Leftovers...How do YOU use them?

Here's the scenario:
You go looking for something in your refrigerator and all you find is "science experiments" that weren't intended to be so. You have so many leftovers in the refrigerator that you really don't want to cook, but nobody wants to eat the leftovers SO you take the time to make something new only to find that you are putting THOSE leftovers in the refrigerator, too!!!

A Solution?
Meal planning can be a task...especially if you "feel" like their is nothing to fix OR you are overwhelmed with leftovers that NOBODY will eat.

If this is YOUR problem...then I may have a solution for you.

Here is what I do. First I look at what I fixed the week before. I don't really like to repeat things every week, but pizza is one thing that is a guaranteed sell at my table. So pizza is repeated almost weekly.

A look back at last week's menu:
Sunday--> Sloppy Joes, baked beans (for church dinner)
Monday-->Sloppy Joes, baked beans, chips, sliced tomatoes and pickles
Tuesday-->Spaghetti & meatballs with marinara sauce, broccoli
Wednesday-->Kentucky Fried chicken (couldn't do the pizza that was planned)
Thursday-->Breakfast: pancakes, bacon, eggs
Friday-->Cheese, Pepperoni & Hotwing pizza with breadsticks
Saturday-->Hamburgers & hotdogs on grill, sliced tomatoes, chips & dip, pickles
Sunday-->Roast beef, potatoes, carrots, green beans, homemade rolls

As you can see already, the leftovers that we had from Sunday's menu (the church dinner) got served on Monday. Since there are so many choices at a Fellowship meal, we don't "feel" like we are even eating leftovers.

Tuesday's menu, spaghetti and meatballs, was something from scratch, but the sauce was leftover, therefore I made something "new" out of our leftovers.

Wednesday's meal doesn't really "count," but we ate the leftovers for lunch the next day and they were very much enjoyed!

Thursday, my quick and easy day, ended up being a little more complicated, BUT I was able to serve the leftover bacon and pancakes for breakfast the next day...I made a little French toast to go along with the pancakes and bacon and everybody left the breakfast table completely satisfied.

Friday's meal was completely from scratch, but Saturday was a day that I needed to rest and having the leftover pizza in the refrigerator made an easy lunch for my husband.

Saturday was also a meal that I had to "cook," but since we have been using up our leftovers I have had to cook from time to time. The goal here is not to never have to cook, the goal is to eliminate wasted food.

Sunday's meal--roast beef, potatoes, carrots, green beans, and homemade rolls--was eaten this evening, but NOT in the same form it was originally. Today I sliced up the leftover roast beef into very thin slices, smothered it in BBQ sauce, baked it until it was heated through, and served it on rolls. The leftover potatoes from Sunday's meal were made into potato salad, and the leftover green beans were reheated.

Now these are just a few examples, but I have many more....
Taco meat--use it for a quick and easy chili, a Mexican casserole, taco salad, burritos, enchiladas, a layered bean dip, tamale pie, Mexican pizza, beef and cheese quesadillas, chili con queso, chili mac, or just freeze the meat and use it the next time you have tacos.
Roasted, boiled, or baked potatoes--these can be cut up into a potato salad, used for mashed potatoes, vegetable soup, creamy potato soup, cheesy potato casserole, fried for home fries, used for a hash (like roast beef hash), or cut up and put in a meat pie.
Meatballs--reuse for meatball sandwiches, Swedish meatballs with noodles, a meat pie, minestrone soup, or freeze and use them the next time you have spaghetti and meatballs.
Ham--reuse for ham salad, cube and add to your cheesy potato bake, cut it up small and add to you creamy potato soup, dice up and use on pizza or Stromboli, slice into thin slices and BBQ, add to your baked beans, green beans, or ham and beans, process in food processor and make ham loaf, add it to fried rice, or chop up and add to your eggs.
Meatloaf is great on a sandwich cold the next day for lunch.
Cooked Spaghetti--reuse for chicken noodle soup, baked spaghetti with marinara, spaghetti Alfredo, warm sesame chicken salad, Italian tomatoes with chicken, broccoli & spaghetti, buttered garlic noodles, or deep fry the spaghetti up to make your own Chinese noodles.
Cooked macaroni--reuse for chicken or beef & noodles, macaroni and cheese, macaroni salad, buttered garlic noodles, marinara & noodles, add to veggie soup or tomato soup, cheesy chicken and broccoli bake, beef Stroganoff, Swedish meatballs with noodles, pour Alfredo sauce over these, or serve them plain to your children who like them.

These are just a few ways to reuse leftovers, I am sure I have more and I will post them as I have time.

Blessings!
Heather