Reusing Leftovers

[Coupon_Hen]

As part of our family's $5 a day grocery challenge, I am trying to extend our last grocery purchase by re-suing all leftovers. I just made a slow-cooker amount of chili for only $2.25. Any other great ideas about reusing leftovers?

Black Beans (Dried - Bulk)	$1.59
Leftover Costco Chicken	$0.00
1/2 Red Pepper	$0.33
1/2 Yellow Pepper	$0.33
Jalapeno (from our garden)	$0.00
Chili Powder (already in our pantry)	$0.00
Chicken Broth (made from chicken carcass)	$0.00
Can of tomatoes (free Safeway giveaway)	$0.00
	$2.25

[disneysteve]

One tip is to put a date label on all leftovers so you know how old they are. We often find ourselves throwing something out because we forgot to do that and neither of us can remember when the item is from so we aren't sure if it's safe to eat.

Another tip is to be creative and think outside of the box. It's often easier/better to repurpose leftovers. For example, my wife and I went out to lunch today. I got a sandwich and only ate half and brought home the other half. I can almost guarantee I won't be just eating the other half as is. I will most likely scoop out the filling and add it to some pasta or use it to top a pizza or something like that. The only part that will get tossed will be the roll that it's on.

[kork13]

Black Beans (Dried - Bulk)	$1.59
Leftover Costco Chicken	$0.00
1/2 Red Pepper	$0.33
1/2 Yellow Pepper	$0.33
Jalapeno (from our garden)	$0.00
Chili Powder (already in our pantry)	$0.00
Chicken Broth (made from chicken carcass)	$0.00
Can of tomatoes (free Safeway giveaway)	$0.00
	$2.25

Is that what you have as leftovers right now? That looks like chicken fajitas to me (or chicken tacos, or something of the sort).

[kork13]

I love to cook, but being busy with both of us working, plus 3 & 1 y/o boys, we rely alot on leftovers. I always make enough dinner for 6+ portions, so whatever's left from dinners becomes lunch (or another dinner) over the next 2-3 days. Gratefully, very little (generally none) of our leftovers ever last longer than 5-7 days, so we almost never have to worry about them going bad.

But along the lines of the OP, taking pieces of a few different leftover meals & combining them all into a totally new dish is always a fun cooking challenge. Soups, stews, casseroles, and that sort are generally the easiest option -- they're very forgiving, and you can add in almost anything. The most recent meal like that that I've done was a chicken & beef stew I made out of some former shredded pepperoncini beef sandwiches, diced chicken breasts from a Costco rotisserie chicken (and the chicken stock from the carcass), rice from a chicken curry, plus barley & a variety of fresh/frozen veggies & that were getting old.

Another less typical "leftover" that we often get creative with is the by-product whey from making homemade yogurt every week or two. 1 gallon of milk + instant pot = ~2 quarts of greek yogurt & ~8 cups of whey. We mostly use the whey in place of milk/juice/water in smoothies (which we do 2-3x a week). But sometimes I'll try it in other stuff. I recently made a creamy wild rice soup, and replaced the chicken broth with whey. Turned out nicely, it had an interesting tangy flavor. Can you tell that cooking is a passion?

[Coupon_Hen]

I do love those Costco chickens! We usually get 3+ meals from them then of course stock from the carcass.

I like the yogurt idea and will try. Our 9 month old loves yogurt. And I could use for dinners, like add in some cucumber and make a nice Greek sauce for dinner.

[kork13]

I do love those Costco chickens! We usually get 3+ meals from them then of course stock from the carcass.

I like the yogurt idea and will try. Our 9 month old loves yogurt. And I could use for dinners, like add in some cucumber and make a nice Greek sauce for dinner.

Same story on the Costco chickens... I typically will carve it up immediately, and we'll eat the drumsticks/wings for the first dinner, thighs/remnants for another, then the breasts & stock normally end up in a soup

And yeah, we go through alot of yogurt. Between the aforementioned smoothies, breakfasts/lunches, and our boys will happily eat it anytime as a snack, it quickly becomes a significant expense. By making it at home, it costs only the ~$3/gal of milk (Alaska is expensive), and ~30-40 minutes of actual work. The basic directions I use are linked below, though I find that our instant pot doesn't quite get it up to the full 180*, so I just boil it on the stove, then transfer it to the instant pot. After 10-ish hours of ignoring it (normally overnight), I'll strain it over an 8-cup measuring glass, and let it sit for an hour or two. I normally end up with ~2x 32oz containers of plain greek yogurt (which might hopefully last to the next weekend), and the 8 cups of whey. Our yogurt tastes creamier & tangier than anything we ever buy from the store, and I really appreciate that I know exactly what's in it. Added benefit, we can flavor it with anything we want! To each quart, I'll add 1 tsp vanilla, ~2 Tbsp Honey, and a couple handfuls of dried fruit (we have a large store of freeze dried berries & such).

