How to Repurpose Leftovers, Create New Dishes, and Reduce Waste

As I mentioned in my How to Stay Healthy on a Budget post, I wanted to write a post on repurposing leftovers.  Americans throw away $165 billion worth of food annually.  Imagine how much money you could save on food if you actually ate all of the food you purchased!  So in this post, I’ll share some quick tips for repurposing leftovers and food that is going bad, and hopefully they’ll help you keep a little more money in your pocket.

Bread going bad?  Make French toast or a banana bread.  French toast doesn’t require fresh bread and banana bread definitely doesn’t either!  Before tossing old bread, consider using it to make a bread-based dish.

Fruit and greens going bad?  Smoothie time!  Fruits and greens are still nutritious until they aren’t.  I’m very particular about fruit: I won’t eat a bruised banana, partially soggy strawberries or mangos even if they’re still fresh, apples that aren’t crunchy, etc.  But as long as I can’t see or taste that stuff, I’m cool with it!  In a smoothie, everything is blended to a nice smooth consistency that disguises or completely eliminates whatever was keeping you from eating the fruit as is.  Check out eatbydate.com to learn more about how long certain foods can still be considered “fresh”.

Leftover meat? Turn it into a sandwich or use it to make stock.  I think most people only think about doing this around Thanksgiving when you have more leftover turkey than you know what to do with.  But this tip applies all year round!  When you get tired of eating the meat by itself, add it to a sandwich or use it give your stock some flavor for another dish, which brings me to my next tip!

Leftover stock?  Freeze it in an ice cube tray and use your “stock cubes” as needed.  Regardless of whether you typically buy stock or make your own, it can be difficult to judge how much you’ll need and you probably often end up with leftovers.  Instead of refrigerating it, freeze it in an ice cube tray or an air tight container and it will stay fresh for up to 6 months in comparison to 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator.

Leftover onion and pepper?  Dice and freeze.  Often times a recipe will call for some odd portion of onion or pepper that doesn’t always equate to a whole onion or pepper.  So then you’re left with part of an onion or a pepper and no purpose for it.  Instead of putting it in a re-sealable bag and leaving it in the fridge, dice it and freeze it for future use.  Onions and peppers can easily be used for homemade salsa, stock, soup, chili, dips, etc.  It can last for 3-6 months frozen in comparison to 7-10 days refrigerated.

Leftover chicken?  Turn it into a sandwich, wrap, or nachos.  Meat in general is easy to repurpose but chicken is especially easy to repurpose because it goes well with so many things.  You can easily make a chicken sandwich, chicken wrap, chicken wrap, or chicken nachos with leftovers.  It’s safe in the refrigerator for 3-5 days and 1-3 months in in the freezer.

So there you have it!  A couple easy things to do with leftovers that won’t feel like eating leftovers at all.  If you found this useful, be sure to like, comment, and subscribe.  What are some of the ways you like to repurpose leftovers?