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Any bright ideas on this subject? I use a chicken to make a roast then the leftovers go into chicken wraps the next day. Have you got anything you do to stretch your food to two meals instead of one?
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I cheat a bit because I use onion and peppers to fill out a pound of ground beef. I make them into burgers and whatever's left over gets chopped up and turned into a pot pie by adding carrot or turnip and gravy to make the filling.
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When I make a beef roast, the first time it gets served with potatoes, mixed veg and brown gravy. I always buy slightly more than I need and save some of it for a stir fry the next day.
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When I make a beef roast, the first time it gets served with potatoes, mixed veg and brown gravy. I always buy slightly more than I need and save some of it for a stir fry the next day.
I do that too! A big piece of leftover cooked roast also is excellent for making shredded beef. Shred it with two forks, combine it with BBQ sauce and put it in the crockpot on low all day. Fill large sesame buns with it, top with coleslaw and serve chips and dip or potato salad on the side. I like a splash of hot sauce on mine as well. You won't feel like you cooked and it's great for days when everyone's coming home at different times or you'll be needing a late supper. They can just help themselves to what's in the crockpot when they get in.
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This is a great thread. Thanks for the ideas. :)
I cook up a big pot of short pasta, usually the tricolor kind. Half goes with a hot dish like bolognese or meatballs. The other half is cooled for pasta salad the following day. It's not strictly two meals from one item but it does save on cooking time and energy another day when you make a double batch. A woman on TV said "cook once, eat twice." I'm all for spending less time in the kitchen!
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Meatloaf is good for the "hot one day, cold the next" meals. We have it with the usual potatoes and veg. Next time around I really enjoy it sliced up cold with mayo and salad on a sub or French loaf. My husband likes to reheat his. I'd have it chilled on day two. Meatloaf freezes very well too.
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When I make chili I freeze some for chili stuffed peppers. That's a very easy dish. Just mix the chili in a frying pan with leftover cooked rice, about half and half, until it's hot all through. Half your bell peppers lengthways, decore and deseed them then cook in simmering water until they're tender but still hold their shape. Seven to ten minutes approx. Drain them, fill them with the rice mixture, top with grated cheese and broil until the cheese bubbles. Fast and tasty.
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Rotisserie Chicken from the grocery store is wonderful for meal #1 and the left overs are great to make chicken salad. For $6.99 you get 2 meals...not bad.
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Rotisserie Chicken from the grocery store is wonderful for meal #1 and the left overs are great to make chicken salad. For $6.99 you get 2 meals...not bad.
3, not 2 micharch! :) You can boil the rotisserie chicken bones up for stock too. They have a very good flavor for that.
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When I make chili I freeze some for chili stuffed peppers. That's a very easy dish. Just mix the chili in a frying pan with leftover cooked rice, about half and half, until it's hot all through. Half your bell peppers lengthways, decore and deseed them then cook in simmering water until they're tender but still hold their shape. Seven to ten minutes approx. Drain them, fill them with the rice mixture, top with grated cheese and broil until the cheese bubbles. Fast and tasty.
I love chilli stuffed peppers. When you need to use up peppers fast, filling them with a packet of savory rice is good. You can ring the changes that way too.
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You can also keep some chilli aside for chilli hot dogs. Freeze it in a small microwave and freezer safe bag or container because the day you want one, that can of chilli you thought you had won't be there. ;) It doesn't take longer than a couple of minutes to reheat, even from frozen.
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If you've got a small chunk of leftover cheese when you're making a dish, you can grate it and refrigerate it in an airtight container. Decorate salads or soups with the odds and ends.
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Thanks for all the tips, everyone. I often make too much veg with a meal and never judge it right. Once they're cooled I add them to a freezer bag for my own version of mixed veg and when I have enough, I make vegetable soup with a stock cube base. What looks like not worth keeping after a meal when you're clearing up really is. I never take it off anyone's plate though!
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I'm a terrible cook, so I use the crockpot whenever possible. My best two-fer is pork ribs. You can get a seasoning packet from McCormicks for about $1 and the chops are always cheap. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4.Goes great with corn bread and greenbeans, also cheap. Take what's left over, remove the meat from the bone and shred it with a fork. Have pulled pork sandwiches the next day with a salad!
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I love using the crockpot too! I must try that, rleahy. What I do is use the center cut pork steaks and boil them first for about 20 mins or until you see the meat's starting to come away from the bones if there is one. That halves the cooking time because they're done. Then I pull off as much fat as possible, dice the remainder up into bite sized pieces and put them in the crockpot with BBQ sauce. A small bottle's just about enough to coat the meat and leave about a half inch on top of it if you started with a couple of pounds of pork.
You can just use the sauce straight from the bottle or you can mix it up a bit in a bowl by throwing in some syrup and/or brown sugar, hot sauce, crushed peppers and ketchup. I'll also fry a chopped onion until it's soft and throw that in. Mix everything together in the crockpot and leave the whole lot on high for 3-4 hours. By then it's still holding its shape but breaks up easily if you press it with a fork.
