Who has some creative ways to use up leftovers?
By brynnesmom
@brynnesmom (169)
Canada
February 5, 2010 11:08pm CST
Ok everyone! I'm looking for some ideas and hoping to hear some good stories. By the end of the week I've got a lot of leftovers in my fridge that we're tired of eating but I hate to waste food. How do you get rid of your leftovers? Sometimes things do end up in the trash but I try to use up what I can. When I was young my family used to go camping for extended periods with another family. One evening my mom and the other family's mom made a huge batch of chili. Three days later we were still eating it and some of us were starting to complain! Soon a nice pan of lasagna appeared on the table. After a few bites I noticed a corn kernel and a bean in my lasagna. Hmmm. My mom saw the look on my face and swore me to silence! Add some tomatoe sauce, cheese and pasta and presto, chili becomes lasagna! Does anyone else have stories to share? I've got some spaghetti meat sauce that is destined to be reincarnated as something.
1 person likes this
4 responses
@LaurenInLA (2270)
• United States
6 Feb 10
I'm not certain if you mean that you have the sauce or if what you have left over is spaghetti and meat sauce. You could try baked spaghetti for a different taste. If you just have the sauce you could make a lasagna dish and use the meat sauce as one of the layers. You might be able to turn the meat sauce into a sloppy joe mixture. How about making a play on spanish rice using the meat sauce. How about trying to use the meat sauce in a taco? You might also be able to freeze it to be used at a later date. Perhaps turn it into a chili dish. My most delicious use of leftovers was when I had some polish sausage in the fridge and some black beans. I cubed the polish sausage, added it along with the beans to chicken broth, canned tomatoes and a couple dashes of hot sauce and turned it into a soup. Yummy. Good luck to you.
1 person likes this
@brynnesmom (169)
• Canada
7 Feb 10
Thanks for the input! Yes, spaghetti sauce is one of the easier ones to be creative with. I decided to stretch it out a bit by making a bechamel sauce with parmesan and a pinch of nutmeg. That made the meat sauce nice and creamy. Then I put it in a casserole with some tortellini, topped with more cheese and baked. I often make a soup with Italian flavor turkey sausage, canned tomatoes and butternut squash. Tasty and pretty good for you!
@AmbiePam (85603)
• United States
7 Feb 10
Could you turn the spaghetti sauce into some kind of chili? I guess you could lightly toast a bun and make a spaghetti sandwich. Growing up, my mom tried to make soups or stews out of leftovers she had. My dad would always try to make a sandwich out of something leftover. Now that I'm on my own, I always try to think, could pasta make this a new meal? I like pasta, and if I can use leftovers in a pasta dish, I'm happy! 
@jugsjugs (12967)
•
6 Feb 10
I also hate throwing left over food in the bin,so what we do not eat we give to our chickens as well as our dogs they never leave anything.I think that it is great that the left overs are never thrown in the bin as well as that would make even less room in my bin if i was to put it in there as well as soo much money on food being thrown away.There is nothing like a fresh egg.
