As a kid, whenever Mom announced that leftovers were on the menu, I groaned inside (okay, let’s be real, I groaned and complained loudly). I could never understand the appeal of last night’s dinner reheated no matter how delicious it had been last night. There was just something about twice-baked lasagna or reheated mashed potatoes that did not suit my precious palate. Thankfully, I grew up (at least, to an extent). As a busy wife, leftovers are now my secret weapon. There’s nothing I love more than making a big pot of my famous (to like three people) potato soup or a big pan of chicken stir fry to reheat and serve the following night to take some afternoon stress off and allow me to get more stuff done during the day. Over time, I’ve also realized the obvious downfall of leftovers: actually getting them all finished. Especially since we only currently have two mouths to feed in our house and I’m used to cooking for six-plus people. In an effort to keep up with the ever rising cost of groceries and run my kitchen as efficiently as possible, I’ve implemented some systems and mental processes that allow me to reuse and restructure leftovers and be smart about which staple items to keep on hand.
1. Make extra staples
I love to keep extra staples on hand in my refrigerator or bread box to assist with meal planning and last-minute snacks. When I’m cooking dinner and I already have all of the ingredients out, I like to make a little extra and keep it in the refrigerator or freezer. Some of my favorite staples that I try to keep on hand are:
cooked rice
dinner rolls
chopped veggies
pizza sauce
refried beans
honey mustard dressing
guacamole
All of the above items keep well in the fridge or cupboard and stay fresh for up to a week. This makes meals a lot easier especially on the days that I don’t have any lunch or dinner meals planned or I forget to thaw meat for dinner. There is a huge variety of simple, healthy, family-friendly meals that can be built around all of the above staples. However, keeping staples in the refrigerator or cupboard does require a certain level of mental awareness to keep items from being pushed to the back of the fridge and forgotten about.
2. Keep a running list
I have a whiteboard that magnets to my fridge where I keep a running tally of leftovers that I need to use up. I used to keep a list in my meal planner but I’ve found a whiteboard on the fridge is more obvious and works better for me. You could also keep a list on the pantry door or some other place where you are likely to look daily. This also helps with meal planning because I can tell at a glance which items I need to use up first. Right now, my “use up” list looks like a nightmare smorgasbord—whey, jalapenos, kale, cooked rice, pie crust, mushrooms. But you know what, I don’t even need to open the fridge and dig around to plan for dinner tonight. I’m going to stir fry those veggies and rice, toss in some chicken and homemade teriyaki sauce, and call it a night. Keeping track of, and using up leftovers, is one of the best ways that I can be a diligent steward of our family’s resources and my husband’s extremely hard-earned money.
3. Keep an index of favorite go-to recipes
Maybe this is a no-brainer. It probably is. All the experienced wives are likely shaking their heads at me. But truly, I never realized that meal planning serves two purposes: it helps with decision fatigue and grocery planning AND it helps me keep a written log of all the meals that I’ve made. So, when I’m stumped for meals, whether it’s a last minute must-have-dinner-on-the-table-now situation, or I’m meal planning ahead, I can look back at my notebook and see exactly what I cooked for the last three months worth of dinners. Not only that, but I have notes for what recipe I used, what modifications I made, and what leftovers I used up in the recipe. My meal planning notebook is one of my most valuable possessions: who knew that regular weekly meal planning would provide a golden index of all our family’s favorite meals at a glance! Okay, probably literally everyone in the world but me, but just in case you didn’t know that, or you needed the boost to start meal planning, this is it! Your life just became a million times easier.
