Planned Leftovers:::Gina

Planned leftovers seem like a pretty basic concept in meal planning, but I think it can be more complicated than it sounds for a variety of reasons. Quickly, the concept is to cook extra so that you have leftovers. Here are some roadblocks to this idea, though:

• Someone in the house (while I would never presume to point fingers, this person often goes by a title that starts with a "D" and rhymes with bad) refuses to eat leftovers. The best way to counter that is to "morph" the original dish into other incarnations. Think roast turkey into turkey soup, turkey salad, turkey casserole, etc. Another tactic is to never utter the "L word." They probably can't tell, anyway.
• People snack on foods that are awaiting another fate and/or take them for lunch. Obviously, this is simply a matter of letting people know what your plans are. Intentionally using leftovers for lunches is another way to implement planned leftovers.
• Food goes bad before you get around to using it. This is clearly just another matter of planning, and if you use a meal planning technique, it's easily avoided.

Here are some other ideas for how to implement this:

Home Sanctuary

Roast Chicken Ideas (can just as easily be implemented for your own at-home roasted chicken)

Chaos in the Kitchen (she has several posts that start off with "Planned Leftovers")

Recipezaar

Family Education