Using up those leftovers!
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If you are like me, you hate to throw food away. It seems so wasteful, especially when I am trying my best to cut costs as much as possible by providing economical and healthy meals for my family. Well, I have found a way to use up leftovers and it is working beautifully. I hardly EVER throw food away now…I love it! I have shared this tip in a couple of my ebooks I think, but I thought I’d share it here for you.
Choose designated leftover containers. To start with, I have designated containers that we store leftovers in in the freezer. I use quart size freezer containers, but you can use whatever you have. I like the freezer containers because I can nicely stack them.
Store your leftovers in the freezer. After each meal, any leftovers are placed in our designated container in the freezer. When one gets full, we start another one. I put all kinds of leftovers in the container – vegetables, beans and rice, chili, chicken and rice, sloppy joe meat, spaghetti, taco meat, chicken, turkey, noodles, rice, etc. Once I have accumulated two quart containers, I am ready to make my famous “Taco Soup”! Oh.. I also like to use a quart of chicken broth if I have it in the freezer.
Make Taco Soup! I make Taco Soup a lot for our Sunday noon meal. I can easily start the soup in the morning before we leave for church and it is ready when we get home. You will need two quart containers of leftovers and one quart of chicken broth if you have it. If not, don’t worry about it. You will just add some water and your homemade chicken bouillon. (Note: These will need to be thawed out ahead of time by putting them in the refrigerator the day before.) In your large crockpot, empty your two quart containers of leftovers and your quart of broth. (If you don’t have broth, add some water). Next, add a couple tablespoons of chicken bouillon and one or two tablespoons of taco seasoning. Depending on what your leftovers consist of, you may want to add in a can of chili beans or a can of diced tomatoes. Once you have everything in the pot, stir up well, and turn on low for 4 or 5 hours to heat through. I serve our Taco Soup with corn chips and shredded cheddar cheese. We love this and is really an almost “free” meal, as we are using food that we would have probably previously thrown away after it turned bad in the refrigerator!
So….why not give this a try? It is really kind of fun because your Taco Soup never turns out the same each time. The last time I made it we had some chicken and tortilla pieces in it. It was really good! Give it a try….you will love it!
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