Christmas has come and gone; the trash from the New Years celebrations have been hauled away. Much money has been spent; our food budgets are squeezed, and we are only halfway through January. We are wondering what to prepare for the people we love best. Eating out is NOT an option. It’s important to eat out of the cupboard, fridge and pantry…oh, what’s a frugal cook to DO?
The Normanator thinks his bride can morph left overs with the best of ‘em. He does not always realize that food left over from one meal is a Grand Plan for Planned Overs to make another stunning delight for his palette. grin
One of the foods we enjoy around here as an “afterthought” is pork. Meat is so bloomin’ costly that we use it sparingly. This practice probably contributes positively to our glowing good health, too! We had some thin cut pork cuts awhile back so I browned and braised all of them. We ate 2 and the rest went into the fridge, along with the delicious braising broth.
When I was pondering another meal, I simply pulled out 2 more of the cooked meat and cut bite sized pieces. I also took out the cooked rice that I had stashed into a refrigerator container.
***The rice I had on hand was a lovely gift from a friend. It was a luscious combo of brown rice, wild rice and daikon seeds. Mmm…
***Daikon radishes look like white radishes on steroids; they are large, sweet, and highly nutritious. They are used often in Asian dishes.
The rice went into a hot skillet I had sprayed with a bit of oil, along with some chopped onion and celery. When it was thoroughly heated and the veg was soft, the pork went into my favorite skillet.
***Gotta love those cast iron skillets!
While the ingredients warmed I stirred up a couple of eggs, seasoned them with soy sauce and pepper and a touch of curry powder. I had the burner set to MEDIUM heat.
There were frozen peas on hand, so a few handfuls of those went into the skillet. Boy, by now things were smelling mighty fine!
Before the peas were hot, I drizzled the eggs over the whole works, stirred it to keep the eggs from sticking to the skillet and lowered the heat. Just for fun I sprinkled a tad of ginger into the mix. I wanted it to have a bit of kick, but not much.
We had a big veg salad with this fried rice meal and we were too full for dessert, which would have been mandarin orange slices! We saved those for the next time!
How do YOU use leftovers? Do you PLAN for leftovers? We’d love to hear how you morph food from one meal into masterpieces for another meal! There is no doubt you are more creative than Mother Connie!
It has come to our attention that, despite the glitch we’ve encountered with posting, you are sharing this with your networks and folks are coming into the Club House to see how they might manage their food dollars!
People who use EBT cards from SNAP or WIC have apparently found us to be helpful. So have those who have goods from food pantries, food banks, or food commodities. Many of us are living on a dime. Those who are frugal by nature appreciate low cost food ideas, too. Our goal is to help anyone, but most especially users of public assistance to s t r e t c h those food budgets. It’s not easy and help may or may not be on your front porch!
We love your comments and your mail! foodstampscookingclub@gmail.com
Thanks, Guys. Enjoy your leftovers!
CONNIE BAUM
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mother connie i was so sure something had happened to you becasue i was looking for a recipe and you had not put up any new posts so i hop you are alright love marla
Oh, Marla! How nice to hear from you again! Hope all is well in your world. We are fine, here in the Club House. We’ve just been really busy and of course, the blog has given us FITS! There is no way to post the way we used to so we have had to learn how to work around it!
BIG Hugs,
Mother Connie
Hi Connie,
I’m glad to see a post up here again!
For leftovers, I do a couple of things. I do as you do, cook extra, so I can have an easy cooking night (plus it usually saves electricity to cook one huge pot of rice, and use it several times during the week, than to cook rice on 3 or 4 different occasions).
And when there’s just one serving left of something, I pack it in a plastic container (cottage cheese, margarine tubs and yogurt containers are great for small amounts of leftovers), and freeze. Then about once every 2 weeks, I pull all the leftover containers out of the freezer and the 5 of us have a smorgasbord night, where everybody gets to choose how much and what we want. It’s a lot of fun, especially for the kids, as they actually get to choose what is put on their plates.
And then, there’s the leftover leftovers from smorgasbord night. Those go into a pot with some broth, or water, salt and herbs, and I make soup for lunch the next day.
If you haven’t guessed, I grew up in a waste not, want not family. I don’t like to see anything wasted. Food costs money, and I’d no sooner throw a nickel away than I’d throw out a bit of leftovers.
Your pork-fried rice sounded delicious and makes me want to run into the kitchen to fix fried rice for lunch (sadly. no cooked pork here ready and waiting. Mine will just have to be egg-fried rice.)
Oh, my GOODNESS, Lili! How great to hear from you. You have lots of great ideas; thanks so much for taking the time to share with the Members!
No worries about being pork-less. Egg fried rice can be awesome! I’d be interested in any spices you’d add to that…Inquiring minds want to know! grin/giggle
I love the idea of waiting a couple of weeks before pulling out the frozen left overs. People would forget that it was left over! Clever.
I hope folks cruise over to your place and check out all you have to offer on your blog, Lili. Creative and Savvy describes you to a TEE!
Hugs
Mother Connie
I definitely use/plan for leftovers. If I’m making meat (usually chicken), I make soup with the leftovers or hold some of the meat aside for a stir fry or skillet dish. Chili makes for a great (albeit messy) quesadilla or burrito. Leftover vegetables are saved to be added to omelets or scrambled eggs or casseroles. The ends of bread I grate for breadcrumbs.
And of course, I save vegetable scraps and make stock before I compost them.
Pamela, I am so happy to have you chime in on this subject! Your ideas sound ideal. I especially commend you for saving veg scraps to make stock because that adds such great flavor to soups, stews, gravies and such like. Composting is ecologically smart, as well.
Thank you so much for taking time from your busy life to stop by. I hope our Club Members will cruise by your place to see all the nifty stuff you have there!
Hugs
Mother Connie
PS/Another frugal blogger/cook we love to mention is Carol from CT On a Budget. If you haven’t scoped her out, please do so, won’t you?
Connie, in my egg-fried rice (which was yummy, thanks for the inspiration), I seasoned it with ground ginger, red pepper flakes, and lots of garlic!
Connie,
With my monthly meal planning, I have what I call “Big meat Sunday” which means that I cook a roast (usually) for intended leftovers. All pans are deglazed after supper,the stock pot is simmering away. Sun’s roast beef becomes a stroganoff, a stew, if not a sandwich filling, Sheppard’s pie (I grind the meat up first). Roast poultry is mixed with homemade gravy (remember my stock?) and served over rice/noodles/potatoes. It can also become enchilladas, chilli, salad filling for sandwiches, pot pie, a stir fry, etc. By planning and cooking this way, half the work is done for me on a busy school/work evening.
Carol in CT
Wow, Carol…even though you and I create different menus from our meals we have very much the same strategy. You have managed to master the cook once/eat twice (or more) deal AND you are managing your time very wisely. Mothers HAVE to be clever that way, don’t we?
Thanks for piping up, Carol. I hope the Members cruise by your place because your blog is very, very helpful to people who MUST cook frugally!
Hugs,
Mother Connie
Oh, golly, Lili! Your seasonings sound much sassier than mine! I think I like your idea so much I’ll try playing around with the spices next time! Thank you so much! I hope our Members remember to stop by your blog if they have not already done so. Creative and Savvy say it ALL!
Hugs
Mother Connie