Leftovers - good or bad?
Do you like leftovers? I love leftovers! But I do see a few people who tell me that they don’t want to eat the same thing two days in a row, or they don’t like the food if it isn’t freshly cooked.
Here are five reasons leftovers are great!
Prep once, eat twice. Some days we’ve got more time available than others to spend in the kitchen – if we make the most of those days we can be prepared for the days when we’re short on time.
Let the flavour develop. Some foods taste much better when it is reheated the next day. Think vege or meat casseroles, mince dishes, marinated chicken – delicious!
More veges. Did you know that the Ministry of Health now recommends five serves of veges per day for adults (it used to be three)? If you have leftover veges from the main meal, have these for lunch the next day and it will make it much easier to get your recommended five serves of vegetables.
Cuts down on waste. Kiwis throw away over 157 000 tonnes of wasted food each year – ouch! Leftovers are a great way to minimise food waste and reduce your carbon footprint.
Saves money (and stops you making poor decisions when you’re starving!). Lots of people just don’t have time to make lunch in the morning. Put your dinner leftovers in a container when you’re serving dinner, once it has stopped steaming transfer it to the fridge and chill. Pull it out the next morning and your lunch is packed. This saves you money by stopping you from buying your lunch... and purchasing that something extra you probably didn’t need but you were so hungry your eyes were bigger than your stomach!
If you don’t like having the same thing two days in a row, serve it differently. My favourite ways to use leftovers are:
Roast chicken: chicken and corn soup (you can even make your own stock with the bones)
chicken fried rice
chicken and salad wrap or sandwich
Veges: vege frittata
vege soup
pasta and vege salad
rewarmed served with poached eggs
mixed with mashed potato and fried into vege hash
roast vege and feta salad
vege and egg fried rice
Casserole or mince: potato topped pie
on toast
on baked potato
If you want inspiration, check out the ‘The Love Food Hate Waste’ website which has some great recipes