Do you have second or third servings of the leftover food from dinner? Are your pants getting tighter and your belt buckle has moved down a notch? Or worse, the dog gets the leftover food and now you’re spending a fortune at the vet and poor pooch has to go on a diet?
Planning, Portioning, Recreating.
Learning how to plan your meals (check out my blog post How Meal Planning Can Help You) and portioning your food right is a great start. But, the next step is learning how to reuse (or recreate) that meal into something that can be served again the next night or for another time. This is a massive time and money saver. Nobody has time to waste in a kitchen prepping, cooking and cleaning. And the money saved can add up quite quickly.
Common leftovers in my home.
I like to make up a big Asian salad which lasts a couple nights. One night we will have Asian style beef and the following night, Asian style chicken. I love to do a slow cooked meal such as pork or lamb. The slow cooker is filled and once I’ve shredded the meat it can be made into a number of different meals. If I buy a BBQ chicken then it gets used so many different ways. Served with roast veggies and gravy, additions to salads, wraps & sandwiches the next day. I even freeze leftover cooked chicken to reheat into hot chicken rolls or chicken enchiladas or gozleme’s… the list is endless of the meals you can recreate.
My top tips:
- Cook as much as possible ie if you’re a family of four and the meal can serve 8, then cook for 8 and freeze the rest for another time.
- Cut the portions sizes down a little further and add a bigger side salad.
- If you are a larger family then it’s still worth saving even a single meal. When you have enough single meals then your family can have a ‘Pot Luck’ style dinner.
And lastly, remember to store your food correctly, in the right containers to avoid contamination and label it with the contents and date.
See you next time!
Mei x
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