Frugal Friday: Free photos and managing leftovers
With Valentine's Day upon us, there are a few great free photo deals going on which I thought some of you - especially those of you with children - might be interested in:Get a free 8x10 and wallet sheet from Picture People. Details are here.
Get a free family value photo pack from Walgreens. Details are here.
Also, a reader emailed in this question and I'd love to get some input:
Do you find yourself dealing with much food "waste?" I continue to struggle in this arena. I try to set aside certain days in my menu plan for "leftovers", but often find that I have a deluge of leftovers or fresh food in need of immediate consumption at the same time! Help!Just a few tips which have worked well for us:
We love to entertain in our home about once weekly, but also find that this seems to produce leftovers that need to be eaten rather quickly. I would love to see a blog post where you address "using up" food as a money-saving strategy! -Amara
1) Don't overbuy. Even if something is a great deal, if I can't use it before it goes bad, it's not a good deal. Think through your purchases carefully so as to avoid waste. I know this is probably one of those "it goes without saying" principles, but I still had to say it!
2) Share extra food. One of my favorite things to do with extra food is to share it with friends and family. If you have someone over and have lots of leftovers, send food home with them. Or take dinner to some shut-in neighbors or the elderly the next day. Start thinking creatively about how you can bless someone with your abundance and you might find it drastically cuts down on your food waste!
3) Utilize your freezer. If we can't use something up before it goes bad and I don't have anyone else I can share it with, freezing it is one of my next-best options. I literally have been known to freeze just about anything. Extra bits of meat and veggies can be thrown into a big container to make soup with. Extra muffins or cookies can be frozen and stuck in lunches. Extra main dish portions can be frozen and pulled out for a leftover night smorgasbord.
4) Creatively re-make leftovers. I love experimenting in the kitchen and leftovers prove to be one of my greatest sources of inspiration for this. Make it a game to see how you can use up what you have on hand while re-making it into a new meal. Just this week, I use extra spaghetti/meat sauce and added it into our chili. There wasn't enough left to freeze for another dinner, so chili was the perfect way to "hide" it instead of tossing it. Best of all, no one noticed!
Those are just a few quick thoughts from me. I'd love to hear from the rest of you: How do you creatively use up leftovers? Any great tips, ideas, or recipes? Leave a comment or do a Frugal Friday post about it so we can glean ideas from you as well!
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Labels: Frugal Friday
posted by Crystal Paine at 11:15 PM
45 Comments:
I struggle in the area of how much food to buy for my large family. I need to get a better handle on how to buy fresh produce for my family and use it up before it spoils. This is something I really need to work on.
As always, great ideas!
We like to use our leftovers to make soup with! If it is not our normal soup night (Wed) and I need to get rid of leftovers, I can of course change our meal plan. See Mr. Linky #6.
I tend to base all of my meals around "left over" meat or veggies from the beginning of the week. If I roast a chicken on sunday or monday, I use that same chicken meat for chicken spaghetti, chicken chili, chicken fried rice and a chicken type casserole. I usually make a main chicken dish and a main beef dish at the beginning of the week so I can ration out how much of each I want to use for the other meals in the week. When it comes to produce, if I know that I may not get to use it before it goes bad, I cut it up, steam them in the microwave and put them in freezer bags. Since they are already cooked, you can use them for anything....soups, side dish(just add seasoning) or in a yummy casserole(I'm a casserole fanatic).
Since there are only 2 adults eating dinner and most recipes feed 4-6 I had to come up with a solution for leftovers that didn't leave us eating the same food for 2-3 meals in a row. When I am cleaning up dinner each night, I divide the leftovers into lunch sized portions and store in the sandwich-sized ziploc/glad containers (You can get 3 for $1-2 at the $ store.) Then, these get tossed in the freezer and a frozen one gets taken out to defrost for the next day.
This means we get to have more variety in our lunches and don't get stuck eating the same food all of the time!
On the weekends we open our own "Hometown Buffet". Everything left to eat gets warmed and put out on the counter. Sometimes the older girls make a menu of the available items and take orders/serve as waitresses. It's always and interesting mix of food and fun! If there is anything left, it gets thrown away.
I like a night of not having to cook and the kids like the chance to choose their food. It's a win/win!
Just to make it special, we end with some desert.
Very good tips Crystal! Thanks for hosting Frugal Friday!
This doesn't have anything to do with an idea I just have a ?? that I need a bit of help with. I have 4 dc, 10, 9, 6, 4, that we homeschool :) We live in a town of 2500 and there is a hometown type of grocery store(waaay expensive, not even many great deals) a Pamida(also waaay expensive) and a Dollar General(not a big variety) The 'city' we go to for our grocery & necessity shopping is 30 min./miles away. There's the background.