[msomnipotent]

Ugh. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Costco rotisserie chickens are gross compared to roasting one yourself. They have such a mushy texture and the skin is inedible to us. I stock up on whole chickens when the price is between .79 to 99 cents/lb and it comes out to be cheaper than Costco. I roast 2 at a time and then have sandwiches for lunch and enchiladas for dinner the next day. Then I make a bone broth and set some aside for chicken soup and gravies. Of course, the dog gets the pieces that are not pretty but are still edible. I just made both chicken and beef bone broth last night and will be making the soups and stocks today. The beef broth was made from prime rib bones.

I'm going to have to start using the Instant Pot I got for Christmas last year. We go through a large container of yogurt and a Costco bag of frozen fruit a week with our smoothies. I bought a Vitamix a few months ago that is a lot larger than our old blender, so I wound up buying popsicle molds for the leftover smoothie. It is a big hit with the kids.

My husband likes pot roast, which seems to only come in Brontosaurus size roasts. I usually serve it with roasted potatoes, corn, and carrots, so I just throw the leftovers in a pot and add a little water or bone broth for an easy stew. Or I make more potatoes and make Shepherd's pie. You can also make a Shepherd's pie with leftover chicken, but my family doesn't like it as much as the beef.

[Coupon_Hen]

I'm interested in roasting my own. How do you prepare you chickens?

[Coupon_Hen]

Speaking of leftovers, we have a ton of green tomatoes left over from our garden. Any ideas of what to do with them? We've already gone the fried green tomato route. Need something new.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I do same as kork and we've always had leftovers for dinner. With the rotisserie chicken I've done chicken pot pies, chicken noodle soup, and my absolute favorite is chicken salad. My kids love chicken salad too. Super easy. Plus I use same thing to make egg salad.

[msomnipotent]

I can't figure out how to reply to Coupon Hen within the reply, so here it is. I just brine them a day before I roast them. It is equal parts sea salt and sugar (I use 1/2 C each) mixed in water until it dissolves, and then add whatever seasoning you want. I use pepper, garlic, onion, tarragon, and rosemary. Rinse it well the next day, slather with olive oil and more of the seasoning. Then roast at 425 until done. The time really depends on the size of the bird. Those ridiculous over stuffers that look like turkeys can take all day and still be undercooked.

[james.hendrickson]

I can't figure out how to reply to Coupon Hen within the reply, so here it is. I just brine them a day before I roast them. It is equal parts sea salt and sugar (I use 1/2 C each) mixed in water until it dissolves, and then add whatever seasoning you want. I use pepper, garlic, onion, tarragon, and rosemary. Rinse it well the next day, slather with olive oil and more of the seasoning. Then roast at 425 until done. The time really depends on the size of the bird. Those ridiculous over stuffers that look like turkeys can take all day and still be undercooked.

oh man - that sounds delicious.

[msomnipotent]

oh man - that sounds delicious.

It really is. I like to slip thinly sliced onion between the skin and meat but some people just don't like onion for some reason. I roast fingerling potatoes with the bird and just sprinkle a little sea salt and the same seasoning I use for the chicken on them when done, and all of us are in a food coma by the end of the night.

I should add that you have to use enough water in the brine to fully cover the bird. I use a canister I bought specifically to brine chickens in, but even a ziploc bag or a bowl with plastic wrap will work.

[JBinKC]

With green tomatoes you can make salsa verde, chili verde with chicken corn or hominy and white beans or a dessert pie with raisins.

If you make the chili you may have to add some baking soda to the recipe to tone down the sourness.

If you make a dessert pie I recommend that you thinly slice them and microwave them first or the texture of the pie may be too crunchy.

[JoeP]

Funny true story about leftovers, or as I say, "food you've seen before."

Growing up, we always had leftovers from meals. My brother and I would sometimes turn our noses at them because they were boring and sometimes looked sad. So my dad would get a can of soup and doctor it with leftovers: some meat chopped up, those green beans, carrots, baked potato, etc and call it MUSCLE SOUP! Since we were very skinny at the time (many years later I graduated high school with a 28" waist and weighing a whopping 115 lbs at 5'10") we devoured this muscle soup. It didn't help us any, but at the time, we would do anything to put more meat on our bones.