Tip Jar Tuesday: Party Leftovers

It’s Tip Jar Tuesday and today, I’m sharing some tips on how to avoid being wasteful when it comes to having party leftovers. Earlier this month, we celebrated my husband’s 30th and our food menu was very “meaty” and the amount of leftovers was astronomical!

First off, one thing we like to do is send our family home with a nice container of leftovers – it can easily brighten someone’s day just knowing lunch or dinner is taken care of! I purchased plastic to-go containers and I was so happy to have these on hand in order to divvy out the mass amounts of leftover food.

The menu for my husband’s party was all his favorite foods – pizza, wings, fried chicken, italian sausage, meatballs, cavatellis, salad, fruit tray, mac and cheese, butter and rolls (CARB and MEAT OVERLOAD!).

It is so easy to waste leftover foods a couple days after the party – so here are some tips to eliminate and assist in not being so wasteful!

As mentioned above – send to-go boxes with family and friends

Freeze as much as you can

Separating out your leftovers and freezing dinner sized portions is a great way to not waste your leftovers. When your leftovers are consuming so much space in your fridge – it can feel like a race against the clock to start consuming these foods before their time is up and they go bad.

Freezing the leftovers is a great way to “meal prep” for future lunches or dinners where you need something in a pinch. I feel this is the best option to truly ENJOY your leftovers – saving you time and money while also avoiding the leftover burn out!

Spice up your leftover game

A great way to avoid the leftover burn out is to try and eat your leftovers a different way. This conversation with my daughter reflects everyone’s feelings re: leftover overload

Audrey: “Mom, I’m hungry!”
Me: “Okay, dinner is almost done”
Audrey: “What’s for dinner?”
Me: “Leftovers”
Audrey: “I’m not hungry anymore”

HA! No joke this was one day after the party and she was already sick of consuming the same things.

After I came up with some different ways to eat our leftover food, I found myself looking forward to eating them and tricking the kids into eating them too! You can literally spice up your leftovers utilizing different spices and seasonings to switch it up!

Leftover Ideas

Fried Chicken Leftovers

I ended up making crispy chicken salads for lunch, using the fried chicken pieces in casseroles and making buffalo chicken wraps. Chicken and waffles would be an awesome twist on this leftover as well!

Sausage and Meatballs

Sausage sandwiches, meatball subs, spaghetti & meatballs, casseroles and sausage & meatball tortellini soup.

Mac & Cheese

Broccoli and cheese casserole, fried mac and cheese balls and a ham & cheese soup.

Hope this posts makes you look forward to leftover night and see the ways leftovers can ultimately save you time and money at meal time!

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