Leftover Challenge

Since we're on the subject of food, I was all proud of myself for planning menus for a week and making a grocery list and sticking to it at the store.  Proud until a week later when my fridge was full of leftovers that I was not terribly excited to eat and the prospect of starting another week of planning and shopping.  What a waste, I thought, as I looked at all those tupperware containers.  I thought menu planning was supposed to save resources, not waste them!

Feeling guilty at the idea of throwing out food just to make room for new food, I decided to give myself a Leftover Challenge.  I wanted to try to prepare a week's worth of meals using what I already had in my fridge and pantry.  Here's how it went:

Monday: made some tasty fish wraps (from Ellie Kriger) from leftover talapia.  Actually, the fish was better the second time around (crazy, I know, considering that it was Fish of all things!)

Tuesday: told husband that I was going to repurpose the leftover steak and potatoes into steak-salad and garlic french fries.  Went out to run errands and came home to discover that he had eaten the steak and potatoes while I was gone.  Apparently he was not too thrilled with the idea of meat on salad.  Shocking.  

Consequently, I had ice cream cake for dinner.

Wednesday:  made a strange pasta dish with leftover sausage, asparagus, shallots and spinach.  It was surprisingly tasty.  My husband even had seconds.

Thursday:  dusted off a recipe from the early days of marriage (rosemary chicken) and had it with leftover couscous and caesar salad.  Again, not too bad.  Feeling pretty proud of myself by this point.

Friday: succumbed to temptation and ordered pizza, which we then proceeded to eat for three days straight.  With antacids.  All pride instantly vanished.  I was doing so well, only to have it washed away with tasty trans-fats that cost a bundle!

Maybe I'll have better luck with the next leftover challenge!

To read more about food waste, visit Wasted Food.com.

Tell me your leftover secrets!  Email me at shillberry@comcast.net or comment here.