4. Assess leftovers into specific categories
This article is written about both meal planning ahead of time and last minute crunch time meal decisions because let’s be honest, some weeks, the meals just don’t get planned and around 3pm, you forget everything you’ve ever eaten. In both of these instances, the first thing I do, is take stock of my pantry, fridge, and breadbox. I assess the “use up” list on the fridge and go from there. I group foods together into specific categories. Let’s see, I have both rice and refried beans in the fridge—tacos! I have leftover potatoes in the fridge and dinner rolls in the cupboard—potato soup! I have chopped veggies in the fridge and pizza sauce in the freezer—pizza! Mentally grouping like things together saves me a headache and a half. Starting with the leftovers I have, I work backwards, add new ingredients, cook a few extra items if needed and serve up what I have. Often, I have to return to my handy dandy meal planner for extra inspiration. And if all else fails, I serve a random collection of food items that I lovingly refer to as “scraplings” and my husband is happy as can be.
5. A well-rounded meal
In a perfect world, I would serve up a perfectly well-rounded meal every single day. It would contain all the protein, fiber, carbs, healthy fats, and sugars that a person needs. Since we don’t live in a perfect world and I am as far from perfect as a homemaker can be, this is the formula I shoot for instead: one protein source, at least one veggie or fruit, and one carb source. Finding protein sources is especially daunting for me. I mean, have you seen the grocery store prices on meat these days?? I’ll share more of my grocery staples in a later article but I try to keep ground beef and chicken breasts on hand in the freezer and eggs in the fridge at all times to make hitting that protein goal easier. Other amazing protein sources are: Greek yogurt, beans, chickpeas, deli meat, canned chicken or fish, peanut butter, almonds, cottage cheese, and protein powder (read to the end for a surprise FREE recipe for my amazing protein pancakes!).
Some favorite quick veggie options are spinach, broccoli, carrots, potatoes, kale, and bell peppers. I love spinach because it is incredibly versatile. I buy the big tubs at Sam’s Club, freeze some for smoothies, and add the rest to everything from eggs to chicken to pasta. Broccoli and bell peppers store really well in the freezer and don’t need to be thawed before you add them to any recipe. Carrots, potatoes, and kale last for weeks in the fridge and pantry.
Fruit is a little more tricky when it comes to longevity, so I generally process and freeze fruit that I buy in bulk. I try to keep blueberries, strawberries, mangoes, melon chunks, or pineapple chunks in the freezer since they last forever and make a great topping for pancakes or oatmeal or in smoothies. I also try to set aside a day or at least a couple of hours after a Sam’s Club run to wash (baking soda and warm water, y’all!) and chop fresh fruit for the week. I keep washed and chopped berries and melon chunks in glass storage containers in the fridge with a paper towel and they last for up to a week. Grapes store well in the fridge and make for great snacks or a healthy quick addition to any meal. Apples and oranges last for weeks in the pantry and diced avocados store well in the freezer too.
As for carbs, well, carbs are the easy part. Anything from pancakes to dinner rolls to rice to potatoes to pasta, carbs often make up a good portion of the meal. However, when you can make your carbs from scratch, your body and your health will thank you.
6. Meal ideas
Just off the top of my head, I threw together some quick meal ideas that our family has in rotation all the time.
Soup
Rice bowls (meat or eggs & veggies of choice)
Loaded nachos
Pizza (with alllllll the fixins, aka all the random stuff you’re using up from the fridge)
Stir fry
Meatloaf
Pasta
Enchiladas
Big breakfast (pancakes, waffles, eggs, veggies, fruit, all the things)
When in doubt, make it weird! Throw a bunch of random and unrelated food items together and call it charcuterie. Now you’re fancy!
Recipe Time!
And finally, the moment we’ve all been waiting for, my protein pancakes recipe (okay, tell me the truth, you’re actually probably asleep by now).
Yields: 6 medium pancakes
2 eggs
1 scoop protein powder of choice (I used this one Organic Vanilla Protein Powder)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup coconut water or milk
2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
Splash of vanilla
Preheat a griddle or frying pan to 300 degrees. Use a light coating of butter, if using a frying pan. Mix all ingredients together. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, scoop pancakes onto griddle. Cook for 1-2 minutes on each side until golden. Don’t try to flip before the edges bubble because they will fall apart.
I served these with coconut cream, strawberries, and a drizzle of honey and they were delicious!
Happy scraps!
“She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.” Proverbs 31:27