Creative Leftover Ideas

Grilled chicken could be used for chicken salad, or put into a Caesar salad, or quesadillas, or chicken a la king.

Pound cake can be sliced, topped with berries and whipped cream, or made into a trifle or served with ice cream.

Grilled meat makes great fajitas. Cooked ground meat goes into spaghetti sauce.

Leftover whole chicken (like rotisserie chicken) becomes chicken tortilla soup (simmer chicken, remove and shred chicken off bones, add 1 can rotel tomatoes, 1 can Mexican rotel, 1 onion chopped,2-3 cloves garlic, cumin, salt and pepper to taste and a pinch of sugar. Add any leftover veggies too. Serve over stale tortilla chips and shredded cheese)

You can make sweet potato home fries with peppers and onions in a frying pan. Or put them in muffin tins with some egg and cheese for individual quiche. Run them through the food processor and use instead of breadcrumbs in meatballs or meatloaf. Slow roast some onions and garlic them use them together with the fries to make a creamy potato soup. How about a casserole

As for the pound cake-
Bread pudding. French toast. Croutons. I like sweet breads as the base for a savory panini. Serve it sliced and topped with ice cream or as an impromptu strawberry shortcake with cream.

Best
F. B.

When trying to repurpose left overs I like to think - ok what job is this going to serve. Helps me find a new home for it.

Wow, leftover chicken is the best, it's so versatile. Chicken salad, quesadillas, enchiladas, fettucine alfredo, chicken taco salad/asian salad/caeser salad, toasted sub sandwiches with cheese & whatever toppings you like, chicken pot pie (I don't bother with a pie crust I just make the filing and put biscuits on top) chicken noodle soup, chow mien/noodles/stir fry.
I suppose you could do a sweet potato hash of some kind...? Not sure about the pound cake...

Pretty much any meat can go into a soup, a stew, or a sauce. Dry chicken will get nice and moist in a tomato/basil sauce to be served over pasta, or in a tomato/cumin sauce to go in enchiladas (add in leftover beans, a handful of frozen peas or frozen corn, a little tomato,and cheddar or taco cheese. I make soups with leftover pasta too, and we often take a little bit of pasta or tuna and put it on top of a salad. Leftover steak can go in the spaghetti sauce (look up Steak Pizziola - that's all it is).

Veggies that are getting a little soft (peppers, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions) can go in some tomato juice with some added breadcrumbs or wheat germ and a little olive oil, and put through the blender, chilled, and served as gazpacho with any decent bits of those vegetables and some croutons on top. Perfect on a hot night when you don't want to turn on the stove.

Leftover rice can have some veggies added to become a new side dish - peas, chick peas, peppers, tomatoes, beans, corn...you name it. Choose herbs and spices based on what mixture you have or what original sauce or marinade was used on the ingredient you're trying to use up.

We also throw a lot of leftovers on a cookie sheet and reheat it - a half serving of those sweet potato fries, a couple of grilled potato chunks, a few pieces of zucchini...fill in the blank - just cook them up and let people serve themselves from the cookie sheet, each taking a spoonful of what they want. It all gets used up even if you couldn't combine it all into one dish.

Stir fry - the great user-upper of raw veggies, cooked or raw chicken, half a block of tofu (cube it up and marinate in soy sauce, then drain). Cook in shifts, with the longest cooking item first, then adding things in batches so they all are cooked at the same time. If I'm short on ingredients, I always have a can of sliced water chestnuts and one of bamboo shoots in the pantry.

Quiche or frittata (which is basically a quiche with no crust) - you always have eggs and cheese on hand, right? Mix everything up and bake it in a pie pan. We've used spinach, meat, bacon, asparagus, zucchini, and much more this way. Cut in wedges and serve as you would a pie for a healthy and cheap main dish meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner).

