Waste Not, Want Not, pt. 3

In my last post, I shared the recipe for cowboy beans. The corn was leftover from dinner a week before that I tossed into the freezer. I didn't want it to go bad. You can do this with so many recipes & leftovers. I always try to revamp leftovers.

Here are some ideas:

Save all your veggies & freeze them in one container. Just keep adding to it each time there are leftovers, no matter how few. A teaspoon or 1/4c at a time, will add up to a soup's worth, in just a matter of a few weeks. You can make a basic veggie soup with broth or stock, or throw in a diced leftover chicken breast.

Save your ground beef, 1 tablespoon at a time. Each time you brown your hamburger meat, take a tablespoon or 2 from the pan & add it to another container in the freezer. In 8 days of doing 1 T, you'll have 1/2 cup of browned meat to add to beans for burritos or tacos, make a soup with, hamburger gravy, etc. Whatever application you choose, you won't miss the meat in the first round & no one will taste a difference!

I like to save bread ends if no one wants then, or bread that is about to go bad. I cube them up & pop them in the oven. I preheat the oven at 350º for about 10m or so, then stick the pan of bread cubes in. Turn the oven off & walk away. Just be sure you don't forget they're in there & preheat the oven for something else!!! Some of them stay as cubes for stuffing or croutons, some get whirled in the food processor to use as bread crumbs. Bread crumbs are amazing little pieces of food. You can add them to stuffing, use them as a filler for meatloaf & bread items like chicken & pork chops for frying or "oven-fried."

Mashed taters make a yummy potato soup, potato (pan)cakes or yet another filler for meatloaf or pierogies. Shepherd's Pie isn't picky about the taters that we dollop on top, either.

Before you throw something away, look at the possibilities it may have.

The less you waste, the less you have to buy again.

Have a blessed day!!!