A free meal from what you have ? anyone else do this

Butterfly_Brain

I try not to waste anything - even the brussel sprouts leaves that you take off when preparing them - they go to the rabbit same with carrot peelings.
Bubble and squeak is a favourite lunch on a monday.
I am careful with portion control so meals very rarely have any left overs.
I agree with the potato skins I love to serve them with a yoghurt, BBQ or chilli dip.
I only go shopping once a week( I can't go out during the week because I am disabled, so DH takes me on a Friday) and I meal plan and always have a list; so veggies are peeled and frozen on the day that I buy them this makes sure that they last the week out, the same goes for meat and fish if I know that I won't be using them until later in the week.
Any bits and pieces are usually used in a frittata or served with some riice or pasta.
I do a big store cupboard and freezer shop on Pay day so I only need to buy fresh things for the rest of the month.

missychrissy

I eat 'free meals' all the time. I have just taken out of the freezer a one person sized portion of potato, carrots, cauliflower, green beans and gravy leftover from a previous meal. I will have this for dinner tonight with a Fray Bentos tinned pie. I found the pie when I was clearing out a house my son rents out when it was between tenants. I cannot find a best before date on it but i must have had it a couple of years now so must use it up.

At work, any left over food that is about to be thrown out I 'rescue' if I get the chance. I keep a clippit box in my work bag for this purpose. I hate waste.

stacey809

tandraig wrote: »

I have two baby grandkids - ALL leftovers from meals (including curries which i make milder for them by adding yogurt) are mashed up thoroughly or blitzed with stick blender when babies were tiny, and divided up into one portion freezer bags. These are then frozen and given to the (very) grateful mums who then have a supply of home-made baby food in the freezer!

My MIL did this. I had a very whingy baby and I can't tell you how grateful I was for it.

Kitchenbunny

I'm forever trying new ways to use up leftovers. Many's a time when DH was out, I'd get some dried mushrooms I got in a food hamper for Christmas, some risotto rice and a stock cube, and just made a risotto from it. Leftover bits of black bean chicken (should there not be enough for one portion, anyway) I now keep to use as a HM pizza topping, as it makes it taste a little bit like barbecue chicken. Cooked pasta with breadcrumbs and bits of bacon. mmm

Steel_2

Any leftovers and wilty veg I used to recycle into soups, but I discovered an interesting alternative the other night: baked squash.

Into it I put: a slightly freezer burnt chooped up turkey breast, a veggie hamburger, a veggie cranbury nut roast, onion, sweetcorn, wrinkly pepper, half a courgette, half a cooked sweet potato and the inside of the squash all smooshed up and fried with peri-peri sauce. Then I piled it back in to the shells and baked the two halves.

I could have topped with cheese but hubby doesn't like it so I left it to bake crispy, then I added a bit more peri-peri to serve.

I figure I can probably stuff potatoes throughout the winter if I don't have a squash.

Rayne_Bow

I love making meals last :j
The other day whilst shopping in Lidl, I picked up loads of vegetables....some as cheap as 29p each, a large fresh chicken, fruit etc.
Anyway, on Saturday I got my big cooking pot out of the cupboard ( I knew everything wouldnt have fit in my slow cooker ) and chopped up loads of carrots, courgettes, onions, couple of pints of vegetable stock and then my seasoned chicken and boiled it for a couple of hours. Later on I added potatoes and home made dumplings.
I stripped the chicken whilst still hot and added a quarter to the stew and we had it with crusty bread for lunch ( with loads of left overs and it especially tasted good a couple of days later )
The next quarter I made a curry of the evening.....we always add boiled eggs to our curry to make it stretch further so there was just enough chicken and the other half of the chicken went on our sunday lunch the next day. I do lots of potatoes and veg anyway, so we always have bubble and squeak on a monday night for tea.
So my £3:50 chicken, vegetables etc went a very long way.

Butterfly_Brain

I have got a lot of dry bread - I bought some Hovis best of both at the weekend and froze it but it is so dry - Bread Pudding and savoury bread and butter pudding here we come! (The kids love to take a bit of Bread Pudding to school/college - but they moan because their friends and teachers all want some)

Ninno820

Last night I had a couple of bits of potatoe and a small bit of courgette left over. Tonight it was mashed up with some tinned salmon (which had been hiding at the back of the cupboard) and a beaten egg - then lightly fried. The result was a combination of fish cake and omelette - very tasty and almost free!

Trinny

Hi There

Just read the op's paragraph so sorry if this has already been said. I am getting better at using up leftovers. When we decided to get on the MS bandwagon i stopped buying lunch at work and instead took leftover roast dinner Mon to Wed. This means i need to cook a little more veg - but it means i can get three almost free lunches. I also try to use up leftovers in the next days meal like you do.

Some one on here recommended saving leftover veg and freezing it until you have enough to make HM veg soup. This helps as we are only two adults in our family and no kids - so the leftovers are small.

OH loves veg soup - little does he know that its recycled leftover veg straight from the freezer.

Good thread - thanks

Trin

Patchwork_Quilt

Today we had three different meals between four of us to use up bits that were in the fridge before they went off.