I like this served with plain rice like a curry. My husband likes it in a tortilla with green onions and lettuce, and the kids like it on hamburger rolls. It's very versatile. They get it different ways depending on what I need to use up LOL.
If you leave it long enough, you can pull it apart like pulled pork too. What kind of ribs do you use, is it country style ribs?
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Another one came up for me this week. We were given some fish by a neighborhood fisherman. My husband batter-dipped and fried it. We had quite a bit left over, about five filets. I took the left over and mashed it all together and mixed in two eggs. Then boiled a potato, mashed it and added it in. Seasoned with chives, garlic, butter and Old Bay. Shaped into fish cakes and fried in the pan. Not bad all in all. If the filets you are using are not batter coated, you should use two potatoes. Served with peas and cauliflower.
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Another one came up for me this week. We were given some fish by a neighborhood fisherman. My husband batter-dipped and fried it. We had quite a bit left over, about five filets. I took the left over and mashed it all together and mixed in two eggs. Then boiled a potato, mashed it and added it in. Seasoned with chives, garlic, butter and Old Bay. Shaped into fish cakes and fried in the pan. Not bad all in all. If the filets you are using are not batter coated, you should use two potatoes. Served with peas and cauliflower.
Good way to use them up! We love salmon patties. I've only ever tried them with mackerel apart from that. What kind of fish did you use?
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Roast chicken - this week I cooked the carcass in the crock pot, picked off the remaining meat and made used the pasta machine to make homemade noodles. I think I spent $3 to run out for some more carrots, the rest of the meal didn't cost me a dime because I had everything I needed. Made some butter biscuts to go with the soup. Hum hum and cheap cheap! I bet you could freeze that carcas a while if you didn't feel like soup so soon after...
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Did you know mccormicks makes a rotisserie chicken flavor packet? You can make your own at home. You cook the chicken for five hours at 275 degrees F. Just like the store but cheaper and you still get three meals from one!!! Although, I must say, Micharch's deal of $6.99 for a rotisserie chicken is a steal. It's much more expensive for us here. I get the chicken on special then stretch the mccormicks to last over two meals.
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Another one came up for me this week. We were given some fish by a neighborhood fisherman. My husband batter-dipped and fried it. We had quite a bit left over, about five filets. I took the left over and mashed it all together and mixed in two eggs. Then boiled a potato, mashed it and added it in. Seasoned with chives, garlic, butter and Old Bay. Shaped into fish cakes and fried in the pan. Not bad all in all. If the filets you are using are not batter coated, you should use two potatoes. Served with peas and cauliflower.
Good way to use them up! We love salmon patties. I've only ever tried them with mackerel apart from that. What kind of fish did you use?
I think it was cod...might have been haddock...it was free. I didn't ask!
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I think the two meals out of one is my favorite topic....I'm always thinking about it. The other day we were out of gravy for family dinner night. Never having made it from scratch before, I lucked upon having some wondra in the cabinet and made it myself. Now I'm going to take the left over chicken and make some broth so I always have a gravy starter around.
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I think the two meals out of one is my favorite topic....I'm always thinking about it. The other day we were out of gravy for family dinner night. Never having made it from scratch before, I lucked upon having some wondra in the cabinet and made it myself. Now I'm going to take the left over chicken and make some broth so I always have a gravy starter around.
I always make my own chicken gravy. The packet ones are far too salty for me. I use plain flour to thicken the juices in the bottom of the roasting pan, or cornflour. The trick is to mix a tablespoon or so with about an eight of a cup of water first, until it makes a smooth, runny paste like texture. Then you add it to the hot juices and boil it up to thicken. If you try add the flour straight into the hot juices it'll clump and you'll have white lumps all through your gravy. Make it smooth first and add, stirring constantly as you do.
You can put the juices in another pan first if you want. I normally just put the roasting pan on the stove, heat it there, add a little water to get the tasty crispy bits all off the bottom plus enough liquid to make the gravy, boil that up, and then mix in the flour paste last. Just keep stirring fast and add more water as needed to get it to the consistency you want. The chicken juices flavors it and you don't need much else apart from maybe a little pepper or salt.
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I can almost taste it! I did learn that the trick is mixing the flower and water cold and add hot liquid only after the lumps are out. The scrapings at the bottom make the best flavored gravy!
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Okay, I'm officially drooling now after reading that. I love love LOVE real chicken gravy. Packet gravy is a poor substitute. I try make as much as I can out of one pan of drippings and freeze any extra. It's great for nights when all you feel like doing is thawing chicken breasts and peeling a few potatoes.
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I made a crockpot full of sloppy joe mix today. I was sure I had a spare bag of hamburger rolls in the freezer but I didn't. I cooked up some rice instead and gave everybody else theirs on rolls while I had mine mixed with the rice. I enjoyed it more than I do when it's on rolls! It's good when you have a happy accident like that. Next time I'll make even more and freeze some to serve like that. I had extra rice I could freeze left over too.
Chicken I use for a roast as well as for soup. Once the carcass is picked almost clean I boil it up for stock and freeze it. It's saved me a trip to the store often to be able to thaw that out and throw in the veg.