LEARN TO LOVE LEFTOVERS

Many people turn up their nose at the idea of leftovers. The mere thought of reheating food originally prepared a day or two before convinces many that the food will be bland and rubbery, not worth eating. This assumption sadly results in a lot of good, quality food hitting the trash can before its time. The truth is that with a little bit of careful planning, leftovers can be a delicious and highly inexpensive meal. Some ideas:

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  Add additional spices that you have on hand to leftovers just before you serve them. This will create a fresh snap to the flavor of the food.
  
  
  
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  Use the leftovers as the basis for a second meal. For example, take leftover spaghetti and sauce, chop up the spaghetti, put it in a bread loaf pan, sprinkle some mozarella cheese on the top, and bake it in the oven. Or take the leftover chicken breasts from the grill, dice them, and add them to a rice and vegetable skillet meal.
  
  
  
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  Freeze the leftovers. This especially works well if you have made a large batch of soup and have plentty left over. Freeze it in portion-sized containers.
  
  
  

EAT BEFORE YOU GO GROCERY SHOPPING

One of the most dangerous expenses in the grocery store is the impulse buy, and impulse buys are often directly caused by hunger. When you are in a grocery store and you are feeling hungry, many more items are going to look tasty to you and are thus much more likely to sneak their way into your cart. There is a simple way to suppress this grocery shopping impulse: Eat a small meal just before you leave to go grocery shopping. That way you are not hungry, but you are also not bogged down with a heavy meal in your stomach. This will allow you to keep your energy up and get finished with shopping quickly, but not be tempted to throw extras into your cart just because you are hungry and impulsive.