My ?? is this, how does everyone handle shopping day, do they do all 3-5 stores in one day with all dc once a week? or maybe have to go twice a week with a different child
each time?
Sometimes we have a theater show (which is only $1/person) to go to in the 'city' so I pack a lunch then shop and try to do it all in one day and that is waaay so long for all of us. The dc do help some, I do have some of it as a way to teach the dc is several different areas, politeness, obedience of staying w/me, $$ situations of comparing, etc. What is everyone else's advice on this? thanks, Lisa
Why not double or triple your recipe and freeze leftovers in single serve Tupperware (or Gladware). Then you can have a homemade meal on the busiest of nights.
we use our leftovers for lunches during the week, since we home-educate and the kids and I are home anyway it is our lunch (sometimes dh will take leftovers for lunch if he is somewhere were he has access to a microwave otherwise he takes soup or a sandwich and salad) Sometimes I will also use leftovers to feed the dog (SHHHH don't tell the vet!) This works especially well with meat that is cooked but on the verge of being good. Really doesn't happen all that often here though.
We use to waste so much food until I realized it was a way to save money. I am not a big fan of leftovers so this was a struggle for me. Now if the fridge is overflowing with leftovers our menu plan changes for that night and we eat all the leftovers instead. Most produce can be creatively used up or frozen in certain forms. If I get to the end of a loaf of bread and I have one or two pieces I put them in the freezer. Eventually I have enough bread for french toast.
Since I have been menu planning we have had less leftovers since I usually plan leftovers into our menu. For example if we are having spaghetti one night we will have pizza a few nights later since we will have opened a large jar of sauce for the spaghetti. Pizza is a also a great way to use up leftover anything. We have made some of the best pizzas using leftover chicken, ham, pineapple, spinach, brocolli, taco meat, corn, and many others. Well this comment is way to long...
blessings
But what do you freeze in? The plastic freezer bags, little containers (and if so, what kind?)? I find that whenever I freeze leftovers, they always get freezer burn. Please share any tips. Thanks!
I know this isn't the moneysaving mom blog, but I am excited and did my first trip to Walgreens and 2nd to CVS. I know I could've done better, but it was great for ME! You can see what I got on my blog.
My husband takes leftovers for lunch.
He is in the AF and on the occasion that we don't have leftovers he will just take a salad.
He always comes home and says how much the other guys get jealous of his lunches...and I don't cook anything fancy!
Thank you, Crystal. (I hit enter too soon and meant "Library Book Sales" for mine.)
I don't do once a month cooking, it's way more involved than I want to mess with, but I do love to make extra of a meal so that it extends for more than one night. Soups, chile's, those sorts of things last two to three nights. For a change, I may thicken the last night and do it with a Bisquick topping, pot pie style. Beans take the form of soup, then refried with rice on the side and tortillas, and another night as burritos. Essentially, I like to cook so that I will have usable leftovers.
I may also use those leftovers as lunch for our homeschooled family. If it's appealing, and isn't used for lunch or dinner, it will usually be consumed as a mid-morning or afternoon snack by one of our growing bunch.
Meats and veggies make for a great mix in with a stir-fry or with rice. Or add them to a sauce or gravy to serve over rice or noodles.
There also comes the point where a meal wears out its welcome. If I've stretched that pot of soup waaaaaaay out, and the gang is sick of it, I'll let it go. I find that if I freeze it, it won't get used. We do have animals who appreciate spoiled fruits and veggies, and likewise, if I overshoot on oatmeal or cooked cereals, the goats will gladly consume it for me. We try not to be wasteful, but there are times when leftovers *need* to be done!
We also homeschool so we have lunch from leftovers. We actually prefer it to sandwiches.
It can help busy homeschooling mothers to have a good healthy meal ready while not cooking during the daytime. Just heat it up and eat.
Kathy asked what we use to freeze the leftovers in... I just use the plastic sandwich containers. They are never in the freezee more than 1-2 weeks so the freezer burn isn't an issue.
Regarding freezer burn:
When my mom froze meals, she would let them cool before sticking them into the refrigerator. They would sit in the fridge for a day or two. Then she would move them to the freezer.
Whenever we warmed them up, we would open the container but not shake off the ice crystals. (If they had them.) Leaving the ice crystals on top and placing the open end down onto a plate created a steam effect. This helped the quality a lot. If you have ever eaten a TV dinner from the supermarket, it is the same concept (slitting the plastic wrap on top).
