leftovers and what to do with them
By conbill
@conbill (369)
United States
January 13, 2009 4:25pm CST
I hate to waste food and when you are cooking for one or two people it's hard not to have leftovers. My aunt taught me a few tricks she used while raising six kids. If she had a spoon or two of veggies; carrots,peas green beans corn she froze them in a container and added them to her vegetable soup. That one lonely porkchop, slice of roast, piece of sausage or chicken went into another container for spaghetti sauce. Sometimes she would make her own tv dinners if there was enough potatoes and veggies for one dinner.
How I thank her today as food is so expensive. Do you have anything special you do with your leftovers? Would love to hear more suggestions.
8 people like this
27 responses
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
13 Jan 09
i to save veggies toput them in soup. sometimes i will boil some chicken & make a chicken pot pie w/them. if i have a bunch of cake or pie left from a big dinner or just get tired of it i will freeze it in them in individual servings & have them for later.if i make dressiong & have more than i need i freeze some of it for later. freezes real well. when i make casswerole i make it into 2 or 3 & freeze them u can split up alot of things & not have to eat them forever. chili & spagheeti sauce are good to freeze to.
@ANTIQUELADY (36440)
• United States
14 Jan 09
sheperd's pie is another good way to use up leftovers.i had some chocolate cake for supper that i froxe christmas. was good.
1 person likes this
![](/Content/images/ajax-loader.gif)
@hibiscus_mel (719)
• United States
13 Jan 09
Thank you for this idea. I usually just put my leftovers in the firdge then after a week or two I just throw it since nobody got it or it is no good anymore. I should start freezing them instead of just putting them in the fridge. Happy MyLotting! ;-)
@jwfarrimond (4473)
•
13 Jan 09
Well, I don't really have leftovers as I only cook for myself and I eat everything that I cook. The only thing that might count as leftover is the chicken carcass after all of the really good slicing meat has been cut off. I'll generally cut off all of the remaining scraps and use them up with a tin of chicken soup with some pasta as a quick lunch meal. I could also cook the entire carcass to make a broth, but I can't be bothered to go to such lengths.
2 people like this
@lightningMD (5931)
• United States
13 Jan 09
My grandma used to do the same thing. What a great idea. I'm going to start doing that. I try to use all our leftovers.Food is so expensive these days that we cant afford to waste it.I often make a whole chicken for dinner then make the leftovers into soup the next day. Then maybe eat the soup over rice or potatoes later in the week.Or freeze it for another day.
@sameroad (3179)
• United States
14 Jan 09
We always try and eat our left overs for lunch and dinner the next day.
sometimes depending on what it we will make another different kind of dish from the left overs...usually we just them though.. sometimes give a little to the dog.
we don't like to waste food either so.. oh and sometimes we give it to my brother.
1 person likes this
@megsgem (123)
• United States
14 Jan 09
I too do the frozen dinners...I plan for left overs to create another meal from it...like have a roast chicken thenthe next night pulled chicken in jerk sause beans and rice. or a pork roast and then diced up left overs in BBq sause with French fries and corn on the cob. the second night meal can be somewhat prepared on the first night during clean up. you can save hamburgers or meat loaf for speggetti sause. I like to chop up some veggies and freeze so I dont waste any to spoilage...I baught the Debbie Meyer green bags for fruits and veggies....not sure if they work as well as they claim...I will know more in time. thanks for sharing!
1 person likes this
@xbrendax (2662)
• United States
14 Jan 09
When I have leftovers, depending what it is, I too will make a soup out of them or something like an omlett, or my cats will get some leftovers, or even the neighbors dog! This is awful, but once I made the best stew I ever made and as my back was turned, the neighbors (un-neutured) mail cat came in my cat door, jumped up on my stove and pissed, (sprayed) over my pot of stew and some of it got into the stew! I was so mad, I wanted that stew so much, now it was ruined! I tried picking out some of the meat for my cats but even after washing it off it still had a slight cat spray smell to it, so rather then letting all that stew go to waist, I marched over to my neighbor's house with the pot and said my stew doesn't taste as good as it usually does and would she mind if I gave it to her dog, who was tied up outside. She said thanks and took the pot and said she would do it. I went home and made me a sandwich and settled down to watch TV. A couple of hours later, there was a knock at the door and there stood my neighbor's 12 yr. old son with my clean empty pot. When I reached out to get the pot, the kid said thanks for the stew, we loved it and mom said it was the best she'd ever tasted!!!
