Plan To Have Leftovers and Always Use What You Have!

One of my best food tip is to plan meals at least 2 weeks to a month at a time. Make a menu for each day and a dessert. This works well in using what you have and not wasting food.

One example of this is to make meat loaf for dinner and a plain white sheet cake for dessert. On the following day use the left over meat loaf to make spaghetti and meat sauce. Chop up the meat loaf and add your sauce, there's no need to add extra seasoning. Of course you still need to buy noodles and spaghetti sauce, but it cuts cost by not having to purchase another pack of meat for the spaghetti. Any leftover cake you made the day before can be cut into slices and topped with whip cream and a little fruit (fresh, frozen, or canned you can even use a can fruit cocktail), and you have a totally different dessert. Add to a festive plate and this really looks good. Two entirely different meals just by using leftovers and planning ahead of time.

Another example would be to make chili beans for dinner one night and the following day you can use that same chili to make burritos for lunch. All you need to do is drain some juice from the chili beans, heat them in a skillet and smash the beans with a fork. Add chili mixture to a flour tortilla that has been slightly warmed (to make it easy to roll) and pin closed with a tooth pick.

Deep fry until brown, drain on a paper towel (or as I do on extra napkins I've picked up from trips to restaurants/fast food outings.) You can also add any cheese, onions, or other things to the burrito before frying.

I've found that this works well because your family doesn't see the same old leftovers you had the night before, they see a whole new meal.

By VERONICA1 from Lodi, CA