I’ve always openly shared that I may not be the chef in our home, but I am no advocate for wastage, either. As one who manages the home daily, I always for finishing up all cooked and served dishes.
As the holidays and festivities filled our stomachs and refrigerators with food for a few or more days, it’s our default to bring out containers filled with leftovers to reheat them. But if we’ve reheated one too many times, it’s time to reinvent them for a change!
Here are some ideas:
But first, safety. Each passing day is a day closer to the food’s spoilage too, so it’s important to know how to properly store them. Here’s a guide from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
About the easiest way to use leftover meat is to thinly slice them to incorporate in your salad of choice, or to bite-sized pieces for fried rice. This is also very convenient since everyone will wake up late or tired from holiday parties, so breakfast is easily done.
Speaking of breakfast, there’s no dish that an omelet filling won’t save! Add some cheese (or the leftover ones from your pasta toppings) to make it extra.
Leftover fried, roast, or grilled meat serve as the perfect base for a new dish. Serve leftover lechon as lechon paksiw and leftover fried chicken as chicken ala king. Your kids won’t even know if you won’t tell them!
If you’re keen on mixing all your cooked pasta with its sauce, this is your sign to separate them the next time you cook it. Leftover spaghetti noodles can easily be made into a carbonara or pesto base. It can even be incorporated in a delightful sopas, perfect to warm your tummy and your heart on a cold December morning.
There seems to be endless options for leftover meats. Here’s another one: get soft tortilla wraps, place them as fillings, and get your mayonnaise. If you’ll be on a road trip, this can be a perfect baon idea, too!
“What’s for merienda?”, your kids ask. If you have leftover meats that will last more than two more full meals, then turn them into merienda or snacks instead. Pull out the sachet of tomato sauce from your pantry, and pull out meat from leftover
Buko pandan and buko salad are always served cold, but have you ever tried adding more milk to it and turn them into ice candies? This could double up as a giveaway to your neighbors, too!