On average, it would take several minutes to fully reheat a dish. Usually we'd break it up into two minute intervals. We would check the center each interval, by lifting the container up. Once thawed, we'd remove the container and just cover with a paper towel. Freezer burn results from the loss of water and steaming helps put it back in. Granted it's not as good as it was but teenagers will eat anything. :) Seriously though, some dishes just don't freeze well. Many of the dishes that froze best were soups, chilies, and casseroles. Dishes with high moisture and often mixed flavors.
I would not recommend freezer bags for long term use. They can not be used to steam the food.
Hope that helps. :)
Crystal, Thanks for the free photos links. I took advantage of the Walgreens family photo pack and will be including those in our Valentine's day cards. Blessings,
Megan
This month's Rachel Ray magazine has some fun recipes for using leftovers. Glance through one at the store for ideas. The specific recipes weren't as helpful to me as seeing how creative you can be with using leftovers for totally different meals.
If you ever buy from a local farm, ask the owners if they are ever interested in bread, fruits/veggies, leftovers. I have a friends with farms, she'll take any assortment of leftover vegetables and in turn I may get a free dozen eggs. :)
Hello, I like to put all our leftovers on a certain shelf in the fridge to be eaten as a snack over the next couple of days. Whatever hasn’t been eaten is then put in the freezer, in the leftover area, for a later day when we need a quick meal.
Thanks for the links for free photos! I used the Walgreens one to order our family photo that we took at a birthday party back in November! We will finally have our updated family photo on the wall! Out last one is from 3 years ago! I love that it is free and that I could do everything from home! You rock Crystal!
~Michelle
Thanks so much for the free photo info! I just ordered a free family set from Walgreens of my cute husband and our son...these will make great gifts for the granparents. Many blessings, Tracey
Thank you so much for the free photo info! I just ordered the free family pack from Walgreens, these will make great gifts for the grandparents! Many blessings, Tracey
For those who make bread:
Save the water you boil potatoes in and use it in your bread recipes instead of plain water - makes the soft, high rising loaf!
I just store the water in the fridge until it's gone :-)
For the Walgreens Photo thing, will I have to give a credit card number? Also, can I upload my own photo? Sorry - i feel dumb right now!
I make leftovers on purpose and then we do not buy anything on our menu for lunches most of the time. We hardly waste any. I also try to plan accordingly if I think it is something we may not want to eat a long time. Some things are better heated up again, like stew and soup.
If I hav eleftover cooked meat, I freeze it, beans, I freeze etc. i freeze in freezer bags and wash them out later.
The question a commenter asked about handling a shopping day when you drive far away is how I grew up, in fact we grew up in a town with a Pamida and a grocery store and that is it. My parents still live there. They drive 90 miles to go shopping once a month and buy only things on sale locally.
She usually takes all day to go shopping and somtimes spends the night so she can get it all done the day she leaves.
A book that you can use to involve your children while shopping is Grocery Cart Math from Common sense Press.
Also, my mom used to give me the calculator to figure out which one was cheapest. My boys all go with me usually grocery shopping and one carries the list or other things I need them to carry.
We also make soup with leftovers. My husband generally likes to eat them straight if it is meat but we pretty much consume them all. From lunch to dinner.
I have some tips on my blog.
I schedule every other night to be a Left over night! Tends to work out great. If we don't have enough left overs, we use what we have to make fried rice, or we make some spaghetti.
Hi, just wanted to write and say thank you for the free photos! I ran out to Picture People and got some great portraits for a Valentines gift for my husband and cards to cheer up the family! Thanks so much!!!
Thanks for the freezing techniques! Using steam makes sense, and I notice that the plastic containers seem to be more popular. God bless!
Great idea.
I have been freezing leftovers that don't get eaten at lunch the next day in the freezer, its awesome when something you made for dinner doesn't serve up enough for the dh next days' lunch.
Also I have been successfully using the universal recipes from the Tightwad Gazette.
Muffins, I use leftover oatmeal or grits and cut up some carrot. And less egg than other recipes.
Quiches, I use leftover veggies or lunch meats.
Delicious, and less eggs and milk than normal recipes.
And I have been making stocks using the rinds and crusts and vegetable scraps. And saving scraps of bread/cornbread in the freezer and whizzing them in the food processor to make bread crumbs quick.
Also I purposely now make double my spaghetti sauce. Its so convenient to have some premade to throw on Friday's homemade pizza.
Great ideas. I've also been working on using up what is in my pantry - if we leave these things to long they can go to waste too.
