Reinventing leftovers is my secret to saving money and limiting food waste. It also motivates me to be more adventurous in the kitchen since reinventing leftovers means incorporating new ingredients and a variety of cooking methods to create a new and interesting meal.
The next time you are about to throw away leftovers remember the option of reinventing them and at the same time keep your family healthier by not choosing to grab take out as a quick on-the-go meal!
Today, I’m sharing creative ways to use leftovers to help inspire you in the kitchen and limit food waste, from re-inventing rice and pasta to bread and eggs. All you need are some fresh ingredients, most of which you can find sitting in your pantry or fridge, and of course, some imagination!
How to Reinvent Cooked Rice:
- Prepare toddler-friendly rice muffins
- Make arancini (fried rice balls)
- Add to soups or stews to thicken
- Mix with tomato sauce or homemade pesto
- Healthy veggie fried rice
- Cold rice salads, such as Italian Rice Salad
- Use as a filling in stuffed peppers
- Make burritos with your favourite fixings, such as salsa, ground meat, cheese, avocado.
- Use as a stuffing for stuffed peppers or try these Southwestern Quinoa Stuffed Peppers.
How to Reinvent Cooked Pasta:
- Prepare a light, fresh pasta salad, such as Zucchini Tuna & Tomato Pasta
- Add to soups or stews to thicken
- Mix with homemade vegetable broth
- Garnish with a drizzle of olive oil and cheese, such as cheddar or mozzarella
- Prepare a Caprese Pasta
- Prepare a quick frittata, such as Pastasciuta Frittata
- Make a hearty and healthy Broccoli N’ Cheese Bake
How to Reinvent Meat, Chicken or Fish:
- Stuff into wraps with sauteed veggies
- Add to soups or stews
- Layer ground beef with mashed potatoes to make a Shepherds Pie
- Add to nachos or stuff into quesadillas, such as Chicken Pesto Mozzarella Quesadillas
- Make cheeseburger burrito wraps with leftover ground beef.
- Add cooked or grilled shrimp to a risotto, such as Shrimp Sweet Pea Pesto Risotto
- Make a shrimp cocktail with leftover shrimp.
- Blend proteins with vegetable broth or milk to create a puree for baby, such as Creamy Provencal Chicken or Lemon Dill Salmon Puree.
How to Reinvent Eggs:
- Make a breakfast burrito by wrapping eggs in a tortillas with toppings of choice.
- Add as a garnish to healthy fried rice.
- Use leftover yolks or whites in a frittata or prepare Mini Tex-Mex Frittatas or Mini Ham Spinach Quiches.
- Prepare Scrambled Eggs Onions and Peppers
- Make an english muffin breakfast sandwich with sliced cheese and ham.
- Add boiled eggs to an Italian Rice Salad.
- Add fried eggs to other proteins as a breakfast-for-lunch meal, such as Quinoa Sweet Potato Hash.
- Top fried eggs with pancetta for an Italian-inspired breakfast; Pancetta Fried Eggs
How to Reinvent Bread:
- Prepare a light and fresh Panzanella salad (pictured above) made simply with torn pieces of day-old bread tossed with tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, and seasoned with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
- Transform day-old bread into breadcrumbs by pureeing in a food processor.
- Make a creamy bread pudding for a breakfast treat.
- Make croutons by cutting into cubes, tossing with olive oil and baking until crispy.
Oh wow. such wonderful ideas and very smart to do too! <3 – AISHA
Oh wow, these are all wonderful ideas. Thanks for sharing. It all sounds scrumptious.
These all look like great ways to reuse leftovers. I hardly ever have leftovers, but when I do I usually just eat them the next day for lunch.
I hate trying to figure out what to do with leftovers. This is so creative! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, sometimes we just need a little inspiration!
I have never had an issue with eating leftovers. However, I never thought about using them in other ways, too. Good ideas!
This is a wonderful idea. I have a hard time getting everyone on board with eatingeftovers. There are a few things that I don’t mind though.
It’s so easy to just forget about them for a day or two…and then it’s always too late to eat them!
These are such great uses of left overs! It looks like the original meal~
Oh my gosh, everything looks so delicious. I hate wasting food, so I am always on the look out for ways to reuse leftovers.
Great! I hope you’re inspired by some of these recipes!
These are great ways to use leftovers. I love to cook rice. I am going to try the rice recipe.
This post is definitely getting pinned! We are not a leftovers family because my dad didn’t eat leftovers. Now I know we just weren’t doing them right!
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for this! We always have left over pasta or rice and these ideas are perfect.
Those are the easiest two foods to reinvent too!
