I have been asked to maybe do a post for those who are alone or maybe just have two to feed now. Well, I always had two - but always made lots of extra. Hubs was a huge fan of leftovers. That was always lunch, sometimes breakfast, and maybe dinner. He wasn't picky. I was so fortunate.
I went a long time just having a sandwich or a salad - no desire to cook. Now I do cook and enjoy it.
I keep it simple and very frugal. No busters here!!!!!!
Today will be a lot of pics and ideas of things to do that are tasty and frugal. Ways of using leftovers in new ways. ENJOY
Still extra biscuits were eaten with butter and jelly for a snack on a later date!
A very small pork loin with potatoes, carrots and a can of diced tomatoes. Made in slow cooker.
Leftover pork and veggies with peas and seasoning and pasta added to make lo mein
Taco flavored meat with beans added and served over tator bites. Kind of like nachos - tot-chos!!!
Added rice to leftover taco meat and beans - topped with corn chips and sour cream.
Fish stick soft tacos and chips. Topped with slaw mix and ranch dressing.
Nice salad and a tuna patty (make like you would salmon). Super healthy.
2 smoked sausage links, a tad bit of kraut (found in frig) and mashed potatoes
Leftover potatoes made into potato cakes Made of meal of them and had some left to freeze
Roll-ups. Add meat, cheese and veggies you want - dressing - roll it up and eat. Can make with any type of filling - breakfast ones are great too. Add scrambled eggs, cheese, bacon - whatever you want.
There you go. A few ideas - to maybe help you decide on something different. Easy cooking, low budget, tasty, and quick to prepare. Doesn't get much better than that!!!!
Just remember - you don't have to complicate things. As long as you are full and the food tastes good - that is all that matters!!
I hope this gives someone an idea of something they can make for fun and new!!!!
ENJOY!
I live on my own and while I usually cook from scratch (with planned leftovers) but occasionally I need a day or two off. Then it's usually just a simple salad with cheese & hard boiled eggs, crackers & cheese with an apple, or scrambled eggs on toast!
ReplyDeleteI make lots of soups in the winter and these can also be a simple meal with a nice dessert to follow as a treat.
I make ground beef with added onions, use some canned veg like peas & carrots along with a can of corn and then it's all to do with the seasoning. I add Worcestershire & soy sauce, some tomato puree, maybe a dollop of ketchup and even mustard - ground beef needs a bit of help. Very tasty on its own or with mashed potatoes.
I've also recently found two simple recipes to add to ground beef:
The first uses more Asian flavourings (soy, ginger, sesame oil) and after the meat is browned you add a package of plain coleslaw or something similar.
The second I use to stuff peppers - I add more Italian Seasoning to the ground beef and garlic, along with lots of tomato puree or paste. Then I add veggies that I want to use up and grate them into the mix - I personally like a combination of zucchini and cauliflower - then at least half a block of cream cheese, plus whatever other scraps of cheese that I might want to use up. Stuff the prepared peppers - bake for about half an hour, top with more cheese and back in the oven until the cheese is melted. Very tasty!
Much as I love to watch cooking programmes - not every meal needs to be a production number!
All your ideas sound soooooo good. I make soup a lot too - and always have individual size containers in the freezer for quick meals.
DeleteI use a lot of ground beef and there are just so many ways to jazz it up. You gave me some new ideas!
I make an unstuffed pepper skillet and an unstuffed cabbage roll skillet as well at times. All the ingredients you would use just not stuffed! Tastes the same and is stove top ready.
Exactly - keeping it simple is great. If I need to go all fancy it will be for company.
Thanks for new ideas!
You are making me SO hungry! I always make planned leftovers, either for consumption that week or to go in the freezer. I was so grateful to have had some homemade chunky chicken noodle soup and a loaf of applesauce bread in the freezer to have in the days after my surgery. I'd frozen those before I fell, not knowing they'd be such a necessity.
ReplyDeleteThose frozen leftovers sure can come in handy!!! You are proof of that.
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ReplyDeleteTrying again. Weird typos first try.
DeleteIt took me years to learn to cook for two after our five kids left home. We are not fans of leftovers so I try hard to cook just enough for one meal with a few exceptions. I have found some really good recipes by searching Pinterest for recipes for one or two.
I am lucky to like leftovers and I like reinventing items into something new. I find it a challenge.
DeleteI bet it was different after having a house full!
We eat very simply here too and while I occasionally have leftovers my son often finishes off the meal I make. I started making pizza from scratch last year and that's a definite go-to at least once every couple of weeks.
ReplyDeleteLike your first commenter, if I'm sick of cooking I'll have a salad with a tin of tuna mixed in. I've switched from ground beef to ground pork (less expensive here) but use in many ways like you do. Chili, taco meat, pasta sauce and so forth. Those are generally the meals I can anticipate having leftovers and one evening each week is leftover night.
Take care, stay well.
I like ground pork and turkey as well. Have used both - when I get a good deal.
DeleteLove homemade pizza - it is the best.
Yep salad with tuna, an egg, or even sliced lunchmeat is good.
Have a nice one
So many good ideas here and in the comments. Great post, Cheryl.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I hope someone gets some ideas!
