Amid a busy week, it’s normally not real looking to prepare dinner and put together three meals and two snacks each single day. Meal prepping and batch cooking play an unlimited function in establishing wholesome habits and getting meals on the desk, however figuring out the way to jazz up these leftover meals and substances is a singular talent that may prevent an immense quantity of money and time. Plus, remodeling leftovers into one thing new helps to vastly cut back meals waste.
For those who’re questioning what to do together with your leftovers, listed here are some frequent leftover substances and how one can breathe new life into them.
What to Do with Leftovers
Cooked Rice + Different Gluten-Free Grains
We really prefer to prepare dinner additional rice and gluten-free grains particularly so we have now some left over! When you’ve got leftover rice available, use it to:
Almond Pulp
We like making nut milk from scratch, so we find yourself with loads of leftover nut and seed pulp! Save the pulp in a bag or jar within the freezer, and once you’ve acquired sufficient listed here are 9 methods to make use of it.
Cooked Hen or Turkey
A typical leftover ingredient, particularly across the vacation season. Right here’s what you are able to do with cooked hen or turkey leftovers:
Burgers
Veggie or meat burgers are nice recipes for batch cooking, however generally you don’t wish to have them the identical outdated means in buns or lettuce leaves. As a substitute, attempt serving leftover burgers:
- With a aspect of wholesome baked French Fries
- Crumbled up over a salad
- Damaged up into hamburger soup or lasagna soup
- In a bolognese sauce with gluten-free pasta or zucchini noodles
- As a wholesome pizza topping
Salad Greens
Didn’t deplete all your darkish leafy greens this week? That’s OK! Get additional life out of your greens earlier than they go dangerous by:
- Juicing them with low-glycemic fruits
- Blanch, chop and freeze for later
- Blitz with olive oil, lemon, dietary yeast and sunflower seeds for a nut-free pesto
- Make a number of inexperienced smoothies and freeze them
- Wilt them on the finish of cooking one-pot meals or On the spot Pot meals
- Bake kale chips
Roasted Greens
We prefer to eat a number of veggies right here on the Academy of Culinary Diet, and roasting them actually enhances their flavour. With any leftover veggies you’ve gotten available, you possibly can:
- Fold into an omelette, frittata or scrambled eggs
- Toss into savory oatmeal or savory pancakes
- Use in a stir-fry with leftover rice
- Bake a casserole with a thick and creamy sauce
- Whip up a fast and simple soup
- Stuff them into rice paper wraps or lettuce wraps
- Mix them with chickpeas to make a veg-infused hummus or dip
- Make a veggie pot pie
- Use for pizza toppings
- Combine right into a salad with beans or grains
- Fold them into gluten-free flatbreads and different baked items (puréed squash and pumpkin are nice for this!)
- When you’ve got contemporary veggies you didn’t get round to roasting, attempt pickling them
Stale Bread
There are solely so many days you possibly can eat avocado toast! Take your leftover gluten-free bread and:
- Blitz in a meals processor for breadcrumbs (save in jars within the freezer for later use)
- Bake a gluten-free and dairy-free bread pudding
- Mix with walnuts, roasted pink peppers and spices for muhammara
- Make croutons
- Create a bread salad with a great deal of contemporary veggies and tomatoes
Overripe Bananas

Picture: That Clear Life
Tremendous brown bananas can be utilized in a wide range of methods:
Crushed Tomatoes or Tomato Paste
Typically you don’t deplete the entire jar or BPA-free can! Attempt:
- Freezing in ice dice trays for a success of flavour you should utilize later in recipes
- Cook dinner with onions, garlic, herbs and veggies to create selfmade tomato sauce
- Make salsa, plum sauce, ketchup or scorching sauce
- Fold into scrambled eggs or omelettes
- Use as a pizza sauce
- Mix with soaked cashews for a vegan ‘cream’ of tomato soup
Recent Herbs
When saved correctly, contemporary herbs can final at the very least per week within the fridge. For those who aren’t ready to make use of them up earlier than they wilt, then:
- Combine with olive oil, then freeze in ice dice trays
- Blitz to make a fast pesto, then freeze
- Dry them out, and retailer in sealed jars within the pantry
- Make herbes salees or infused vinegar
- Add to smoothies and juices
- Change half of your salad greens with contemporary herbs
We hope these concepts spark your creativity – love your leftovers and use them effectively!