I have started trying to plan better, by making meals that make other meals in order to cut down on waste and to save money.  This has been a big budget saver for me.  I would like to get some more ideas.  What do you do to make your meals budget saving and also saving time and energy in the kitchen?  If I make my homemade spaggetti, I make a large batch in the slow cooker and add extra meatballs and pepperoni and sauce.  So one day is spaggetti and meatballs, next day is meatball or pepperoni subs with cheese, and then chicken parm with a salad, and perhaps a lunch with salad, half a meatball sub and leftover spaggetti.  If I make roast Chicken, we'll do roast chicken and veggies one night, Cheesey Chicken enchiladas the next night, chicken soup another, and either chicken salad sandwiches, or just salad topped with chicken, and if any leftovers, perhaps a Shepards pie.  At first I thought, WHY haven't I been doing this all along?  It has saved me a lot of money in just a short period of time.  What do you do to keep the budget under control, the meals nutritious and delicious and save time in the meal making?

When my husband was working he would stop every morning and get breakfast burritos at a local fast food place. Then I got the idea of making our own. On weekends I would make a big batch of basic burrito filling, and also cook some rice, potatoes and scrambled eggs. Then I would make an assembly line of different fillings, burrito mix with potato, some with eggs, some with rice. If I had cooked chicken that also would be a different one. I had bought a box of paper wrappers at Smart and Final, and also wrapped them in foil. They were easy for him to grab when putting his lunch together in the morning, and re-heat at work. When we started doing this he no longer needed to carry much cash with him, something he never liked to do. He was spending about $3.00 to $4.00 a day at the fast food place for burrito and coffee.

My burrito filling is chopped onion, chopped celery sauteed in oil, browned ground turkey, 1 packet of taco seasoning with added water, and 1 soup can size of refried beans.

I was also doing something similar to what you have been doing. I would cook in big batches all at once on a Saturday or Sunday, things like a whole chicken or beef roast, boil 2 or 3 potatoes, a couple cups of rice, and and a batch of curly noodles, and brown some ground beef or ground turkey, and hard boil eggs.   It was then super easy to put together quick skillet suppers, or stews or casseroles that only needed heating. Every thing kept for a week in the fridge, but usually it never lasted that long anyway. It sure made my weekdays easier. Edey

Baked chicken one night becomes chicken wraps for lunch and then the remainder is removed from the bone. The bones and gristle go into a pot to make chicken stock. The deboned chicken often stretches far enough to make a soup from the stock and a stew. Both soup and stew make at least three meals each.

Roast makes a dinner one night, beef wraps for lunch and the remainder makes a stew if there is enough. Stew makes at least three meals.

I put small pieces of beef from roast, steaks, beef strips that can't make a meal on it's own in a container in the freezer. I save the beef bits up until I have enough to make a meal. I use these to make beef stew, to flavor potato stew or what comes out as bean stew.

Today I made a breakfast casserole for supper tonight (along with toast with cinnamon bread from the day-old bread store) and will send leftovers with dh to work for his b'fast all week.  I normally use a one-pound roll of sausage for the large casserole, but I held enough sausage back to make a couple servings of sausage gravy for us later in the week with some homemade biscuits.  Cuts down on spending a tad, along with the fat and cholesterol being spread out over a few meals instead of all in one...Liz

Roasted chicken becomes chicken casserole or wraps  and a family favorite chicken dumplings Beef usually becomes something  mexican or a really good soup I save bits & pieces in my soup bucket in the freezer .

I often make double of spahetti house, meatloaf , ect  for diiner on those extra busy days

 I do similar things as the other posters with chicken and broil/roast. I'll also make slow-roasted b-b-q in the crock out of any leftover chicken, beef, or pork, or use it for a curry or other Indian dish.Leftover chicken often goes for DH's favorite soup, Tortilla soup.

Other things I do:

I make Moroccan lentil stew for dinner, and make it nice and thick. Serve with salad & bread, etc. This gets used for dinner and a lunch or two. Then, I reduce the stew until there's almost no liquied. I add some TVP, mashed garbanzo beans, an egg or two, and flour to consistency then make patties. I'll cook as-is, or roll in bread crumbs, seasoned flour, or corn starch. We bake these, or fry in olive oil. We call them Faux-lafel :-) High in protein & fiber, fairly low in calories, cholesterol, etc. I serve with yogurt sauce and fill out the meal with veggies and maybe some pita bread. This makes quite a bit, so leftovers get crumbled into a pan with some additional seasoning and quickly sautee'd with some onion and occasionally pepper, then wrapped in tortillas or lettuce for great lunch sandwhiches. Depending how much of the Moroccan stew I make, thiese options can be meals for DH (who eats an amazing amount of food because he works construction) and I for a better part of the work week.

We make lacto-fermented oatmeal and eat it for a day or two. Then, add more oats or oat flour and an egg, and fry up like hotcakes.

I make extra brown rice almost any time I cook it, and use it later for rice puddings or as a quick throw-together for a stir-fry or Indian dinner. It freezes wonderfully, so I can put it into serving size containers and just use what I need when I am ready. I save most leftover veggies from meals to go into stir fry or curries, so this works great for us!

 I' buy larger cuts of fish, too, because it's often cheaper that way, and cook it all up at once. Some will be dinner that night, some will get put over whole wheat pasta with a sauce of choice for lunches or another dinner with veggies, some will get used in fish tacos, and if there are any additional leftovers they'll get used in salmon patties.

What is "lacto-fermented oatmeal?"

We often have grilled porkchops, rice, and mixed veggies one night. A couple of nights later, the leftovers get re-vamped into fried rice. I scramble up a couple of eggs, add the cut-up cold porkchops, rice, and veggies. Stir-fry with a little bit of sesame oil, then add soy sauce to taste.

Joyous:

What is "lacto-fermented oatmeal?"

Lacto-fermenting is using the natural bacterias in dairy products, such as whey and yogurt, to ferment food. Fermentation of some foods makes their nutrients more readily available to the body, and makes them easier to digest completely. In the case of oatmeal, it also gives in a luxurious, creamy texture.

I think I've posted this somewhere before, but it's very easy to make. 1:1 ratio whole cut oats (not instant) to warm (not hot) water. Add 1 tbs. plain yogurt with live cultures (which is almost every yogurt on the market). Stir, cover with a fine-weave cloth to prevent fruit flies and the like, and leave sitting in a nice, warm place for at least 8 hours, preferably 12. You can leave it as long as 24, but I prefer it around 12-16 hours. Store any leftovers in refrigerator. Cook as you would normal oatmeal, adding water to desired consistency.

Pretty much everyone I know who's tried this never goes back to regular oatmeal. My DH finally gave in and tried it, and now that's all he'll eat. We do it at night before we go to bed.