Those are such brilliant ideas. I always just reheat the leftovers. I can’t wait to try those. Yum!
Some leftovers are good simply reheated, but some need a little tweaking! 😉
I recycle left overs too. It is a must to be more practical and innovative to create new dishes out of last night’s dinner. I will save your suggestions too. Great list you have there.
I agree…and thanks!
I usually just toss leftovers but your have some great ideas in this post. Thanks for sharing.
Ill be honest im not a big leftover fan, Im the kind of person that likes my food fresh. This are some good tips to give them a new taste.Thank you for sharing.
I agree, especially when it comes to pasta! These do help give leftovers a new life though!
these are all creative ideas for leftovers. My husband usually takes all the leftovers for his lunch the next day – so I don’t have to come up with any ideas. lucky me
Yes, lucky you! lol!
These are some great ideas! Not going to lie, I’m so bad when it comes to left overs. I need to try some of these lol
I think most people are…me too sometimes! I hope these inspire you to reinvent them rather then throw them out 😉
I have actually taken spaghetti sauce and turned it into hot dog chili. I thought that was pretty inventive.
Yes, it is! That sounds like it would be delicious!
These are some totally genius idea!! I will definetly be taking you up on this advise.
Love these ideas! I’ve been getting creative about cooking once and making two different meals. No reason to cook every day!
That’s my trick to saving time during the week! My mentality is, if I’m already standing by the stove preparing one night’s meal, then why not make another one at the same time! That way the following day I know I can relax in the evening 😉
Amazing ideas.. I grew up with Rice, my parents were so poor so we use leftover rice for rice crackers, rice pudding, etc
I actually think rice is one of the easiest foods to re-invent!
so many amazing ideas! my husband usually takes our left overs to work the next day for lunch, so we don’t have much waste!
Thanks! My husband also eats most of our leftovers!
Great ideas. I hate eating leftovers, so if it’s something my husband won’t eat left over, we usually just throw them away.
It’s so easy to just throw them up! It really makes a difference to re-invent them!
These are all such great ideas! We always have leftovers, and I never know what to do with them.
I hope this post inspires you!
These are such amazing ideas! I waste food way too often because I just don’t know what to do with the leftovers. I’ll be trying out some of these ideas very soon!
Thank you…I used to waste food as well but now I make it a point to re-use any leftovers!
These are some amazingly creative ways to use leftovers. The love the breakfast burrito idea and the stuffed green peppers too. Yummy!!! Thanks for sharing.
Those are my faves!
Oh, i love all these! Great ideas you have there. i hate food going to waste so I revamp leftovers too!
Good for you…it’s really easy to get into the habit of just throwing everything out!
I strongly dislike seeing food go to waste, but my husband seldom eats leftovers. I believe I need to reinvent them as you have shown us.
The one thing I won’t eat the day after is pasta! I hate how it gets so dry. I often make a pasta frittata…the kids love it!
I do cook extra so just to have leftovers and always find creative ways to use them. Some new family favorites have come from this.
I often do too! I make a large batch of rice or quinoa on the weekend and then add a variety of ingredients throughout the week!
I am the one who is always throwing out left overs because i never know what to make from it, once again I am leaving here so proud of you
Uh-oh, lol! Thanks by the way 😉
I love these ideas!! I always seem to make enough rice and pasta for an army not just the family!
I often make a lot of it too…it’s so hard to judge the correct amount sometimes!
I’ll have to bookmark this. I’m always looking for new ways to enjoy our leftovers! Thank you!
Great! There are quite a few here 😉
The amazing thing – is that you never seem to run out of your brilliant concoctions! Thanks for this. Your site is so valuable to me.
Thanks Monica!!!
I’m going to have to give some of these a shot. Leftovers can be boring so it’s good to have alternative ways to use them.
Yes, they can! I actually prefer reinventing leftovers as opposed to eating the same, exact meal the next day!
I don’t throw left over food, I always find ways to incorporate it in a new dish. Thanks fior sharing these!
Good for you!
Thanks for all of these creative ideas! Leftovers are usually tossed out at my house after they’ve been over looked for days!
Here too although I try everything I can to consume them before they go bad.
What a great round up and I always love seeing ways to reuse, recycle foods as wasting food is a big pet peeve for me! There is virtually very little that gets wasted in my kitchen!
Mine too! I’m proud to say that I almost never have rotting veggies in the crisper, lol!
Ahh, this is such a great roundup! Had to pin it, because as a college student..I have to get the full life out of my food 😛 Personally my favorite way to reuse leftovers is to stirfry! 🙂
http://www.aswestumblealong.com
Thanks for pinning! I love stir-fries…I forgot about that one!