Use It Up - Leftovers

For the past two weeks we have abandoned the monthly meal plan in favor of one of my favorite meal plans - clearing out the freezer.  I do this about every four months. 

This time we are clearing out all the pre-Thanksgiving leftovers I had put away in our freezer as well as using up the leftover items in our refrigerator and so far, we have enjoyed some really great meals.  Funny thing about leftovers is that sometimes they create more leftovers and thus the cycle continues. 

We ate leftover Thanksgiving dinner for four days.  In between I fixed a pasta meal so they weren’t concurrent.  After nearly a week of various items from the freezer I did make a pot of turkey and dumplings.  The soup included leftover frozen veggie broth and the tail end of a bag of frozen mixed veggies plus leftover turkey and a dab of gravy.  When we ran out of dumplings the last of the soup was served over leftover rice. 

Some of the items I pulled from the freezer: 

1.                   Ham and navy bean soup – 4 cups – one meal; one lunch

2.                  2 containers of Bolognese sauce – 4 cups each – two meals; four lunches

3.                  3 containers of vegetable broth – 1 ½ cups each – turkey and beef soup

4.                  Pot roast – about 2 cups chopped (beef barley soup) – two meals; two lunches

5.                  8” x 8” pan of Quesadilla Casserole – two meals; two lunches

6.                  Red Beans & Rice – 4 cups – one meal; one lunch

7.                  Turkey Chili – 2 cups (we made chili cheese omelets)-one meal; one lunch

8.                  Macaroni & Cheese – 4 cups – three lunches 

So far we have managed to clear an entire shelf in our side by side freezer in the kitchen and it appears that we will still be going into next week, most likely.  I still have a few items including a really meaty ham bone begging to become split pea soup. 

This has definitely been a real budget stretcher too.  So far I have spent less than $18 on groceries which was for milk, chocolate stars to make Christmas cookies with and a great buy on a package of rib eye steaks that will be our Christmas Dinner. 

If you need a budget reprieve look inside your freezer and see what there is lurking inside.  Use up all those leftover and older items before they get the chance to freezer burn.  Tap into your creative side and see what magnificent meals you can come up with.