Grocery expenses can add up quickly, especially if you’re feeding a growing family. Although you want to save on food for you and your family, you don’t want to cut nutritional corners. So how do you prepare healthy meals and still keep your expenses under control?
If you plan ahead and incorporate leftovers into your meal plans, you’ll be able to save money and know that your family is eating well. There are several ways to work leftovers into your family’s meals.
v Use last night’s leftovers as an ingredient in today’s meal. For instance, if you had baked chicken for dinner last night, simply chop the leftover chicken into bite-sized pieces. They’ll provide the main ingredient in chicken salad sandwiches for lunch.
v Warm and serve leftovers as they are. Although no one enjoys eating the same entrée several days in a row, side dishes are great candidates for re-serving. The leftover green beans from one dinner could be kept in the fridge until the next dinner. Since there are other dishes mixed with this side dish, its repetition won’t stand out the same as a repeated entrée would.
v Swap leftovers after potluck meals. If you and your extended family combine dishes for big meals, don’t let anyone go home with the dish he brought with him. He’ll appreciate the variety the swapped dish will bring to his meals. He might even be inspired to try to prepare the new dish himself later.
v Have a regular leftover night. Maybe on Saturday night, after you’ve spent the day catching up on errands and other responsibilities, you’ll be too spent to spend the evening cooking. Try making a rule that on Saturday nights everyone eats the leftovers out of the fridge. Let your family members choose the leftover they want and enjoy. You’ll empty the fridge and save on preparation time.
Once you’ve started working leftovers into your regular meals, you’ll start finding lots of ways to use them. Perhaps the biscuits you served with dinner could be covered with gravy for breakfast the next morning. Leftover vegetables could be added to a stew. The possibilities are endless.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
My wife and I are big advocates of eating leftovers. It can save you more money that you think!
As long as you can get creative with using left overs you can save a lot of money. By increasing the volume of a meal by say 100% you’re not paying 100% more – at least not typically. Freeze it or get creative and your food costs will start coming down.