Making leftovers on purpose: 11 smart ideas

Leftovers are helpful for cutting down both cooking time and grocery bills. When preparing dinner, try these helpful hints for making extra portions that you can use in meals the next day or freeze for later use.

1. When grilling or roasting chicken breasts or lamb fillets, cook a few more at the same time and use them in sandwiches the next day.
2. Boil extra potatoes and pasta to use in a potato or pasta salad. Once cooked, toss the pasta in a little oil to prevent it from drying out and cover it as soon as possible.
3. When making pizza dough, make two or three times the quantity and freeze the surplus. Pizza dough containing yeast keeps for up to two months in the freezer.
4. When boiling eggs, cook a couple more to use for egg salad or in spinach salad, sandwiches and potato salad.
5. Instead of frying onions for particular meals, consider doing a large batch at a time and freezing it. Frying a number of onions takes only a little more time and power than one or two.
6. When making crepes, prepare a large batch and freeze what you don't eat in a stack, separated by grease-proof paper circles. You can save the paper and reuse it with the next batch.
7. Make the most of seasonal produce and cook a double batch of healthy fruit or vegetable muffins. They freeze well and are ideal for a quick breakfast or nutritious snack.
8. Cook large batches of samosas, spinach and feta triangles, or other small pastry-encased goodies and freeze the leftovers for another day.
9. If you frequently use a particular type of nut – such as walnuts – in your cooking, buy a couple of kilograms of very fresh nuts, chop them roughly by hand or in a food processor, and freeze them.
10. Add a bit of seasoning to leftover meats or vegetables – add whatever you like, such as salt and pepper, balsamic vinegar, sweet chili sauce or tahini – and serve them in a wrap, pita bread, tortilla, lavash bread or roti.
11. Use leftover steamed vegetables in a frittata or omelet.

With a bit of planning and some creativity in the kitchen, you can transform leftovers into delicious new meals that are quick to prepare and easy on your wallet.

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