What to do with all those leftovers

The holiday season leaves me swimming in leftovers. 

Wonderful roasts, veggies and side dishes, and pie are all stuffing my fridge to bursting.  Sometimes it seems there are too many leftovers to get through, which is a wonderful problem to have.

How do we eat all those leftovers without getting bored?  I’ve come up with a formula to make it super easy.  Try one or all of these techniques to keep dinner time interesting.

Reimagine 

Off the top of my head, I can think of probably 10 different things to do with taco meat.  Let’s try it: Tacos, quesadillas, loaded baked potatoes, potato skins, nachos, tortilla soup, breakfast burritos, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed peppers, mac & cheese.  That’s 10.

For every protein and side combo, there are numerous ways to combine them into something new.  

Instead of just eating the leftover roast again, turn it into ramen, stir fry, or fajitas.  It won’t feel old and will help make meat stretch farther than it otherwise would.

Freeze easy meals

When I have a lot of leftovers, more than the family could reasonably eat in the next week, I see it as an opportunity.

Typically, I’ll take those leftovers and turn them into casseroles.  I freeze the casseroles in tins and pull them out when we are too busy to make dinner.  This is a lifesaver on a busy night, especially since my family has too many food allergies to get anything from a drive-through. 

Our family favorites are shepherd’s pie, chicken/ turkey pot pie, and lasagna.  But there are a lot more options out there to change it up.

Make a salad

Sometimes there aren’t enough leftovers to go around as is, so I’ll turn them into a salad.

A little meat and some veggies combined with fresh spinach make a fantastic meal.  Often we will follow up the salad with some popcorn or grilled cheese to make a slightly more filling meal.

We also add a side salad to make leftovers that are a portion or two shy stretch for dinner.  This is our go-to when there isn’t quite enough pizza leftover to fully fill everyone up.

Easy Lunches

Sometimes, instead of reimagining a meal or trying to make it stretch for a dinner, I will package the leftovers in individual servings for a grab and go lunch.  I’ll try to make these leftovers stretch for two lunches per family member, which covers about half the week.

In our family, we often eat the same lunch every day for a week and then opt for something more interesting for dinner.  Many times I plan for Sunday dinner to have enough leftovers for Monday and Tuesday lunch.

Bringing it all together

Leftovers are a godsend for a busy family like mine, but they can get a little monotonous.  Change it up so each meal feels a little different to keep the family happy.