@earthsong (589)
• United States
14 Jan 09
I don't like to waste food either. With a family of 6 and a limited budget I rarely have left-overs. But when I do I always try to use the leftovers somehow, or my hubby or I take them for lunches.
1 person likes this
@sweetpeasmom (1325)
• United States
14 Jan 09
We used to end up throwing them out , but here lately with the price of food and other stuff we have been eating them and I try to fix them up and make them different. Like last week we had leftover taco meat and I used it in my chili. It was great!! Probably the best chili I ever made.
1 person likes this
@metrobelle (398)
• India
14 Jan 09
Our staple food is rice and it is very normal in my family to have some leftover. What I usually do with it is, firstly I chopmsome vegetables like cauliflower pea, mushroom etc and microwave for 4-6 mins at the maximum power, secondly put the pan in the oven to fry some chopped onion, add pepper powder,salt for taste and put the microwaved vegetable and finally the leftover rice. The end result is an excellent fried rice.
@baileycows (3665)
• United States
14 Jan 09
Yeah usually it is just me and my husband. When the kids are with us we eat everything, but your right cooking for just me and him can be difficult at times. But I have got it down to cooking for four and he is a pig and eats for two. So we usually only have one helping left and I will take it to work for lunch the next day. So it is working out great and learning to save alot of money.
1 person likes this
@tristanbacon (45)
•
14 Jan 09
Depending on the fod type, be it meat or vegetables, I feed any roast meat bones and scraggy pieces of fat to my surprisingly slim and agile dog, and the vegetables, depending on whether they have already been frozen or not, either go into the compost bin, my dog (who likes some vegetables), or are frozen if not done so previously.
1 person likes this
@vanities (11395)
• Davao, Philippines
14 Jan 09
hi conbill..so creative !!! i admire people who are like that...but its a pity that my mom don't know much on cooking ..so that i can learn more..however as i got married i learn how to prepare simple recipes on my own but not really expert on left overs..like you..
1 person likes this
@conbill (369)
• United States
14 Jan 09
You will learn with time. I was fortunate in that I had many aunts, as well as mom who didn't mind me being underfoot in the kitchen. I also learned to cook a wide variety as we had all different nationalaties in our family. German, Irish,Swiss,Italian,Croation,Russian just to name a few.
Start out simple with what you know and as you gain your confidence start to experiment. Before you know it you will be an expert.
@annjilena (5618)
• United States
14 Jan 09
eat them later are carry them for lunch are freeze them for later date.are give them to some family members.
@sid556 (30960)
• United States
14 Jan 09
I do the same as you. I had 4 children and have always cooked large meals. Now it is just me and my daughter. I do freeze leftovers and save the veges for stews and soups. When I make spagetti, I only cook enough pasta for what I think the two of us will eat. The extra sauce gets put in the freezer. Freezer bags are great for this. Last nite I cooked a whole chicken and of course there was plenty left over. I de-boned the chicken and put it in the frig and tomorrow nite I will make a casserole with it. Of course there will be leftover casserole. If not for my daughter, I swear that I'd live off from grilled cheese, pb&j and frozen pizzas..hot pockets etc. It is hard to cook for just 2.
1 person likes this
@Pleiades (846)
• United States
14 Jan 09
Yes, food is very expensive and it's a shame to see and know that restraunts and places wastes so much food! So, like anything else, we can do our part in saving foods.
*When I have canned veggies for something, I normally try to use the water from it to put in with the homemade soups as added broth and vitamins.
*I always have cold cooked rice on hand for things like the left over meats and stuff. It makes for great fried rice...just heat up some onion or garlic in oil, add cold rice and stir. Throw in the left overs and at the last minute, pour in a scrambled egg...it's tasty and very good for you.
*I read about the pot pies...that's a good example
*Shepard's pie...I never make it the same way twice
*Bread...if I can, I make bread pudding...very nice.
*Pleiades
1 person likes this
@FDBrister (115)
• United States
14 Jan 09
I'm kind of like your aunt in that I use my leftovers to make new meals. Take that leftover roast, put it in some gravy with mushrooms and onions and bell peppers, add rice and you have you a nice satisfying meal.
Another thing we do at my house is have leftover night. There are some days when I just don't feel like cooking, so I'll have everyone eat leftovers. Sometimes you can mix two or three leftovers and have a nice, exotic meal that you otherwise wouldn't have thought of.
![](/Content/images/loading.gif)