Feeling really good about our eating/cooking habits last couple weeks so wanted to share.
Week 1 my bf was really busy so I took over cooking. I made garlic-brown sugar chicken and then a lemon-herb marinated chicken. Mix of drums (cheap!) and breasts (better for salads). Both turned out fantastic. Had them with veggies already hanging around the fridge and pantry (peapods & baby carrots left over from party food, spaghetti squash. Lunch salads w/ chicken.
Week 2 we got a pork shoulder roast and made it with a maple-syrup & mustard glaze. Had it with sweet potato, turnip, and butternut squash several days in a row. Also used in a salad and a sandwich. We made stock out of the bone with our full freezer bag of veggie scraps. One day we got tired of the pork and bf made salmon from the freezer with rice and a vegetable (broccoli, maybe?). I picked through a forgotten serving of green beans and only threw out two instead of all of them.
Week 3 bf did the shopping because he had things he wanted to make for company we were having (nopales salsa & steak tacos). Then made potato-leek-bean-kale soup to use up our stock. Friend took us out for burgers in appreciation of our 4-day hospitality. Oh, bf also made chorizo tacos at one point.
Week 4 (this week) we didn't go grocery shopping! Homemade ramen with egg, turnips, carrots, and leeks Sunday night, made the leek-bean soup again yesterday (at least 3 meals worth) with Better than Boullion instead of homemade stock (finished off kale and potatoes, 1 leek left). Then grilled chicken from the freezer for lunches to use up some aging spinach. We're probably inviting a friend over and making the nopales salad thing again to use those up so we'll get steak...but that's the only thing we'll buy this week and we'll probably have our fridge emptied of perishables by the time we leave for a week+ on Saturday!
Since both of us had a bit of a food-wasting problem before moving in 3 months ago (I think shopping/cooking for one makes it more difficult not to...as well as traveling every other weekend to see each other), I'm really proud we pulled off such a long string of using what we had. I expect it will only get better!
How do you guys reuse your leftovers to create new meals?
