212: Plan dinners with creative use of leftovers in mind by matthew

This tip is part of the Mastering the Art of Sustainable Cooking contest.
( overview | categories | rules | prizes | judges )

Between a quarter and a half of all US food is thrown out. This includes trimmings and unused portions from food preparation as well as uneaten prepared food. The best way to deal with leftovers is to plan what to do with them before you even have any.

When you consider a recipe, think about both the leftover ingredients you’ll have — an egg yolk, half an onion — and how you might transform the finished product into a new meal — there’s that joke about the minister’s wife’s casserole…

Better yet, rather than choosing a recipe and thinking of what you’ll need to get, think about what you have in the fridge and pantry and choose a recipe that fits. Once you’ve developed a repertoire of leftover-based recipes, you’ll come to cherish them as tasty time savers.

How do you deal with scraps and leftovers?

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