Leftovers are one of the absolute best ways to save on your food bill. By planning leftovers, you’ll cook less and spend less energy on clean up, too. But sometimes your family just doesn’t want leftovers. Other times there just might not be enough left over to make an actual meal. You can always try saving the leftovers for freezer soup, but I bet by now that you could use some more ideas.
When either of these things happen, or when you or your family get so sick of leftovers, you can try performing some slight of hand to turn those old leftovers into new meals. You don’t even have to tell your family that you used a single leftover at all. They will all think that the meal is fresh and new.
Here are some quick ideas for hiding those leftovers.
A while back I wrote an article for the Food Blog that contained a recipe for Romans Pants. My family loved it because of the unexpected addition of using a pie crust. The recipe calls for canned chicken, but I have to confess that when I make it, I often have a lot of “crouching chicken” hidden in there. I call it crouching, because it lays in wait for my unsuspecting family.
Another idea that could work for practically any type of leftover, whether it is a single slice of ham that no one wants to make into a sandwich, to steak, pork or hamburger, is to add some cheese and eggs and turn it into an omelet. Having breakfast for dinner is fun and just the distraction you need for those hidden leftovers. Or simply make it as a breakfast meal. If you do this often enough, no one will even notice that last nights dinner and that morning’s breakfast have a lot in common.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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