I also use the universal recipes in the Tightwad Gazette. I consult sites like allrecipes.com (with ingredient search) to figure out what to do with my leftovers. It makes it more fun for me to use up the leftovers if I get to try a new recipes to do it.
Jennifer
Great article, thanks for sharing!
I am joining in on frugal friday today for the first time. I'm excited to be on board as all of you share some really useful information!
I don't know if it is an option for the small town grocery trip question, but I really do a much better job getting all the deals I want and shopping the smartest if I go without my kids. My husband watches them and I take off and get it done. Sometimes in the evenings, which is usually better than the weekends. If that is not an option for you, maybe you can swap kid sitting with a friend so you can stay frugal & shop in quiet! ;)
leftovers? we donlt have leftovers, we have a 17 year old son :)
blessings, Penny Raine
http://www.pennyraine.com/blog
In response to Lisa about shopping 30 miles away and homeschooling four children, I found a unique solution. I homeschool four sons. My family has now moved back to our hometown, but we lived about an hour and a half from the nearest babysitter. My children were 10, 8, 5, and 2.
I like to shop without the children. I have little time without them. I find myself less stressed and financially more effective when I shop alone.
I would get up at 4:45 every other Friday. I would go to Walmart with my price matching adds in hand. I tried to have everything organized. If time permitted, I would also go to Kroger. If not I went to Kroger with my coupons later in the day.
I would arrive back home at 7:00. My husband headed to the office while I unpacked groceries.
At 7:30 I woke the children.
I tested for spelling and math on
Fridays which gave me more flexibility to cook up ground beef or break meats into smaller packages.
Blessings,
Patricia
I really have enjoyed your site! I left something for you at my blog. Check it out when you get a chance.
I save leftovers in the freezer in single-serving size Rubbermaid containers. They make great lunches for those days when you're in a hurry or have nothing on hand. We try to do "freezer day" for lunches about once a week so that the leftovers don't get overwhelming.
In response to "Don't overbuy." I was sooooo tempted to buy more than we could eat in avocados. We popped in to Walmart and they were 5 for a dollar! When does that happen?!? and I'm in Oklahoma; after moving from CA (to NE, then here) I've really had to adjust to the higher produce prices. I did limit my self to 5, after all. And BTW, they were perfect, not overripe at all! If you see a similar deal I'd say go for it! just make sure they're not rock hard, and not mushy, they should have just a little give (incase anyone doesn't know how to pick one.)
As always, thanks for Frugal Friday. What a blessing it is to receive so many thoughtful ideas!
Thank you for this post. I always enjoy and don't always post, but I did this time about a giveaway on my blog. I'm giving away a copy of Passionate Housewives at www.maxsons.blogspot.com.
Thanks for everything,
Bethany
I have a 17 year old son and a 12 year old son who just hit his growth spurt. We no longer have leftovers. I pray for leftovers. I have been known to plan a meal around leftovers I thought I had, only to open the refrigerator and find them missing.
Before I had this issue, I usually planned meals around a leftover strategy--for example, buy a ham and bake it early in the week. Then I would use ham every other day following in various dishes: pea soup, layered egg bake, cheesy ham and potato soup. Or I would make a meatloaf. The next time I served it, I would cube it up and put it in spaghetti sauce (like metballs). The next time around, I would use what was left as a sauce on pizza.
I used to be able to get a couple of meals out of a roast chicken, but now we pick one pretty much clean down to the bone. (I have two girls, too, who don't eat as much as the boys, but among the six of us, we can really polish off a chicken).
You can also throw lots of leftovers into soup or quiche. I made a really good quiche with leftover cream of spinach soup the other day.
I don't use recipes--basically most of my cooking is improvisational. The better you can improvise, the less waste you seem to end up with.
I use old bread in egg bake or french toast, or I lay the aging slices on cookie sheets and let them dry in the over; then I crush them with a rolling pin and freeze them for use in meatloaf, meatballs, buttered bread crumb topping on a casserole.
The only leftovers I really don't like are... turkey. Fortunately for me, the boys like turkey leftovers just fine.
Also--at mealtime I really encourage people to eat up the things that aren't good left over (like salad). I do not feel one bit bad about pushing salad and fruit and vegetables on my kids in order to finish them up... because nobody ever got fat on vegetables, fresh or cooked.
We generally don't make other meals until the older ones are used up. If there are three different meal options in the fridge we will eat off of these until they are gone and then cook a new meal. This way the back up isn't too overwelming.
Leftovers are a blessing for my homeschool day! I almost always make "too much" at supper time, then the next day the lunch for myself and the children is all ready! I just reheat and eat! It is even faster than making sandwiches!
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