This holiday season, we will all end up with tons of leftover food sitting in our fridges and freezers. While it’s easy to be lazy and throw it all out, or say to yourself, “I don’t want to eat chicken for a third day in a row,” think about how much food you’re wasting! Use this opportunity to make something new with what’s already in your fridge. It will save you money and time. All you have to do is be a little bit creative. If you open the fridge to make dinner, look at the agglomeration of containers, and feel completely void of ideas, then here are some you can use! All credits go to my mom 🙂
If you plan on having leftover meat, rice, beans, and other vegetables, grab some tortillas and cheese and you can make quesadillas, burritos, and enchiladas! This recipe is quick, really easy, and most importantly, tasty.
If you have lots of leftover vegetables, put them all in a pot and add chicken or vegetable broth to make soup. Feel free to add meat and spices too. Soup is a simple way to get rid of a lot of leftovers at once by turning them into a comfort food that will last you a few days.
In my Asian household, we always have leftover rice. Sometimes we just heat it up and throw it on our plates, but sometimes my mom wants to do more with it. If she has leftover vegetables and meat, she will combine those with the rice in a pot to make fried rice. However, you can’t forget to scramble an egg in! Speaking of egg, making omelettes is a creative way to use up food in your fridge. Feel free to combine anything you think will taste good!
Lastly, if you are left with pasta, red sauce, and meatballs, but don’t want to be basic and eat spaghetti and meatballs again, don’t worry. Take some meatballs, add red sauce, and apply to bread, and you have a meatball sandwich. With the pasta, you can mix in a few spoonfuls of another sauce, such as pesto or alfredo, and add some leftover meat or broccoli.
Anything that you think will taste good together can be used to make a new dish. Why make the same meal twice when you can make something new with what you already have? With these few ideas brought to you by my mom, go out there, waste less food, and be creative!
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Guest Post Written by Elissa Moy, Class of 2020, Dining Team Green Marketing Intern