I plan my meals to use leftovers and have found I buy much less food which means less waste and a lower grocery bill. I am looking for ideas to be able to do this more. What planned leftover meals do you do? So far, I have:

day 1: chili
day 2: baked potato bar with chili and broccoli and cheese
day 3: potato/cheese/broccoli soup
day 4:  chili mac

day 1:roast chicken and veggies
day 2:chicken soup

day 1:pot roast and potatoes and carrots
day 2: beef veggie soup

day 1: asian chicken in crockpot and brown rice
day 2: fried rice (using leftover chicken and rice)

day 1:black beans and rice
day 2:taco salad or burritos

Ham is pretty versatile that way. I generally buy a spiral cut ham and then get almost a week worth of dinners.

Day 1: ham (with side stuff  )
Day 2: Pasta with ham (spaghetti carbonara or another yummy spaghetti and pine nut recipe)
Day 3: Quiche with ham
Day 4: Ham sandwiches
Day 5: Red beans and rice, beans cooked in the crockpot with the ham bone.

Then there are enough beans leftover that I buzz them with garlic and onions (cooked with the beans in the crockpot) in the food processor, add some taco seasoning, and heat on the stove and presto, my cheater "refried" beans for burritos (that lasts us days for lunches)

I don't necessarily do all of the meals in order. Sometimes we get tired of whatever and I stick in in the freezer for later

Mom used to do a roast chicken with stuffing and vegetables. Later in the week we ate chicken pot pie. Mom used to make wonderful pie crust.

I know how to make beef pot pie and chicken pot pie like Mom did.

When we had roast beef we'd have a pot pie later in the week followed by the pinwheels I've talked about.

 I do chilli as a "soup" meal with corn bread. Leftovers get simmer to thicken and served on hot dogs. Also chili on rice.

Ham bones, cook with fresh green beans or potatoes. Babs 

We smoked a brisket earlier in the week.  We had one meal with brisket, broccoli with cheese and mashed potatoes.  Another meal was sandwiches with cheese and barbeque sauce.  We had another meal with brisket and baked beans with oriental salad.

Also this week I roast a chicken on the grill.  One night we had a roasted chicken, with sweet potato fries, and lettuce salad.  I used up the rest of the salad ingredients, except the lettuce, and the chicken in a pasta salad that we've been eating up for the rest of the week.

I try and cook larger items on the weekends.  Then I can make the planned leftovers with whatever I've cooked up.  One week it was spaghetti sauce.  I made several quart sized portions for the freezer, then i made stuffed pasta shells, and I used some for a pizza that we were having.

I really love this way of eating as it allows me to cook once and plan for a couple of other meals.  It's fast, which is great for a family.

My version of planned leftovers is slightly different. I make extra of something with the idea of having it again later as the same item, or for lunches and grab and go meals.

 Some of the things I make extra of are bbq pork, pork/chicken/beef taco meat, lasagna, spaghetti, alfredo, mac and cheese, brown rice, etc.

Jill

gayla50:

day 1:roast chicken and veggies

I make chicken pot pie, except I don't use a crust.  I bake canned biscuits and make the chicken base with either a canned cream of soup, or the dry cream of soup mix, chicken broth (made with the bones and some celery, onions, carrots from the freezer stash), and the left over veggies, or a frozen veggie mix.  We each get 2 biscuits...one for the bottom split open, and one for the top, split open.

You can also use this chicken for chicken stir fry or fried rice.

gayla50:

day 1:pot roast and potatoes and carrots

I shredd the left over beef, add bbq sauce, and serve on buns.  You can use the potatoes and carrots in a shepard's pie.

I like to make frittata's, they are quick and easy and just about anything can go into them. Great for using up small amounts of the leftovers.

Even though I have plans for food, oftentimes my mom and sister will devour the food within 2 days.  Not much waste here though.   Sometimes there will be enough chicken left over for a casserole or dumplings or chicken salad.  I'm learning to cook bigger batches if I want to do anything else with the food.

 Since I'm the only one eating here, I can make a whole chicken stretch for quite a few meals. 

1. Baked chicken with vegetable sides
2. Make chicken gravy and slice the breast meat to serve it over
3. Pull some meat off for sandwiches
4. Small chicken pot pie
5. Boil the meat off the bones and make chicken/rice with leftover vegetables skillet meal
6. Add a cup of bouillon to the leftover #5, add celery, carrots and onions for soup

I don't have this all in one week, but freeze it for later. Sometimes I freeze whole dishes, like the pot pie, but other times I just boil the chicken after the sandwiches, take off the meat and freeze it separately or with a little of the broth for later on.