The sales haven’t been great. Good coupons seem few and far between. We’re working hard to make real, whole foods a priority. Sometimes, what I lack in funds I can make up for in time, but you know… as much as I enjoy my kitchen, I really can’t spend hours a day preparing healthy, from scratch meals, either.
What’s a mom to do to serve her family quality meals for less? One of my favorite mealtime strategies is using leftover makeovers.
Leftover Makeovers
Spending a full day in the kitchen cooking a month’s worth of food doesn’t work well for me, but since when I’m in there anyway, it does make sense to make a bunch of one item or recipe to be used later. Yes, you certainly can (and sometimes I do) freeze the extra for a future night “off” from cooking. That works fabulously. But you can also take parts of a meal and make them into something entirely new.
Let’s start with baked potatoes and rice, shall we?
Baked Potatoes
I like to bake lots of potatoes at once in a glass dish with a lid. No need to wrap in foil, just don’t forget to poke a few holes (oy!). I’ve also heard they “bake” well in a slow cooker, but haven’t tried that method myself. For future meals I can make
- twice baked potatoes
- cheeseburger potato casserole
- homemade hashbrowns
- desperation dinner
- baked potato soup
If you prefer your taters mashed, here are some Recipes for Leftover Mashed Potatoes.
Rice
I don’t know what it is about rice that seems like its a big ol’ hassle to make (it’s so not!) but I do try to make a lot at once and freeze the extras to bulk up future meals very inexpensively.
- fried rice (adjust cooking time)
- add to the meat mixture in loaded tostadas
- cheesy broccoli and rice with chicken
- chicken fajita soup
- veggie beef soup
- chicken and rice soup
How do you use leftover baked potatoes and rice at your home? I’m currently preparing Leftover Makeover posts for roast beef, ham, and whole chickens. What others would you like to see?
How does rice taste after it’s been frozen? I never thought of trying that.
Well… it’s good in fried rice and stuffed peppers and casseroles and such. That much I know. But that’s really all I’ve used it for.
For rice, we usually make fried rice, but I have made it into breakfast–cinnamon, milk and sugar! I’ve also made spanish rice from leftovers–add onion, salsa & then sprinkle cheese on top!
My children love to have leftover rice for breakfast – just add milk and a dash of sugar.
I like it heated up but they’ll eat it cold in a pinch.
I’ve never tried it for breakfast!
I use leftover rice to make rice milk. Even from the freezer: http://wholenewmom.com/recipes/do-it-yourself-dairy-free-lactose-intolerance/
We rarely have leftovers (encore meals). But I do make rice pudding.
I don’t have any great ideas to add, but I do have a question about your potatoes. I tried not covering them with foil, and the skins got really hard, like almost too hard to eat. My 10 year old said they were like a bowl!
So do your’s end up like that or are they “normal”?
Right. Two things: 1) It may be the kind of potato you used. I think Russets have a thicker skin to begin with, and 2) I *like* the skins that way for twice-baked potatoes, so I have a nice hard shell. But when you put them in a glass dish with a lid? The skins are NOT HARD at all.
I’m guessing the steam from the potatoes just circulates in there, keeping everything moist.
Thanks, Amy. I did not use a lid so that was probably the problem!
After you bake many potatoes do you freeze them? Or are they just hanging in the fridge a few days until they are used again?
I just keep them in the fridge until I need them. If you’re worried about them going bad, go ahead and shred for hashbrowns and “flash freeze” them on a sheet cake pan.