Did you know that in the US, food waste is estimated at more than 30% of the food supply?

Making changes to the hugely wasteful industrial food system isn’t in our control, but we can take steps to minimize our own food waste. Unless you are an exacting cook who knows precisely how much to make at every meal, most of you have a good amount of leftovers that accumulate during the course of the week.

Generally leftovers are put into containers and pushed to the back of the fridge, where they tend to sit until they turn green or fuzzy and finally are tossed out. Or put into the freezer when after many months you’re ready to clean the refrigerator/freezer and toss out all the UFOs (unidentified frozen objects :)) that you find. Storing them lets you think that you’re going to use them because it would be wasteful to put them directly in the trash, but in the end, most leftovers end up in the garbage.

There’s another possibility, though, that will save you money as you minimize waste and stretch your food budget – creatively repurpose your leftovers to use in creative ways as you create new dishes.

Last night I found myself late to begin dinner preparations, and wondered what I could pull together quickly so dinner wouldn’t be super late. I quickly took stock of the fridge leftovers , and thought about what flavors would go well together.

Here’s what I decided to use. As you’re looking at this, take a moment to think what you could turn this into (it depends what else you have in your house and there isn’t one right answer :)).

• small container of meatballs (4 or 5) and gravy
• baked squash and onions, 1 – 1 1/4 cup
• rendered beef fat, 2 tablespoons
• roasted zucchini, a few slices
• half box of coconut cream

That was it for the leftovers. I threw them all in the pot, mixed it well and added a 1 kg/2 pound bag of frozen peas, and a little less than a half kilo/1 pound of ground meat. I stirred it all together, added some salt and pepper, heated it until the ground beef was done and within fifteen minutes from when I began, dinner was ready to be served. Voila, beef ala king! This goes well with a cooked grain or mashed potatoes, but in that case I just made a really big potful and served it on its own. My kids pronounced it really good.

Those weren’t all the leftovers in my fridge, but the ones that I thought would come together when combined. It’s important to consider what will taste good together, rather than randomly dump different containers into a pot. Sometimes you’ll use just one leftover ingredient in your dish, sometimes you can use a lot (stews are particularly good for this). Every day or two, take a look at what leftovers you have and when you prepare your meals, think about what you already have that you can integrate.

Since I made a large pot of this, I now have beef ala king leftovers! My kids liked this enough to serve it as a stand alone for another meal. But a dish is never appreciated as much as the first time it’s served! Another possibility is to add more chopped onion and carrots, and turn it into a filling for a cottage or shepherd’s pie, topped with a crust or with mashed potatoes, and then baked.

I give this an one example, but I do this regularly throughout the week. I don’t attempt to use all leftovers in one dish, because some flavors aren’t compatible.

Soups and stews are a great way to reuse leftovers. Leftover grains are perfect for thickening a stew, and most vegetables and meats go well together. Add a different sauce or seasoning and you have a completely different dish. Sometimes I have a ‘leftovers train’ when I make a dish out of leftovers, then turn those leftovers into another dish, and yet another dish from those leftovers! And it doesn’t feel to anyone like they’re eating leftovers or feel like a repeat of something they had a day or two before.

Some dips are easy to add to repurpose. Onion dip, matbucha, fresh tomato dip – I stir them into soups or chilis. Others, like chumus or techina, I prefer to serve on their own, though they can be used as binders to hold a loaf kind of food together. You can puree or blend ingredients as well, so they can look different than they did in their original forms.

The one thing that I rarely repurpose are salads with a lemon or vinegar dressing. They have a strong flavor that doesn’t blend well with most main dish recipes, and it’s easy to serve them as a side dish. Still a win when it comes to reusing leftovers.

You might think that this approach takes a mental encyclopedia of recipes, but that’s not the case at all. Just think about what flavors you’ve used in the past together, and continue along the same lines with your leftovers. And if you combine something that isn’t a hit – okay, so you’ve learned something that you won’t do again.

Here’s the simple three step process for using leftovers:

• inventory what you have
• use something in one of today’s meals
• enjoy eating good food and saving money!

Avivah