If all else fails, put a compost bin in the back yard. It's good for peelings/trimming, seeds, eggshells, and so forth, and you can put anything but meat in there. Add grass clippings, shredded leaves, yard waste (no weeds), stir it with a pitchfork now and then, and create your own nutrient-rich dirt for potted plants (outside only) or the garden. I've had one for years and I've never had to buy potting soil for outdoor plantings.

Grilled chicken is my favorite. Cut it up (cold) and put it on a salad. Or dice it and use it in quesadillas (you don't have to warm it up for this). Or saute peppers/onions with some cilantro, cumin and lime juice, then throw the grilled chicken (slice into thin strips) in to warm it, and put it in tortillas with some sour cream and salsa for fajitas.
All are quick and easy. And delicious!

If your family doesn't like many of the great suggestions you'll get, the key to minimizing waste is targeted shopping. Try to purchase only what they will eat at one sitting. Markets will prepare portions to your size requirements if asked. No leftovers, no waste, no second portions to add the waist!

Just don't make as much of the things that don't make good leftovers then you won't have to worry about it. I just learned this myself. Good luck.

I like to freeze leftover green beans, corn, and beans and freeze to use later in stews/soup recipes.

The only leftover food we will eat is something like lasagna.

Other than that, my family does not eat leftovers. I've never liked them so I've never served them. I do my best to cook smaller portions so I have no leftover. When I do have leftover, depending on what it is, my dogs usually get a rare treat!

I think I got this way from growing up because my mom would serve leftovers until they were gone in order to not throw them away. That is just her way and still is, no judgy about her because I am sure she was raised that way. I swore I'd never eat leftovers again once I moved out.

I've never heard of leftover fries.

I do lots of things with tortillas. So we do cold wraps with leftover chicken etc and also do quesdillas!!
Maybe "refry" the fries on stove top with just a bit of oil to bring back the texture?
And serve that pound cake up with some vanilla ice cream!! lol yum

My recipe is each one just eat own portion of what we cooked. When rarely it happens there are leftovers we eat them at the next meal.

A lot of times we use leftover chicken (pork and steak also work) in stir fry. We always have bottled teriyaki sauce or stir fry sauce. If I'm really feeling motivated I will make sauce from scratch. We put in whatever veggies we have (bell peppers, onion, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, squash, beans, pineapple, black beans, peas, etc.) along with the cut up meat. I usually cook the veggies first (in olive oil or sesame oil) and then add the already cooked meat. After that has warmed up I dump in the sauce and heat it until it is hot. On really busy nights we will even use frozen veggies so we don't have to spend time cutting veggies. We usually serve it with rice, but sometimes with noodles. Once in awhile we have Chinese or Japanese style noodles, but I will also use spaghetti if that is what I have. I cook the noodles and then either toss them with some of the sauce or I will add them to the stir fry.

Grilled chicken can be cut up and put on salad or put into a pot pie or a stew or soup or a roll up.
There's lots of ways to use it!
I can't help you with the sweet potato fries - I like my sweet potatoes around Thanksgiving.
For the left over pound cake - use it to make a trifle.

Grilled chicken is a food that can be eaten cold. Sliced up for salads or wraps.
Instead of reheating it alone in the microwave, chop it up and warm it by using it as part of a dish with wet ingredients like noodles or rice.

You got me with the fries. I don't even bother to save those. What do you eat for breakfast? Muffins, waffles, pancakes? If so, go ahead and eat the pound cake for breakfast. It's not any worse than some of the traditional options.

In our house left over pork or beef roast is chopped up and served over noodles.
Left over chicken becomes tacos, or a casserole or soup or burritos or a sandwich
Left over pork chops are usually used in a taco shell.
Left over breaded chicken tenders are used either in wraps or on top of a salad
Left over ham is used in fried rice or in scalloped potatoes. Or in beans

In our house, we can bring new life to cake with some ice cream.

We often do extra meat when grilling. Saves me having to cook. So chop up some sausages done on grill and throw in spaghetti sauce, or serve with rice. That's one I really like to do.

Chicken - I find if you wrap it really tightly, it doesn't get dry. So wraps, chicken salad, on top of salad (my kids will eat this), served on pasta with an Alfredo sauce, etc.

