

I enjoy cooking, so it's not something I try to do in bulk so I don't have to do it again later in the week. I would rather just rely on quick recipes if I am in a hurry.

I've tried a few times to make freezer meals in advance, and I ended up not eating most of them and throwing them out because they didn't hold up well to the freezing and re-heating. One of the worst things I made were a batch of breakfast burritos. When I tried to reheat some of them, the eggs tasted like flavorless wet sponges and I could barely taste the cheese in them at all.

 

In saving left overs I always make sure that I store them properly to prevent it from spoiling.
Left overs are perfect for omelets, you can mix and match any dry left overs add a little cheese,
some spring onions and presto.. You got yourself the perfect breakfast!

 

Hi there! I actually have been experimenting quite a bit with my cooking, and have a few recipes that keep well for reuse. My personal favorite thing to make lately is ground turkey tacos. I typically cook a large amount at once, enough to eat a couple tacos, and still have plenty left over. I refrigerate what's left and have found several delicious ways to "recreate" my leftovers. Sometimes I will just reheat the meat and crack a couple eggs in over the skillet to make a breakfast burrito. Another great way to reuse the meat is to toss in some precooked black beans, and make baked stuffed peppers - you just reheat your taco meat, toss in whatever else you want for seasoning (I use black beans and corn), hollow out a red pepper, and toss it in the oven. If you want any recipes in particular, I'd be happy to send you some! Cheers

 

I love leftovers; you can create something new. For instance, a whole roasted chicken can be eaten the first night with potatoes and vegetables. You can then pick off all the remaining meat and make chicken salad; serve this on bread or lettuce. Then with the carcass, you can make a soup. You'd be surprised how much meat is still on the bones. Three very different meals, all from one source.

 

I am not a fan of left overs so I try to not to over cook so there are none. But my partner loves to make something out of leftovers. The other day with left over chicken from the roast dinner we had. He made a chicken tikka masala curry and I have to say it was lovely and saved us money and I would definitely have it again.

 

You sound like me, I turn leftovers into tacos and burritos too. I also make fried rice. If I have leftover meatloaf, I chop it into square meatballs for spaghetti.
I have a relative that hates leftovers and tosses them out. I can't relate to that kind of wasteful thinking. The food you ate last night is still just as good today. Throwing away last night's dinner is like tossing money in the trash.

 

You may benefit from trying partially frozen prep items instead then.

For example, instead of making the burritos entirely and risking the eggs being sponge-y or cheese being flavorless.... you could still chop up all the peppers/onions and freeze those. You could fry up the sausage or bacon and freeze that, etc. Then when you want a breakfast burrito, it would only take a couple minutes to re-heat the fillings and fry up the eggs quickly. This could still save you time chopping up all the veggies, thawing and frying the meat, etc.

 

That's exactly what I do! I love chicken salad and this is also a good way to use left-over turkey. I just made my first "bone-broth" using leftover roast chicken bones/skin and it is delicious! I used a crock pot and it made about 6 cups of broth! I've frozen the broth to make soups with all month long. It took me about a month to save up enough bones, but it was a fun and successful project. Practically free food! Love it!

 

This is done AFTER most of the meat is already removed, which means all the skin and most of the fat has been removed as well. It's just going to be the roasted bones and then little flecks of chicken, so definitely not going to be too greasy at all!