DeleteLove it! As a widow, living alone, adjusting my cooking was a necessity to reduce food waste. Over the last few years, I've learned to automatically adjust recipes whenever possible to serve 2, not 4, 6, or 8. Most often, it involves cutting a recipe in half. This way, I'll have one serving for for dinner, and one serving to use (or adapt into something new) for lunch the next day. If I left recipes as is (serves 4 or more), I'd have a problem, as I'm not one that can eat the same thing all week. When purchasing meat, I immediately repackage into size-appropriate packages. Chicken breasts are large, so I repackage them individually; ground beef goes in 1/2# packages -- flatten them, so they will store better and thaw more quickly. If I get a deal on family-size frozen vegetables, I re-portion in single-serve packages. If I make a seasoned chicken breast for dinner, I'll likely only eat half; left-over chicken gets turned into chicken salad (for a sandwich, roll-up, or to eat with crackers), or used in a chicken pot-pie or a'la king. Leftover meatloaf goes into a BBQ meatloaf sandwich or reheated as a sloppy joe mixture. I can eat spaghetti any time, so I'll often have sausage and peppers one night, and use the leftovers and remaining sauce over spaghetti the next night. End of the week, left-over veggies will go into a soup or stew or, depending on what remains, maybe in a weekend quiche. Good eating on a budget, with limited waste. That's my goal!
ReplyDeleteBoy do you sound like me. I repackage from the store as well. It makes life easier. Yep, flatten that ground meat - thaws in a jiffy.
DeleteYou have some great ideas there for using leftovers. I am loving everyone giving new ideas.
THANKS
Oh, man! Those meals look and sound good, Cheryl. I'm gonna defrost some ground beef tonight for those Tater Tot Nachos! :)
ReplyDeleteYou're a blessing!
Mary
Thanks. I have enjoyed them. Trust me - they were sooo good.
DeleteENJOY
Goodness! That all looks so good. I’m craving French bread pizza now!
ReplyDeleteYAY! Hope you have some bread to make it!
DeleteThanks for the dinner ideas. They all look good. My husband came in while I was scrolling and the sliders on biscuits caught his eye. I wanna try those fish stick soft tacos. We love breakfast for dinner and that's what we had tonight. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteGlad you both found something you might like. The fish tacos were very tasty and easy.
DeleteThanks!
I always cook too much, but hubs loves leftovers also, I am blessed like you in that. I always cooked for so many for years, it is hard to cut back.
ReplyDeleteIt really is hard to change your ways. It took me a long time and I still don't think I have mastered it. I just east leftovers or freeze the extra.
DeleteThere's a saying in the UK, Love your leftovers. My husband is the least fussy person I know, think it might be having 5 siblings and growing up in a family with not much money, also spending 30 years in the armed forces. We eat lots of leftovers, remade into something slightly different. Our daughter is a single Mum and knows when to shop for reduced food, so we often have random food items at very reduced prices. I do love some of your photos and very often it gives me fresh ideas, thank you.
ReplyDeleteMy husband used to tease me that I MADE leftovers. He would say what's for dinner and my answer would be "leftovers"!!
DeleteI can understand not being picky under a lot of circumstances like that!
Good for your daughter on knowing how to shop for the best values!!!
Thanks!
Everything looks so good! I haven't had breakfast yet it is making me hungry. Chili is a great meal stretcher and we like it in a variety of ways. Rollups are a favorite of mine, especially for the late afternoon meal. We have a bag of fish sticks in the freezer and hadn't thought of doing fish tacos, which we like. With this rainy and windy weather, I may thaw some hamburger or ground turkey for a meatloaf...comfort food!
ReplyDeleteMmmm meatloaf - does sound good. Trying to decide what to fix today as well. Such cruddy old weather.
DeleteRoll-ups are great for breakfast, lunch, dinner or even a snack. Just depends what you put in them!
oh it all sounds so so good. Love normal everyday foods to cook and then every once in awhile to go big with a meal. I get a rotisserie chicken and go with that for a few days for meals. I use it in chicken noodle soup, chicken and dumplings, and chicken fajitas.
ReplyDeleteChicken is so versatile - rotisserie chickens are pretty affordable too.
DeleteYou can sure make a lot of goodies and comfort food out them.
YUM - good idea.
When we do "bulk" cooking or repurposed leftovers, is it really leftovers? I think leftovers have a bad connotation for some. I love leftovers. Avoiding food waste often drives the menu. This week's menu: fried pickerel with sauteed zucchini, chicken chili with cornbread, gingered carrot/rice soup, BLT. I fried ground beef seasoned with worcestershire sauce to be used in a taco or rice bowl this coming week.
ReplyDeleteOh I agree so much. Leftovers have received a bad rap for sure. I repurpose as much as possible in a new way.
DeleteSounds like you have it figured out and it all sounds tasty!
Love french bread pizza. I hollow out a trough down the middle so I don't eat as much bread and save the middle part for bread crumbs or dressing. Breakfast for supper is a favorite too! My mother always added leftover corn to our potato cakes. Seems like whenever we had mashed potatoes we had corn too! LOL
ReplyDeleteI think French bread pizza is one of my favorites - it just gets so crunchy on the outside! Good idea on taking out some of the bread - I do that sometimes when making a Subway like sandwich.
DeleteI had forgotten about adding corn - my Mom did that often. They were always so good. Glen used to loved corn and mashed potatoes together - he would eat them together!!
I am glad I just ate, or i would be starving.
ReplyDelete