Fries - not so much. I find those get slimey.

I'll be watching this post for answers as well.

I really love to cook. With any of the pasta dishes I make, I never have to worry about what will happen with the leftovers.

Like you, however, with the chicken breasts and other meats, I feel like I'm always throwing away a lot of food. My husband and son like the meals the first night, but often chicken, ribs, roasts go to waste. I don't eat meat, so I'm no help here.

Anyway, it's frustrating because after all of the shopping, prepping, cooking, and cleaning up, when much of it just ends up getting tossed, I feel like I've wasted a lot of time and money. We may as well just go out to eat! I also feel guilty throwing away perfectly good food when I know there are many others in the world who do not have enough to eat on a daily basis. That is one lesson my parents taught that has always had a huge impact on me, so tossing food really bothers me.

It's garbage day tomorrow, so I'm just about to go to the fridge and do a purge.

I'd love to hear some creative and good ideas for meat leftovers!

I understand how difficult it is to gauge how to cook enough for a given meal. However, my husband and I simply doesn't eat leftovers. I had to live on them as a kid and hated it then so won't do it now. My husband and I both think used food for the most part picks up a weird flavor and/or texture vibe. What I do is cook what I think is the right amount and then have yogurt, cereal, fruit or granola bars on hand for when my kids want to eat more than I cooked. With practice I have ended up with minimal food waste and almost no leftovers. Good luck.

I take the leftover chicken and wrap it real tight and put it in the freezer and then when I need chicken for a sandwich or whatever - I have it.

I would take the chicken, cut it up into strips or chopped or shredded, put it in a ziplock baggie with a little sauce or broth or something, get ALL the air out, and toss it in the freezer. You can use it for chicken enchiladas, chicken and noodles, anything that requires cooked chicken. If you Pinterest you can search for freezer meals/meats and other ways to store cooked foods for future use.

I LOVE sweet potatoes in stone soup. Find the story online. There are different versions and some I like and others I don't care for.

You cook the HB meat with onions and garlic beforehand. Then you tell, or read, the story to your family. Each one "dumps" in a can of something.

For my crock pot of stone soup, including a real life stone, that is one that won't crack from heat, then I add the meat. As I tell the story I use phrases like "this villager brought some corn" and kiddo dumps in their drained can of corn. "This villager brought some mixed veggies" and the next one dumps in a can of small cut Veg-All. I like the smaller chunk ingredients better than the large chunk version. But Veg-All has the best flavor and varieties. Then I have a "villager" dump in 2 cans of 1/2-1 inch pieces of sweet potatoes.

I have a can of corn, 2 Veg-All, 2 cans Sweet potatoes, a can of cut green bean, and the most important one for me is Ro-Tel tomatoes. I do 1 small can of original level of hot. It give it just the right kick. Not too spicy but not bland veggies either.

Did I mention my crock pot is quite large? Sorry, you can adjust the amount of ingredients but the key ones are the Veg-All, the sweet potatoes, and the Ro-Tel. The right garlic-onion mix in the meat can also make or break the flavor.

I use super cheap hamburger meat because it just has much better flavor.

Then I add a small can or two of beef broth. This keeps it from scorching and gives it just the right amount of moisture. If you want a more stew like meal you can do one of beef broth and one of V-8 juice. More flavor...

Everything is cooked as it goes in. I heat it up, it's only going to take an hour or two to heat all the way through. Stir it at an hour and see if the veggies are hot all the way through.

oh this is funny. I was going to tell you about fries for breakfast and chicken salad or even add it in strips to a salad.

There's a balance on leftovers. You need to make sure you keep track of them. Label them. We use ours weekly. In other words, every week the refrigerator gets cleaned out. What spurred this one one time there was a tub of something left in the back of the 'fridge. Didn't know what it was. And at the same time, veggies were rotten too. It was a mess. I said never again. Once a week we clean it out.

Sweet potatoes? chop them up and add them to a casserole.